Bombers Moon

There was no sunrise the next day, and damp clouds crept in sometime in the early morning, covering the sky.Chuck woke up in wet gray light, his arm numb from Louie's pressure.The rain beat heavily on the tin roof, making a sound like a war drum.

But without this rain, the unexpected little guest would not have come to the Beacon Hill base.Just as the two half-awakened pilots dashed into the pouring rain, an unhappy mechanic was sent by his companions to clear a clogged drain.The mechanic was wearing a stiff raincoat, so when he noticed a strange noise, he took it for granted that it was rubber rubbing against each other.He bent down, reached into the drainpipe with his gloved hand, and pulled out a mass of dead leaves mixed with mud.The sound became more obvious. It came from the ditch next to it. The mechanic hesitated for a moment, then lay down on the muddy ground to search for the source of the sound.

By the time Louis and Chuck returned to the base drenched, a large group of people had gathered behind the building, some were holding umbrellas, some were wearing raincoats, and a few people simply didn't bring anything, just lying in the rain in the rain. On the ground, look into the gutter.The two looked at each other in confusion, wiped the water off their faces, and walked towards the crowd.

"What happened?" Chuck asked a ground crew.

The other party looked at his soaked uniform and dripping hair, and moved aside, "It's not a big deal, sir, you'd better see for yourself."

Because of the continuous rain, the ditch has become a raging miniature river.The underground opening of the ditch was covered with an iron sheet, and something was hiding under this "roof" and screaming in terror.Chuck tilted his head, almost half of his body into the ditch, and finally got a clear view of the uninvited guest.

A sallow chick, whose webs and beak Chuck could see, was a young duck or goose, barely sheltered from raindrops and rushing water, on a mound of damp earth.He tried to reach out to scoop up the chick, but the little thing backed away as soon as it saw his movement, and disappeared into the shadows under the iron plates.Chuck straightened up, took off his coat, handed it to Louie who was standing behind, rolled up his soaked sleeves to his elbows, and stepped into the gutter.

The water was deeper than he had imagined, below his thighs, and colder, mixed with grass roots and gravel.He spread his palms and approached the chick slowly so as not to scare it away.The little furry guy tried to duck back, was startled by the current, and had to stay where he was shaking, and Chuck gently picked him up and led him out of the ditch.

"Little Goose." A ground crew concluded.

"It's ducks," said the other, who had a bald spot the size of a bottle cap on his head. "Don't argue with me. I ran a farm in Sussex before the war and had more than 1000 of them."

"The question is what do we do with it," said Chuck, shielding the duck from the rain with his palm.

The mechanic in the raincoat shrugged, "Like a lost item, sir, to the highest ranking officer on duty."

All eyes fell on Louis. The second lieutenant stared at the young bird curled up in Chuck's hand, the lines on his face stiffened. He obviously wanted to refuse, but under the pressure of the surrounding eyes, he reluctantly nodded.

The ducklings were eventually entrusted to Chuck to be raised next to the portable stove in the dorm, and Leo predicted that the ducks would one day cook themselves, but that never happened.The most dangerous time was when Jody hurried out after putting on his boots and almost crushed the duck at his feet.Chuck initially planned to keep him in the room, but as long as no one was in, the duck would keep screaming, and Chuck had to let it run around the base.

This is a little female duck, there were several names in the beginning, Louie called her "that duck" and the ground crew called her "Rainbow" or "Gutter Princess" after she tried to devour Chuck's button many times , Chuck decided to name her "Miss Button".Miss Button foraged in the wilderness near the base during the day, came back at night, swaggered across the tarmac, slipped into the dormitory, and got under Chuck's camp bed.She built a nest under the bed out of hay and the remains of half a cardboard box.

Chuck didn't have much time to take care of Miss Button. The U.S. Army Air Corps was very busy all summer. The "point-and-shoot" instruction issued on June [-] required the British and American Air Forces to concentrate their fire on the fighter assembly plants, engine factories and bearings of the Nazi Luftwaffe. The factory puts pressure on the Situation Room's map to add a bunch of colored pushpins marking the targets of the air strikes - Stuttgart, Regensburg, Schweinfurt and Wiener Neustadt - which means a huge number of British and American bombers They all went deep into the Third Reich without the cover of fighter jets in dangerous conditions.The loss rate of bombers is getting higher and higher, and combat missions are getting closer and closer to suicide. Everyone knows it and everyone tacitly avoids talking about it.Unless someone can suddenly conjure a long-range fighter from a magic hat, there is no way to change the status quo.

Miss Button took her first combat mission at the age of two months, staying in the radio room of the "Flying Fortress" and flying with Chuck to Wilhelmshaven to bomb the Nazi Navy's shipyards and port facilities.Compared with other missions this summer, this mission can be said to be very smooth. The Nazi Air Force was tired of guarding the fighter assembly plant. I did not expect that the Army Air Force would attack this northern port city again. Only two bombers were slightly damaged. Waiting for the Nazi Air Force By the time the Chinese single-seat fighter jets were assembled and chased after them, the Americans were about to fly over the North Sea.Hurricane fighter jets from Scotland easily dislodge uninterested Me

109.

The radio operator later reported that the duck was very obedient, did nothing out of the ordinary except try to attack his buttons, and not even the sound of a machine gun startled her.After returning to the voyage, Chuck announced that the button had officially become the mascot of the bomber team, and took a rest day to paint a duck on the outside of the cockpit, proudly wearing a small blue scarf with the circular logo of the Royal Air Force and the United States Stars of the Army Air Corps.

The long-lost victory slightly reversed the lingering gloomy atmosphere in the base. This is also Chuck No. 20 bombing missions, which means that after five more battles, he, Jody and Leo will be able to return to the United States.The prospect excited Jody, but it was a difficult decision for Leo. The navigator and Natalie hadn't decided whether to go to America together or let Leo stay.

"Then what do you plan to do?" When the two went to the bar to kill time again, Louis asked, smearing the water droplets on the outer wall of the glass with his fingers.

Chuck looked at him, "I didn't expect you to count my tasks, sir."

"I didn't count them specifically. I saw them while I was helping Captain Millston with the paperwork."

"I don't know what the plan is." The sergeant shrugged, took a swig of beer, and wiped the foam off his lips. "Live to No. 20's five shifts, I guess."

"You must miss your family."

Chuck thought of his father, with his red face and the pipe he never left his hand, and then he thought of the tobacco field at home, the mousetrap by the fence, the sheets that his mother hung in the backyard, and the two children who often rolled. The muddy sister.And that sleepy middle town, dusty, whose neighbors have never in their lives traveled farther than Oklahoma City and pride themselves on it. "Fair. Did you know they never wrote to me? Probably thought I was dead."

"Maybe they can't be blamed, the Postal Service is acting like a sieve right now."

"whatever."

They didn't continue talking about this topic. After drinking, they each paid their bills and walked back to the base under the dim crescent moon.When the lights of the hangar appeared in the distance, Louis stopped and called Chuck.The sergeant turned to look at him, eyebrow raised.

"I prepared a gift for you, just in case." Louis took out a paper package the size of a cigarette box from his pocket, and handed it to Chuck, who took it and shook it, but there was no sound or sound. What is it, it feels like a piece of iron.

"Why do you say 'just in case'?"

"In case you or I hit a six

. "

Chuck tore open the crude packaging with his hands, and took out a flat cardboard box, which contained a small photo frame, the kind with a folding stand, which can be put in a pocket when closed, and can stand on a desk when opened.Chuck looked at the gift under the faint moonlight, and smiled at Louis: "Didn't you say that vanity is dangerous?"

"Maybe an exception can be made for certain Americans."

"Thank you."

Louis looked away and stared at the pitch-black wilderness, "After you fly 25 missions, remember to take that duck with you before leaving. I won't look after her for you."

"How cruel, sir, I thought no one could resist the charm of Miss Button." Chuck stuffed the frame into his coat pocket, put his hands on Louie's shoulders, and let him look at him, "Will you miss me, if If I go back home?"

Louis pursed his lips and said nothing.

"Louis."

"Charles."

"Will it or won't it? Very simple question."

Louis looked at him and lifted his chin slightly, as if accepting some unspoken challenge: "Maybe, after all, I still have to spend time training the bomber pilot who will replace you into a civilized person, which will take a lot of work. Look how much I spent on you—"

Chuck laughed, shook his head, bowed his head and kissed Louis before Louis had time to react, put one hand around his waist, and gently pressed the back of Louis' neck with the other hand to prevent him from breaking free, but Louis didn't Meaning to break free, he naturally put his arms around Chuck's neck, just like last summer, in another world.There is only this dirt road connecting the air force base and the village. People or cars may pass by at any time, but neither of them has the heart to consider these potential threats at the moment.They both gasped when Chuck let go of him, and Louis clutched his collar for a while before letting go, as if he didn't notice his movement.Chuck reached up to touch his cheek, his thumb brushing Louie's lips.

"Can I go to your room?"

Louis closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, opened them again, and nodded.

"Shoot a six" (go

for

six) is RAF slang for dead.