The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-09-22

kle reported to the Mess Sergeant.
Almost always there he found
Freddie, who had virtually taken up
residence in the kitchen. Jack APP
peared, too, as well as Mr.. Tinker.
They washed dishes, swept the floor
and peeled onions and even the
traditional potatoes. Once Mr.. Win
kle was given bag and a stick with
an iron point on its end and told to
pick up papers and cigarette butts
around the grounds. He was certain
that this was no kind Of work for
respectable married citizen of the
United States.
Not even when he was doing things
right could Mr.. Wrinkle satisfy the
War Department. On the exercise
field he kept up with the other men,
though he knew his face was flushed
and he breathed hard. Then, abrupt
ly, the muscled exercise Sergeant
would call: "Hey, you there-John"
Mr.. Wrinkle realized he was being
addressed. :.
whats your manner" the exer-
else Sergeant demanded.
''Winkle," replied Mr.. Wrinkle quite
as If his nameplate, pinned on his
chest, did not announce the fact.
"All right, john" he was advised,
"when you feel you're three-quar-
tiers done, stop. That's an order.
You know what an order is, John?"
Mr.. Wrinkle said that he did.
$50 I don't want to waste time
picking up any guys who pass out"
the Sergeant instructed him.
Mr.. Wrinkle noticed that he was
the only man told to take it easy.
Mr.. Tinker wasn't told anything,
but kept right on with the others,
even though he pulled.
At bayonet practice he could find
no satisfaction in jabbing at the
swinging stuffed figure. He simply
could not conceive of himself ever
thrusting that wicked blade into an
other human being, no matter how
much a German or Jap deserved
| it.
He shuddered when it was ex-
planned that it was often difficult to
withdraw the blade from body, and
sometimes it had to be twisted out.
Certainly he didn't lunge at the
figure the way Jack Pettigrew did.
Everyone knew that when Jack
thrust his bayonet into it, he was
sticking Freddie with it. When Fred
die sliced with his bayonet, you
could take your choice whether he
thought of the figure as Jack or the
Alphabet. Mr.. Tinker swung vicious
ly, and the figure then became
Jap. But Mr.. Wrinkle had no feroc-
ity at all.
The Lieutenant was patient with
him, explaining, "Some day you
may be in the position where you
either get the other fellow first, or
he gets you. Think of it that
way. Now, try again. Jump at it!
Lunge! Kill It'll"
Mr.. Wrinkle jumped. He lunged.
He killed it with blow that hardly
penetrated the figure. The Lieuten-
ant shook his head and called the
next man.
The bayonet and exercise Incl
dents gave Mr.. Wrinkle an attack
of imagination, the first he had had
since being made into soldier. He
became convinced that he could nev-
er compete with the others. He
wouldn't be as hardened as they, he
wouldn't be sufficiently trained, and
this would be his own fault. When
the test came on the battlefield, he
would not be in condition, nor would
he be enough of killer even to pro-
! tect himself.
He saw himself in retreat before
the enemy. He couldn't keep up.
Finally he could 60 no farther. Mr..
Tinker and Jack offered to carry
him, but Mr.. Wrinkle wouldn't have
it, knowing they would be caught
with him. He made them 60 on,
leaving him, and then an enemy
soldier appeared. The man raised
his rifle high, the bayonet cleaning.
It started to come down into Mr..
Wrinkle, who had a last thought of
Amy and who knew that the blade
would afterward have to be twisted
to get it out of him
On their first pay day, which was
Saturday, they were given passes
to town. They stood in line before
the orderly room, and entered one
by one to receive their salaries. Aft
er practice under the tutelage of the
Alphabet, who watched critically
from the side of the Lieutenant's
desk, they saluted, wheeled, and
marched out again.
Mr.. Wrinkle was astounded and
Mr.. Tinker, with most of the others,
was aggrieved at the amounts they
received. After deduction for laun-
dry, dry cleaning, expenses at the
Post Exchange, the barber shop,
movies, insurance, camp newspa-
per, recreation fund, contribution
to the old soldiers home and sew
eral items Mr.. Wrinkle didn't alto
gether understand or remember, his
envelope contained seventeen dol
lars and thirty cents.
Mr.. Tinker did little better be-
cause he had no wife to whom went