Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-15
By MAC LYMAN
Copyright, 1854. by Mac LYMAN
CHAPTER xxx
CONCLUSION

And he turned and stared at me for
while, but then he said, ooh, yes, did say
would see about that didn't 1? Okay, don't
guess it will hurt anything. might as well
do that too Like say if you boys cooperate
with me about this and keep your mouths
shut I'll cooperate with you. You just wait
here minute.
So then he went over to the typewriter
and whispered something to the fellow and
then came back to me and said I'm getting
him to type up the papers little different
leaving out the deceased and SO on, you know.
I still have the medals in my pocket; Ill just
slip them to you and you can give one to Ben
and you can get the papers as soon as he
finishes with them. Just don't let anybody
know about it, though. They might not I'M
derstand and well, just don't - And
then he started fumbling in his pocket for the
medals shaking his head and saying, boy,
you drive hard bargain, but 1 kind of agree
with you in way. don't believe in doing
anything halfway myself
And then he was trying to hand the
medals to me- but didn't take them. I said,
"Yesslr thaSs what I flggered. That's the
reason I was wondering if you couldn't do it
up right for Ben because he takes lot of
stock in things like that I know he would
appreciate it. 1 was thinking =. :"
do what now?"
81 mean like you give them out to Lieu
tenant Bridges and them. You know, stand
ing up there stiff and saying a lot of words
and things like that. :. . :"
You mean you want me to present
them? Out here in the woods? You =. ?"
"Well, it's just Ben is always talking
about medals and things, you know, and he'd
kind of like it done up right and all
And then he kind of seen what meant
and think he kind of got excited about it
too after thinking it over for bit because it
looked like to me he just started quivering all
over SO to speak. And he finally give kind
of deep breath and said. "Okay. I guess I've
got it coming. I know when I've habit, boy.
Now if l didn't have twenty years in my
whole career, right now / would i. well,
never mind Okay, you go III there and sneak
Ben out here and we'll all go over yonder
behind tree and d"
Let There Be Lights
That's good" I said II was thinking
maybe we could turn one of these cars around
here SO we could get some light, and they
could line up over yonder and everybody
could kind Of stand at attention and every
thing
And he kind of liked that idea too be-
cause he Just started to quivering all over
again He stared at me and thought about
it and kind of rolled his eyes up in the air
thinking about it, and started biting on his
lips and everything, and finally he said, "All
right, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it, by God!"
And then he went back over to the fellow at
the typewriter and said, Corporal, get those
things typed up and when you finish with
them, come out here with them. Sergeant
King get one of these cars turned around so
the lights are shining up this way, and then
get out and stand at attention"
do what, General?"
And then the General he quivered some
more looking at Sergeant King, and said in
this low voice, Just do what l said and quit
standing there like an idiot. If it hadn't been
for you, this whole thing :. :" but then he
stopped because he had thought of some
thing else He called out Captain, you and
the Lieutenant come out here a minute!"
Then when they come out. he took a deep
breath and said, You men stand over there
at attention"
do what, General?"
And then the General got right up in his
face and said to him, Look, if you don't
mind, don't want anybody else questioning
me. You just get over there like said. And
Corporal, you get over there too. And if you
don't mind don't say DO what to me; just
get over there" And then he stood there a
little bit, quivering some more while they got
all lined and really done a nice Job of it,
Once he got the idea he was just as excited
about it as l was. He finally turned to me
again and said, You do understand why we
don't have band here. don't you? l hope
this will be all right for you and Ben. You
do understand how it was that it slipped my
mind to bring the band along, don't you?"
'Sho," I said 81 wouldn't worry about it
none. This'll be all right, I think"
well, / hope So I hope it lives up to
Ben's standards all right" And then he stood
there breathing real deep and said, Now if
you'll just run along and quit standing there
looking at me, l think can handle the rest
of the arrangements all right There's not
anything else you can think of at the mo-
ment, is there?"
well, was thinking that maybe if YOU
could get General Pollard to stand over there
then we would have two generals and :"
He Got the Idea
And that kind of got him think because
he hadn't thought of it himself. He kind of
swelled up and said, by God!' and stood
there staring at me some more but finally
once he seen the idea, he settled back down
again real good. He said "All right if you'll
Just get away from me now If you'll just
go on in and get Ben and get away from
me now, think l can probably handle the
rest myself.
So went on in even though did have
one other pretty good idea about how they
could all probably hum one of them marches
so that Ben would have something to walk
IN time to, but l didn't say nothing else about
it because you could tell he was already
bothered about not having thought up lot
of stuff that had. and didn't want him to
feel no worse about it. went on in to where