Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-23
By MAC HNMAN
Copyright. 1854. By MAC LYMAN
CHAPTER XII

Chapter XII
So Ben finally give in to them and tried it.
He snatched himself up rl.al straight with
his back in curve and yeIltd out, "An right,
Attention." but 1t didn't come out so good
1t only kind of squeaked out and didn't sound
powerful the way it was SURPRISED to. so he got
all red in the face again ami, started to quit.
But everybody kept on at him 50 finally he
said, "All right then. Get rtlady -. Atten-
toni" and everybody was kind Of expecting
1t this time and got IN differeint kinds Of stiff
positions with their hands dovan by their sides.
and it looked pretty good. Tile only one that
didn't look much good was this fellow Pete UP
In the front line-what he done was spread
his legs out about two feet az lart and put his
hands behind him and stan6t real stih that
way, so he didn't look much like the others.
and they had kind Of an arg 1ment about it.
Irwin told him that warnt n,b way to stand
at attention. but Pete said he< knowed it was
because he had seen 1t before
mo, that amt the way" L. ncky said. you
stand real stiff and hold yorlr hands down
beside your side Amt that rig bit, Irvin?"
Yeah that's parade resti you're doing,
Pete.l
But Pete said. NAV. what you're doing is
parade rest. This is attention like this. You
stand with your legs all spra died out and
put your hands behind you. II lat's the way
to stand at attention" So theh they argued
about 1t while longer until Pete got right
mad about it before it was diver. He said,
You remember that picture Wake Island
when the Major come up to the fellow and
said Attention and the fellow hooked around
and give Jump and spraddledl his legs out
and put his hands behind him? You rernem-
Der that?"
mo, don't remember thai. but I still
don't see how you are going to imarch !
''well, do" Pete said. And, if you don't.
why don't you just keep quiet about it?"
Peter Was Determined
But except for Peter trying to march
spraddle- legged the way he DOM, everybody
marched real good once we got to- going. Ben
give us Left face" and everybody turned
to the left, and those that didn't II OF straight
ened out soon enough. and then he give U.s.
Forward march," And then he b. gun calling
out, Keep in step. Keep in STEP and every
body tried to do that. only there Ivarrit much
agreement on it and there got ITO be some
showing around until Ben started going.
Left Right. Left. Right" and got every
body Strengthened out again.
Anyhow Ben was sometime to watch
after little bit too. We went on up the
street with him calling out Left. light" like
that. and after while it seemad that his
voice kind Of changed somehow 500 it sounded
right powerful. and he didn't evet1 look ike
himself no more. He was rared back and
strutting real big with his knees going way up
and his arms swinging and his hes d throwed
back, and his voice getting louder al the time.
Before we got down to the end CT the bar
racks, he was going. Hut, two, three four.
Left foot on one. Hut. two three. Jour-" just
like he was horned doing it.
And then he called out, "You had a good
home and you left!" and Irving 'e)me right
back at him. yelling, Right"
you had a good wife and you left"
Fright"
And then Ben went, Hut, two. th1,e. fourl"
and 1t sounded real snappy too. lind then
they done this otLer one that weHt, open
the window and close the door,"
Hut, two three. four"
Hand me some whisky and hand re
some more!"
Hut. two three. four"
Meter Messed Up
But then somebody went. Gel out of
here and don't you ever again come hack any
more" which kind Of messed the whsle thing
up and got everybody on the wrong foot again
and mighty near finished us OF.
But Ben started calling out. LEFT.
Right" again until we got Strengthened back
out and by the time We got to the mi IS hail.
people was watching US from tho other
barracks with their heads poked oAlt and
waving, especially the ones that had just
come in. We got to the corner and Ban give
use turn to the right which was thet wrong
direction. but nobody cared. so we just tcircled
the block one time and come up on the mess
hall on the other side. Ben calleti out.
Detail. haiti" and then. Fall Quit" ia just
as loud and clear voice as you ever. heered
80 that you might wonder how somebody so
little could yell SO loud.
And Ben was right proud of it too4 You
could see it all over him. come up tap him
after we stopped and said, MY goodness
Ben. where on earth did you ever learn to
be such marcher?" and he kind Of shsifled
around little bit and turned his face t,way.
and said. There amt nothing to that. You
can learn that anywhere"
mot the way you done it," said.
Lets 60 and eat he said.
So you can figger about how he felt when
we finished eating and went back to- the
barracks and just happened to pass, the
Bulletin board and seen our names ctn it.
We was In the Air Force and was gohsg to
be shipped out with the others. Somebody
had sneaked out there and put it up while
we was eating. It seemed like mighty ,low-
down way to do. but there warnt thina we
could do about it. We went on back tc, the
barracks and Ben climbed up In his bunk
again and I didn't say nothing at all. i got
out my harp and played on 1t while, and
even when I played Saturday Night in
Rocky Bottom" I eidnt make it lively like
/ usually did, but let 1t drag real easy sand
quiet, like 1t didn't have no more spark to
1t than some hymn you sing at a fun eral.
Of For the Air Base
Anyhow, they shipped us out on the
train the next morning and rode us all that
day. and Ben was about as miserable eos q
man could get. He set there staring out the
window at the fields, not like he was seeding
them. but like he was just letting them pass
in front Of his eyes; and he rode that same
way all the next day too. and got right
worried about him tried to perk him up
by pointing out things, and when we finNlly
stopped at this little depot and filed tff,
toting our bags with US, and we seen the
planes ctrcling over the town, tried to Act
him interested in them ton Evervh,dy 81 a,