Soldiers -- Fiction; War stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
Fuselli wrapped the blanket round his head and prepared to sleep.
Snuggled down into the blankets on the narrow cot, he felt sheltered
from the sergeant's thundering voice and from the cold glare of
officers' eyes. He felt cosy and happy like he had felt in bed at home,
when he had been a little kid. For a moment he pictured to himself the
other man, the man who had punched an officer's jaw, dressed like he
was, maybe only nineteen, the same age like he was, with a girl like
Mabe waiting for him somewhere. How cold and frightful it must feel to
be out of the camp with the guard looking for you! He pictured himself
running breathless down a long street pursued by a company with guns, by
officers whose eyes glinted cruelly like the pointed tips of bullets.
He pulled the blanket closer round his head, enjoying the warmth and
softness of the wool against his cheek. He must remember to smile at
the sergeant when he passed him off duty. Somebody had said there'd be
promotions soon. Oh, he wanted so hard to be promoted. It'd be so swell
if he could write back to Mabe and tell her to address her letters
Corporal Dan Fuselli. He must be more careful not to do anything that
would get him in wrong with anybody. He must never miss an opportunity
to show them what a clever kid he was. “Oh, when we're ordered overseas,
I'll show them,” he thought ardently, and picturing to himself long
movie reels of heroism he went off to sleep.
A sharp voice beside his cot woke him with a jerk.
“Get up, you.”
The white beam of a pocket searchlight was glaring in the face of the
man next to him.
“The O. D.” said Fuselli to himself.
“Get up, you,” came the sharp voice again.
The man in the next cot stirred and opened his eyes.
“Get up.”
“Here, sir,” muttered the man in the next cot, his eyes blinking
sleepily in the glare of the flashlight. He got out of bed and stood
unsteadily at attention.
“Don't you know better than to sleep in your O. D. shirt? Take it off.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What's your name?”
The man looked up, blinking, too dazed to speak. “Don't know your own
name, eh?” said the officer, glaring at the man savagely, using his curt
voice like a whip.--“Quick, take off yer shirt and pants and get back to
bed.”
The Officer of the Day moved on, flashing his light to one side and
the other in his midnight inspection of the barracks. Intense blackness
again, and the sound of men breathing deeply in sleep, of men snoring.
As he went to sleep Fuselli could hear the man beside him swearing,
monotonously, in an even whisper, pausing now and then to think of new
filth, of new combinations of words, swearing away his helpless anger,
soothing himself to sleep by the monotonous reiteration of his swearing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account