ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I would like to thank William Raney, Theodore SAmussen, and Charles Devlin for the aid and encouragement given me at various times in the writing of this novel
To my Mother and Bea
PART ONE
Wave
1
NOBODY COULD sleepWhen morning came, assault craft would be lowered and a first wave of troops would ride through the surf and charge ashore on the beach at AnopopeiAll over the ship, all through the convoy, there was a knowledge that in a few hours some of them were going to be dead
A soldier lies flat on his bunk, closes his eyes, and remains wide-awakeAll about him, like the soughing of surf, he hears the murmurs of men dozing fitfully"I won't do it, I won't do it," someone cries out of a dream, and the soldier opens his eyes and gazes slowly about the hold, his vision becoming lost in the intricate tangle of hammocks and naked bodies and dangling equipmentHe decides he wants to go to the head, and cursing a little, he wriggles up to a sitting position, his legs hanging over the bunk, the steel pipe of the hammock
new omega watches above cutting across his hunched backHe sighs, reaches for his shoes, which he has tied to a stanchion, and slowly puts them onHis bunk is the fourth in a tier of five, and he climbs down uncertainly in the half-darkness, afraid of stepping on one of the men in the hammocks below himOn the floor he picks his way through a tangle of bags and packs, stumbles once over a rifle, and makes his way to the bulkhead doorHe passes through another hold whose aisle is just as cluttered, and finally reaches the head Inside the air is steamingEven now a man is using the sole fresh-water shower, which has been occupied ever since the troops have come on boardThe soldier walks past the crap games in the unused salt-water shower stalls, and squats down on the wet split boards of the latrineHe has forgotten his cigarettes and he bums one from a man sitting a few feet awayAs he smokes he looks at the black wet floor littered with butts, and listens to the water sloshing through the latrine boxThere has been really no excuse for coming, but he continues to sit on the box because it is
louis vuitton backpacks cooler here, and the odor of the latrine, the brine, the chlorine, the clammy bland smell of wet metal is less oppressive than the heavy sweating fetor of the troop holdsThe soldier remains for a long time, and then slowly he stands up, hoists his green fatigue pants, and thinks of the struggle to get back to his bunkHe knows he will lie there waiting for the dawn and he says to himself, I wish it was time already, I don't give a damn, I wish it was time alreadyAnd as he returns, he is thinking of an early morning in his childhood when he had lain awake because it was to be his birthday and his mother had promised him a party
Early that evening Wilson and Gallagher and Staff Sergeant Croft had started a game of seven card stud with a couple of orderlies from headquarters platoonThey had grabbed the only empty place on the hold deck where it was possible to see the cards once the lights were turned offEven then they were forced to squint, for the only bulb still lit was a blue one near the ladder, and it was difficult to tell the red suits from the blackThey had been
omega de ville men's watches playing for hours, and by now they were in a partial stuporIf the hands were unimportant, the betting was automatic, almost unconscious Wilson's luck had been fair from the very beginning, but after one series in which he had taken three games in a row it had become phenomenalHe was feeling very goodThere was a stack of Australian pound notes scattered sloppily and extravagantly under his crossed legs, and while he felt it was bad luck to count his money, he knew he must have won nearly a hundred poundsIt gave him a thick lustful sensation in his throat, the kind of excitement he received from any form of abundance"Ah tell ya," he announced to Croft in his soft southern voice, "this kind of money is gonna be the ruination of me yetAh never will be able to figger out these goddam poundsThe Aussies work out everythin' backwards
Croft gave no answerHe was losing a little, but, more annoying, his hands had been drab all night Gallagher grunted scornfully"What the hell! With your kind of luck you don't have to figure your moneyAll you need is an arm to pick it up
cheap chanel purses with"That's right, boy, but it's gonna have to be a mighty powerful arm He laughed again with an easy, almost childish glee and began to dealHe was a big man about thirty years old with a fine mane of golden-brown hair, and a healthy ruddy face whose large features were formed cleanlyIncongruously, he wore a pair of round silver-rimmed glasses which gave him at first glance a studious or, at least, a methodical appearanceAs he dealt his fingers seemed to relish the teasing contact of the cardsHe was daydreaming about liquor, feeling rather sad because with all the money he had now, he couldn't even buy a pint"You know," he laughed easily, "with all the goddam drinkin' Ah've done, Ah still can't remember the taste of it unless Ah got the bottle right with me He reflected for a moment, holding an undealt card in his hand, and then chuckled"It's just like lovin'When a man's got it jus' as nice and steady as he wants it, well, then he never can remember what it's like without itAnd when he ain't got it, they ain't nothin' harder than for him to keep in mind what a pussy feels
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