the one who closes the door, you know.”
Closes the door? Good God. My father jumped out of airplanes—and then reached back and closed the door?
A slow-cooking smile spread across the soldier’s face like he knew I was swallowing every word he said. He let me think for a while before he added, “Last one out. It means the last one to jump outta the plane. Nobody closes the door.” He patted my shoulder. “Shoot, you got a lot to learn, Legs, if you wanna do this for a living someday.”
“Levi,” I said, thinking maybe he hadn’t heard my name before.
“Naw, everybody who don’t jump is called legs around here. You’re Legs.” Lifting his cane again, the soldier rapped it against his bum leg. “Me, I’m half legs right now. Landed on a tree stump in February when we were coming down in the dark and busted my doggone foot in two places. Haven’t jumped since.” He stuck out his warm hand to shake mine. “Anyhow, I’m Calvin Thomas, one of your daddy’s outfit. The Nickles. The troopers. The jumpers. Whatever you want to call us. But everybody around here knows me as Cal.”
His face grew serious as he glanced down at my suitcase, which was still open on the floor with my daddy’s picture sitting right on top, letters scattered all over the place. There was an uncomfortable long silence before he said, “You traveled all this way hoping to see him, huh?”
Right then I knew it wasn’t gonna happen. I been leftbehind enough times to be able to tell bad news is coming before it does. Put on my silent movie face and waited for whatever I was gonna be told next. In the distance, a roll of thunder rumbled as if a storm was moving in from somewhere. Cal rubbed the handle of his cane with his thumb, making little circles. Cleared his throat.
“Well, knowing your daddy like I does, I’m sure he woulda given anything in the world to be here today to see you. Anything in the world. But the honest truth is, the men got orders from the army and had to ship out real sudden. The whole battalion left. You only missed them by a little.” He paused as if he was weighing how much more to say. “They pulled outta here by train early yesterday morning.”
Yesterday
.
Now, I’ll admit missing my father by one day stung a little. No doubt about it. Twenty-four hours was a hard fact to swallow. Tried not to let Cal hear the sigh slipping out of me as I put the blame square on Queen Bee Walker’s curse again—for being the first to leave and causing all the rest.
Looking down, Cal kept rubbing his thumb on the cane. “I’m real sorry to be the one to give you that bad news. I’m sure it ain’t easy to hear after all your trouble coming this far.”
The rumbling outside grew louder.
“Their orders were top-secret—so even if your daddy wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you much. None of them knew their destination. Probably still don’t.That’s the army for you—you don’t find out where you’re going until you get there.” He glanced toward the windows, where bright lightning was starting to flash. “My best guess is, they’re heading to the Pacific to fight the Japs. Or they could be on their way to another U.S. Army post, who knows. Once my foot heals up, I’ll probably get my orders to join them somewhere too. All I can tell you for certain is their train left Fayetteville yesterday going north. Probably heading north first, then west to the Pacific.”
I kept acting like my Big Man self. Like it didn’t much matter to me. It was nothing but a fist in the stomach that was supposed to hurt but didn’t.
“He moves around a lot.” I gave one of my careless shrugs. What I didn’t say was how you couldn’t catch up with my daddy before the war either. Back when I was in grammar school, he used to drive his old jalopy all over Illinois selling encyclopedias outta the backseat of it. Stuck me with Granny while he was gone. Just passing the time, I used to play with one of the
Closes the door? Good God. My father jumped out of airplanes—and then reached back and closed the door?
A slow-cooking smile spread across the soldier’s face like he knew I was swallowing every word he said. He let me think for a while before he added, “Last one out. It means the last one to jump outta the plane. Nobody closes the door.” He patted my shoulder. “Shoot, you got a lot to learn, Legs, if you wanna do this for a living someday.”
“Levi,” I said, thinking maybe he hadn’t heard my name before.
“Naw, everybody who don’t jump is called legs around here. You’re Legs.” Lifting his cane again, the soldier rapped it against his bum leg. “Me, I’m half legs right now. Landed on a tree stump in February when we were coming down in the dark and busted my doggone foot in two places. Haven’t jumped since.” He stuck out his warm hand to shake mine. “Anyhow, I’m Calvin Thomas, one of your daddy’s outfit. The Nickles. The troopers. The jumpers. Whatever you want to call us. But everybody around here knows me as Cal.”
His face grew serious as he glanced down at my suitcase, which was still open on the floor with my daddy’s picture sitting right on top, letters scattered all over the place. There was an uncomfortable long silence before he said, “You traveled all this way hoping to see him, huh?”
Right then I knew it wasn’t gonna happen. I been leftbehind enough times to be able to tell bad news is coming before it does. Put on my silent movie face and waited for whatever I was gonna be told next. In the distance, a roll of thunder rumbled as if a storm was moving in from somewhere. Cal rubbed the handle of his cane with his thumb, making little circles. Cleared his throat.
“Well, knowing your daddy like I does, I’m sure he woulda given anything in the world to be here today to see you. Anything in the world. But the honest truth is, the men got orders from the army and had to ship out real sudden. The whole battalion left. You only missed them by a little.” He paused as if he was weighing how much more to say. “They pulled outta here by train early yesterday morning.”
Yesterday
.
Now, I’ll admit missing my father by one day stung a little. No doubt about it. Twenty-four hours was a hard fact to swallow. Tried not to let Cal hear the sigh slipping out of me as I put the blame square on Queen Bee Walker’s curse again—for being the first to leave and causing all the rest.
Looking down, Cal kept rubbing his thumb on the cane. “I’m real sorry to be the one to give you that bad news. I’m sure it ain’t easy to hear after all your trouble coming this far.”
The rumbling outside grew louder.
“Their orders were top-secret—so even if your daddy wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you much. None of them knew their destination. Probably still don’t.That’s the army for you—you don’t find out where you’re going until you get there.” He glanced toward the windows, where bright lightning was starting to flash. “My best guess is, they’re heading to the Pacific to fight the Japs. Or they could be on their way to another U.S. Army post, who knows. Once my foot heals up, I’ll probably get my orders to join them somewhere too. All I can tell you for certain is their train left Fayetteville yesterday going north. Probably heading north first, then west to the Pacific.”
I kept acting like my Big Man self. Like it didn’t much matter to me. It was nothing but a fist in the stomach that was supposed to hurt but didn’t.
“He moves around a lot.” I gave one of my careless shrugs. What I didn’t say was how you couldn’t catch up with my daddy before the war either. Back when I was in grammar school, he used to drive his old jalopy all over Illinois selling encyclopedias outta the backseat of it. Stuck me with Granny while he was gone. Just passing the time, I used to play with one of the
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