The Eternity Brigade (5 page)

“Why?” Green asked. “Is it against the law now to slip in a bathroom?”

The second MP, who was obviously the one in charge, looked the situation over closely. Green’s story was weak, and the MP was not a fool. He knew some sort of disturbance had been going on—but he also had been at his job long enough to know that he couldn’t arrest every GI who got into a fight. The situation had obviously cooled down, and wiser heads had prevailed. As long as no one was seriously hurt, he could see no reason to pursue the matter further.

“You’d better watch your step more carefully next time, buddy,” he said to Symington at last. Then, looking over to Connors, he added pointedly, “Both of you.” He turned and started to leave.

“What about my door?” the bartender protested.

Green reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill. “Here, this should cover it,” he said, stuffing it into the proprietor’s hand.

“But—”

“Leaving wet spots on the floor is negligence,” Green pointed out. “You should feel lucky we’re not suing you for damages. Come on, fellows, we’ve got a plane to catch.” With Hawker and Symington at his heels he left the men’s room. They picked up their suitcases from the table where they’d left them and walked out of the bar, down the street and into the bus depot, where they caught a bus to the airport.

Not until they’d boarded their plane did Green speak to Symington. “Now, what was that little fracas all about?”

“I don’t know,” the big man said with a shake of his head. “That fucker’s crazy, that’s all there is to it.”

“There must be more than that. Tell me everything that happened.”

“I just walked in and saw Connors already there. I figured he must be on leave, too—and that meant he probably signed up for the project. I said, ‘I see you changed your mind,’ and he told me to shut up.”

Symington grinned sheepishly. “I guess maybe that’s it. I didn’t shut up. I kept after him, wondering what had made him sign up after he’d been so down on whole idea. He told me to shut up again, then he pushed me, so I pushed him back. Then all of a sudden he hauls off and hits me, right when I wasn’t expecting it. He knocked me backward into the door, and I guess I broke it. I yelled at him what in hell did he think was doing, and all of a sudden he pulls that knife. Then you two came running in, and you know the rest.”

Symington shook his head again. “It was all so stupid.”

“Some people don’t like a big fuss made about it when they’re forced to change their minds,” Green mused. “It reminds them they were wrong the first time.

***

They spent the next day on airplanes, getting to know one another better. They talked mostly about the immediate past, their experiences in Africa during the war, their various likes and dislikes. Symington did much of the talking. He had a wealth of stories about Africa, many of them frankly incredible. “If even half his adventures are true,” Green commented when Symington was away in the lavatory, “he’d be the most decorated sluggo in the whole fucking war.”

By implied mutual consent, none of them talked about their families or their childhoods. It was as though they knew, on a subconscious level, that by committing themselves to this project, they were cutting themselves off from their past forever, and wanted to leave those ghosts buried.
There were plenty of other things to talk about; Symington alone could ramble on for hours without saying anything of importance.

Even Hawker managed to open up and talk a little. In fact, he spoke more to these new acquaintances than he could ever remember speaking to his oldest friends back home. Much to his own surprise—and quite against his conscious intentions—he found himself forming a friendship with these two comrades-in-adversity. He still could not match either of the others in volubility, but nonetheless he was drawn into the circle of intimacy that grew up around the trio.

By the time they reached Las Vegas, they felt they’d known one another for years. Green suggested they check into a small motel to save their money, but Symington would have none of that. They were here to have fun, he insisted, and that meant first class all the way. Similarly, he insisted on a separate room for himself. “You guys can share if you want,” he said, “but I plan on running the broads through like a cattle call, and I don’t need you interfering, if you know what I mean.”

They ended up staying at the brand new Bellissima Hotel. Hawker and Green did decide to share a room, while Symington went off on his own. None of them had ever been to Las Vegas before, but Symington fell immediately into the fever pace of a twenty-four-hour town. Hawker and Green were tired after the long plane flights, and slept for most of the first afternoon. By the time they awoke and went down to the hotel’s casino, they found Symington playing the roulette wheel with reckless abandon, placing bets with his right hand with his left clamped firmly about the waist of some pretty girl he’d already managed to pick up.

The pair wandered about the casino floor for a while, dropping some coins into the slot machines and sitting in for a few hands of blackjack, but not getting totally involved in anything. By the time they wandered back to the roulette table, Symington had vanished along with the girl, and they didn’t press their investigation any further.

They went to the bar for a few drinks, had dinner, saw a revue, then gambled some more in earnest before finally calling it a night at 3
AM
and collapsing in their room. The next day they bought swimming trunks and sat out by the pool, lazily soaking up the desert sun. That was where Symington eventually caught up with them again.

“Close your eyes, fellows,” he said as he approached them. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Obligingly, Hawker and Green closed their eyes until Symington told them they could look again. The big man had brought with him a trio of beautiful women, absolute knockouts in their skimpy bikinis. “I never did properly thank you for saving my ass back there in the bar,” he said. “I just thought this was one way to show my appreciation. Take your pick—except Laura here, I’m afraid I saw her first.”

Hawker and Green were both speechless, so Symington, never one to abide a long silence, jumped into the breach. “Felicia, why don’t you get yourself acquainted with my friend the Hawk over there? Maya, this is my friend David Green. Normally he talks a lot; I guess he’s just struck dumb by how beautiful you are.” As the girl named Felicia moved over to stand beside Hawker’s chair, Symington brought Maya over and set her gently down in Green’s lap. “There, isn’t that better?”

Felicia was rubbing her long-nailed hands through Hawker’s chest hair in an erotic pattern that instantly produced the desired results. Self-consciously Hawker crossed his legs to hide the growing bulge in his trunks.

Hawker’s embarrassment, though, was nothing compared to Green’s. That young man’s face was brick-red, and he made a great effort to keep his hands firmly on the arms of his chair and away from Maya’s tempting flesh. “Uh, Lucky, this is very kind of you—”

‘Think nothing of it, ol’ buddy. I always repay favors.”

“It’s just that I, uh, right now that is…”

“Don’t be so shy, Dave. You don’t want Maya thinking you’re queer, do you?”

If anything, Green’s blush only deepened. “I, uh, I forgot I already made another appointment.” He lifted Maya off his lap and stood up. “If, uh, if you’ll excuse me….” He backed away a few steps, then turned and walked quickly back into the hotel.

Symington was left with his mouth open. “I’ll be damned.” Turning to Hawker, he added, “You don’t suppose he really
is
a fag, do you?”

Hawker was equally puzzled by their friend’s behavior. “I don’t know,” he said. “I didn’t think so. He seemed perfectly normal. I don’t know what got into him.”

With a characteristic shrug, Symington dismissed the problem from his mind. “Oh well, that just means there’s more for us, doesn’t it?” He put an arm around the deserted Maya and pulled her closer to him. “I never tried it with two at once, it might be kinda fun. Have fun with Felicia,” he waved back at Hawker as he led his two women off to his room.

Hawker was worried about Green, but Felicia’s expert ministrations soon made him put the thought to the back of his mind. He was a little concerned, as he led the woman back to his own room, that Green might already be there and he knocked self-consciously before entering. But Green was not there; Hawker and Felicia had the room and the afternoon all to themselves.

Afterward, Hawker made sure to give Felicia a generous tip, even though he was sure Symington had already paid her well. Felicia smiled and thanked him, and told him that she stopped by the hotel every couple of days if he should want to see her again. After she left, Hawker returned to his bed and slept soundly for several hours.

It was after dark when he awoke. There was no sign that Green had returned to the room. Hawker tried Green’s cell phone, but got no answer. Now seriously worried, he set out to search for him. He checked the casino and the restaurants without success. A waitress in the bar said Green had spent most of the afternoon there, running up a tab and getting progressively drunker. She remembered him staggering out several hours ago, and he hadn’t been back since.

Hawker checked the lobby and the casino again, but there was still no sign of his friend. If Green had wandered off to one of the other hotels there’d be no way of finding him until he decided to reappear. Hawker was half ready to make the rounds of the city anyway, but decided to give the grounds one more search. On a hunch he checked out by the pool, and that was where he spotted the lone figure sitting motionless in a deck chair staring into the surface of the water.

Hawker came up slowly behind him, and saw that it was indeed Green. The young man had a drink in his hand, but was staring intently into the swimming pool as though trying to fathom from it the secrets of the universe. He looked up as Hawker reached his side, then returned his gaze to the water.

Hawker pulled up another chair and sat down beside his friend. For a long time, neither man spoke. The night was warm and quiet. Finally Green tired of the silence. “I suppose you think I’m gay.”

“I don’t know,” Hawker shrugged.

“Sure, why not? That’s the logical assumption, isn’t it? I’ll bet that’s what Lucky thinks.”

“He asked me if I thought you were,” Hawker said. “I told him I didn’t know.”

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know, isn’t there?” Green raised his glass to his lips, then put it down again without drinking from it. Taking a deep breath and letting it out again, he continued, “Well, I’m not. So there. But it might simplify a lot of things if I were.”

Hawker accepted that with his usual silence.

Green let the quiet reign for a few more minutes before breaking it again. “We’re all being pushed, Hawk. We’re all being pushed into this damned project, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”

“No one forced us to volunteer.”

“The push was made a long time ago,” Green said, shaking his head. “Before we ever knew what was happening. Except for Lucky. I really think he
enjoys
this kind of crap. A natural-born volunteer. He’s going to die in action with a smile on his face.

“Connors, too. Something pushed him hard. He didn’t like it. Probably fought it like a wildcat. No use. That’s why he blew up at Lucky. He was mad at himself for being pushed, and had to let it out somewhere. Lucky just got in the way.”

Green paused and looked straight into Hawker’s face. “And you, my little sphinx. You’re the major mystery. Something pushed you, and I can’t read what it was. You look like you’re drifting, but you’re pushed just like the rest of us. Wish I knew why.”

Hawker wanted to explain the fear he’d felt at being forced out on his own, the anxiety at taking responsibility for his own life, the dread of making decisions. It was all much simpler, he wanted to say, when the choices were made for you; then you could just accept it and not have to worry.

But the words refused to come. He was never comfortable with words, and especially around someone as smart as Green. He didn’t want to look like a dummy so he preferred to say nothing.

Green kept staring at him, and Hawker was forced to turn away. After a few minutes, the other man said, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Hawker asked.

“Aren’t you going to ask me?”

“Ask you what?”

Green exploded. “Ask me what’s pushing
me
, you moron! Aren’t you interested? Don’t you want to know? Don’t you have even the faintest shred of curiosity? God gave you a brain, the most magnificent computer ever devised, to set you apart from the chimpanzees and the orangutans. Are you just going to let it go to waste? Don’t you even care what’s going on around you? Don’t you care what makes things work? Don’t you wonder, even a little bit, why people do the things they do?”

Hawker was dazed by the sudden outburst. “I… I always sort of thought that was none of my business.”

Green relaxed again, and then began laughing uncontrollably. “You are one of a kind, you know that?”

“I don’t see what’s so funny,” Hawker said, hurt that the other man would be laughing at him.

“You wouldn’t,” Green said, and continued laughing.