The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

61: Keep It Hush Hush

Camp de Châlons was somehow even bleaker in Charlie's return than it had been before she'd left. Perhaps it was because it paled in comparison to Paris, perhaps it was because she wasn't coming back from the line and almost in tears at the thought of using a real shower, perhaps it was simply colder and wetter now than it had been before. Regardless, it was with a heavy heart that Charlie unpacked her carpet bag and set about getting ready for bed. She didn't feel like eating dinner today; that just seemed like too big an ordeal right now.

Now that she no longer had to worry about wasting time in Paris, Charlie was fast asleep by 1900 and only woke up for lunch the following day. After that, she was straight back to sleep again, making the most of her days off before she was inevitably put back to work in an empty field hospital. She didn't wake again until dinner when Mabs shook her awake.

Charlie sat with eyes drooping at the nurses' designated table in the mess hall. Here in camp was the first time they'd ever shared a mess hall with the men in the company, and though Charlie had been to the one back in Aldbourne, she was still struck by the wave of sheer noise in the air as she tried to force herself to eat. Maybe it was because she was still half asleep, but, goodness, could these men shout.

"New replacements are lively," Boo said, frowning as she surveyed the room.

New replacements. Charlie had forgotten. She supposed that explained the cacophony; overexcited privates.

"Whose idea was it to send replacements to veterans' R&R?" Mabs grumbled into her food. "Those fuckers must be fresh out the damn womb."

Charlie smiled into a sip of her water but said nothing. They did look spectacularly young, though. Was it possible the replacements were getting younger with every new batch they got?

"Alright, I got mail!" called Private Vest, who was generally put on mail duty, as he entered the mess hall. "Alright, Alley, James H.," Vest began to call, but of course his voice drowned in amongst the chaos.

"Goddamn," Mabs mumbled, rubbing at her forehead.

Charlie turned her eyes on the rest of the room, trying to find Moe Alley herself to get his attention for Vest.

"Alley, James H.!" Vest called, a little louder this time.

Still, nothing.

"Alley, James H.!" Vest tried once more.

That was enough attempts for Mabs, who promptly shot to her feet and turned on the rest of the room. "Now, I suggest you stop your incessant yappin' like a pack 'a damn children long enough for everyone to get their mail or so help me God the next time you need a nurse to stick your organs back inside your body you'll be turned away."

Silence.

"Shut. Up."

Assured that the quiet would endure, Mabs eased her scowl and gave a satisfied sigh as she lowered herself back into her seat. "You may proceed," she said to Vest, who gave her a grateful, if somewhat terrified, nod.

"Alley, James H.," he tried a final time, and this time was greeted with a called reply of, "Over here!"

At their table, it was Mabs who got her mail first, the pile apparently ordered alphabetically by last name, but she refrained from opening her letter until everyone else had theirs. Next came Boo's, then Charlie's, and then Autumn's.

When Charlie made to tear open her letter, she was surprised to find not one but two envelopes sitting on the table before her. In her haste to take her mail from Vest, who had seemed like he was drowning in his own stress in the whole ordeal, she hadn't even realised.