they used to shout my name (now they whisper it)

chapter two: melbourne

After long intense months of training and waiting for the Guadalcanal Campaign to end, King Company was shipped off to Melbourne, Australia. While the survivors of the Guadalcanal Campaign were going to rest and recover, King Company was one of the companies that got to sit back and relax.

Matt spent most of his free time going to pubs and writing letters to his family. His anger at Madison has long since evaporated and now they were often exchanging stories about their friends and their experiences. Madison had yet to be shipped off to a different continent and Matt couldn't help but feel grateful for this. From the stories he had been hearing from his fellow Marines, he did not want Madison in the Pacific.

On one of Matt's nights out, he was hanging around Shelton (now nicknamed Snafu) and a few other Marines. They were drinking, gambling, just having a great time. Burgie hasn't been hanging out with them much lately and Matt knew exactly why: he had met a girl. The girl was named Florence and Matt had to admit, she was a doll. Now when they got married, Matt was going to say "I told you so" to them. (After all, he was the one that introduced the pair to each other.)

Back on track: Matt was having a real good time in the pub, when he heard a familiar voice shout out, "Klein, is that you?"

Matt turned his head up to see who was talking to him. He couldn't believe it.

"Jesus, Sid, is it really you?"

Sidney Phillips grinned and stuck out his hand. "You better believe it. Boy, what were the odds of us ever seeing each other? I never knew you enlisted!"

Matt took Sidney's hand and shook it. He pulled up a chair and so Sidney could sit down. "Yeah, I enlisted as soon as I could. How about you?"

Matt knew Sidney because his aunt and uncle lived in the same town as Sidney and his family did. Matt's cousin was friend's with Sidney's older sister. Matt's cousin had introduced the two boys to each other, and the rest is history. The last time Matt had seen Sidney was three years ago.

"I did the same thing. Eugene—you remember him, right? My best friend? Well, he tried to, but his old man wouldn't let him because of his heart murmur."

"That's a shame, but it's probably for the best, you know?" Matt pondered. "He's a nice kid, really, but—"

Snafu cleared his throat loudly. "Hey, Kraut," Matt had to restrain his eye roll from Snafu's nickname for him. Ever since Snafu realized that his friend was of German descent, that's what he started calling Matt. While Shelton's nickname was a military acronym, Matt's nickname just had to be an insult to the Germans. "Aren't ya going to introduce us to ya friend?"

"Oh, right. Of course! Sidney, these are my friends from my company. The one who just spoke to you? That's Snafu."

"Doesn't that stand for..."

"Situation Normal, All Fucked Up?" Snafu grinned. "It sure does."

"Our friend Burgin gave it to him. You might meet him. You might not," Mat shrugged.

Sidney looked confused. "Where is he?"

"He met a girl," Jay De L'Eau piped up. "Isn't that right, Matt?"

"Right. And that was Jay De L'Eau who just spoke up," Matt pointed out as he took a sip of his beer. "Enough about us. How have you been? I know you went to Guadalcanal."

Sidney started to fidget, appearing to be nervous. "I don't..."

"Relax, you don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to. Let me get us another round and we can talk, okay?"

"So how's your family?" Sidney asked as he started on another glass of beer.

"Mom and Pops are doing just fine, I'd say," Matt took a big gulp of his beer. "Mikey is doing good too. I believe he turned seven not too long ago...or he will be, what's the date? Anyway, and the twins—"

"Madison and Morgan?" Sidney recalled. "The ones that—"

"Yeah, that would be them," Matt intercepted, knowing what his friend from Mobile was getting to. "Anyway, yeah. They're both fifteen now. Jesus, I can't believe they're growing up. Anyway, the last time I wrote to Maddie, she was in Georgia."

"Why would she be in Georgia?" Sidney asked.

It took Matt a few moments before he could answer. "She...uh...well, she's a paratrooper."

Sidney's blue eyes widen. "What?"

"Madison is a paratrooper," Matt sighed, massaging his temple with his fingers. "She had originally signed up to be in the Nurse Corps. My grandmother helped her out on that. Then she got relocated and they fucked up her papers and now she's part of the airborne."

"What about Morgan?" Sidney pried. If they were both involved with the military, then the Klein family was fucked.

"She's still at home, thank God."

* * *

As much as it was fun to kick back in Australia, the training was still on. They still had to wake up at the ass crack of dawn and still had to do exercises. Matt often found himself wresting with Sidney and one of his friends, "Chuckler" Juergens. Chuckler was a great guy to be around. He had a great personality.

Then there was that three days and three nights training. Everyone had to pack up in full gear and head out into the fucking desert or whatever the hell it was and they did their in-combat training. Matt sat with Snafu and Burgin—who seemed to be somewhat sulky. It was probably because he wouldn't see Florence. But Matt knew that Burgie was a strong man and that he would be able to make it through.

Matt found that his three days and three nights out in the wild weren't too bad. He knew that it would be tougher once he was actually in combat.

Then he had to march one hundred miles back to Melbourne. It wouldn't have been bad if he hadn't formed blisters and one his knees were about to give out. (Although when he got his next letter from Madison, he was laughing his ass off. His younger sister had to march 136 miles from Toccoa to Benning, full gear in pack. She complained about all the stuff she had carry—which he would admit, it was a lot—and how her knees became sore and she was swollen in a lot of places. Although she complained, Matt and his friends had to admire the fifteen-year-old. She was a tough cookie, Snafu said.)

After that exercise, Matt spent a lot more time at the field where the Marines were staying. He had to get one of the corpsman to wrap gauze tightly around his left knee because it had almost gone out. Since Matt stayed in his cot for most of the time, his friends would around and his errands for him and when Sidney wasn't with his Australian girl named Gwen, he would stop by with some of his friends from his own company and they would all talk.

Matt had already known Chuckler and Runner from a night of drinking. They were great people. He then met Bill "Hoosier" Smith and Robert Leckie, who seemed to be having a rough time. They all talked about their friends, family and home life. The men of Howl Company also warned Matt of what to expect and gave him advice for when he was truly in combat.

Hoosier had once brought up the subject of Madison being in the Airborne.

"Phillips said that one of your sisters were in the Airborne? He said her name was Madison?"

Matt couldn't help but groan in his pillow. "Yes. Madison signed up to be a nurse but now she's going to jump out of airplanes. As a corpsman."

Leckie whistled. "One kid is fighting Japs in the pacific while another one is jumping out of airplanes in kraut territory. Your family must be proud."

* * *

Days later, the Marines were back on a ship and were heading out into the pacific, only God knew where.