German-Jewish

Chapter 1

                "Sergeant Pierson, Lieutenant Turner, this is Private Marta Fertig. She is assigned to fix your mechanical equipment around camp."

This place looked bad. Like, really bad. Everything mechanical was broken. This was going to be hard.

"Pleasure to meet you," one of them held out their large hand. Turner. Turner was the one who looked friendlier.

"And you too," I replied and shook his hand. The other one—Pierson—looked surprised. I forgot that they probably don't get many people with German accents around here.

"I'll show you around," Turner said to me and motioned for me to follow him. Once we were away from the woman who escorted me and Pierson, he gave me a smile as we walked. "Ignore Pierson's look. He's not used to having anyone other than American boys around."

"Well, I will only be here until I fix what you need," I said. "I don't plan on staying longer than I need to. No offense, Sir, but spending my time around a bunch of men who haven't had physical contact with a woman in who knows how long is not my idea of fun."

"I do not blame you at all," he chuckled. "If you need anything, our most respectable men will be there to help."

"I appreciate that. Thank you." We continued walking until he brought me to an area with all of their broken equipment. He showed me what's-what and asked if I was hungry. It had to be past lunch-time. Of course I was. He escorted me to get food and asked if I'd like for him to sit with me, since he had to eat too. I accepted his offer. I appreciate how nice he is.

After a bit of silence, I asked him, "do you have somewhere for me to stay, if I need to? This equipment may take a few days to fix."

"Of course. We actually have a couple options. You can have your own tent, but if you find a group of guys you're comfortable with and you're more comfortable staying with others, that's fine too. We're very grateful you've traveled all the way here to do this for us."

"Thank you," I smiled. After another moment and after I had finished my food, I asked him another question. "Do you think that people will be bothered because of how I sound? I don't want to cause any trouble."

"If anyone gives you trouble, give 'em a good elbow. You're just about the perfect height for it."

I laughed and stood up. We parted and I started to work. It had been at least a few hours and I heard someone, or a group it sounded like, coming in. They looked young, so it was safe to assume they were at the same rank as me.

"The rumors are true, then," one of the guys laughed. "Frank Aiello," he held out a hand and I quickly shook it.

"Drew Stiles," another nodded and held up his camera. "Um, I just wanted to see if it was ok if I took some pictures of you working sometime? If we publish them in a newspaper or something we might be able to boost morale, get more women to recruit, whatever else can happen?"

I said a quiet "sure, yeah," and looked at the others.

"Red Daniels."

I tried memorizing who was who, and shook all of their hands accordingly. I waited to talk for as long as possible. I won't lie; I've been scared about this. Finally one asked my name.

"Um," I said quietly, "Marta Fertig. Pleasure to meet you all."

They all kind of looked at each other for a second.