Pitschen ma en gamba - Small, but powerful [A Band of Brothers Story]

Foes and Friends

It didn't take a genius to figure out that some people didn't think Ella belonged in Easy Company. The dirty looks and whispered comments said it all. But the worst of all of them was the CO. The first day was all it took for Ella to know that Lt Sobel hated her very presence.

"You people are at the position of attention!", an angry voice yelled.

Immediately, everybody straightened their backs and turned their gaze forward. Ella focused on the back of one of her platoon leaders, Lewis Nixon.

Lt Sobel stalked down the lines, glaring at the men. He stopped in front of Frank Perconte. After Ella, he was probably the shortest person in the outfit.

"Private Perconte, have you been blousing your trousers over your boots like a paratrooper?", Sobel questioned.

"No sir.", Frank replied.

"Then explain the creases at the bottom", the CO demanded.

Ella swallowed. Her mouth was uncomfortably dry and it had nothing to do with the heat of the Georgian sun.

"No excuse, sir", Frank answered after a moment.

"Volunteering for the Parachuting Infantry is one thing, Perconte", Sobel lectured, "but you got a long way to prove that you belong here."

Without further ado, he revoked Frank's weekend pass. The same happened to Luz because apparently, there was dirt in the rear side aperture of his weapon. Lipton lost his weekend pass because of a loose thread.

Ella bit her lip. This man wasn't just a perfectionist, he was unfair. And that made her nervous.

Sobel stopped in front of her. "Name", he snapped.

"Sawyer, Ella", she answered calmly.

His gaze scrutinised her. "Age?"

"Eighteen, sir."

His eyes narrowed and he leant a little closer. Ella felt herself tense up and hoped that Sobel wouldn't see it. "You look like twelve", he sneered. What a charmer. "How tall are you, Sawyer?"

"5' 2, sir." She forced herself not to look at him and kept her eyes trained on the back of Nixon's head.

Sobel was still looking her up and down. "Your hair is too long. Revoked.", he finally proclaimed, taking away a weekend pass she didn't even have. "If I see it touch your collar again, I will cut it myself, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." She had no doubt he would act on his threat.

"If you can't keep up, I will have you kicked out. I will not allow one female to hinder my company." The last words were said with a menacing twitch of his upper lip.

"Understood, sir."

He moved on. Ella let out a breath. The man to her right, Randleman, shot her a sympathetic glance.

After revoking Liebgott's pass, Sobel stomped to the front of second platoon, holding up Liebgott's bayonet. "I wouldn't want to take this rusty piece of shit to war!", he ranted. "And I will not take you to war in your condition!"

He threw the bayonet down. It stuck in the ground, hilt up.

"Now thanks to these men and their infractions, every man in the company who had a weekend pass has lost it!" He paused. "Change into your PT gear, we're running Currahee."

With that, he stalked off.

Lt Winters about-faced and addressed the platoon: "Second platoon, fall out. You have two minutes."