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

The Island

"Heads up, Shorty!", Talbert called when he saw the brunette heading towards HQ.

Ella turned and was barrelled over by a mass of fur and paws. Her eyes grew huge with wonder and she let out a delighted squeak. Jumping around her was a beautiful German Shepherd, tail wagging as it yipped excitedly.

"Oh, was bish du denn für n hübscha?", she gushed, sitting up and stroking the dog's surprisingly soft fur. He barked once and licked her hand, relishing the attention. The girl scratched behind his ears and petted his head, grinning from ear to ear.

"Like him?", Tab asked.

She nodded. "He's a beauty. Where'd you find him?"

"Don't know. He just started following me last night."

The dog snuggled up to her, panting and rubbing his head against her.

Laughing, the small girl bent her head so that their noses were nearly touching and looked the dog in the eyes. "Bish a ganz an feina", she cooed, face filled with sheer joy. He licked her cheek in response, making her laugh. "Jo jo, ish doch guat."

Looking up at Tab, who was watching her with a silly grin on his face, she asked: "You got a name for him yet?"

He shook his head. "No. But I'll think of something. Right boy?" He reached out and stroked the dog's back.

Getting to their feet, they walked to the huge brick and mortar barn where they had set up their quarters, the dog leading the way. Ella flopped down onto a seat next to Luz, who tousled her hair before going back to tinkering with his radio.

Tab went over to Dukeman, his new pet right on his heels. Captain Winters was cleaning his rifle at the table. He acknowledged them with a friendly nod and a scanning glance.

Having nothing else to do, Ella pulled out her ratty journal. Carrying it with her wherever they went, it had a lot of creases and dog-ears by now. Flipping through the pages, the girl noticed she hadn't written anything in over a week. Scratching at a spot on her forehead with her pencil, she began writing about what had happened over the last few days.

It wasn't a dry, factual report like the ones she'd filled out earlier. She just wrote down whatever came to her mind. The events mixed with thoughts and emotions. Fear, hope, frustration. Even joy.

To some, it might seem odd, but Ella had made a habit out of finding at least one good thing to write about each day. Lives saved, friendly civilians, nice weather, a few laughs shared with her friends. Even the smallest thing like a colourful leaf or the smell of autumn.

***

"You okay?"

"Hm?" Ella looked up into Luz' warm brown eyes. His ever-present smile had a small edge of concern to it. "Yeah, I'm okay." She smiled back at him and the worry dissolved.

"Good. You wanna give me a hand?"

She leant forward, tucking her journal away. "Sure, what do you need?"

George handed her a bunch of wires and asked her to disentangle them. "If the wrong wires get crossed, we could accidentally transmit to the Krauts", he mumbled around the screws he was holding between his lips.

The girl chuckled. "Well, wouldn't that be fun?", she asked, a teasing smirk creeping onto her face. "We could chat about the weather and swap recipes."

Luz laughed so hard he nearly swallowed a screw.

Their conversation was interrupted by Tab's Shepherd bounding over to Ella and dropping a stick in her lap. "Oh da ish abr liab", the girl smiled, scratching behind the dog's ears. "I'm assuming you want me to throw that for you?"