A Soldier of No Importance [ Band of Brothers ] 1

FIFTEEN

By Wednesday, Alice felt herself going stir crazy. The doctor had looked at her wound. All signs pointed to her making a full and speedy recovery. But for Alice, it couldn't happen fast enough. They still restricted her activities. No running Currahee, no weight training, only prescribed stretches, and definitely no combat training. On top of all that, the boys disappeared at 0500 and didn't return for any meaningful amount of time until dinner. And as much as she found herself loathe to admit, she really, genuinely missed them.

She took a walk by herself while the boys ran Currahee after lunch. That morning, Sobel had been promoted to Captain, and he took great pleasure in forcing the also newly promoted Dick Winters to cook a spaghetti meal for the men. Of course, being Sobel, he'd also decided to cancel lecture after lunch in favor of Currahee. Alice could only imagine how terrible the men would be feeling. And on top of feeling for the men, Alice felt incredibly dejected to not be able to sit in on a lecture with her friends.

Friends. The word felt heavy in her mind. She'd often off the cuff mentioned friendship to them. When George had started the cheek kissing, he'd said friend. But for the first time since arriving in America, Alice truly believed it. They were friends. And it hurt her to think so. She'd never been in the sort of combat that likely awaited the 506th someday, but she'd lost Maquis fighters. It hurt, every single time.

Along with Winters and Sobel's promotions, the men had received a few over a couple of days. Lipton, Talbert, Ranney, and Harris became Sergeants, and many of the rest of the men were promoted to Corporal. By Tuesday morning they had already lost their weekend passes due to miniscule infractions.

As Alice contemplated the murder of Sobel, she rounded the barracks. The men of Easy Company strode out of their barracks, towels and shower kits in hand. Many of them looked worse for wear, and she saw Gene and Spina looking over a few. Alice frowned. She spotted Nixon and Dick walking side by side. The former's eyes blazed in anger. She jogged to join them.

"Didn't go well?" Alice looked back at the men again. Then she looked the two Lieutenants up and down. "Are you two all right?"

"The men managed," Dick said.

But Nixon scoffed. "Sobel's a bastard. A smart bastard, but still a bastard. The company hates him so much he may wake up with a grenade in his shorts someday."

"Nix you can't just talk like that."

But Nixon just scoffed. Alice left them to go shower, turning instead back to the enlisted men. She hurried back to the barracks. To her surprise, a letter sat on her bed. Alice looked at it carefully. It definitely wasn't Nixon's. The handwriting on the envelope looked scratchy, quickly written. She opened it, sitting on her cot. Immediately she smiled.

"Dear love of my life,

"I bet you can guess it's George Luz. Doc came up with the idea to write you letters and I figured I'd take advantage of being able to write you a love letter while I could. Frank is brushing his teeth as I write this. That man is crazy about his dental hygiene. 

"Hope you're enjoying no Currahee. I tried to take up your singing talent today (Monday), but I don't think the boys like me as much as your French. Can't say I blame them. Jesus, your French is amazing. Are all you French people amazing, or is it just you?

"I don't know what to say in this. So maybe I'll just ask some questions. Since, you know, we actually don't know that much about you. 

"1. What's your favorite color (this is Maria's favorite question so I need to ask if)

"2. Do you prefer to think of yourself as French or German?

"3. When's your birthday?

"See you after dinner,
"Corporal George Luz."