Read Online Back in her time by Patricia Corbett Bowman - Free Book Online

time.
    â€œYoo-hoo, lost boy. We’re having a conversation here.” The private waved his hands in front of Taylor’s face.
    â€œSorry. I was remembering something.”
    â€œHe gets like this sometimes. You boys returning him to your unit?”
    That got Taylor’s attention. “No! I want to stay with you, Sarge, and the guys. I don’t even know these Highlanders.”
    â€œHe should probably be in sick bay.” The corporal rubbed the stubble on his chin.
    Taylor’s sarge spoke, “You know we can’t spare any able-bodied men, corporal. And he is able-bodied. Just the other day he bragged he could beat me in a foot race.”
    â€œYeah, Reid is always boasting about all the sprinting he did in high school.”
    â€œPlease let me stay with the Sarge until my memory comes back.” Taylor looked from one face to another. “Please.”
    â€œWell, he’s a lot politer than I ever remember. It’s up to you, Sarge. I can submit the transfer. You might as well keep him until it goes through. He obviously doesn’t want to return with us.”
    â€œIf you’ll do the paperwork, then it’s fine with me. We lost a couple of men earlier, and Junior here has stepped up nicely.”
    Taylor held her breath, waiting for the final pronouncement.
    â€œHe’s all yours, then. We have enough on our hands without a ment — a man with memory problems.”
    â€œThanks, corporal, Sarge. You have no idea what this means to me.” Taylor excused herself and went over to where Whitey was standing, whittling what was shaping into a bird. “I get to stay. Sarge stood up for me. Whew. I’m glad that’s over.”
    â€œSo you don’t even remember your own corporal? You have it worse than I thought, Junior. But, I’m glad you’re staying with us. Who else can tell us the future?”
    â€œYou mean that, Whitey? Not about having me stay. I mean about believing that I tell the future?”
    â€œWell, you don’t have to tell the other guys, but yeah, I do.”
    â€œThanks, Whitey. It means a lot that you believe me. Come on. Let’s go tell the others I’m here to stay.”
    At the next rest stop, Taylor approached Sarge to thank him again. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had to join those Highlanders, Sarge. It would be weird being with a unit where I didn’t know anyone all over again. Thanks for keeping me on.”
    â€œYou’ve earned your place with us, Junior. You needn’t worry, though, you would have gone back into their fold as easily as you came into ours.”
    Taylor coughed to cover a choking feeling she felt in her throat. “Coming from you, Sarge, well, that’s — ” She waved a hand and turned her back, walking a few feet away to an olive grove, where she plunked down behind a tree.
    * * *
    Sarge was fiddling with a compass while the captain spoke on the radio inside a small tent erected for the purpose of a headquarters. The privates took turns passing the tent to pick up tidbits: possible tank action, a river crossing, minefields. The men wouldn’t be told too much until it was necessary.
    â€œIntelligence, they call it,” said Mac with a bitter laugh. “How can it be intelligent if we don’t know what’s going on?”
    â€œWhat we don’t know we can’t tell the enemy. Remember the papers we picked up from those dead Germans? I couldn’t read them, but they might be helping our side right now.”
    Taylor was sorry now she hadn’t chosen German as a language to study in high school. She didn’t even pay much attention in French class. The few swear words Dieter’s father yelled at them when they were at his house didn’t help in translating the written words Taylor had read in the papers they had discovered. Oh, well. An expert code-breaker or interpreter would have analyzed them