From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [238]
The other MP, standing, was fishing for his pistol. He stepped toward Prewitt, tugging to get it from the holster. Prew turned and faded down the street out of the light and into the bushes. Over his shoulder he saw the first MP’s pistol sighted on his back. When he hit the bushes he threw himself down and worked, like a rifleman under fire, crawling further in.
“Put that gun away,” the second MP yelled. “Whats the matter with you? You fire in there and kill some moviestar and then we’ll both be up shit creek.”
“Sure,” Maggio said, punching him. “You big ox. Without a paddle.”
“Come here and help me with this madman,” the MP sobbed.
“The other one’ll get away.”
“Let him. Come help me hold this one down, or he will too.”
“Oh, no,” Maggio sobbed. “Not this one. This one wont get away. Sure,” he said. “Come on. You better call in another squad while you’re at it, too. You think two’s enough?”
Prewitt lay in the bushes, breathing hard, not able to see them but hearing all of it.
“Sure,” he heard. “Come on. Hit me some more. Come on. Why, you cant even knock me out. Come on and knock me out. Or else let me up. You fucking sons of bitches. Come on. Is that the best you can do? Come on.”
Prew lay listening and he could hear the fallings of the clubs, muffled and with a penetrating chunk. There were no sounds of fists now.
“You get on back to the Post,” Maggio yelled. “I know what I’m doing. You get on back. You hear?” His voice was muffled.
“Sure. Come on. Why dont you let me up? Come on. I bet you eat Wheaties, dont you?”
The voice stopped after a little while, but the other, the chunking sound, did not. Prewitt lay and listened to it keep on after the voice had stopped. He noticed that his hands were aching and he looked down at them and then unclenched them. He waited till the chunking stopped.
“You want me to go back after the other one, Jack?” he heard one pant.
“Naw, he’s gone by now. Lets get this one in.”
“You ought to get your sergeancy for this one. I wonder what was wrong with this guy. He’s a goddam madman.”
“I dont know,” the other said. “Come on, lets make the call in.”
“This is a lousy job, you know it?”
“I dint ask for it,” the other said. “Did you? Come on, lets get that call in for the wagon.”
Prew started back down toward the beach and the road, Kalia Road, that led to De Russy, traveling low, keeping in the bushes. When he got to the beach he sat down in the sand a while, listening to the water. That was when he found he was crying.
Then he remembered the forty dollars in his pocket.
Book Four
The Stockade
They held Angelo Maggio three days at the Shafter MP Barracks. Then they shipped him back to Schofield under guard. They sent him straight from Shafter to the Post Stockade. He rode past his Company in a recon, on his way to the Stockade. He was held in confinement at the Stockade as a general prisoner while he waited trial. He worked with a sixteen-pound sledge in the stone quarry up by Kolekole Pass. He waited in the Stockade six weeks for his trial to come up.
First Sergeant Milton A Warden made out the papers on Angelo Maggio. They were throwing the book at Angelo Maggio. The Department Provost Marshal was preferring the charges against him. He was charged with Drunk & Disorderly, with Resisting Arrest, with Insubordination, with Disobeying A Direct Order, and with Striking A Non-Commissioned Officer In The Performance Of His Duty. He was also charged with Conduct Unbecoming To A Soldier. The Department Provost Marshal recommended a Special Court Martial. The maximum penalty for a Special Court Martial was confinement for six months at hard labor and forfeiture of all pay and allowances for like period.
It was rumored in the Regiment that Regimental Sergeant Major Pheneas T O’Bannon had told First Sergeant Warden confidentially that if the Department Provost Marshal could have proved Angelo Maggio had seriously hurt somebody or had been AWOL, the Department Provost Marshal would have recommended a General Court Martial. A General Court Martial is the only military