From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [275]
“How about Went to town on Tuesday?” Slade said.
“Say: Took my ghelt,” Prew suggested. “Took my ghelt to town on Tuesday. Sounds more like Army,” he said, thinking of Angelo Maggio.
“It doesnt rhyme,” Slade said. “I mean rhythm. You know.”
“Thats all right,” Andy said softly. “You can run the first three words together.”
“Okay then,” Slade said. He wrote that down.
“Got a room and a big double bed,” Friday said excitedly, suddenly high.
They were all high now, pulled up by Slade’s excitement. It was like they were four statues standing wide-legged in an electric storm with spatulate spread fingers emitting sparks that jumped from one of them to another, then back again.
“Find a job tomorrow,” Prew said.
“Tonight you may be dead,” Andy said softly, playing.
“Aint no time to lose. Re-enlistment Blues,” Slade laughed delightedly, scribbling faster.
“Hit the bars on Wednesday,” Prew said. “My friends put me up on a throne.”
“Found a hapa-Chinee baby,” Friday grinned. “Swore she never would leave me alone.”
“Did I give her a bruise?” Andy said softly, almost sadly. “Re-enlistment Blues!”
“Wait. Wait,” Slade cried delightedly. “Let me get this down. God damn. Its coming too fast now.”
They waited while he scribbled frantically. Then they went on, holding themselves up high by the bootstraps of their own creativeness that they had not believed they had, looking at each other a little astonishedly that it could be so easy.
They finished two more verses, in rapid fire, before Slade called another halt, his round face and the barrel of his pencil gleaming ecstatically in the light from the flash.
“Let me get it now,” he pleaded. “Wait’ll I get it down. There,” he said, “now. Let me read it to you. Before we go ahead. See just what we’ve got.”
“Okay, read it,” Prew said. He was snapping the fingers of both hands nervously. Andy was still chording the melody softly, as if to himself. Friday had got up and was moving around.
“Okay,” Slade said. “Here goes. The Re-enlistment Blues——”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Friday said, looking down toward the bivouac. “Aint that somebody comin up here?”
They all turned to look down the hill, watching like balcony spectators of a drama. The little cluster of lights had appeared again around the deeper blackness of the truck. One of them had detached itself from the cluster and was rocking and bouncing toward them, up the path.
“That’ll be old Weary Russell,” Andy said. “Come to get me to go back to the goddamned CP.”
“Oh, hell,” Friday said anxiously. “Aint we goin to get to finish it?”
“You guys can finish it,” Andy said. “After I’m gone,” he said bitterly. “You can show it to me tomorrow.”
“Oh, no,” Prew said. “We all started it. We’ll all finish it. Old Weary wont mind waitin a little.”
Andy looked at him sourly. “No, Weary wont. But the lootenant sure as hell will.”
“Thats all right,” Prew frowned nervously. “You know how they are. They always hang around for half an hour or so before they take off. Come on,” he said nervously to Slade. “Come on, read it.”
“Okay,” Slade said. “Here goes. The Re-enlistment Blues— ” He held the notebook and the flash up to his face. Then he dropped the notebook and slapped savagely at his neck.
“Mosquito,” he said guiltily. “I’m sorry.”
“Here,” Prew said urgently. “Let me hold the fucking flash. Now read it, goddam it. We aint got much time to get it finished.”
“Okay,” Slade said. “Here goes. The Re-enlistment Blues—” He looked around at all of them. “The Re-enlistment Blues.”
“The Re-enlistment Blues,” he said again.
“Got paid out on Monday
Not a dog soljer no more
They gimme all that money
So much my pockets is sore
More dough than I can use. Re-enlistment Blues.
“Took my ghelt to town on Tuesday
Got a room and a big double bed
Find a job tomorrow
Tonight you may be dead
Aint no time to lose. Re-enlistment Blues.
“Hit the bars on Wednesday
My friends put me up on a throne
Found a hapa-Chinee baby
Swore she never