Evelyn's Tale

-Thirty Three-

17th March, 1945- Mourmelon (Field Camp)

After three weeks of respite in Mourmelon, Easy company were beginning to feel like their old selves again with each passing day. Tiny flower buds were shooting up out of the earth, bringing with them the promise and hope of spring. As the weather began to warm ever so slightly, the horrors of winter were slowly becoming a distant nightmare. Sleeping on cots all night and being woken by a dawn chorus instead of mortar shells raining down on them was a luxury they had all too quickly gotten used to. And the rest of their daily routine wasn't too shabby either.

After as much food as they could stuff into their mouths and stomachs, there was the obligatory roll call followed by a few hours of training. Then it was lunchtime, which filled them up nicely in time to spend the entire afternoon doing mostly whatever they pleased. Playing cards, writing letters to home, watching a movie, sleeping. Then to top it all off, they were rewarded with a third and final meal for the day. There was so much food to go around, it was almost hard to imagine sitting in the Bois Jacques wondering when they were ever going to get to eat a real meal again.

There was only one downside to Mourmelon. Replacements. They were everywhere. Young men, eager to prove themselves and itching for some action. They couldn't understand why their seasoned comrades weren't chomping at the bit to leave their veritable haven. Patrick O'Keefe was one such replacement. He was nice enough, but from the moment he arrived, his mouth barely stopped moving and the outpouring of questions never seemed to end. Even Evelyn, who usually found herself a lot more patient with replacements than everyone else, was quickly losing her sanity. In an attempt not to snap at the poor boy, she headed off for a walk outside in the fresh air just to get away from his incessant chatter. Across the field, she spotted David Webster sitting underneath a tree reading a book and minding his own business.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

"Not at all," Webster smiled.

"This is a nice peaceful spot you've found," she glanced around, using her hand to shield her eyes from the bright spring sunshine.

"It was," he teased lightly.

"Sorry," she grinned sheepishly. "I just couldn't stand another minute of listening to O'Keefe harp on about how he's ready to take Hitler down single handed."

"Yeah, he's rather an enthusiastic fellow, isn't he?"

"That's putting it mildly," she snorted. "What you reading anyway?"

"Oh, just a book I brought with me from the hospital," he held it up briefly for her to catch a glimpse of a plain looking black and white cover. "I read it about three times while I was there but it's quite good so I thought I'd read it again while there's nothing else to do."

"That stay in the hospital was really just like a glorified vacation for you, wasn't it? No wonder you weren't in any kind of hurry to get back to us," she teased him and he smiled, shaking his head.

Since Haguenau when he had proved himself as a team player, Webster had been accepted back into the fold by the rest of the company. Now when they talked about his time in the hospital, it was mostly just to rib him. Even Liebgott had warmed up to him which had surprised Evelyn to no end. In fact, the two of them seemed to have become good friends.

"Or maybe the reason you stayed there for so long was 'cause one of the nurses caught your eye and you just couldn't bear to leave her? According to Perconte, they're all smoking hot," she winked. Since Perconte's return, he had done nothing but talk about each nurse in detail until Evelyn thought she could probably draw every single one just from their descriptions alone.