Love You Till The End (Robert Zussman x Reader)

14 - Robert Zussman

December 12, 1943
Chicago, Illinois

The Army has officially grabbed me by the neck. To be fair, I pretty much let them by going to enlist today. I decided to enlist 'cause I knew eventually I was gonna end up gettin' a draft letter anyway. I know my Ma' is gonna be unhappy with me, but I don't wanna just sit around and wait for my draft letter to be delivered.

The sun was beginning to set and I still hadn't bothered to go home. I'm just not ready to face my parents and have to tell them that I signed up to fight in the war and that I'll be leaving soon for trainin'. They ain't gonna be happy to hear that and I can't blame 'em since I'm their only kid. At least with the draft letter, they would have to let me join the military since I could get in trouble, but since I enlisted, I pretty much made the choice to be sent out to my possible death. 

I ended up walking to my old high school and when I got there, I went over to the football field where I used to smoke with my friends. As I stared out into the empty football field, I started thinkin' about how much joinin' the military was gonna change my life. I'm not sure what to expect once I'm gone from Chicago. One thing I do know is that I sure am gonna put up one hell of a fight for as long as I'm able to. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do when you're sent off to war, right? If you ain't got what it takes to put up a fight, you have no place on the battlefield 'cause you just might end up diggin' your own grave. Then again, what the hell do I know?

The most nerve-wracking part for me is not knowin' where I'll be sent out to fight. That's the thing they'll smack you in the face with once you're done with trainin'. I'm kind of hopin' I'll be sent out to Europe since that's where I was born. More specifically, I was born in Germany which is something people here in the states ain't too fond of hearing because of the Nazis; They think all of us Germans are Nazis which is far from the truth.

My parents probably wouldn't be very liked in Germany either if we had stayed over there since my father is German while my mother is Jewish, but they decided to come to America before the damn Nazis took control of the country. They came to the states not long after I was born in 1923 and settled down here in Chicago where they chose to raise me. I grew up speakin' English and German, but I don't really speak German anymore. In fact, I don't bother tellin' anyone I'm half German in order to avoid gettin' into any bad business with anyone.

Since I'm gonna be sent off to Massachusetts for trainin' in a couple of days, I decided I would have one last enjoyable moment, so I pulled out the pot I managed to get my hands on a couple of days ago. I hadn't smoked pot since high school, but I figured it would help me ease up*.

As I smoked, I thought about how short of a life I've been living, being only 20 years old n' all. Hell! I ain't even hitched* yet or old enough to buy a beer, but I guess I'm old enough to rub out* Japs and Germans; That sure is somethin'.

After putting out my cigarette, I began to head home which gave me more time to think about this realization that I'm gonna be a soldier soon. I've experienced some crazy shit while livin' in Chicago, but I'm about to experience some very new things while in the Army. Here in Chicago, there are ways to be ready for anything. I'm not so sure I can say the same about wherever the hell I'm gonna be sent to fight. Sure, they teach you the skills you need to be a soldier, but you just don't know how far those skills will get you.

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* "ease up": calm down
* "hitched": married
* "rub out": to kill