We Happy Few | Band of Brothers

Chapter 36: Crazy Joe

"He had a goddamn Luger in his pants." Buck scoffed as he crouched down at the edge of the foxhole that Margot, Guarnere, and Babe were sharing. "And don't you three do something stupid like that, alright?"

Babe nodded as he slid his hands back into his fingerless gloves. "Try not to, Buck."

"I mean it." Buck turned to Guarnere and gave him a playful smack with the stick he was holding. "You, Wild Bill, I've invested too much goddamn time shaping you into something useful. You do something crazy, get yourself knocked out of this thing ..."

"I know, I know, you'll kill me." Guarnere had heard the spiel before. Ever since Holland, when Buck got shot, he hadn't been the same. He was more careful, more calculated, and more worried about every single man and woman in Easy Company.

Buck smiled, indicating that Guarnere was right on the money. "Even if you're dead, I'll still kill you." He then looked to Margot, his bright blue eyes piercing through her. "And you, you don't go tryna be a hero or nothing either, you got it? Something happens to you—or Annie, for that matter—and this whole company is fucked. You two are the backbone of this company."

"I'm not so sure about that, Buck, but I promise I won't put a Luger down my pants anytime soon," Margot assured the on-edge Lieutenant. "I'm not planning on dying, sir."

"Good." Buck nodded as he stood up. "I'll see you guys later, alright. I'm gonna check on the other guys."

Once Buck was out of earshot, Guarnere turned to Margot and laughed. "He just knows that if anything happened to you while Joe was gone, Joe would kill him," he mocked his two friends' close relationship. "Then he'd kill me."

"No one is killing anyone." Margot shrugged off the comment. "I'm gonna be fine, Joe's gonna come back, and no one is gonna have to kill anyone."

Babe, who had been watching Buck walk away, spun around to change the topic. "Crazy Joe McCloskey," he muttered, confusing both Margot and Guarnere at first. "This guy used to hang out the front of Delancey's and just, you know, just stare at people."

Guarnere nodded, the name ringing a bell since he and Babe had grown up only a few streets away from each other. "Yeah, I know who crazy Joe McCloskey is. What the hell's that got to do with anything, Babe?"

"Hmm, Buck kind of reminds me of him now." Babe's eyes shifted to look at Buck again, who was standing over Muck and Penkala's foxhole, no doubt giving them the same speech he had just given Margot and the two men from Philadelphia. 

Guarnere furrowed his brows. "What?"

"You know, ever since he got shot in Holland."

"Babe's got a point," Margot interjected her opinion on the matter. "I have no idea who crazy Joe whats-his-name is, but Buck is different now. He's always on high alert."

Guarnere looked to Babe, then Margot, and then Babe again. "Wait, wait, wait, wait." He took a moment to gather his thoughts. "What, are you saying he's nuts? 'Cause crazy Joe McCloskey was fucking nuts, Babe. That's why they called him crazy Joe."

"Nah, I'm not saying he's nuts. I'm just saying ..."

Guarnere waited for Babe to spit it out, but he never did. "What? What are you saying?"

"Forget it." Babe could tell the subject was a touchy one. 

"What?" 

 "Oh, come on, you've seen him, Bill. He's all wound up like a spring."

"Bingo." Margot nodded.

"Hey, hey, hey, he's fine," Guarnere insisted, his dark eyes darted to Margot to make sure she got the message as well. "It wasn't getting shot that got at him, it was being in that hospital. I've been there, okay? It ain't pretty. Besides, you saw, once he was up and moving around, he was his old self again. I'm telling you, Buck Compton is fine."