Their Fizz- Band of brothers

21 And Not Out

On the morning of the 3rd of January Flo woke up in her foxhole to smiling faces looking down on her.

"Happy birthday" they all whispered and to her horror started throwing snowballs at her.

Flo climbed out of the hole and started running away silently laughing as the lads continued to chase her. Eventually, they stopped, hugged her tightly, and passed a small package to her to which Flo blushed furiously and said in a small voice "Lads you didn't have to get anything for me, especially when you have nothing for yourselves". They all scoffed and urged her to open the small gift wrapped in newspaper, she slowly opened it savouring the feeling of excitement that she hadn't felt for a year.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw a letter from home and a bar of chocolate, she immediately unwrapped the chocolate and split it into 28 pieces, she then went round all the boys and told them to take a piece. 

While slowly chewing her piece of chocolate, Flo settled by one of the trees by herself to read her letter.

 Our dear Florence,

My darling in my mind I'm trying to imagine you safe and warm, but my reality is telling me you're actually in some god-forsaken pit freezing. All I can pray is that you're not hurt or ill and that none of your friends have been too badly hurt. From what the papers are saying and from your last letter it seems the Battle of the Bulge is one of the hardest standoffs in history. I wish you were here safe with me talking about what to do in the next WI meeting but I know that's not you. Your such a strong, beautiful girl........actually your not a girl anymore, your dads not going to recover from that revelation. 

Annie and Joey are well and miss you, sweetheart, We've heard from James as well, he's still in POW camp but the red cross smuggled us a letter, do try and liberate him soon darling, I want all my chicks back in the nest. 

Juliet and Libby send their love as well, they pray for you every night, as does most of the village. 

Have the best day you can for your 21st love, hope the men spoil you and send them my love. 

Happy Birthday,

Lots of love,

Mum, Dad, Annie, Joey and James xx

Flo felt the tears silently going down her face, she couldn't start crying and show her weakness so she sniffed and wiped her eyes. Reading the letter had made her realize just how homesick she was, Flo wanted nothing more than to be back on her farm riding her horse, then feeding the animals with Joey and listening as he recited all the facts he had learned at school, playing tag with Annie, picnics with Libby, Alicia and Juliet, sitting under her oak tree in the middle of nowhere with her book forgetting everything she wanted to forget, helping her mum make the tea and listening to village gossip, her mums roast dinners, the long walks up the hill with her dad chatting about anything on her mind, going to church on Sun.......

Suddenly there was a blast and Flo was brought back to reality, she jumped up and ran to the nearest foxhole with Malark and Buck and skidded in. 

"Some birthday present for you from the krauts huh Fizz" Malark said with a fake smile plastered on his face.

Buck then joined in shouting "21 and not out yet!"

Flo rolled her eyes and shouted back over the noise "Its the biggest thrill of my life", Buck started laughing at her sarcastic come back and just as quickly as it came there were no more blasts and Flo thanked God that there had been no medic calls. 

***

Flo watched as Buck, Lip, Muck, Bull, and Bill read a map on Malrarks back, she stood there silently watching them as she tried to stifle her running nose by wiping it with her sleeve every 2 minutes. 

She did crack a smile however when Buck jabbed Malark in the back who let out a yelp while the others laughed at his outrage. "Stop crying Malrak or I'll nail it to your head" Buck said with little emotion simply observing his surroundings.

Gene then came up and put an arm around the young girl, "how you doing Flo?" he asked gently.

She shrugged "Ive been better" she replied and then before Gene could reply she heard Bill call 2nd platoon to move out. 

"That's our cue," she said attempting a smile, but it was a weak attempt and in the end she just sighed and grabbed her medic satchel from the ground, ensuring her hair was in its braids and her helmet was on tightly, Flo started walking towards the formation. 

From her friendship with Nix, Flo knew exactly where they were headed. To the Bois Jacques which were woods near the town of Foy, she could of jumped for joy as she knew this was going to be their offensive towards the Germans to finally push them out of the Ardennes. 

As they were walking through the forest a sudden machine gun attacked them and they all dropped to the ground and the immediate medic call went up. Flo muttered "damn it" to herself as she started army crawling towards the sound of the man groaning. As she was crawling the men were shooting around the area they thought the machine gun was but it kept up with a regular humming and bullets bouncing off the trees. Flo had almost made it when she felt a bang on her head, so hard it made her roll over and close her eyes. 

"Florence!?"

"Fizz!?"

She heard the almost desperate shouts before she opened her eyes, grabbed her helmet and speed crawled to the injured man, "I'm fine! just a ricochet" she shouted to everyone who sighed in relief. 

After she had put the sulpha and put a  tourniquet on the man's leg, Flo noticed that the boys were starting to move again and she guessed the sniper had been taken out. She shrugged to Pierce who she had just treated and gave the young replacement a gentle smile as she helped him up and assisted him in the walk to the next CP aid station, Gene helping her as well. 

As they walked along, Flo couldn't help but feel like a cat with 9 lives as she was sure if she wasn't she would be dead by now with all the close calls happening to her. 

With her mental state, Flo didn't think she could cope with much more, and like many of the boys, Flo really did feel like she was at breaking point.