Earl knew if he stood in the right spot in front of the house he’d be out of the cool winter breeze on this 6th day of December in 1941. Earl had problems and this time they were the kind he couldn’t get out of.
“How in the world did one little 18 year old kid manage to mess up so bad?”, he thought as he smoked his last Pall Mall.
That’s what the judge said too yesterday in court.
“Ol’ Judge Stone, he’s a bad’un… that judge is. Told me flat out that I’d better be in the service come Monday mornin’ or else! That’s all right though, I didn’t wanna hang 'round this one horse, broke down hillbilly town anyway,” thought Earl. “What’s there to do here? Work over there at the barrell factory like Lester? Here it is a Saturday afternoon and Lester’s over there sweatin’ away and what’s it gonna get him, 'cept old and cripple like his daddy!”
Earl had asked Lester if he wanted to go down to Atlanta and join the Army with him, but Lester told him no. He couldn’t get Lester to do squat ever since he’d started seein’ Betty down at the diner. So there he was, unloading boxes off the train, tryin’ hard to make foreman.
“Well, let him load’em and unload’em til he drops, for all I care”, thought Earl as he flipped the cigarette butt out into the road and walked up the steps into the house.
“We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Ok, my forum friends. This is where you can come in if you like. Add to the story, with words and pictures. There’s the factory, what’s going to happen on Dec. 7th, 1041, the judges house, Betty and the diner… whatever. May
Little did Earl know what the next day would bring. The town went dead silent as the news of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor came over the radio in the local diner. Word spread like wildfire and before long young men were lining up to join the service. Earl decided that this was his chance.
Tyler, over at the sody fountain, told Earl that the railroad would be gettin’ busy now that the war effort was startin’ up. Maybe he could hire on there and see ‘bout firin’ one uh them big steamers he was always watchin’ down by the tracks. He shore liked that one he saw this mornin’, the one with all them drivin’ wheels connected and such.
Come Monday morning the line at the Army recruiting station in town wrapped around the corner and up the side street. He was dumbfounded. Eventually he found the end of the line. He stood in the cold, hopping from one leg to the other, wondering how in the heck so many of the local boys had had a run-in with the same judge. “Doesn’t that guy ever send anyone to jail? Or do they all go to the Army?”
Boys barely out of high school age were boasting to each other about how much hell they were gonna raise. “Kick them Japs in the teeth” he heard one say. Japs? What?
Then a tap on his shoulder. It was Lester.
“What the heck are you doin’ here?” asked Earl.
“Yesterday changed everything,” said Lester.
“Yesterday?”
“Ain’t your radio fixed yet? Ain’t you read this morning’s paper?”
“Naw, I left before the paper boy came 'round. What is all this?”
…and as Lester recounted the events of the day before, it all became clear to Earl. This was no two-year stint he was going pull, and then drive on with his life. No, this was something very different.
Waiting took the balance of the morning and into the afternoon. The line behind them had continued to grow. Early in the afternoon, a cheer rose up along the line and hats were tossed into the air.
“It’s a war! The gov’ment just declared war!” someone shouted. Suddenly it hit Earl like a wrecking ball in the stomach. Lester looked at him grimly. While the rest of the boys in line were shouting and whooping, Lester and Earl were silent. There wasn’t really anything to say.
