Choice of the Gallant - Paradox Equation I

  ****

  "Mitch, that laugh of yours sends chills through me. It's... I don't know. Wild. Crazy."

  "Yeah, I've been told that before. You guys stay here. I'm going to see if I can get close enough to lob a grenade into that machine gun nest. You'll know if I make it."

  "Sarge, be careful."

  "Always am. I like being alive."

  "Jesus, Joey, do you think he really believes that?"

  "Mac, I gave up second guessing the sarge a year ago. I just wait for his eyes to go glittery, then duck."

  "Sometimes I think he's crazy. Especially when he laughs like that."

  "If he's crazy, it's the best kind. We've been in practically every battle in Europe and he's kept all of us alive. All but Smitty."

  "The guy I replaced?"

  "Yeah, kid. The only one the sarge ever lost. Sat and cried when he got hit, then took apart the patrol that got him. Never seen anything like it. Look, one thing you gotta' know. None of us talk about the sarge. We don't mention the things he does. He wants it that way. He'll keep you alive, kid. So just you don't say nothin' about him. Ever."

  "But he's a hero. He should get promoted and decorated."

  "You make a fuss, someone'll check him out. He don't want that and, if you're smart, neither do you."

  "Why? What's wrong with him?"

  "Nothin's wrong with him. He's as good a man as ever lived. Better than any I ever met. Just don't talk about him."

  "Man, you're serious, aren't you? Why, Joey?"

  "'Cause he ain't human. We all know. We seen him get near blown apart. We kept quiet and hid him 'til he healed. Took near a month, but we managed to cover for him. You don't believe me. OK, watch. Go on. You ever seen a man run that fast?"

  "Jesus! What is he?!"

  "An angel. Our very own guardian angel. Anzio to Omaha. Now, kid, you gonna' keep quiet?"

  Mac looked around at the men in the ditch with him. They were waiting for his answer.

  "I didn't see anything to talk about. Just a real good sergeant I was lucky to get."

  He smiled as the men around him grinned and turned back to watch "a real good sergeant" take out the enemy gun emplacement that had them pinned down.