The Grove

by Ezra T. Gray

conclusion

I survived the landing, but I didn’t think I would survive the night. The barrage of German artillery was deafening. I had slept on the ground before, but this was different. This was a night of death preceded by a day of death. I’d watched a lot of my buddies fall, and a lot of guys I didn’t know fall too. An eighteen-year old kid died in my arms. I still had his blood on my sleeve. The only prayer I still bothered with was that they would ship my body state-side. I did not want to be buried in this God-forsaken land, to rest eternally amongst people who were not my own.

Hunkered down below a German-built rampart, I scribbled these words on an envelope that contained a letter from my mother: If I fall, please return my remains to my family in Montana. I signed my name, followed by my serial number. I hoped it would be enough.

I had no sooner tucked the note back in my pocket, when the battalion commander tapped me on the shoulder. “Got another one, kid?”

“Another what?”

“Another cig. Didn’t you just light one?”

“Oh, ah, no sir. I mean, here, sir, I’ve got a pack. I, ah, I wasn’t lighting up...” I handed him the pack and he tapped one out.

“Lost mine,” he said. “I don’t know where. Probably in the drink. Goddamn sea water. You ever seen anything like this?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Hell no you ‘aint, no one has! Boy, they are chopping us up like horseshit in a coffee grinder. God damn those Kraut bastards!”

He drew on the cigarette and exhaled with a grimace. “Oh hell, boy, you know they’re just like us — scared shitless. Who the hell thinks up this kinda’ crap! You bet your ass they ain’t here. Hell no, they sent you and me.

“I found the Lieutenant Colonel. He was hit by machine-gun fire. ’Bout cut in half.” He held up the lighter he had just used. “Didn’t seem like he’d need this again. If we get home maybe I can give it to his son.

“The Major’s dead too and that puts me in charge. We can’t stay here. We’re going up the hill in forty-five minutes. It’s gonna cost us, but we’ll lose a lot more if we stay. Are you okay, kid?”

“Yes, sir, Captain. It’s just been a long night — and a long day too.”

“Yeah, it’s something.” He shivered. “And cold, too.”

“Well, I’m from Montana, sir. Cold, I can stand.”

“Ah, Big Sky country. I’m a Texan born, but I’ve been up in Colorado for a lot of years. That’s how I wound up here. I was in the Reserves at Fort Carson. Next thing you know, I’m on active duty and over here. What about you?”

“I volunteered.”

“No kidding! Well, bless your heart. You’ve got balls, boy.”

“Well, sir, I felt it was the right thing to do.”

Just then a huge German shell exploded not one hundred yards away.

“Crap and corruption! We’ve got to quiet those guns! Well, boy, I’ve got to go. Pass it up the line. Forty-five minutes, we are over the hill.”

With that, he was gone. I looked around, but there was no line to pass it on to. My line was gone, dead, except for me. Forty-five minutes. I could stay put, but it wouldn’t be right. Besides, I figured I had as good a chance of getting it here as I did there. I looked at my watch ninety times every thirty seconds. It was the longest forty-five minutes of my life. I waited and watched and finally we moved.

Our battalion ran up over the hill, guns flashing. I fired and ran and ran and fired. I saw the Captain once or twice. I killed at least a dozen men for sure, maybe more. I rounded a small mound and the ground exploded in front of me in a neat line. I had nearly run into a machine-gun nest.

Instinctively I dropped to the ground. I fell on something, someone.

“Hey, Montana, that you?”

“Captain?”

“Yeah, kid, it’s me.”

“You okay, sir?”

“Yeah. I’m hit, but I’m all right. Stay down. Hey, I found my cigs.” He laughed. “They were in my gunny sack. A shell tore through it, cut it right in half! I looked down and damn, there they were. Go figure.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Captain?”

“Hell yeah, kid, I’m fine. I just caught some shrapnel in the leg. It’s stopped bleeding now. I’ve had worse. Yeah, I’ll probably get the Heart. Hell, I’ve already got two. You hit, kid?”

“No, sir, I don’t think so. It’s...”

“Scary. We gotta’ take out that nest. You got any grenades?”

“Yes sir!”

“Well, let’s chuck a few over there.”

I rose up to throw. One... two... Then out of nowhere a German soldier appeared and fired at me, point blank, just as I threw the third grenade. I felt the bullet tear through my shoulder and then another creased my skull. I saw the third grenade explode in the nest. Their ammo went up with it. For an eerie moment the world was all aglow. I saw the muzzle flash from the Captain’s .45 caliber pistol once, twice, then a third and fourth time. I watched as in slow motion the young German’s head disappeared, blown away by the slugs from the 1911. My knees were weak. I collapsed and the Captain grabbed me.

“Holy hell, kid, you’re hit!”

“That’s not my blood, sir,” I said groggily. “That’s from some kid earlier. It’s not mine.”

“Kid! Kid!” I could hear the Captain shouting. “Goddamn it, Montana, hold on! Ah, damn, kid.”

The Captain’s voice echoed softly in my mind, as though it came from a far distance. I couldn’t figure out why he was still yelling when I was so far away. I was tired. It was dark and I wanted to rest.

Kid, don’t close your eyes! Was the Captain still shouting? The front of my shirt was wet and sticky. ...must have spilled something, boy would Ma be mad... better get in and change...

The old Appy was waiting. My shirt wasn’t so bad. I didn’t really have anything better to do and he was pawing the ground, ready to go. I wondered where Ma and Daddy were. Oh, well, it didn’t matter.

Kid hold on! I heard yelling and lots of loud noise, but then it faded away. I climbed on the horse. The cool Montana breeze felt good on my face. The horse turned on his own and headed down the road. I heard Daddy behind me, yelling for the horse to stop. I tried to stop it, but it broke into a run, galloping down the old dirt track and right up to the grove.

I heard no more loud noises, but I knew Daddy and someone else were looking for me. I couldn’t go back, I had to get into the grove. I swung down from the saddle. Strangely, my shirt was wet again. Stranger still, there was someone in the grove. It was a girl, no, a woman.

She was young, eighteen or nineteen, and dressed in a long white gown. The gown was transparent, revealing a well proportioned figure, and long blonde hair flowed down her back, framing an angelic face. I knew she couldn’t be from around here. She looked at me and a loud trumpet blast sounded. This was all new. I had never heard any sounds or seen anyone in the grove before.

“I told you I’d see you returned.” She raised her chin defiantly. “See, I’m true to my word. I never lie — well, almost never.” She giggled. Her voice was impish, as well as her laughter and I found myself smiling at her as she continued. “This is your place, your destiny.”

“My destiny?” Despite the explanation she offered, I was still confused at how I had come here. “What’s going on? I was somewhere else. There was a lot of noise, explosions... Guns! Guns were going off.” I walked toward the woman but she vanished, reappearing on the rock I had sat on before I left.

Something caught my eye and I turned away from her to look at the well. A beam of black light rose from the depths. It looked just like the beam from my flashlight, but instead of brilliant white, it was black as pitch, narrow at the bottom and widening as it rose skyward. “What the hell?”

“Hell is right,” she giggled. “It’s Hell and Hell it will be!” She smoothed the front of her gown in a sensual gesture and giggled again. “Don’t pay any attention to it. As long as the flow is black, all is well with this door. Of course, if the flow is speckled, well, oops, better watch out, all Hell is breaking loose! Away they will go bad, bad, bad!

“But you want to stay with me, don’t you? We can have great fun. I am very tired of being alone. We can play in the grove, you and me, me and you, all day long! Stay with me, please? Please, please?”

I shook my head, confused, and stammered, “I, I... uh...”

“You can kiss me,” she offered, and winked. “You can-”

“Hey, what do you mean, ‘if the flow is speckled’?”

“Oopsy, poopsy.” She laughed and then said, “Then I gotta’ tell.”

“Tell who?”

“The guardians. You know, the big bad boys.” She stiffened her shoulders and stomped her feet in an imitation of a military march. “Then it’s big trouble for sure.”

The truth of the place was slowly penetrating my foggy mind. I turned to tell her I should go, when she spoke again.

“Saw you when you came looking for that kid. He wasn’t here, no sirree. No one’s here, much. Long time ago,” giggle, giggle, “I had a friend. He’s gone down there.” She pointed at the well. “Goodbye, so long, so sad.” She looked at me solemnly but I could see the amusement in her eyes. “But you can stay. I won’t let them take you. You are strong. I saw you when you came back — no fear. Stay, what do you say? Stay here.”

She stood and glided toward me. Her presence was alluring. “Kiss me and stay.” Her voice had deepened to a sultry purr and I felt myself moving closer to her.

“Damn horse!”

The voice boomed like a hundred cannons behind me. I spun around. My dad stood next to the Appaloosa. His mare waited nearby while he fixed a halter on the Appy. He looked up and his eyes met mine.

“Son! Son is that you... are you there, kid!” Blinding light flashed in my eyes.

“Goddamn it, Montana!” the Captain bellowed. “Damn your hide, don’t you dare do that again. I thought for sure you were gone!”

He looked up at someone beyond my sight. “Get this hero the hell out of here, now! He knocked out that nest and took a round for me too!” He looked back down at me and said, “boy, I thought you were gone.”

The medics laid me on a stretcher. One of them looked at the Captain and gasped. “Captain, you’re hit! You are going, too!”

“The hell I am!” he responded. Just then his legs went out from under him. “Oh, all right,” he grumbled from the ground.

A second pair of medics appeared and with just a little protest got him laid back on another stretcher. His injuries were worse than he had let on, but he and I both survived. Unlike a lot of other good men, we made it home.

* * *

I had been home two weeks when I did it. I was just leaving the house when Dad came up to me.

“Where are you going, boy?”

“I have some unfinished business, Dad.”

“At the grove?”

“Yes, sir,” I stammered. “Ah-”

“You know, I seen a young man I thought was you one day, when that cantankerous horse of yours got out. I guess I was just hallucinating.”

“Probably so.” I chuckled. “Old age will do that.”

“Do you hurt much?”

“Naw, dad, the bullet passed right on through. I was blessed.”

I arrived home late, that night. Dad sat on the porch. After I put up the horse, I pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

“Funny thing, son, but I would swear I heard a blast like dynamite just before sundown.”

I shrugged. “Maybe someone finally blew that old well.”

“That’d be a good thing. It wasn’t worth much, nohow. A young girl got thrown down there when I was a boy. Drowned. A well like that is better off sealed.” He wrinkled his nose and sniffed the air. “You smell something? Smoke?”

“It’s probably Aspens burning. You know, it’s that time of year, big bonfires and all.”

Ma stuck her head out the door. “War’s over! They just said it on the radio!”

Dad clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s celebrate! It’s a great day!”

I smiled at him. “A great day indeed.”