The Time Keepers

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27 Vietnam, 1969

T HE MEN WERE ALL EAGERLY ANTICIPATING S TANLEY ’ S BIRTHDAY . “PFC Coates is finally turning eighteen.” Larini grinned. “Feels like our young marine is about to grow up,” he joked with the others. “We’ve got that boy a present he’s going to remember.”

“One that’s going make him into a full-fledged man,” Flannery agreed.

Stanley stood steps away from the other men, one knee bent, the other hand digging the ground with a small shovel.

“What’s he up to over there?” one of the men asked while looking over toward him. Stanley still wore the helmet that said Kong Killer , but beneath its visor, his skin had remained oddly unburnished by the sun.

“He found a dead monkey this morning.” Chief filled them in. “Lying just steps away from his foxhole.” His gaze narrowed. “The Vietnamese believe the monkey spirit brings good luck.”

“What about a dead monkey?” Larini joked. He lit a cigarette between his lips and took a long drag.

“Not so much,” answered Chief.

The men stood in a cluster, watching Stanley bury the animal. Soon his shovel tapped the ground, and he seemed to mumble something over the small burial mound.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Flannery said with palpable disbelief. “Is he really praying over that dead monkey?”

Larini burst out laughing. “He’s going to go apeshit after he’s done with the mother of all birthday presents we got for him tonight. We’re going to surprise him with a woman.… Going to bring her in after sundown. He’ll be sleeping in a tent tonight, not a damn foxhole, because we got Bates to take him off perimeter watch for his birthday.”

Jack had cringed when they had written Kong Killer on Stanley’s helmet a few months back. There was something pure about this young man he wanted to protect, he seemed like the only constant in the jungle. Every morning, he could be seen hunkered over his Bible, reading a passage to himself. During any other spare moment, Jack saw him writing letters home.

“You sure he’s gonna want that?”

Flannery looked at him, perplexed. “Well, shit, Hollywood —who wouldn’t want a birthday present like that? You think maybe we should call in a bird to drop in a Carvel ice cream cake? Come on, do you think he’d like that more?”

Jack didn’t answer. The truth was he thought Stanley just might.

That night, two of Gomez’s squad snuck the pretty, young Vietnamese girl into the perimeter. Jack first caught sight of her as she passed through the barbwire, a slender form in silk pajamas, her long black hair sleek in a long ponytail that went halfway down her back.

She dipped into the tent as the other men laughed and slapped each other on the shoulder.

It wasn’t that Jack was a prude. He had been with a few girls before Becky, and even the ones he didn’t love had certainly provided him with pleasure. But even though Stanley chose to go to Vietnam to become a man, Jack strongly doubted he had even considered sex as part of the equation. After all, the kid blushed every time one of the other guys mentioned the word tits.

Doc shared Jack’s skepticism. “I don’t like this.” He shook his head. “And I can’t help thinking that girl in there might be a child herself.”

Minutes passed and Jack continued to look over at the tent. But the tarp flap remained closed. He had to admit that he was surprised that the girl hadn’t been tossed out as soon as she arrived. Jack couldn’t conceive that Stanley would have accepted her offer, especially knowing it had been the result of money being exchanged. But as time passed, he looked over at Doc and shrugged.

“Guess we were wrong. Seems like Stanley is enjoying his present.”

A little over an hour later, the girl emerged. She dipped her head out from the tent with a smile on her face. Before she left, she whispered back to thank Stanley.

“How’d my boy do?” Flannery asked, hoping to get a full report from the girl.

She took a pack of cards out of her pocket and showed them to Flannery. “He no want boom boom,” she answered. “He say … lucky boy … he play cards with pretty girl.”