Chapter 9

Front lines

The vehicle that drove up was indeed a car rather than a military vehicle. A car that the army had requisitioned then had some splashes of green and dark brown paint applied over the original paint, and army insignia stuck on to turn it into an army vehicle. He trotted to the car and, spotting people in the front, opened the back door. There was a private in the back seat on the far side of the vehicle who nodded and smiled.

“Eighth Battalion?”

“Yeah, mate,” Andrew answered and settled into his seat. He started putting on his seat belt, and the fellow grinned.

“Hey, Andy. This guy must’ve heard about your driving already!”

This comment produced a snort from the front passenger and an upraised middle finger from the driver.  The car took off a fair clip, and Andrew quickly decided that his fellow backseat passenger’s implied assessment of the driver’s style of controlling a vehicle wasn’t that far off. They headed southwest and then south out of the built-up area and raced south along some main road for a distance before pulling over to the left and stopping in front of an industrial building.

“HQ is in there, mate.”

“Ok. Thanks, guys.” Andrew replied and hopped out.

The car barely waited long enough for him to shut the door before it took off in a cloud of dust from the driveway. Andrew shook his head bemusedly and turned towards the entrance to the industrial area. He supposed the couple of fellows standing at the entrance could be seen to be on guard, although their slovenly stance was at odds with the crisp men on guard at every other military base he had visited since volunteering.

“Private Harris. I was told to report to Lieutenant Colonel Gray.”

“That’ll be to the Lieutenant Colonel himself, will it private?”

Andrew couldn’t decide which way to jump at this point in the face of their rather odd manner.

“Can you direct me to his office, please?”

“Hey Frank, he said please, and everything.” The one on the left said to the one on the right.

“Straight out of boot camp, I reckon. Look at his uniform, looks like it only came out of the packing two days ago.”

“Yeah, you’re right, mate. You’re just out of boot camp, aren’t you, sport?”

For some reason, Andrew felt embarrassed about having to admit that he was straight out of boot camp.

“Yeah. I am. Captain Greaves assigned me to the eighth Battalion and told me to report to Lieutenant Colonel Gray. I have the right place, don’t I?”

The one on the left shook his head. “Privates don’t report to the CO, maggot. Which company you assigned to?”

“I’m not assigned to any company. I’m assigned to the Eighth Battalion.”

“What’ya orders say?” The one on the right asked.

“I don’t have written orders. I have a verbal instruction from Captain Greaves to report to Lieutenant Colonel Gray. Is he in here?” Andrew said, nodding towards the building that they were ostensibly guarding.

He was gradually becoming quite sick of these two galahs. Lead to smart alecs looked at each other and grinned momentarily before turning their attention back to Andrew.