Yellowstone Memories by Spinola Jennifer Rogers

Author:Spinola, Jennifer Rogers [SPINOLA, JENNIFER ROGERS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62029-692-9
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

It was my idea, sir.”

Justin exhaled, feeling sweat break out on his palms and forehead, even in the drafty cool of the lieutenant’s quarters. A low wind whined around the corner of the building, lonesome and mournful. The sound of loss and crushed hopes.

The lieutenant stood still, one hand raised as if in mid-sentence.

“Excuse me?” He leaned closer, dark eyes blinking incredulously. “What did you just say?”

Justin cleared his throat and strengthened his voice. “It was my idea, sir,” he repeated crisply, so clear and sure that he even sounded convincing to himself. “Frankie said he was just going to stay by the lake, but I told him to go up to the ridge. I drew him a map and everything.”

Justin’s hand shook slightly as he pulled the battered paper from his pocket, holding it out. His face blazed with shame.

The lieutenant’s mouth opened, his eyes round as river stones. “You?”

“Yes sir.” Justin forced himself to raise his chin and meet the lieutenant’s eyes.

Color pooled first in the lieutenant’s flat cheeks then up to his forehead. “You?” he thundered again, louder this time. Reaching out and grabbing Justin by the collar, jerking his face close. “You told that White kid to disobey my orders?”

Bits of spittle spattered on Justin’s face, and he struggled to swallow. “Yes sir.”

The lieutenant stared at him, eye to eye, the red veins bulging around black pupils. Then he flung Justin away in disgust. “I don’t believe it.”

Justin kept his eyes down and calmly straightened his clothes. The same wool pants he’d had on since Saturday afternoon, snow-sodden and wrinkled. The lower inches shredded and muddy.

“Why would you do a thing like that?” The lieutenant eyed him fiercely. “You’re one of the best in the camp. Maybe the best of all.” He pounded out points with his index finger on his weathered palm. “You show up to work early and stay late. You’ve never missed formation, stayed out sick, or gone missing after the weekend. You’re passing all your studies with high marks. Why, you’ve never even gotten a demerit. Fairbanks, this is ridiculous! I don’t buy it.” He swiped an arm through the air.

“It’s true, sir.” Justin forced himself to meet the lieutenant’s eyes. “The whole thing was my idea. Frankie saved them all by hunkering down in an enclave by the rocks and building a shelter and starting a fire. They’d have died if it wasn’t for Frankie.”

The words stung like sharp sleet cutting into his skin, but Justin didn’t lower his head.

“Why … why he wouldn’t even accept my boots, sir.” Justin gestured with his head. “Go see for yourself if his shoes ain’t fallin’ to pieces.”

The lieutenant stared at him a second, jaw twitching, and jerked open the door. Letting in an icy gust of wind. Warmer than on the ridge but still chilling Justin enough that he had to stiffen his arms and back to keep from shivering.

Justin heard him stalk to the next door, rap on it, and then demand Frankie White’s shoes from the infirmary.

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