#dorothea larson

Tag list: @footprintsinthesxnd

Gene and the men entered the small bar in the small countryside where they resided in Aldbourne. The time they had spent there was only short, arriving recently into the country. It took a long boat ride over from America to get to where they were. 

Gene had been thankful when they finally were able to leave the confines of the stuffy hold, where they had been for months on end. Though when they had arrived in England it was no holiday. 

They were immediately put to work, they had continued their rigorous training exercises, even more so than when they were in Camp Toccoa. Gene shivered at the thought of their previous camp, the large hill looming in his mind. 

He was pulled from his thoughts as Bull’s large hand landed on his shoulder, shaking him gently. 

“Doc, what are you having?” The deep country drawl carried over the noise in the bar. 

“Nothing for me.” Gene shook his head, he knew in the morning they had an early start. More practice ambushes. 

The group gathered round a small standing table after they had collected their drinks. Smokes were being passed from person to person as they chatted amongst themselves. 

Gene glanced around the room. Seemed like the whole small town and their dogs had gathered into the tiny establishment. 

The bar was filled with a smoky haze due to all of the cigarettes everyone puffed on. Gene had a lit smoke hanging from his lip as he half listened to the men. It just about fell out of his mouth as he watched the door to the bar swing open. A group of very pretty ladies strode into the pub, all sporting army uniforms.  

Skip, who perched next to him, had followed his gaze. 

“My, my, boys we are going to have a good night tonight!” Skip hollered not taking his eyes off of the group of women who moved past the group to the bar to order their drinks. 

The girls didn’t even seem to notice the looks they were getting, too caught up in their own chatter and giggles. 

However the striking lady trailing behind the group sure did. She didn’t hesitate sending daggers to the onlookers who gawked at her friends. 

The woman gave off more of a mature aura to the rest of the ladies who were with her. She ushered them along after they had collected their drinks to a more secluded booth in the back, where she thought they would be less disturbed. 

Unfortunately for the group it wasn’t to be the case. The Easy men were far too competitive to let the ladies chat by themselves. 

“Luz go talk to them.” Alex egged on the man who was grinning. He stood on his tip toes peering over at the table. 

“Should I?” Luz smirked at the Easy men. He was a self proclaimed ladies man. 

“Go on George!” The group encouraged the man. Gene stayed silent watching the interaction. Unlike the rest of Easy, he was one of the more quiet men. Most of his peers were rowdy and loud. Gene often felt as if he was a sore thumb sticking out when he was with them. 

Luz sauntered over to the group of ladies, a coy grin on his face. 

They couldn’t hear exactly what he said to the group as he bent down to one of the blondes who sat at the edge of the booth. 

But from the looks of it, he wasn’t the ladies man he claimed to be. 

The blonde's smile dropped quickly after George whispered into her ear. It was all too quick for the Easy man, she lifted her hand and in a swift motion slapped him across the face. 

The group of men erupted into cheers and hysterics, as George made his way back to the table with his tail between his legs. 

Gene couldn’t take his eyes off the brunette who appeared to be the leader of the group. She smiled brightly at the blonde who had smacked George. Turning her attention to their table, she stood. 

Eugene froze, watching her approach. He noticed she moved with such elegance and precision, it almost appeared as if she was floating towards them. 

He gulped as she finally stood at the edge of the group. She loudly cleared her throat, getting the attention of the rest of the men. 

“Gentlemen.” The brunette looked the men up and down, “If I can call you that.” She muttered under her breath, before straightening. 

A mean smile slipped onto her lips. Gene had never seen a smile that looked threatening, but somehow she pulled it off. 

“My name is Sgt. Larson. The girls and I are just trying to unwind after a busy day, I’m sure you understand.” Sgt Larson judgingly looked around at the men in front of her, her tone clipped. 

“We would appreciate it if you and your short friends.” She glanced at George and Perco. “Would keep your playground antics at bay. See we only deal with gentlemen, not whatever this is.” She gestured around the group. 

The men were silent, never had they met a woman so brazen, so brash. She was a killer, but somehow she managed to do it with a smile on her face and a light tone. If you hadn’t heard what she had said you would’ve believed it to be a pleasant interaction. 

“Well, boys.” She sneered. “I do hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.” The Sgt didn’t even wait for a retort or a reply. Turning swiftly on her heel and a swish of her pristine curls, she strutted away back to her table. 

Gene glanced around the table to find his friends with their jaws slack. He was unsure if they had got the message, or if they were too captivated by her looks to even comprehend what she had said. 

“Who she calling short?” Perco squawked. George nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah! What the hell!” George exclaimed. 

“What did you say to the girl George?” Gene asked, he wondered what would elicit such a reaction from both the blonde and her Sgt.     

“I only said. ‘Are you a drill sergeant? Because you have my privates standing at attention.’” George had an innocent look on his face as if he didn’t know why on earth that would earn the reaction it did. 

The Easy group groaned in unison at George’s distasteful line. 

“Luz who the hell told you that was a good idea?” Toye jabbed him in the side with his elbow. 

“Perco said it was good!” The focus shifted to Frank who couldn't contain his laughter.

“I was obviously joking Luz!” Perco smacked George on the arm. George whined, rubbing the place where Frank had struck him. 

The men kept their promise and left the group of women alone. Gene couldn’t focus on the conversation, he couldn’t help throwing fleeting glances towards the lovely Sgt. 

Gene shook his head, trying to break the trance that she had over him. But nothing in his power worked. He walked up to the bar to buy the next round for the men, ordering himself one as well. He needed something to distract him. 

After about 30 minutes the group of ladies stood. Though they didn’t leave like Gene expected them to. Instead they approached the bar, whispering to the barkeep who smiled at the group and nodded enthusiastically.     

He came out from behind the counter, moving into the back corner of the pub. He cleared away the tables and chairs leaving the floor open, before he climbed up onto the counter and flicked on the radio that was perched on a high shelf. 

Music played through the small room. The ladies cheered in excitement, moving onto the floor and dancing to the music. The Easy group turned and watched with amused smiles. 

One by one the girls stopped dancing with each other and plucked up the courage to go ask the soldiers if they wanted to dance. 

The petite blonde who had slapped Luz approached the table, her cheeks flushed pink. Surprisingly she approached George. 

“Do you want to dance with me?” She asked shyly. George grinned widely, nodding his head, extending his hand for the girl to take. 

“What the?!” Perco exclaimed, turning back to the group, who shared his look of confusion. 

“I guess the line did work.” Lieb laughed as we watched the pair dancing. Luz looked back over to us, sending a thumbs up and a wink. He appeared to be very proud of himself. 

Soon more ladies approached the table, taking more Easy men out to dance, until all of the girls had been taken. 

Well except for one. 

The Sgt didn’t ask anyone to dance, instead she clapped along on the sidelines, smiling brightly at the woman who glided past her.

Soon it was late and the men found their way back to the table, most of them. George and the girl who had slapped him talked quietly in the corner of the bar. He seemed to be enamoured with the young lady, a lazy smile on his lips. 

Bull gathered up the rest of Easy, ushering them out of the bar, since it was closing for the night. The Sgt appeared to be doing the same, pulling the blonde away from Luz and taking her outside. 

“One more second, Dot, please.” The girl pleaded as she walked alongside her Sgt. 

“You have until I finish my smoke, then we are leaving.” The Sgt said sternly, but a small smile graced her lips when the blonde excitedly scurried away to get George. 

Both Easy and the group of women waited outside the bar for the pair to finish chatting while everyone else smoked and talked. 

Gene watched Dorothea lean against the wall, she pulled a cigarette from her purse as well as a lighter. She bent forward covering the flame with her hand, but the light wouldn’t catch. Eugene didn’t even notice, but he had started to walk towards the Sgt. 

He stood in front of her awkwardly with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Gene cleared his throat making his presence known to the woman. 

“Need a light?” He asked. 

Dorothea huffed cursing under her breath at her trusty lighter, though not so trusty now. 

“Yes please.” She conceded. 

Gene plucked the lighter from his pocket, moving to stand closer to the lady so she didn’t have to lean forward to reach the flame. He struck the lighter for her, sheltering the flame from the wind. 

The end of the cigarette burnt a cherry red as Dot sucked in a breath filling her lungs with the smoke, before blowing it out again. 

She had expected the man to leave once he had offered her the light, but he still stood beside her looking up at the night sky above them. 

“Does it look different?” She asked while she took a long drag from her smoke. 

“What?” The man was confused at her question, as she hadn’t really given him any context. 

“The sky. Does it look any different, to the one back home?” Dot clarified. 

“Oh. Um. I guess it does look different. Back home you can’t see the stars well, too much light.” He seemed to be mesmerised by the twinkling lights in the sky. 

Dot tilted her head up, taking in the night sky as well. “That’s sad.” 

The man looked over at her. 

“I couldn’t imagine looking up at the sky and not being able to see them all. Guess I took it for granted.”

“There are other things in the night that make it pretty.” Gene said. 

Dot glanced quickly at the man, a scowl on her face. But when she took in his features there was no smug look on his face like she thought there would be. 

“Like what?” Dot questioned. 

“Well we have fireflies, I guess those are like our stars. And it’s never quiet, there are always frogs, crickets and other swamp dwellers. It’s like a whole orchestra, made up of nature.” Gene reminisced, he missed his home. 

“Sounds nice, it would be interesting to visit.” Dot had never left England. She wondered what the rest of the world looked like. 

“Well, if you do come, I’ll give you the tour.” Gene smiled at her. He was proud of where he was raised and would be happy to show it off. 

“Who do I ask for?” Dot questioned, all well and good having a personal tour guide through the country but she didn’t even know the man's name.   

“Eugene Roe, Medic, with the 101st Airborne.” Gene extended his hand to the lady who finished the last of her cigarette. 

“Nice to meet you. You can call me Dot, everyone else does.” She shook his hand firmly. His fingers were soft and warm against her skin, sending shivers up her arm. The night air was chilly, his warm skin reminded her of the cold that nipped at her flesh. 

“You’re not so bad. I thought all you Americans were all noisy riff raff, but I like you.” Dot smiled at the man, finally letting her walls down a bit. 

She was hesitant of all the American’s that dwelled in the small town. They seemed to cause havoc and chaos, so she steered clear of them. 

Dot glanced at her watch, it was later than she thought it was. She cursed under her breath, looking up to find all of her girls, so she could usher them all back to bed. 

Her team mingled with the other men Gene arrived with. Talking in small groups, laughing and smoking. Dot smiled, noticing that all of them were being well behaved. 

Unfortunately she was going to disrupt the peace. 

“Girls! Let’s go.” She called, walking around grabbing each one by their elbow and pulling them away. 

She let them all exchange goodbyes and information. They scribbled down addresses and names so that they could send letters to each other. 

Dot rounded up everyone, doing a quick head count before they headed home. They all waved and trotted off down the country road, back to the house where they all stayed. 

Crunching footsteps sounded behind Dot. She turned on her heel, behind her was a panting Gene. She looked at him curiously, why had he chased after the group?

“Eugene, are you ok?” Dot asked bending down slightly to check the man was fine. 

“Dot, would you like to give me your information?” Gene asked, straightening.

“What for?” She asked, confused.

“So I can send you letters.” Gene smiled shyly at the woman. 

“Oh!” Dot said in surprise. “Sure. Ok.” She bit her lip trying to suppress the grin that formed on her lips. 

She had never been asked to be sent letters before. Dot’s heart fluttered slightly in her chest. She pulled out a pencil and paper from her purse, quickly writing down her information before handing it over to the medic. 

Eugene smiled brightly. “Thank you, Dot. Have a good sleep.” 

Gene ran back to the men who waited for him at the fork in the road, where he had left them to run after the Sgt.

“Doc, did you get it?” Frank asked the man.