GIRLS

After a while of feasting, I find myself fully stuffed as clean empty plates sit before us. Something catches Obrenski attention causing him to exclaim, "Would you look at the asses on those gals!" Me and Kurtz peer out the window to see pretty young girls in spring dresses passing by the restaurant making their way to the fountain. Obrenski admires them, grinning the way he usually does when he is on the prow. He looks to both of us and says, "Well here's your chance boys! Go get laid before the war kills the both of you!" Girls. I haven't thought, much less seen any girls for a while.

 I don't have a girlfriend and am absolutely certain that Kurtz doesn't have one either. Now to think of it, Kurtz probably doesn't even think of girls that way. He still retains his youthful innocence. Me on the other hand, I'll be stationed here for a while and it probably would hurt to a least meet some girls. "Hurry boys, they are getting away!" Obrenski shouts. Me and Kurtz file out of the booth quickly and make our way outside. There they are! Standing by the fountain. I quickly comb my greasy hair with my fingers and try to straighten my uniform. 

Nervousness overcomes me and my stomach feels nauseous. Maybe I should turn back. No! Keep pushing though, I'm halfway there. I see in front of me four girls giggling in front of the fountain. There is two blonds about my age and a brunette and brown hair girl that are obviously older. Oh no! They have spotted me! I make eye contact with the first blond. Damn they know! They giggle amongst themselves. I want to turn back but I know I would embarrass myself worse if I did. 

I approach the blond that is a little shorter than me, she has a beautiful complexion of: long blond hair, dark blue eyes, round soft face, pale skin and a gorgeous petite frame wrapped in a light blue dress. Oh God! The stomach pain is unbearable, I try to keep my teeth from chattering. All I could muster in almost whisper, " Hi. I'm Franz." I hold out my hand for a handshake. A handshake Franz, really? What the hell are you thinking? She takes my hand awkwardly and says in a soft but confident voice, "Hello, I'm Irina." 

"And I'm Kurtz von Krieger!" a voice shouts from behind me.

 Oh no! Its Kurtz, I forgot he was following me. I try to nudge him away but its already to late. "You two are the ones who shot down those planes this morning weren't you?" she says, obviously studying our uniforms. "Yup! That was us, we shot a plane down and now the Lieutenant says we get to paint another ring on the gun!" he shouts triumphantly. The other girls giggle amongst themselves. "Your pretty! Very, very, pretty. Don't you think she is pretty Franz?" Kurtz says childishly. I give up, Kurtz has ruined it. "Come on Kurtz lets go." I say avoiding eye contact. Kurtz looks to me and says naively, " But Obrenski says we have to get laid." 

At that moment I froze and came to two very awful realizations. One, Kurtz obviously didn't understand meaning of that phrase and two, she did. "Excuse me!" she says flustered, her cheeks bright red. The other girls laughs in hysteria. I blush uncontrollably and flash an awkward smile. I aggressively nudge him and say through my smile. "Come on Kurtz lets go."  "But, but I want to stay." he says as I turn and drag him behind me. "Wait!" the she shouts from behind me. I turn back and see her holding her hands to her chest looking at me as though she didn't want me to leave. 

She looks to the other girls and through some unspoken communication they nod in agreement. The tall brunette walks over to Kurtz and asks leaning over him, " Oh Kurtz, do you want to go get some ice cream?"  "Boy would I!" he replies gleefully. The other girls follow suit and soon start leading him away. He chatters giddily among them and they laugh in reciprocation. Now its just me and Irina alone. I approach rubbing my hand through my hair and state, "Sorry about that, he picks up everything he hears." "It alright. Though he should be more careful of who he's around." she responds as the fountain roars behind her. If only she knew. I relax a little. I walk up to her and gaze into her eyes. She suddenly speaks," Come and walk with me, I have something I want to show you."

It is late afternoon. She takes me by the hand and we circle around the fountain, silver sparkles at the bottom from all of the wishful coins. The fountain roars from the gushing waterfall and the stone polished statue must be at least ten feet tall. We pass more people going about their day. We step up the ancient stone stairs to the massive cathedral. We approach the open twenty foot massive wooden door and enter. 

The ancient stone masons must be very proud of their creation for it shows in the elegant brick work. There are hundreds of wooden pews that are spaced in two evenly rows. There is an alter with a golden cross depicting Jesus's crucifixion and above that there is a large stain glass circle that depicts the virgin Mary with a small child that is Christ. We walk down the rows of pews. The sounds of a practicing heavenly choir, that stand behind the cross and singing a language that only God can understand, harmonize and ring throughout grand stone holy place of worship. The arch ceiling must be a least a hundred feet in height and a mosaic depicting God and his glories decorate the ceiling. From the ceiling hang candle lit chandeliers that are suspended above every other section of pews and dimly light the area. High near the ceiling are large stained glass windows, four on both sides of the building, that depict a scene of Christ's life. They flood the darkened building with rays of blue, red and violet lights. Nuns and priests can be seen busying themselves making preparations for the next mass. 

We sit at the first pew on the right side maybe ten feet from the alter. "Isn't this place beautiful. I come here and just admire what determined men can do but this war has just destroyed these beautiful places, It is so sad." she says to me. I'm still kinda jittery from even being in this close a proximity to a girl. I just nod in agreement. She says," You will defend the town won't you?" What kind of question is that? " Of course I will." I respond snarkly. "I know you will," she says with tears in her eyes. She is crying, oh no, what did I do? She looks me in the eye and says, "We have lost so many people, I lost my father and my two brothers in Russia. Its just me and my mother now." She says as tears roll down her face. I don't believe this is how these meetings are supposed to go. "I'm sorry just every time I come here, I wonder why God could allow this horrible war to happen." she says as she wipes tears from her face.

 I try to comfort her by saying, " I don't know why God allows these things to happen. But I do feel your pain." She looks at me with puffy welt up eyes and asks, "You do?" "Yeah we lost my older brother in France when the resistance blew up the headquarters building he was working at. But this was two years ago."  "Oh Franz I'm so sorry." she replies as her voice quivers and new tears begin to fall. 

I try to comfort her more by saying," I'm sorry, I don't know what it is like to lose so much of my family. But I do know I felt like I lost everything when my brother died. Me and him used to always go on the wildest of adventures and get in to all sorts of trouble." She looks of toward the golden cross, tears still trickling down her face and responds, " I miss them so deeply, I remember when we go visit the lake and would have a picnic. Father and the boys would try and never catch any fish. Or how my brothers would push each other in to the lake. And how Stephan got that awful scar on his arm...." She stops mid sentence and turns back to me. "Oh Franz, I'm sorry. I brought us here because I thought it would be romantic. But now being here, it brings back painful memories."

 "Its ok." I say calmly and reassuringly. "You know." she says yet again wiping tears from her eyes, "If my mother every caught me with a boy she'd skin me alive." She takes my hand softly and with a soft voice, "Franz, you seem like a nice boy and I'm sorry, I'm not usually like this with strangers but there is something about you that I can open up to." There is something about me? I guess I do have that way with people. My heart flutters a bit. How am I going to respond to that. I decide and say, " Well I am glad you feel that way with me." " I want you to be safe Franz." she says," We have lost too many men because of this war." "Don't worry about me, besides who is going to look after Kurtz." I say flashing a smile. We both chuckle a little bit and look longingly into each others eyes.  She leans forward and closes her eyes, her ruby red lips purse. This it! I going to get my first kiss. Oh no! What if I don't do it right. My body begins to tremble and my breath shallows. I slowly approach, my heart feels like it will beat out of my chest. I reach her and we kiss briefly. How soft her lips were! My heart feels like it could soar. She reels back slowly and opens her deep blue eyes and smiles with passion. This is it! I just kissed a girl and it was amazing!

"IRINA!" a voice hollers from far behind us. Irina's eyes widen, "Oh no!" she whispers. We are busted! I turn behind me and see a figure angrily storming toward us amongst the pews. "IRINA!" the figure screams again. " What do you think you are doing?!"  Irina cowers and I try to look for an exit but its too late. She now tower above us. "Irina, I cannot believe this, you were supposed to be with your friends and I catch you with this boy?" she says yanking Irina by the hand and on to her feet. She now looks to me and I brace myself for a scolding. " And you young man should be ashamed of yourself, seducing my daughter in the house of the Lord." she says, slapping me across the face. My cheek burns intensely. The woman now drags Irina behind her and Irina shouts," I would like to see you again Franz." They soon disappear out of the cathedral. This is it, I kissed a girl! I'm so excited that I disregard the pain and smile gleefully.