“Last time I saw him, he was doin’ great.”
If I had said God himself was walkin’ through the door I couldn’t have gotten a bigger reaction from the officer. He sits up straight sudden-like, and his eyes lose their dreamy focus and center on me … though I notice they are buggin’ out a little.
“You know Big Julie?” he sez in kind of a reverent whisper. “When was the last time you talked with him?”
“A couple weeks back,” I sez. “Just before Nunzio and me enlisted. We was sippin’ some wine with him and some friends over at his villa.”
“You were a guest at his villa? Tell me, is it …”
The officer breaks off and shakes his head like a dog.
“Excuse me, sergeant,” he sez, in much more normal tones. “I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just that … well, Big Julie is something of a legend around Headquarters. I was a junior officer when I served under him, and never met him personally … just saw him a couple of times during reviews and inspections.”
“That’s too bad,” I sez, with real sympathy.
“He’s really a great guy. You’d like him … sir.” I finally remembers I was talkin’ to an officer, and my “sir” seemed to remind him of why I was in his office in the first place.
“Now that I think of it,” he sez, pullin’ some papers off the top of one of his stacks, “there is something here that I could assign you and your crew to. Would you like to take over running one of our supply depots?”
This sounds like just what we need to do the most damage to the army’s attempts to reorganize. I also notice that the officer is now askin’ me about which assignment I want.