“Now, to keep things simple, I’d like those whose last names begin A through M to go with Leader Compton to A Barracks and the rest to go with Leader Trawnley to B Barracks.”

I turned to Compton, who of course hadn’t seen the insides of the barracks himself. “If you’d like,” I offered, “I can get one of my buddies to show you—”

“No need,” he said. Raising his voice, he ordered, “A Barracks men gather at the left.”

Within minutes he had them moving smoothly toward their new home.

I got off to a shakier start, letters N to Z seeming to be more independent minded than the first half of the alphabet.

Or maybe it was just that I knew less what to do than Compton did.

If my guys got moved in with some order—and they did—it was because my buddies from the construction crew pitched in to help. Even Riley and T. J. Brunel came over from A Barracks to see what they could do.

“We’re not needed there,” Riley said. “That Compton’s got things shaping up faster than a plow horse threatened with the glue factory.”

And the day ended fine, with just about everybody going to get the Christmas tree.

We drove a long way to the start of some mountains, where we tromped through snow and argued about the merits of pines versus spruces versus firs, until we finally came on a tree that looked perfect.

And then we had us a grand snowball fight, A Barracks fellows against my guys, all of us dodging through the woods to ambush each other. Only Compton, ignored when he tried to lay down rules of engagement, sat it out.

We wound things up around a campfire, roasting marshmallows that Pops produced. We sang “About a Quarter to Nine,” which was popular, and didn’t do too bad. And then later, when long blue shadows stretched across the white forest floor, we sang “Silent Night.”

“Well,” Sam quietly said to me, “we’ve gone from being a construction cadre to being Company 597 easier than I’d have thought.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “The new fellows seem like good guys.”

“You did okay today.”

“You think?” I asked. “I felt like it stuck out all over that I didn’t know what I was doing. Especially compared to Compton.”

“It did show,” Sam said. “But I heard the new fellows deciding you seemed nice enough to be worth giving a chance to.”

Chapter 22

Once we got past Christmas, Major Garrett and the LEMs kept us busy doing what we could around camp, as much as the snow would let us. Graveling the lane and walkways was the biggest thing, so they wouldn’t turn into mud come spring.