"In Color" Jamey Johnson
I said, grandpa what's this picture here
It's all black and white, it ain't real clear
Is that you there? He said yeah, I was 11
Times were tough back in '35
That's me and uncle Joe just tryin' to survive
A cotton farm in a great depression
If it looks like we were scared to death
Like a couple of kids just tryin' to save each other
You should've seen it in color
Oh, and this one here was taken over seas
In the middle of hell in 1943
In the winter time you can almost see my breath
That was my tail gunner ole Johnny Magee
He was a high school teacher from New Orleans
And he had my back right through the day we left
If it looks like we were scared to death
Like a couple of kids just tryin' to save each other
You should've seen it in color
A picture's worth a thousand words
But you can't see what those shades of gray keep covered
You should've seen it in color
This one is my favorite one
This is me and grandma in the summer sun
All dressed up, the day we said our vows
You can't tell it here but it was hot that June
And that rose was red and her eyes were blue
And just look at that smile, I was so proud
That's the story of my life right there in black and white
And if it looks like we were scared to death
Like a couple of kids just tryin' to save each other
You should've seen it in color
A pictures worth a thousand words
But you cant see what those shades of gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color
You should have seen it in color
Yeah, a pictures worth a thousand words
But you cant see what those shades of gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color
Fiction Story:
The Photograph
By: Corina Jurczyk
It is black and white, blurred and slightly torn. It’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between the four men frozen in time, but I can tell you everything those shades of gray keep covered. I can see the flying dirt, the blood, the death. I can hear the machine guns, the screams of pain, the sound of boots on a forest floor. I can see Johnny McGee, Lenny Georges, Roger Manley, along with myself, an eighteen year old at war. Then I see everything all over again.
“Reynolds!” Lt. Thomas calls. I run over and stand at attention. “I want you to lead the ambush on Essen tomorrow night.” I nod, hiding the fear. I’ve never led anyone before. How am I supposed to go on ambush and lead men? As I ponder, my CO dismisses me.
I head back through the trenches to inform my buddies. McGee and Manley are having one of their usual political debates. “The government doesn’t have the right to force us into fighting,” Manley stated loudly.
McGee replies with an equally loud “Of course they do! We are citizens that should protect our country like our fathers did.” Those two couldn’t be more different. McGee comes from a long family of military men. Manley is a man of peace and against the war. No one can really blame him though. He lost his best friend, Andrew Crow, to a machine gun two months ago. He hasn’t yet gotten over it.
“Boys, it looks like I’m heading the ambush tomorrow,” I say, still hiding the worry. They stop, and McGee pats me on the back. “What? I haven’t done anything yet.”
“I know, but tomorrow night you will. Just don’t die okay?” McGee jokes, causing Manley to clench his fists. “Oh… Sorry…” he apologizes. Manley just walks away down the zigzagging trench.
That night I have terrible nightmares. I can’t stop thinking of dying, of causing someone else’s death, save for the Nazis. I wake up, breathing heavily. I don’t want to do this anymore. I refuse to sleep again; I don’t want to picture my death another fifty times, each far worse than the last.
As dawn approached, everyone wakes up tense but excited in a cruel sort of way. Lt. Thomas sends me out with a recon squad to figure out the best way to ambush the city. We discover a small group of Nazis stationed in Essen, nothing to be entirely worried about. They didn’t seem suspicious or cautious of the impending attack. Good, I think to myself. It will be easier if they don’t know of us.
When we return to the trenches a few miles outside the city, fear returns, and I refuse to talk with anyone. Not even McGee, my best friend, can get through to me. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to do anything. Shaking, sweating in the middle of winter, I sit there. I don’t eat and ignore all around me. Though I want to, I can’t cry; how great would that look? Their leader is a crying baby. As night approaches, Thomas comes to talk to me. “What’s wrong with you, Reynolds? You haven’t talked to anyone today. I know you haven’t led before, but you know enough. This ambush shouldn’t be hard. Clayton told me it should be a piece of cake.”
“Then let him lead. He can do better than me,” I blurt out.
“Clayton can’t lead due to his injury. You know that,” the lieutenant replies, reminding me of Clayton’s concussion.
I mutter a “Yes, sir” and am dismissed. A stupid Army photographer comes to take a photograph of McGee, Georges, Manley, and I before we leave. I don’t want to be in it, but McGee insisted so I give in.
The ambush begins at around eleven that night. I have around 40 men under my control, including McGee. We head into the city, remaining as quiet as possible. I tell Sanders and Georges to scout out the main road, and not even a minute later, we hear two gun shots. I start running for cover, nearly forgetting that I was in charge. Great. Now the Nazis know of us. So much for ambush.
The Georges and Sanders don’t return, so we head out. I put on a brave face and tell my men to kill only those uniformed. I don’t want to kill the people stuck in this city, unable to escape the madness of war.
As we reached the heart of the city, McGee stays with me after I send the others towards the eastern and southern parts of Essen. We hear firing from our left, and run towards it, even though our minds beg us to run in the opposite direction. We leave three Nazis in the street, dead. My confidence boosted, we head back to the main road out of the city.
Bang! I twist to my right. McGee is collapsed in the snow, blood pooling below him, changing the innocent white to red. Bang! I fall, clasping my shoulder and black out.
He wasn’t supposed to die. He was supposed to win medals and rise through the ranks. He was supposed to have a family after the war. He was supposed to live, but he didn’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment