The boy looked at the clock as he took off his apron and turned out the lights over the soda fountain in the Corner Drug Store in a little west Texas town. It was 1:30 am. The fountain was “sparkle clean” after he and his sisters worked hard since midnight closing time to make it so. It was a family business, and the whole family participated. When the children finished cleaning they settled down to wait for their mother and father to finish checking the weekly proceeds. Suddenly there came a tapping on the glass of the front door.
Saturday was the busiest day for all of the businesses on the square including the fountain business where the boy worked. He was only 12, but he was a real “soda jerk.” He knew his job well. He started learning the business when he was 9 years old when his father gave him a summer job at the drug store he managed at the time. After two years, his father had bought another store, and the boy was able to help in the family business. He even helped his four older sisters learn the soda fountain business. The four older sisters made quite an impression when the family moved to this little town. People called them "those pretty Italian girls.” The boy was hardly noticed.
This particular Saturday was typical for the season. The boy worked until early afternoon, after the busy hours. Then he was allowed to go to the “show.” The show was usually a cowboy movie feature, a news reel, a cartoon, coming attractions and finally, the “chapter.” The chapter was an action packed serial movie, divided into 12 to 15 episodes to be shown once a week. Each episode ended with a scene that left the hero in danger and the viewer excited to see how he would escape. After the show, the boy returned to work, though by that time it much slower-paced as the day wore on and the shoppers began to slowly disappear. The evening time held a relaxed atmosphere, and businesses began to close. The drug store closed at midnight and then it was time to clean up.
The tapping on the glass became louder after the first was ignored. The father went to the door to see who was there. The boy went to the window and looked out, leaving his sisters behind the counter. The street was empty of traffic, but an Army Jeep, with a soldier in the driver’s seat, was parked out front, parallel to the curb and several Army trucks were parked across the street. The father was talking to someone at the door, but the boy couldn’t make out what was being said. Soon his father came to the fountain side of the store and said, “Open up the fountain, these men have been traveling all day and will travel all night. They need a break.” “What men?” the boy thought. Then he saw soldiers getting out of the back of the trucks. He never saw so many soldiers all at one time. He knew what to do. He left the window to get his apron and prepare for action.
The soldiers began to gather around the soda fountain to place their orders. It was very quiet even though the room was crowded. The boy watched first soldier begin to speak, but stop short when he saw the boy's sister. She was clearly one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. He gave her his order and received her smile. To him it must have been like a breath of fresh air. All of the sisters got the attention of the soldiers. The boy was almost totally ignored.
The soda fountain was as busy as it was at the peak of the day. All of the blenders hummed, making milk shakes and malts. Glassware rattled as they were being filled with ice cream and sodas and coke drinks like cherry coke, lime coke, even chocolate coke. Fresh coffee was brewed and canteens were filled. The jukebox began to play “Don’t Fence Me In,” and the pinball machine started ringing. There was laughter. It was almost like a party.
Soon a loud voice shouted out, “OK men, saddle up,” and the noise level dwindled as the soldiers returned to their trucks. The boy stood on the sidewalk and watched as the men boarded the trucks. Engines came to life and the trucks began to move. “Men,” he thought. These were only boys not long out of high school. They were the paper boy, the grocery delivery boy, the star football player-- the soda jerk. They were all alike. They were GOVERNMENT ISSUE --G.I.’s.
He watched as the trucks drove out of site. A Jeep led the caravan and another Jeep was last in line. Each had a long whip antenna. The boy heard the squelch break on the radio in the trailing Jeep, but he couldn’t understand what was being said. He did hear the man in the trailing Jeep speak into his microphone as it passed him. “Roger. Out.” And they were gone.
The boy returned to the task of cleaning up. His sisters had already started. It would be 3:00 am by the time they would finish. As he began gathering dishes, his thoughts turned to that time earlier in the day when he was allowed to go to the show and see the latest chapter in the serial he was following. This time, his thoughts were on what he saw in the news reel. It reported that our G.I.’s were battling their way to liberate Paris, France. The thousands of G.I.'s in Europe that were were being killed or wounded were just like those that left a short time ago. From that day forward, G.I.’s were his heroes. Could the war last six more years, when he would be eligible for the draft?
He would remember this night throughout his life and wonder how many of these G.I.’s would survive the war. Where were they now and would any of them remember this night? He hoped that those G.I.'s who did remember would not just think of it as one of a hundred pit stops, but as something as special as a young boy's dreams, and the smile of a dark-eyed girl; a little oasis in Texas.
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