last flight of the fortress

privates hanover and turner had orders to jump a quarter mile east of the la hong river in lower cambodia, but the smoking engines of the b52 bomber said otherwise. "we're thirty miles short of the drop turner!" hanover yelled over the whining engines and ear shattering wind. private turner shook his head while holding onto the straps over head. the thundering bird suddenly banked hard to the left lifting both men off their feet and hanging them out over the triple canopy of the cambodian jungle. they had seen this scenario on film reels in training, this was the begining of the plane's death role. the men looked at each other and nodded, both letting go of the straps and falling free from the burning fortress. they were low, too low. this was going to hurt. the parachutes began to open just as the spinning soldiers tore through the tree tops, barely slowing them down. the soft branches of the banyan trees felt like bullwhips at this speed, but somehow they survived. when they finally came to a stop, they were hanging merely feet from each other, but still nearly 20 feet from the ground below. "you okay hanover?" turner said checking the gashes on his face with his fingers. "i'm alive" he laughed as he grabbed his bruised ribs. a whistle sounded below, they had been spotted. "charlie" turner whispered. the men carefully unsnapped their pistols as the figures aproached. there were three of them, the leader in front obviously female, she blew the whistle again. they came to a stop in front of the men and she glared right at them. "daniel and steven said you boys won't let them have a turn on the swings" mrs. barker said. "let's go boys, off." the boys slumped out of the swings and walked over to the jungle gym and climbed inside the bars. "i've got a russian t-54 tank at 3 o'clock turner!" roger that hanover.

3 comments:

Perfect Virgo said...

Those Banyan trees are just useless for breaking your fall. Tell me about it!

Kim said...

This one was really cute. Thanks for sharing :)

Neetee said...

I see little boys everyday lost in play and inner conversation. You have definitely captured their game.