She was angry, tears came, and her face flushed red.  "Just hang on", he yelled.

"Check point."  They had reached the river, and were headed toward the bridge.  He  slowed the jeep as they approached the check point, finally coming to a halt at the guard shack.  A guard came out of the shack and looked at Elsa.  Her face was red, and she was obviously upset.  The guard nodded and waved the jeep through.  The young soldier shifted gears and headed on to the bridge.

A rhythmic sound pounded the jeep from below as the wheels rolled over slabs of concrete and asphalt.  Seconds later the jeep came off the bridge, slowed, then turned to the west.  Railroad tracks ran alongside the road.  There had been no fighting on this side of the bridge, everything looked so normal.  Green hills gently rolling on the left, and fields of wild flowers on the right.  The tracks were in tact on this side, but had been destroyed on the side where Elsa lived.  

The soldier pulled the jeep to the side of the road.  "I can take those hand cuffs off you now Ma'am.  Turn your back toward me."  Elsa shifted in her seat and held her arms out behind her.  The young man cut them off with his pocket knife.  "There you go Ma'am.  Better?"  Elsa nodded and sat back in the seat .  He resumed driving.

It was much quieter now, the wind had died down and the sun filled up the sky.  "I thought about what you said", the young man told her.  Elsa looked at him.  "About the Commander, about things he does, I've heard things.  I didn't believe them."

He continued.  "The weird thing is, I knew those things were true, but I still didn't believe them." he said, shifting gears.  He paused to find words.  It was clearly difficult for him to speak these words.  He looked at her searchingly, hoping she would know what he was trying to say somehow.  "Because it's true, what else you said, about doing things and, then coming home as a hero...even though those things...were wrong."   

Elsa was not in the mood to listen his story of self-discovery.  Her head was spinning, and she couldn't grasp what was happening.  Was she supposed to be happy about this? She did not want to look at his face, yet she could feel him staring at her.  She took a breath, then turned toward him.

He went on.  "Last night, I kind of, well I guess I had it thrown in my face.  We got orders to pull out first thing, and, well, the Commander wanted you brought to him for,

interrogation.  And I knew what was going to happen to you.  It was just wrong.  I couldn't do it."

Elsa knitted her brow.  "What, what it is you are trying to say?" she asked.

"Where would you go if you could get away from here?  Is there someplace you could go on this side of the river?"

"Yes. Tenyeska.  My sister is there.  Why do you ask me this?"

"Because that's where you're going."

"You are taking me there?"

"No. I can't.   I have to go back and do some fast talking, or you won't be home free." he said.  He pulled in to a train station and stopped the jeep.

"Come on." he said.

He walked Elsa inside the station and told her to ask for a ticket to where she wanted to go and then he paid for it.  He handed her the ticket, and a hundred dollars.  "It's not much Ma'am, but it's all I've got.  Will this get you there?  To, where ever? Tenwhatzit?"

Elsa's eyes filled with tears as she looked into his face.  "Yes," she said, "thank you, soldier."

She held out her hand and gently cupped his cheek.

"You are no coward soldier, you are very brave.  Thank you for giving me my life."

 

He smiled at her.

"I have to go Ma'am.  As they say back home, I have a lot of 'splaining to do!"

"Good luck." he said, and he turned to walk away.  

Elsa called out, "Soldier! Wait!"  

He turned and looked back at her.  "What is it Ma'am?"

"Why?  Why are you doing this?"

He smiled again, paused and said, "Because I'm thinking of oranges."

Elsa watched him walk back to the jeep.  He hopped in, started it, waved, and drove away.

THE END