Fire Over Atlanta by Gilbert L. Morris Page B

touch the curls that adorned her head but knew that would be a mistake. “Charlie,” he said finally, “I just want you to have the best.”
    “I tell you, Rosie, you got to keep that girl away from me! She’s driving me crazy!”
    Drake had been walking guard duty when Rosie suddenly appeared out of the darkness. He’d been so startled he raised his musket and almost pulled the trigger.
    “Give the password!”
    It turned out Rosie didn’t know the password, and Drake glared at him, saying, “You’re gonna get yourself killed, jumpin’ out of the dark like that! What’s the idea, Rosie?”
    “Got to talk to you, Drake.”
    “Can’t it wait till tomorrow?”
    “I don’t think so. We better talk now. You just go on walkin’. I’ll walk along beside you.”
    “All right. What is it, then?” Drake resumed his patrol. He hated guard duty as he hated most things about the army. Actually he was glad Rosie had shown up, because he was growing lonesome andthe hours seemed to drag. “Where have you been?” he asked the rangy soldier.
    “Been over to see Charlie.”
    “Did you see Lori?”
    “Sure, I saw Miss Lori. She gave me a piece of apple pie.”
    “Did you bring any back for me?”
    “Nope, I ate it all. That was the last piece too.”
    “Rosie! You’re always fussin’ about how sick you are, and then you eat like a starving wolf! How did she look?”
    “Charlie?”
    “Lori!”
    “I didn’t come over to talk about Lori. You and Royal talk enough about her. I came to talk about Charlie.”
    And that was when Drake said, “You got to keep that girl away from me! She’s driving me crazy!”
    “Drake, I want you to listen to me,” Rosie said. “You’re not acting right about Charlie.”
    Drake whirled to face him.
“I’m
not acting right?
She’s
the one who’s not acting right. She follows me everywhere I go. I can’t turn around without her being underfoot. She doesn’t have any pride at all, and she doesn’t know a thing!”
    “That’s right,” Rosie said quickly. “She
doesn’t
know anything, Drake. She hasn’t had a chance to. That pa of hers, he treated her like a boy and made her feel like a boy, and now she doesn’t know how a girl ought to act. But that’s not her fault.”
    “It’s not my fault either!” Drake snapped.
    When he started marching again, Rosie followed alongside. “Look, I know she’s aggravatin’, and I know you’re not interested in her. But she can’t understand that. If she’d been brought up like a girl,she’d know these things. But all she knows is she likes you, and she thinks you ought to like her.”
    “Did she tell you about the farm she’s going to buy me?” Drake asked.
    “Sure she did, and you ought to be grateful for
    it.”
    “Rosie, you know I don’t
like
farms. I don’t like cows, or chickens, or plowing, or anything else about farms. If I ever get out of this army, I’m gonna go to a big city. Maybe San Francisco—or even New York—where something’s happening.”
    “That’s all right, Drake. You may do that, but you got to figure out some way to do it without breakin’ Charlie’s heart.”
    “I got all I can do to beat Royal out. I think he’s gettin’ the inside track with Lori. Look, if you want to do some good, just go to that girl and tell her that it’s useless and to leave me alone.”
    “She wouldn’t believe me, but she’d believe you.”
    “All right. I’ll tell her then.”
    “Wait a minute.” Rosie reached out and pulled him to a stop. “I don’t like the way you said that. You got to be gentle with her. You could hurt her real bad.”
    Drake stared into the darkness at his friend. He liked Rosie, but his nerves were on edge. He hated the army. He wanted out! If it had not been for Lori, he might have deserted long ago. “Look, you’ll just have to tell her yourself. I can’t do it to suit you, and I’ve already tried to hint around every way I know that I’m not interested in any girl