Doveland (6 page)

“You are too slow, we will take over from here.”

Removing the canister was too difficult. Finally, Clovis released the clip with his beak and slowly pulled out the piece of paper while Homer distracted him.

“What's your name?”

“Flying Cloud,” he answered reluctantly.

They released the carrier and shoved the piece of paper beneath the ground leaves while the carrier continued his journey across the Meuse River to enemy headquarters in Liege.

Clovis and Homer hid along the bank of the river and waited to see what would happen next. It wasn't long before the enemy carrier flew back toward the enemy camp. They waited until Flying Cloud returned with yet another message, and they detained him once again.

“Now listen, boys, they told me at if I lost another one, they would shoot me,” he quivered.

“Then don't return,” suggested Homer, as Clovis emptied the canister once again.

Once Flying Cloud was released, he ignored Homer's warning and continued his journey over the river. Several moments later, they heard a single gunshot. Homer quickly absolved himself of any guilt.

“You heard me warn him, Clovis.”

Their role in the war would become unchanged as they vowed to help the allies win the war.

Later in the day, they returned to the sidelines to find the allied troops had been forced to retreat further south into France. The British regulars were known for their marksmanship, but their skills were no match for the heavy gun artillery of the central powers.

Homer became disgruntled at having to build another nest.

“Now, I guess we can be called border birds!”

The next morning would mark a new post lookout next to the sidelines of the battlefield. They soon followed yet another enemy carrier. As the carrier flew over the forest, he paused briefly as if he were attempting to move the canister away from his feathers. Clovis and Homer perched nearby.

“Oh, no, it's the Spitter!” whispered Clovis.

Soon they made their way and perched one on each side of the carrier. The Spitter grumbled, “I demand to know what is going on!”

“You seem to be having trouble with that canister, and we might be of some help,” said Clovis.

“As a high ranking army official of the central powers, I demand my release at once!” he said as the spittle reached Clovis.

Clovis then pretended to loosen the clamp as he pulled the paper out of the canister, letting it fall to the ground unnoticed, while Homer distracted him.

“Where are you going?”

The Spitter became suspicious.

“You two look familiar.”

“Don't think so,” replied Clovis. “We're too scared to leave the woods with all that gunfire.”

“You patriots are in a lot of trouble for detaining me,” he grimaced as he flew away.

“What's a patriot?” asked Homer.

“Don't know. We're just defending our country.”

They flew to the nearest watering hole where Clovis flapped his wings to wash the spittle from his little feathers. Homer began to laugh.

“It's not funny, Homer. I don't like that bird!”

After another long day, the patriots traveled back to their lookout to find the troops had once again retreated. Smoldering tree stumps and abandoned field artillery lay on the battlefield. They entered the woods alongside the allied troops once again. Homer grumbled while putting together yet another nest.

“Are we losing the war, Clovis?”

“We're going to help win the war, you'll see.”

Because some of the troops were moving away from camp under cover of darkness, Clovis and Homer discussed the necessity for keeping vigil at night. Clovis would stand guard the first half of the night.

The British and French armies were forced to retreat once again deeper into France. For several days, the withdrawals continued as far south as the Marne River. Instead of retreating again, the allies fought oppressively instead of defensively, and pushed the troops of the central powers back as far north as the Aisne River. To firmly hold their position, Germany's armies began to build trenches. Likewise, the allied troops began to build trenches to halt any further invasion. This action would mark a turning point in The Great War that would begin a new kind of warfare ~ stalemate.

After building their new homes, Clovis and Homer watched the soldiers form the trenches, each dug several feet deep, with duckboards placed at the bottom. The trenches were shaped in zigzag form to avoid total bombardment. Along the top of the trenches were endless rolls of barbed wire to halt intruders, open at certain intervals for the allied troops to exit. Separate trenches along the sidelines were reserved for the grenadier guards.

The troops had followed their leaders off to war waving their banners of glory, with promises that the war would end by Christmas. But life in the trenches would tell a different story.

The next morning, they flew to the sidelines and found a good place for their lookout. Machine guns rattled incessantly, as one of the grenadiers went over the top, throwing hand grenades across no man's land to clear the way for his rifle-bearing comrades. A whistleblower stood at the end of the trench line. On the third whistle, he ordered the Tommies over the top to halt the oncoming enemy.

“Get them before they come and get you!” he commanded over and over. Clovis wondered why the soldiers were forced to leave the safety of the trenches.

“Why can't the allied soldiers fight from the trenches, instead of going over the top?”

“Don't know, looks like some kind of game to me,” replied Homer.

In the beginning, the troops were full of patriotic spirit as they ran over the top like a storm that hits with its mighty force to conquer all who challenges its inevitable wrath, but most of them would never return. The trench lines had produced a deadly gauntlet that would become known as no man's land ~ the battlefield between the guns of the allies, and the guns of the central powers. Sometimes the wounded were able to crawl to safety in newly shelled holes where they waited for rescue by the medics.

Clovis and Homer liked watching the grenadier. Running over the top, he stopped short, leaned back with one arm forward, pulled the magic pin and threw the grenade far out into no man's land. Homer watched with anticipation as each grenade exploded on impact.

“Boom!” he yelled each time.

As the trees near the sidelines were destroyed by heavy gun artillery, Clovis and Homer were forced to move further into the forest.

When gunfire decreased on the battlefield, some of the soldiers would take a short break from the front lines. One day Clovis and Homer followed the grenadier to a quiet location in the woods. To their surprise, he sat beneath a tree and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket. He began to silently read a letter from home. His eyes clouded with tears that soon streamed down his face. He squeezed the letter tightly against his chest, and began to cry aloud, as though he would never see his family again.

“What's this bloody war about, anyway?” he couldn't help but wonder aloud.

After a few moments, he composed himself as he acknowledged the presence of two wild birds standing before him with sooty beaks and grimy feathers. Their tame approach reminded him of the roaming pigeons back home, and he compassionately pulled out a crumbling piece of bread from his pocket. His spirit was lifted with the essence of freedom given to birds living in the wild.

“Here, my feathered friends,” throwing the crumbs on the ground before them. It was the first time they had seen him smile.

“Tur-rr,” responded Clovis, and Homer followed with a short whistle.

While they were feasting on the delicious crumbs, the grenadier was summoned back to his post.

“Well, cheerio!”

“Yum, yum,” exclaimed Homer. “When the war is over, I am going into the big city and beg for bread crumbs all day.”

“Yes, Homer, when the war is over,” said Clovis as he watched the grenadier return to his post on the battlefield.

Germany had led its strongest units to invade France, using passage through Belgium, as the British second division continued to defend its position against the enemy. As casualties increased, new recruits arrived daily from Great Britain proudly displaying their flag exhibiting the same patriotic spirit as the troops before them.

Gunfire decreased on both sides to handle another enemy – inclement weather. With heavy downpours, the troops used every means, including their helmets, to scoop the water out of the
trenches. The narrow furrows formed between the trench lines for drainage were overflowing.

The weather began to turn cool. One night, a blast of cold air swept across Clovis' nest. His night shift would end soon and he flew down and snuggled into Homer's warm nest inside a low-lying shrub. Homer was asleep under a large dried up oak leaf, which Clovis pulled over himself to keep warm. Homer stirred a bit and pulled the leaf back, thinking it was a gust of wind. Clovis tugged at the leaf, which awakened Homer. Back and forth they pulled the leaf between them until Homer stood up.

“I don't mind sharing my nest with you, Clovis, but quit taking my warm cover!”

“It's your turn to keep watch!”

“Does the guard on duty have to leave his post?” argued Homer.

“Yes!”

“That's it, get out!”

“You're a selfish grouse, Homer. Get out there and do your duty!”

“You want me to crush that little head of yours?”

As they began to wrestle, a strong gust of wind imploded the underbrush around them, and they found themselves in the open cold air. Realizing that pressure of the war was putting a strain on their friendship, they shared shelter in another shrub where they both rested until daybreak.

“We're supposed to be patriots, Homer.”

“It's just that for the first time, I really spent a lot of time making a real nest, and then here you come to spoil it.”

“I'm sorry, Homer.”

“Me, too.”

“What are you going to do after the war?” asked Homer

“I want to return to Belgium. What about you?”

“I hope someday to have a son as brave as you, Clovis.”

“I'm not brave.”

“Well, Clovis, I was too big of a coward to tell you, but remember when Fantail asked us to join his flock?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I wanted to join them instead of staying in Belgium.”

“Why didn't you go?”

“Because I knew you would stay.”

“That was a brave decision, wasn't it Homer?”

“But, I don't feel so brave.”

“Neither do I.”

The sting of winter entered no man's land and the Tommies draped their sleeping blankets over their thick woolen tunics to keep warm. A cold wet drizzle fell over the battlefield as sounds of gunfire decreased in no man's land. Both sides huddled inside trenches to avoid the bitter cold winds.

While Clovis and Homer were foraging in the woods that day, they found a new home in a hollow tree with a big round open notch. High above the deep snow, they claimed it for their shelter for the winter. They lined their new home with warm layers of foliage. Homer urged Clovis to help him gather all the seed leaves they could find and place them inside their new home.

Later that day, they returned to the sidelines to find the intensity of warfare gradually decreasing once again. Both sides of the battlefield huddled deep inside the trenches to shield themselves as the bitter cold winds continued. Clovis and Homer returned to their warm home.

In celebration of Christmas, an unofficial cease-fire began during the day on December 24. As the artillery smoke dissipated, the medic teams from both sides began removing their wounded to the sidelines.

When all was quiet, the truce began, and soldiers began singing Silent Night, Holy Night. The tune could be heard up and down the trenches throughout no man's land. That evening, Clovis and Homer flew down to the trench lines where the grenadier and three of his comrades were making a small clearing in the snow to erect a makeshift tent. Large pieces of wood gathered from the forest were buried in the ground to support the tent covered with blankets. A branch from an evergreen was propped up inside the tent and decorated as a Christmas tree. They decorated the little branches as they sang Christmas songs.

They decorated the top with a candle for light. In the spirit of the holiday, trinkets such as key chains, watches, and photographs of their families were hung on the branches. Some removed holiday cards from their haversacks and placed them at the foot of the little Christmas tree.

As four soldiers gathered inside, Clovis and Homer approached the door.

“Meet my feathered friends,” smiled the grenadier, as he pulled a small piece of bread from his pocket and crumbled it on the ground. He rejoined his friends as they huddled in a circle for a game of cards. Clovis and Homer ate the pieces of bread and began to watch the game with great interest.

Before the game began, another comrade appeared in the entrance and handed the grenadier a bottle of spirits.

“Cheers!” the soldier said in passing, indicating he had lifted the bottles from one of the German supply trucks. He bid them Merry Christmas. The grenadier took the time to remove the top on the bottle, and spoke in a solemn tone.

“Well, my friends, we were told the war would be over by Christmas, and that didn't happen.”

“I didn't believe it anyway,” said another.

Clovis and Homer looked at each other with great disappointment.

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my friends!” said the grenadier, filling their mugs. “Here's to an end to this bloody war!” They toasted one another.

The soldiers gathered in a circle, and began placing their bets. Items such as combs, coins, keys, and pencils. The game continued as Clovis stood by the grenadier and watched him play his hand, while Homer watched from the other side.