Chapter 43: Mary the Warm

In the evening, at Alexandria Military Airport in central Louisiana, an Army commuter liner is taxiing down the runway. In www.biquge.info cabin, John closed the notebook in his hand and rubbed his temples, which were a little swollen. Last night's party at the Washington Hotel lasted late into the night, and he still hasn't fully recovered from his hangover.

After the plane came to a standstill, John walked down the gangway with a small suitcase. A young lieutenant who looked to be in his early 20s greeted him: "Are you Colonel Vanderbilt, please?" ”

"I am." John looked at the other party curiously, the lieutenant in front of him was about 6 feet 3 inches tall, with very energetic short brown hair, very three-dimensional facial features, a pair of big blue eyes with confidence and a little innocence, belonging to the type between men and boys. Shelved to the Hereafter. This kid is definitely a long-legged handsome guy who can make otaku fans scream.

After receiving John's affirmative answer, the handsome lieutenant immediately took the initiative to take the suitcase from him: "Hello, Colonel. I'm Lewis Bridge, the adjutant of General Bradley, and he asked me to come and pick you up. ”

John remembered that he had heard Bradley mention Bridge, who seemed to be the young talent that Bradley had been very optimistic about when he was the principal of Fort Benning. I didn't expect him to come to the 82nd Division to take up his post, and he still took this kid with him. It seems that Bradley has a heart on cultivating his own proud protΓ©gΓ©.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Bridge." John handed the suitcase to Bridge and followed him to a brand-new Buick sedan parked on the side of the runway. Bradley's new car, John saw on New Year's Day, and he bought it with dividends from the "Band of Brothers" shipyard.

It is said that since John took a stake in Henry Kaiser's shipyard in Richmond, the small inland shipyard of "Brothers" also took the opportunity to get a lot of spare parts production orders, which can be regarded as a ride on the "Libership" plan. At the end of last year, each of John and Bradley's five shareholders received nearly $60,000 in dividends, more than double their investment more than a year ago.

"Where are we going, Lieutenant Bridge?" John found that after driving out of the airport, he did not drive to the Klaibo Barracks (where the 82nd Infantry Division was stationed) on the outskirts of Alexandria, but drove all the way to the southeast.

"To General Bradley's new home, sir. The General's wife moved in from Washington last month, and they now live on Stonemason Street on the Red River. Bridge replied.

John had heard Adele tell her about Mary's move to Louisiana. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was already in college anyway, and there was no need for Mary to stay alone in Washington. It's just that I didn't expect Bradley to move quite quickly and settle down in his new home so quickly. John thought they were living in the senior officers' apartments next to the Klebe barracks.

The military airfield was only 10 kilometers from downtown Alexandria, and John and his family soon arrived at Bradley's new home. Before he could get out of the car, John saw that the couple had come out of the door.

"Good evening, Omar, Mary." John happily hugged his old friends and said, "This house is beautiful." ”

John is not casually saying this, this two-story Southern style building really fits his aesthetics, exquisite and elegant yet warm. And the best part. From the garden at the door, you can see the picturesque Red River in the distance, and on the other side of the river is Louisiana State University, Alexandria, tucked away in a large oak forest.

"Good evening, John, the road is going well." Bradley wore civilian clothes and stood at the door of his house, not at all like a general, but more like a southern "red neck" (originally red neck was a contemptuous term for the countrymen in the United States, because they worked in the fields every day with their heads down, and the back of their necks were tanned). This gradually became synonymous with farmers in the American Southwest, and later became synonymous with Republican conservatives, whose stalwarts such as the Bush family were all rednecked).

After the pleasantries, Bradley warmly welcomed John into his new home, "Come in the house and wash and change clothes, Alexander is much hotter than Washington." Mary has prepared the room for you, and you will stay with me for the next time. ”

"Then what's the matter, it's too troublesome for you, I'd better live in the officer's dormitory."

John was about to excuse himself, but Mary came up and said, "It's all right, John, you should make this your own home." Omar and I don't have any friends here, so you can be more lively when you come to the house. ”

With that, she began to instruct Lieutenant Bridge to move things upstairs: "Lewis, help take John's luggage to the guest room on the second floor." Dinner is almost over, and you eat in a while before leaving. ”

Seeing Lieutenant Bridge carrying his suitcase upstairs, John could only laugh and cry as he followed. In the face of the enthusiastic "Mary" eldest sister, John has no tricks at all.

When he was on a business trip in England, he was thanks to Mary for helping to take care of Adele every day. What's more, she is also the godmother of little Eric. Since Mary didn't treat him as an outsider so much, John could only obediently "accept" her kindness.

What's more, although it was a little uncomfortable to live in her "boss's" house, Adele and her sisters moved in when it was a little warmer. John calculated, he would only live here in Bradley for a month at most, and he would endure it for a while. Anyway, he can't run back and forth every day, and he still has to live in the barracks most of the time.

By the time John had changed his clothes and gone downstairs, Bradley and the others were already waiting for him in the dining room. Tonight's meal was far from sumptuous compared to the one at the Washington Hotel last night, but John was satisfied.

Mary, like Bradley, came from a poor family (the two families were neighbors, and Bradley had a crush on Mary when he was a teenager), and his ability to handle household chores was more than a little better than Adele's. A few ordinary ingredients cooked by her like this are not only delicious but also have a strong taste of home, just like John's most missed mother's dish in his previous life. This is something that Adele can't learn from many famous chefs.

Probably because she had not had anyone to speak to her during the more than a month she had been in Alexandria, Mary was particularly talkative to-day, and she could be heard talking alone at the dinner table. From the layout of his new house, to the price of Alexandria; From the baby clothes she made for little Eric, to her daughter's "suspected boyfriend" in college.

She even had the whimsical idea to introduce Bridge, a female nurse she had met in the dentist's office two days earlier, to be Bridge's girlfriend, and she blushed when she said that the handsome lieutenant, who was still a little green. Eventually, she offered to help John find a house.

"I'm telling you, John. I've seen most of the houses for sale in these neighborhoods along the Red River. I think there's one building that's especially suitable for you, and it's just at the east end of our street. The basic layout is similar to our house, but it has three floors, a small loft, and the garden is a little bigger......"

In fact, John, they had already bought a house in Alexandria, even before the Bradleys. Since John was sure that he would be transferred to the 82nd Division, he decided to bring his children to Adele in Louisiana with him, and began to entrust others to find a house in Alexandria. The house they chose was introduced by Middleton, and the original owner was a professor at a state university.

In the end, seeing Mary's posture of taking him to see the house after eating, John could only tell the truth, telling her that he had already found a house, and that he would be able to move in by waiting for the original owner to move out in the middle of next month.

"It's a shame, that house is really nice. And it's very close to here, and when Adele comes, it's convenient to visit the door. Mary said with some disappointment.

"It's okay Mary, our house isn't far from here, just across the river, next to State University, Alexandria." John hurriedly comforted this "enthusiastic eldest sister". To him, having a good relationship with Mary was even more important to him than having a good relationship with Bradley. In the future, if he really goes abroad to participate in the war, he will still point to Mary to help him take care of his wife and children.