Interpreter #8

"Went down to the levy, but the devil caught me there. 'Took my twenty dollar bill and vanished in the air"
~Grateful Dead


Hooah!...

Gildge said it, clearly wasn't feeling it. By this point, though, every snivel and whine is making my job a little easier. I let the deadpan delivery pass in service of a greater victory.

The Interpreter was to his left, i sat facing him from the next rack. There was a battered footlocker between us. I leaned in. I looked him in the eyes:

Specialist, I have concerns. This unit's never lost a man to discipline, and you will not - I cannot ALLOW - you to become the first. Are we clear?

Sir, yes Sir...

Way too quiet. We were not clear. I flashed a look at the Terp and he cleared out, leaving me and the kid in a dark tent. I leaned in:

Speak freely. This is the only chance I'll give you.

***

So that's how i got this job...

They drove through the frigid Kazmir night at speeds that felt very dangerous to private Gildge. The interpreter talked the entire time, but with the rush of air over the chassis, and the rocks and dust crunching between bigger road noises, Spec 1st Gildge was getting every tenth word and understanding none if it. After almost an hour on high desert hardscrabble, the road got at least semi-passable and the Terp's narrative came into focus:

...Fuck I'd been offered shit like this gig my whole life since I had no dick-hair, yo. The el tee, though, he's the first white man could meet my price. Six languages, six dialects or more in most of em, I know the high roads and the low roads. You gotta have self worth right? Dollahdollabill y'all right?

Gildge said nothing.

Going back ain't a thing to be ashamed of mang. I've seen it before too. Shit many times bro! I hear about these guys, Americans, big tough guys right? Hard. They be killin themselves faster than the tags can get 'em. I'm sayin "fuck bro...where these guys been workin? " Cause I know the aint seein' what I see, and they still eatin voluntary lead? What the fuck, right? Last week we napalmed a school after barricading the doors. Ain't a guy with us killed anything but a ragheads. Shit you saw the bus. That's our thing dude. Fuckin hellish. Death squad motherfuckers. We hard. You gotta be!

Terp's mention of the bus made Gildge all loopy again. He tried to stem the flood of disgust and confusion, tried to keep the awful images from his mind's eye. It was no use. What the fuck happened to that bus? Those people...

Specialist Gildge realized he'd spoke it inadvertently as he thought it and studied the interpreter for reaction. He was relieved to see none, then felt silly for all his worrying. All the noise, he could hardly make out the sound of his own voice much less an...

Glad you asked dude. The El Tee had a feeling you would so I got orders to make us a detour.

He jacked the brakes and the un-belted Gildge went head up against the windshield.