H ow had he gotten here to this noisy frigid airplane this bench filled with men smoking dozing some of them sweating despite the wind that flew roughly in through the open door?
Two years had passed like a dream: the excitement of enlisting as a paratrooper the brutal physical training the jumps off wooden towers the wind machines the folding of every cord every piece of the parachute once twice hundreds of times the very first drop from a moving airplane.
And then there was the fear the elation the thrill during freefall as he hurtled down towards the earth below the overpowering euphoria when the chute opened and he began to drift through the air. From that very first time when safely harnessed into a seat he’d made the parachute jump in Coney Island Abe had known that this was where he belonged.
He remembered his words to Annie long ago in another world far from the frenzy of battle: The world is at war Annie and I’m young and strong and have to be a part of it. But if I have to be wounded if I have to die I want to die somewhere between heaven and earth.
