The following week was one of gloom and resignation. Mother was in constant misery because her three baby boys were going off to war, and Father, a man without vices, took up drinking. Consumed by his guilt over not going with them, he was always in either one of two states; away from home working or drunk in his study.
The triplets handled the situation better than the parents. Jonathan and Donovin started doing runs in the morning. They were already in decent physical condition, but they thought it would be better to get used to the expected continuous training. Hector dealt with it in his own way. Objectively better than mom and dad. He just continued to crack jokes and shirk his chores, life went on for him. I just tried to relax as much as possible, attempting to find ways to keep myself distracted.
It was a Tuesday afternoon when the doorbell rang. I opened the front entrance and stood face to face with a handful of relatively young men in beige military uniforms. The gentleman in front removed his cap.
“Are you the man of the household?”
“No let me get my father. Please come in.” I stepped aside and gestured for them to move into the den. As they walked by, I could see another group of men approach the door of our neighbors across the street. The only one eligible for conscription was Mr. Bofray, a single father of two little girls. I invited the soldiers to sit while I fetched my parents. I walked upstairs and found my mother folding laundry in her bedroom. She was humming some tune as she folded. I knocked on the door to get her attention.
“What is it Benjamin?”
“I’m looking for dad, is he in his study?”
“I believe so. What do you need him for? Is it something I can help you with?”
“Some gentlemen from the army are here to speak with him.” She immediately froze in the middle of putting a handful of clothes into a basket. In a shaky voice she said,
“Well I better go put a kettle on for our guests.” and she left the room, almost running. The door of the study was closed so I knocked on the door before entering. Father was sitting at his desk pouring over some papers, presumably from work.
“Sir, there are some men from the army here to see you.” He looked up from his papers at me, then slowly stood up.
“The army you say? Well, lets not keep the gentlemen waiting.” He walked across the room and guided me out the door with his hand on my shoulder. Before going back downstairs, I quickly went into my room and grabbed the employment form Mr. Jansen gave to me. We walked into the den to see the soldiers talking amongst themselves. Upon seeing us, or rather, my father, they stood up and removed their caps. The most senior looking of the men stepped forward.
“Officer McKennen at your service sir. We are here today to personally inform you of the conscription notice.” He shook hands with my father and proceeded with introductions.
“Master Corporal Jackson is our medical officer for today, and will be discussing the medical requirements for the army. This here is Private Lenbroe, he is simply here to assist us today.” Each man shook hands with my father in turn, with a curt ‘hello’.
“Very well. Let’s have a seat.” The soldiers sat back down and my father and I took a seat across from them. Private Lenbroe picked up a briefcase that had been leaning against the chesterfield, and opened it. He passed a single sheet of paper to Officer McKennen.
“According to the latest city census, there are five of-age men at the address of 294 Wellington road. A Mr. Tom Holler, Mr. Benjamin Holler, Mr. Hector Holler, Mr. Donovin Holler and a Mr. Jonathan Holler. Is that correct?”
“Yes it is. I’m Tom Holler and this is my son Benjamin.”
“May I ask where the other three are?”
“Jonathan is running an errand for my wife, and I believe that Hector and Donovin are visiting a friend.” Officer McKennen took out a small notebook from his breast pocket, and scribbled down some notes. Without looking up he said,
“And how long is this visit?”
“Oh , it is only for the day.” The officer nodded in what seemed to be approval, and he jotted down some more notes. He handed the sheet of paper back to Private Lenbroe, who in turn handed him another sheet of paper.
“In accordance with the law declared by Her Majesty the Queen, all persons with signed documentation, stating that their place of work is at an industry deemed essential to the war effort, i.e food production, weapons and ammunition production, or a government position, is eligible to opt out of conscription should said documentation be provided to the officer performing the conscription notice. Can you or any of the eligible men of this household provide such documentation?” My father stood up from his chair.
“Yes I work as an accountant at a government bank. Let me get my papers from the office.” He went upstairs and returned with a couple of documents in hand. He handed them to Officer McKennen, who looked over the sheets.
“These seem to be in order.” He turned his attention towards me, “And you?” I stuck my hand in my pocket and felt the paper. The paper that would stop me from being dragged off to war. The conversation with my father flashed in my mind.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“...I need you to ‘forget’ about your record of employment. I need you to look after them.”
“Dad I...I can’t. I can’t do it. I’m not cut out for killing. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just...can’t”
I remembered the look of sadness on his face. Lines of worry at the corners of his eyes, tears streaking down his cheeks. And I thought of the triplets, bruised and bloodied on the battlefield.
“...Sir? Sir, do you have any documentation exempting you from the conscription?” I snapped back to the moment. I slid my hand out of my pocket, empty handed, and said, “no… I don’t”
Officer McKennen wrote in his little notebook, and father looked at me with a shocked expression. The silence was broken by the whistling of the kettle. It died down and mother came in with a tray.
“Here, some tea for you boys. So, what's happening? Ben did you and your father give them your papers?” McKennen looked up from his notebook and stared at me.
“So you do have the documents?”
“No sir.”
“Benjamin what are you talking about? I thought you said you got some sort of form from Mr. Jansen.” A combination of confusion and worry spread across her face. Officer McKenne was looking back and forth between my mother and I.
“Mr. Jansen let me go. He couldn’t afford all the workers he had.” Yes he can.
“But that means...no this is preposterous. I’m calling him right now!” Father stood up and walked over to her.
“Dear don’t be ridiculous. You can’t force him to hire Benjamin.” Can’t hire someone you already have in your employment.
“But didn’t Ben say he ha-” Mother, now would be a good time to stop talking.
“Why would he lie? I’m sure if Benjamin had the papers, he would provide them. You’re getting upset. Why don’t you go lie down upstairs.” he took her by the arm and led her up the stairs. After a moment he came back down stairs.
“I apologize. My wife can be...excitable.”
“We understand that this can be difficult, sir. Master Corporal Jackson can you explain the medical requirements?”
“Certainly.” He took some papers from Lenbroe, “Due to the nature of the conscription, only those with severe physical and mental limitations are exempt from conscription. Those with glasses, colour blindness, are overweight or underweight, are still eligible for conscription. If you are on any prescription medications, those medications will be supplied by the army. Do any of the eligible members of this household have any reason to be medically exempt from conscription?”
“No, and neither do my brothers.”
“Very well. Before being starting military training, all conscripts will undergo a physical examination by a medical officer, such as myself, in order to check for any unknown health issues. This examination can be performed at the household of the conscripts before the date they must deploy to the local garrison, or at the local garrison upon arrival. Which would you prefer?”
“I’d like to wait for my brothers, so we’ll have it done at the garrison.” Jackson took down some notes on his own notepad, and then tucked it away. The two officers passed their papers back to Lenbroe, and he handed one final sheet to McKennen. The three of them stood and put on their caps.
“Thank you for your time gentlemen. If you have any questions please direct them to the local garrison.” McKennen placed the sheet of paper onto the table. “This paper outlines all of the things you will need to pack, as well as the date and time you will be taken to the garrison. You have a good day.” And with that they left. My father closed the door behind them and turned to me.
“Thank you, Benjamin. Thank you.” I barely heard him however. My head was swimming with thoughts of what I had gotten myself into.
-----------
“YOU WHAT?”
“I didn’t hand them my -”
“I heard what you said, I just can’t believe it!” I had to hold the telephone away from my ear to prevent going deaf from Cheryl. “You had a chance to stay home!”
“I know. But it just didn’t seem fair that I had the choice and the triplets didn’t. How could I enjoy the comforts of home knowing they were overseas fighting for their lives? I’d feel awful. Especially if something happened to them.”
“I suppose I understand what you mean. But you could have stayed home and still contributed to the war effort. You could have helped them from here.”
“I just don’t feel like that is enough.” Cheryl let out a loud and lengthy sigh.
“Well I suppose there is no point arguing the matter. What’s done is done.”
“That was an argument?” I teased. She huffed over the phone.
“Well I guess you’ll be spending lots of time with my Dad then.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you remember? He was assigned to train new conscripts for the war?”
“I have no recollection of this. I think you’re delusional.”
“YOU’RE delusional for not handing in those papers.”
“But what’s done is done, eh?” Cheryl clicked her teeth. I could tell she was starting to get more frustrated with me so I eased off. We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone.
That’s going to be an awkward situation I suppose, given that we’re… what are we? Dating? I’d hardly call it that. One failed evening out and that’s it. I’m pretty sure it’s well known that I fancy her, and I’m quite sure she fancies me as well, but I haven’t had the courage to make any serious moves yet. I’m ridiculous. If I can muster the courage to throw away my free pass from conscription, surely I can summon the will to tell her how I feel. We’ve known each other for a while, so it shouldn’t be too big of a shock, if at all. I just need to figure out the timing.
I grabbed the information sheet the soldiers left behind and plopped down on the sofa to read. At the top of the sheet was the date that the army would pick up my brothers and I. Damn, only two days! Following the date was a list of items that we needed to bring. Let’s see, identification, your conscription information sheet, a single day's worth of clean clothes and basic hygiene supplies. Since it wasn’t still two days until we would be carted off, I decided to only pack the change of clothes and my identification. I left the C.I.S on my bedside table to show to the triplets later.
How shall I spend the next two days of freedom?