Jason's story about his World War II experiences with Cindy and Peggy hating his guts continued…
That night after that mission, Jason quickly changed his clothes and ran to Chipley Springs.
He ran down the streets and up to Cindy's apartment building.
Jason entered her building and bolted down the hallway. He slid to a stop and immediately knocked on Cindy's door.
There were a few moments of nervous silence while Jason waited.
Her door opened, and Cindy appeared with red, teary eyes from crying for the past two hours.
"Please let me explain!"
"There's nothing to explain. You just wanted some free fun. And I fell for it," Cindy replied while her eyes welled up while slamming the door shut.
Jason knocked on her door again. "No, Cindy! I'm not like that!"
"I never want to see you again!" Cindy yelled from inside her apartment.
Jason knocked a few more times on her door. He stopped when he heard Cindy sob from inside her apartment.
Jason moped down the hallway extremely depressed.
Jason moped back to the airfield and almost got shot by the guard when he failed to show his identification card.
Jason moped back to his barracks and headed to the door.
"Jason," Peggy called out the second he placed his hand on the doorknob.
He turned around and saw Peggy behind him with eyes full of tears.
"Peggy, I don't know what to say."
"How about, you cheated on me with that English bitch," she said then repeatedly slapped Jason's head.
He cowered for cover from her beating.
She stopped beating him. "I'm going to tell daddy!" she yelled, then turned around and stormed off.
Two other officers walked past Jason with interest, as they saw the whole episode.
"I knew this would catch up with him one day," the one officer told the other officer, as most of the folks on the airfield heard about Jason's predicament.
Jason sat down in the grass and got even more depressed while he thought about his situation.
Jason sat in the grass for thirty minutes before moping into the barracks.
It was the next day, and the Sweet Bird was again in formation with eleven other B-17 in the low squadron while they headed to Germany to bomb another military target. Today they were going to destroy a factory that was suspected of making weapons.
Inside the Sweet Bird, flack exploded in all-around their windows and shook the plane.
Jason stared at his picture of Cindy and himself while Andy flew the plane.
Flak continued to explode and shook the Sweet Bird. Jason almost dropped his picture.
A Messerschmitt zoomed past Jason's windows with a P-47 hot on its tail.
Jason could care less while he just stared at his picture of Cindy.
Andy was getting pissed with Jason's behavior.
Later that night, Jason survived another mission, and he immediately rushed off to Cindy's apartment.
He looked nervous while he paced by Cindy's door with a box of chocolates in hand. He knew she hadn't come home from work yet and figured waiting by her door would be the only way she would see him.
After nine minutes of pacing by her door, Cindy walked down the hallway. She saw Jason and looked away while she walked to her door.
"Please talk to me!" he pleaded while he handed her the box of chocolates.
She took the box then threw it down the hallway where it smashed into a wall, and pieces of chocolate flew everywhere.
Cindy opened up her apartment door, went inside, and slammed her door shut.
Jason stared at her closed door for a second, then moped away depressed down the hallway.
Down the other end of the hallway, Albert Webb, a seventy-five-year-old lonely man, opened up his apartment door and peeked out curious with the commotion he heard.
He saw Jason while he moped down the hallway then he spotted the pieces of chocolate candy scattered all over the floor.
Albert rushed out of his apartment.
He ran up and down the hallway and picked up all the pieces of chocolate. This was a special treat for him today.
He rushed back inside his apartment with his prize.
Cindy's door opened, and she peeked out with eyes filled with tears while she glanced down the empty hallway. She closed her apartment door and wept inside.
Jason spent the rest of the day moping around the airfield.
That night, he visited the Let's Boogie Down dance hall, and his prayers were answered when he saw Cindy inside with Amy.
He rushed over to Amy and Cindy's table.
Cindy saw Jason and immediately looked away.
"I was going to break up with Peggy, but it's a delicate situation."
"Come, Amy, this delicate air suddenly stinks."
Cindy stood up and walked away.
Amy got up and gave Jason a dirty look and followed Cindy while she headed to the door.
Jason moped depressed over to the bar.
It was later that night, and most of the patrons left the dance hall.
Jason, with his hair and uniform a mess, sat at the bar in a depressed stupor.
Peggy, in a nurses uniform, entered the dance hall and walked up to Jason. "We need to talk," she told him.
Jason gulped down his beer and ignored her.
"I still love and forgive you," she replied while she stroked Jason's arm.
Jason looked pissed.
"We still have a wedding in the future. I'll call daddy back and tell him everything's been worked out," she said while she straightened out his hair and uniform.
Jason shooed her hand away from his arm and ignored her comment.
Peggy suddenly got a smirk. "Let's find a private place to talk this over."
Jason looked over at Peggy. His eyes crossed, and he passed out and slammed his head on the bar.
The bartender rushed over to Jason while Peggy stormed out of the dance hall, pissed.
Two days passed, and Jason didn't have any contact with Cindy or Peggy. He spent his all of his free time drinking his sorrows away at the dance hall.
The next day, Jason performed the take-off roll down the runway with the Sweet Bird.
Andy monitored the instruments on the console and didn't pay attention to Jason.
Jason continued the take-off roll with the Sweet Bird and was nearing the end of the runway where some tall trees were nearby.
The Sweet Bird finally lifted off near the end of the runway.
Andy looked out the front cockpit windows, and he leaned back in his seat while he watched the tops of the trees approaching fast.
"Watch it!" Andy yelled at Jason.
The sound of the treetops scraping against the bottom of the Sweet Bird was heard throughout the fuselage.
"What the hell was that?" Robert yelled from the radio net.
"I would have gotten a tree branch stuck up my ass!" Warren, the Ball Turret Gunner, yelled from the radio net.
"What the fuck is your problem?" Andy yelled while he glared at Jason.
"Are you guys up there trying to kill us?" Kirby yelled out from the radio net.
"Get your damn hands off the controls!" Andy yelled at Jason.
Jason removed his hands from the controls, and Andy took command. "Sorry guys," he said into the radio net.
"You pilots are scaring me," Gerard said from the radio net.
Jason stared out his window and tried to get his mind on the mission, but the thought of losing Cindy forever consumed his thoughts.
The mission was over, and the Sweet Bird survived another mission despite of Jason's behavior.
Late that night, Jason was able to purchase a bottle of whiskey from Russell at the dance hall.
He climbed inside the Sweet Bird and sat in his seat. He opened the whiskey bottle and took a gulp while he stared at the stars from his cockpit windows.
After ten minutes of drinking whiskey, the sound of someone entering the Sweet Bird was heard behind Jason.
Andy appeared and sat down in his copilot's seat. He watched while Jason took a swig of whiskey. "Will, that solve your problem?" Andy asked in a fatherly tone.
"It sure makes it easier to swallow," Jason slurred out his response.
"You're scaring me with the way you've been flying lately. Do you want the Germans to knock us out of the sky?" Andy scolded.
"Cindy doesn't love me anymore!"
"You got yourself in this situation, so go fix it."
"I tried. She hates me!" he slurred out his reply.
Jason took a swig of whiskey, and Andy leaned over, yanked the bottle out of Jason's hand, and some whiskey poured down Jason's shirt.
"I'm going to talk with Colonel Franklin and recommend you be grounded. You're endangering the crew and me," Andy scolded Jason then he left with the whiskey bottle.
Later that night, Jason staggered by the dance hall and heard the band play Billy Holiday's The Very Thought Of You song inside.
He stopped and listened to the song for a few minutes. His eyes light up with an idea, and he ran off.
He got twenty feet from the dance hall, and he tripped over his feet.
He got back up and ran away into the darkness.
A little later that night, Cindy was sound asleep in her bed when from outside her window, Jason sang out loud.
Jason sang out in a key that doesn't exist to some of the lyrics to The Very Thought Of You song.
Cindy woke up and got out of bed when it dawned on her that someone was singing out her window.
Jason sang out some more lyrics from outside while Cindy walked to her bedroom window.
She looked out her bedroom window and saw Jason down on one knee on the sidewalk.
Jason sang out more lyrics while she looked out her window.
"Stop! You'll wake up the whole town," she called out from her window.
From her window, she watched while Jason stopped singing and stood up.
"I love you, and I'll never love another woman!" Jason pleaded from outside.
"But you lied about Peggy."
Jason had a guilty look. "I know. But I was terrified dad would be fired if I broke up with her. I was trying to figure out a way to break up with her. I swear! Then she showed up here, and I didn't know what to do. I was so scared of losing you," he cried out from the sidewalk.
A Jeep with two Military Police (MP) screeched to a stop near Jason.
The MPs, Jack and Wally, jumped out and rushed over to Jason and were pissed.
"You're disturbing the peace," Wally yelled at Jason.
Wally and Jack each grabbed one of Jason's arms and dragged him over to the Jeep. They tossed him in the backseat then Wally sat behind the wheel, and Jack sat in the passenger seat.
From her bedroom window, Cindy saw Jason in the back of the Jeep.
Jason turned around and looked up at Cindy. "I love you!" Jason yelled out from the back of the Jeep.
Then Cindy watched while Jack turned around and whacked the back of Jason's head with his nightstick. Her eyes welled up when she saw him buckle over in pain.
A little while later, Jack and Wally got Jason out of the Jeep and walked him into the MP building.
They walked Jason over to one of the two jail cells in the hut, and tossed him onto the floor of the cell.
Jack slammed the cell door shut then he walked away with Wally.
Jason sat up off the floor then his eyes widened, and he vomited all over his pants.