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    Everybody Calls Him Johnny
    Everybody Calls Him Johnny
    Everybody Calls Him Johnny
    Ebook104 pages1 hour

    Everybody Calls Him Johnny

    By Hank Acker

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    About this ebook

    In 1944 Italy, during World War Two, a US Army Signal Corps soldier helps an Italian farm widow, and her family, and falls in love. She, her young son, and her grandfather are struggling to survive the war on meagerly means. What happens after he is wounded and sent home to recuperate is the heart of this novel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHank Acker
    Release dateMay 19, 2015
    ISBN9781310691348
    Everybody Calls Him Johnny
    Author

    Hank Acker

    Worked at IBM for 36 years. Began my Computer Consulting Company focused on the education community, (K-16). Moved from Vallejo CA to Nevada City CA and became a Computer Lab Aide at Alta Sierra Elementary School. Retired for the third time to write and work around our property.

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      Book preview

      Everybody Calls Him Johnny - Hank Acker

      Everybody

      Calls Him Johnny

      A novel by

      Hank Acker

      Copyright © 2015 Hank Acker

      All rights reserved.

      Distributed by Smashwords

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

      All characters and situations in this story are

      fictitious and conceived by the author.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter One

      For Christ's sake Johnny, wake up. Pay attention or somebody down here will get killed.

      The coarse voice belonged to US Army PFC Popeye Burke. He was tossing porcelain insulators from the roadside to a fellow PFC installing telephone cables in North Central Italy in late 1944.

      William Popeye Burke earned his nickname. He was short, stocky with wide shoulders and huge biceps and lower arms. There were times when Burke looked like the comic book character, especially when he snarled or became angry at someone. Fiercely loyal to his fellow linemen he was a leader without the authority due to insubordination. He was also a stickler for working efficiently.

      Their project; to establish telephone communications between the remote towns that lay along the mountainous centerline of this formerly German-occupied country.

      Wake up damn it. Popeye continued his abuse of the recently arrived Signal Corps lineman, who was looking off to the East and oblivious of Burke's yelling at him. Agostino, what the hell's so important that you can't answer me?

      Popeye, Johnny was informing Burke but not responding to Burke's anger. There's a lady out in the field with a problem.

      Popeye' s response was loud and clear, I don't care if she's having a baby. We've got a job to do. Burke's voice softened as he said. I don't intend to spend the rest of the war doing grunt work especially in this crappy country.

      Johnny finally looked down at the men below him. Each one had two five-pound insulators ready to toss to him and attach them to the crossbar of this thirty-foot tall telephone pole. Okay Popeye, I'll catch the next ones. Sorry, guys.

      Burke muttered a few profanities about replacement soldiers and their similarity to donkeys. The other members of the team merely let Popeye rant. Stopping him never proved useful and what he was saying was directed towards Johnny Agostino and not them.

      Hey Popeye, that lady needs help. Johnny's attention was once again on the screaming woman about fifty yards from where they were working. She was yelling and screaming in Italian and Johnny only caught a few words that he understood. She's yelling that someone's died.

      Burke could have cared less; if this whole country died he wouldn't sweat it one iota. Burke for his part wanted to be with the US Army marching across Europe in order to kick the ass of Hitler and his cronies.

      Here I am installing telephone wire so some Army officers can talk to each other. That's crap. Burke told anyone who would listen what he thought about this new job the Army assigned to him.

      Before Burke could react, the back of Johnny Agostino was moving away from the pole and over a short fence that separated the roadway from this farm. Burke watched as Johnny jumped over a narrow drainage ditch, now dry with its exposed rocks at the bottom. With his safety belt still attached and his climbing spikes strapped to his legs Johnny was off and running towards the screaming voice.

      No comments arose from the other soldiers as all four watched Johnny Agostino disappear from their view. Able to hear voices but not understand any of it, the four moved closer to the farm but did not go down the hill.

      Hey, there he is, Sam Coolidge spoke as he pointed to Johnny and the woman. I wonder what he's saying to her?

      Johnny saw why the woman was so upset. Her dray horse died while pulling the plow she was following. I have to get this field turned or we can't plant our winter crop. Her voice was calmer now, but Johnny could understand only the words, turned and crop.

      His grandfather, Paulo Marone, used those same Italian words quite often. It was the old-man's way of swearing. Every six months, he harvested and replanted the next crop of potatoes. Grandpa Marone's family never went hungry, so long as you liked potatoes.

      Coolidge was the first one to follow Johnny down the hill to the farm. With the work halted, Hauser and the telephone technician Cpl. Pearson were in close pursuit. Burke felt obligated and after a few moments followed the others down the slope to the unplowed fields.

      Normally a corporal would be in charge but Pearson was a corporal technician and not trained for leadership. Burke, even though he was the same rank as the others, had been a squad leader and demoted to PFC six months ago. He assumed the leader's role naturally. Okay Agostino, what's going on?

      Popeye, this woman's horse died while plowing and she can't get the harness off of the old horse to put on somebody. Burke shrugged, and Johnny said, She said something about an old man who could take the horse's place. Burke snarled as Johnny added, At least that's what I think she said, my Italian's not so hot.

      Okay, look we can help her get the harness off the old horse, but that's it. Burke was not barking, he was well under control. Johnny couldn't, or wouldn't, take his eyes off of the woman's face. On the spot, Basilio Agostino was infatuated with this grime covered woman whose age he couldn't even guess. His heart sank when a young boy came running down the hill yelling, Momma, Momma Mia, what's wrong. Who are these soldiers?

      The young boy pushed his way between his mother and the closest soldier, Johnny. Leave her alone, you hear me? The youngsters Italian, mixed with English was firm, and Johnny backed away from the woman.

      Hold on there little boy. We are here to help your Momma Mia. The lad stopped. The soldiers Italian was poor but understandable. Johnny explained as best he could what they were going to do, and the child listened. The youngster backed away from the soldiers and knelt down beside the dead horse and whispered something in the horse's ear.

      We're gonna need some chains to pull this horse off of the harness. Coolidge was all business; he had done stuff like this before. He didn't like dead animals, but it was a part of his family's lifestyle, having horses, cows and other hoofed livestock, was not new to him.

      Popeye suggested that Coolidge unhitch the trailer from the Jeep and bring it and its tow chains to move the animal. Gotcha, that's a great idea. I'll be right back. Pearson went with Coolidge. The trailer contained all of his test equipment along with several spools of telephone cable for testing. Besides he rationalized, The trailer is heavy and not a one man job to unload.

      Johnny watched as his fellow soldiers climbed the hill and looked around for an access point to drive the Jeep to the stricken animal. It's over there, the same direction the kid came from. See it? Pearson was pointing up the road a few hundred feet. Yep, I see it and it looks passable without tipping this Jeep over. Coolidge's response made Pearson feel better. He was always the outsider with these pole-climbers.

      Johnny was the exception; he was interested in learning how to connect the correct wires to the assigned circuit, so the telephones worked properly. This kind of work could translate into a good paying job with any phone company at

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