Free Standing at the Scratch Line by Guy Johnson Page B

sensitive!”
    LeRoi stood up and went over to where he set the Lewis down and checked out the gun for damage. He was still checking the action of its breechblock when Williams walked over to him.
    “I just want you to know, Tremain, that I saw you from the trees and I saw you struggling with temptation. It’s the temptation that every colored man who has worn a uniform for his country has felt at some time during his military service. I’m glad you fought the temptation and won. You’ll find it doesn’t make much difference anyway. They just send a new fool and he ends up being worse than the man who preceded him. You do better if you can reach an understanding, because there are all sorts of fools in the service. Prejudice is the army’s middle name.”
    “Seem to be the first name and last name too,” LeRoi commented dryly.
    “LT, I been part of this man’s army for over twenty years. I rode with the Rough Riders in Puerto Rico. We were still called ‘buffalo soldiers’ then. There’s been many a time that I had my sights on a white officer and a couple times I had to go ahead and pull the trigger, but I never did it in a way that would bring dishonor on the reputation of the Negro fighting man. Too many colored men have died maintaining the honor of their uniform for us to lose all that because of one hothead.”
    LeRoi looked up at the sergeant with surprise. He was speechless. He never expected to hear ‘Old-Follow-the-Rules-to-the-Letter’ Williams say that he had ever thought about killing a white officer, much less admitting he had killed a couple. He felt a new respect for the sergeant.
    “There’s something else, son,” Williams continued. “Prejudice is like gravity. You can’t waste time thinkin’ about it. You just have to keep on pushin’ against it. You just worry about bein’ a man and you’ll do yo’ part in the struggle.”
    “Don’t you just want to explode sometimes?” LeRoi asked. “Don’t you want to say to hell with the rules?”
    Williams shook his head. “No, I’m doin’ my part. The toughest thing about bein’ a man is not explodin’! You see, because of soldiers like me, with blood and guts and spit and polish, one day there’ll be a Negro general in the army; maybe even in yo’ lifetime.”
    “You got ‘Frontline Fever’ if you believe that!” LeRoi scoffed.
    “If I didn’t have that as my dream, I would explode! There’d be nothin’ to sacrifice for!”
    “I feel like explodin’ all the time!” LeRoi admitted. He held up his thumb and index finger. “Sometimes I’m this close!”
    “A man has got to find himself a star and head for it,” Williams asserted. “It’s got to guide him through the trials! Killin’ comes easily to you. You got to watch yourself. You don’t want to lose your soul!”
    “Sometimes I wonders if I got a soul,” LeRoi mused.
    “It takes a bit of livin’ to find it,” Williams acknowledged. “You gon’ be alright. You one of the men that I count on to do right. You got the weight of many lives on your shoulders. I need you to be strong. Don’t disappoint me!”
    “You don’t have to worry, Sarge. I ain’t gon’ do nothin’ that’s gon’ bring dishonor on the Three hundred Fifty-first.”
    “Good, here’s your first test,” said Williams. “You’re going to need all the restraint you have because Red McGraw and his rednecks are coming up here. André’s people saw them coming up from the river. We’re all going to need a lot of discipline. We can’t let them draw us into any fights.”
    LeRoi shook his head disbelievingly. All the colored soldiers had heard about McGraw and how he and his squad had lynched two colored soldiers because they had been seen with French white women. It was common knowledge that the army had conducted no investigation into the two deaths and McGraw’s squad had gone unpunished.
    “How come they sending McGraw out here?” LeRoi asked. “Don’t they know his feelings