Guard Duty

Guard Duty

To say that Private Griffiths was nervous would be an understatement. He had been in the army barely six months and here he was, thousands of miles from home, pulling guard duty in enemy territory. Well, not really enemy territory; the war was over, Germany had surrendered. Nonetheless, here he was, guarding an ammo dump in southern Germany on a cold, dark, damp, misty night.

Rumor had it that die hard Nazis who called themselves Werewolves prowled the countryside committing acts of terror and sabotage. An ammo dump would be a prime target. The overcast parted for a moment and Private Griffiths looked up to see a huge full moon. Maybe there were real werewolves out there. This was Bavaria after all, the place where all the werewolf stories came from. It was also called The Black Forest. He remembered his history teacher telling about two Roman legions marching into The Black Forest and disappearing. They were never heard from again.

As Private Griffiths marched back and forth along his sentry beat, he listened to all the strange noises in the night. None of them sounded like anything he had ever heard in South Philly. As the night wore on, the mist grew thicker, until it was a dense fog that prevented him from seeing anything over five feet away.

Then it happened! Far off, he couldn't tell how far or in what direction, a voice called , "Halt! Halt!", and shots rang out! Private Griffiths stood and stared out into the fog in the direction he thought the sound had come from. Nothing more could be heard. Even the strange animal noises had stopped. Was it an attack on the ammo dump? Had it succeeded? Would he be next?

Suddenly there was a rustle in the bushes from a point nearly behind him! This was it! They were coming for him! He turned and fired into the dense fog with an inarticulate yell.

Private Griffiths was now safe from werewolves of any kind. He could tell that by the sunlight streaming in the window of the Colonel's office. The Colonel had spent the last fifteen minutes describing in precise and sometimes profane detail all the things that Private Griffiths had done wrong. Finally he was winding down.

"As of sunset yesterday, there were only ninety-six cows in the entire state of Bavaria.", he said. "Now, thanks to you, there are ninety-five. I hope you like the army, son. We'll probably have to keep you in an extra five years just so we can deduct the cost of that cow from your pay!"

Authors note: No cows were harmed in the actual incident that inspired this story.