Seventh installment

"we had got inside of the house and we were looking around, it was full of uniforms and empty ammunition boxes, then the Croatian went around the back and I followed, as I was having a pee the house blew up"

"you must have been peeing nitro-glycerine" I cynicaly interrupted,

Alan wasn't in a laughing mood so he just continued, 

"the Croatian was in the ditch and on his way back when I started to crawl after him, I saw a machine gun nest behind a pile of logs just over the road from where I was and they were doing their best to kill me. There was nobody in the ditch so I continued to make my way home, it seemed that they were all shooting at me and I had to crawl all the way"he told us,

"we didn't know whether you were alive or dead as the house just exploded and all we could do was fall back hoping that you were alive" I said to him,

he started to rant and rave about the fact that we had left him on his own but he soon calmed down as he always did when he had a temper tantrum. Once Tony knew that we were all there he told us to make our way home as we had done our job, Paul, Alan and Docy went straight down the center of the village and I went with the other Croatians past the graveyard. We had only just passed it when another attack started and we had to get down in the ditch that ran parallel with the road, the mortars were landing very close as the detonations and the pieces of metal whistling over our heads told us, I for one was hoping that they didn't alter the range or the mortars would have landed right on top of us. Slowly but surely we inched our way back and eventually reached safety, we stopped for a breather and then got back into the mini-bus to return to the base. We arrived to find everybody else there and inside talking to Kirk, after the Croatians had told their side of the days events we told ours and both were identical, Kirk then gave us a small telling off as we had not done exactly as we had been told to do but we told him that we didn't incur any resistance so there was no reason why we shouldn't have carried on. After a long discussion and a couple of bottles of beer Kirk decided that everything turned out ok and that we should all have a shower and something to eat. It had been a hell of a day but at least all of us had come out of it alive and would still be willing to go back again. The enemy were still out there in a place that didn't belong to them and we had to get it back.

The next day Kirk's girlfriend Maria arrived as we had already started to clean the house out that she and Kirk could would use during the winter, I had already found out that she wasn't afraid of a fight and had been with Kirk all over the front lines in Osijek, she was only going to stay for that day as she had only brought the dog and had to go back for her clothes, as she was going back that afternoon we asked Kirk if we could have a few days off as we had been in Bosnia for seventeen days and we were due for a break, after giving it a little thought he agreed to give us four days and that Maria would take us back when she left. We all went back to our house and packed all our kit as we didn't want to leave anything behind just incase it was stolen, we handed all our weapons back as we did not need them and Kirk's men did. The only people who were not going back were Alan and Docy as they didn't have anything to go back for and had decided to stay. There was only one thing left to do now and that was to get passes that would enable us to get over the border and into Croatia, we waited patiently for them but it seemed that Kirk had decided to mess us about and not sign them, eventually he did and we all said goodbye and got into the Landrover. We drove past the hospital to say goodbye to Docy and Alan but they were not there, we now knew why they had not wanted to leave, perhaps they to had found happiness in amongst the destruction that war brings and I was happy for them. We drove off and were very soon crossing on the ferry back to Croatia where we would hopefully have a peaceful holiday. They dropped me off first as I was in Osijek and they had to go to Vicnjevac to get some paperwork from our old unit so that they could sort some business out in Zagreb, I told them that I would see them all back in Bosnia and they drove off,into the house and up the stairs as fast as my legs could carry me and as soon as soon as the door opened and Paula held me I knew I was home. Over the next few days I sorted out a few things like finding out which unit I was now with in the Croatian army and where I was to collect my wages, as I had a paper that said I had been transferred to 106HVO I assumed that I was with 106HV but after visiting them I found out that I was not, they told me that I had to have a transfer paper from my old unit stating the date that I was transferred to HVO before they could put me on their paylist so off I went to fetch it. There was no trouble in getting it and eventually I went back to 106 to give it to them and then they told me that I would be able to pick up my wages the next day, it had been a reasonably good day and I had achieved everything that I had to. When I arrived back at the flat I found out off Paula that we were to have our picture taken for a book that her school were publishing about Osijek, so later that afternoon we went to the home of the photographer that worked for her school as he would take us to one of the parks and take the photos. The park he took us to was directly in front of Paula's flat and after setting up he told us what he wanted, I was to lean against a tree with one leg bent and with my arm around Paula, it was as though we were famous models and after taking that one and a few others he said that he had enough and he took us for a quick drink and then dropped us off at the flat. Those four days were great apart from the fact that I was always complaining about Diana but of course Paula said that I was imagining things and that I shouldn't complain. One of those days we had an almighty argument and only stopped when Paula said one short sentence to me,

"you are nothing only my lover"

"thanks a lot" I replied.

For the rest of the day we hardly spoke as I was feeling very hurt and didn't want to speak to her but that couldn't last very long as I loved her too much for one argument to separate us. It was only a short time that I had to be with her before I had to go back so I didn't want to spoil what little time I had left. 

The days passed and it was time for me to go back, I had already bought my bus ticket the day before and early in the morning I left to catch the bus, Paula was still asleep as I left and I didn't kiss her goodbye as I had always done before because I didn't want to wake her. On the bus I thought about what I should really do with regards to my relationship with Paula and I decided that there was no way that her daughter was going to split us up and if I was able to to go home again I would try harder to get along with Diana even if I did think that it would be impossible. The bus arrived in Zupania and I walking to the ferry, on the way a car stopped and gave me a much needed lift as it was a long way to the ferry if you had to walk.