"I Double Dare You" "The Guarneres Reminisce About the Peeping Tom of Aldebourne"
*Author's note: This story came from my imagination. Warning: Small scene with smut.*
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One autumn evening in 1945, as Bill and Leigh were seated on the couch listening to the radio, lyrics from one song made Leigh laugh. She told him,
"That reminds me of Aldebourne. Honey, do you remember the peeping tom that had the village in a bit of an uproar?" Guarnere chuckled,
"I sure do, Baby. That's (he pronounced the word as "dats") when I thought he was spyin' on us the day we had the picnic."
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Training was over for the day on a Friday in May, 1943. The men of Easy Company were looking forward to having a much needed break the following day.
Since the men knew in advance about their day off, Leigh planned a picnic for herself and Bill. She made sandwiches from homemade Italian sausage and homemade bread. She found some onions and garlic in the farmers' market in the village that would be cooked with the sausage.
Bill bought a good, relatively inexpensive bottle of red wine from Andrew Herriott, the owner and bartender of The Blue Boar. Leigh improvised a primitive type of antipasto from vegetables and some ham that was sold in the farmers' market. She also had a few apples and some freshly baked pizzelles.
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One month before the picnic, American servicemen stationed in the Aldebourne area, the girls they dated and a few residents of the village became concerned about a peeping tom.
A soldier from Dog Company and his date thought that someone was spying on them. One week later, the same thing happened to a soldier from Charlie Company and his date. Both couples had been enjoying each other's company in a secluded pasture on a country lane.
On both occasions, when the men looked around the pasture, there was no sign of a peeping tom. The young women refused to go out with the soldiers again until the peeping tom was apprehended. The servicemen who had to wait until the suspect was nabbed by the village constable were extremely eager for this person to be caught.
Two local sisters, the Taylors, sold their parents' farm after the deaths of their mother and father. They moved into a stone cottage not far from Leigh's and Melissa's house in the village. Both women were in their early 30s and were attractive and shapely with brown hair and blue eyes.
One evening, as the eldest sister, Jean, was locking the front door, getting ready to go to bed, her younger sister, Ava, was in her downstairs bedroom. Ava preferred to sleep with the window open for fresh air. She kept the blind pulled halfway down the window for privacy.
Standing with her back to the window, Ava removed her clothing and put on a nightgown. She was planning to put her clothes into a hamper that was close to her bed when she heard the sound of footsteps outside her window.
Ava thought that someone was walking home from one of the pubs and thought nothing of the incident. She placed the clothes in the hamper and was on her way to turning off the light in her room when she froze in her tracks.
The sound of heavy breathing was unmistakable and it seemed to be outside her window. Ava went to a closet and got out her father's shotgun, sticking the barrel out of the open window. She startled Jean by shouting,
"Get away from here, you pervert or I'll shoot your bollocks (balls) off!" The sound of heavy footsteps walking away relieved Ava. Jean came into her room, asking,
"Did you see who it was? Are you OK?" Jean learned that Ava didn't see the heavy breather and that she was unharmed.She told her younger sister,
"Good job you have Father's gun and you know how to use it. I don't think we need to worry about being bothered again. Even if this peeping tom isn't in his right mind, he isn't mad (crazy) enough to risk losing his bollocks." Jean went to her bedroom and both women were soon asleep.
Early the next evening when Bill arrived for supper, Jean introduced herself and said that she was coming to speak to Leigh. Guarnere opened the door for her, telling Leigh,
"Sweetheart, Miss Taylor, the lady from next door want to talk wit'ya." Leigh welcomed Jean into the house and asked her to have a seat in the living room. She offered her visitor a cup of tea and Jean accepted it. After Leigh made the tea and brought in a tray with cups, milk, the tea pot, and napkins, she served her guest, herself and Bill some tea. She told her neighbor,
"I'm sorry that I don't have lemon slices and sugar. Lemons are hard to find and sugar rationing is taking its toll." Taylor smiled, commenting,
"It's fine. We've the same situation at our house and we're all doing our bit for the war effort." She took her tea with a small amount of milk. Guarnere and Spencer preferred their tea without milk.
Jean told Bill and Leigh about her sister's experience with the peeping tom and asked the couple if they had heard or seen anything the previous evening.
Both Guarnere and Spencer said that they noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Leigh told Jean,
"We were listening to the radio. Sorry, the wireless, and the blinds were down, so we didn't see anything." Then, Jean laughed, telling them what her sister said to the stranger outside her window. Leigh laughed and Bill asked,
"No disrespect intended, but what are ya callin' 'bollocks'" Jean slightly blushed,
"It's male anatomy, two, erm...items." Bill laughed as he realized what Jean meant.
"I'm not laughin' at ya, Miss Taylor, I never heard 'em called that name before. You ladies ain't got nothin' to worry about. A man doesn't wanna lose important parts like that."
"That's what I told my sister."
"I'll keep an eye on your place. If you ladies ever need help, just call Leigh an' I'll be glad to help ya." Spencer wrote down the telephone number and handed it to Jean. She thanked Bill and Leigh, then left while she could still have enough light to feel safe walking outside. Guarnere offered to walk her home if she was scared, but Jean assured him that she was fine.
The following day, news of the heavy breathing outside the neighbor's window made its way through the village. Colonel Sink decided to send a few servicemen to help patrol the village with the constable. The soldiers who were denied recreation with their girlfriends until the peeping tom was caught eagerly volunteered.
One month later, the colonel decided to discontinue the servicemen's patrolling of the village. The constable and Sink thought that the peeping tom was discouraged from his activities due to the inclusion of soldiers who were being trained to fight in the war.
The following weekend, one soldier and his girlfriend were sitting under a tree near a rural property lined by a fence and some trees. While the couple began to remove a few items of each other's clothing, the young woman heard someone walking near the fence line that was obscured by trees.
She looked up and was startled to see a shock of red hair. Then, she noticed brown eyes gazing back at her. She screamed and her boyfriend immediately put on his uniform shirt. He told her,
"Stay here, I'm gonna teach this guy a lesson he won't forget." As the young woman buttoned her blouse and tucked it into her skirt, the soldier walked toward the fence, loudly saying,
"Clear out of here, buddy, or you're asking for trouble." He heard the sound of someone walking away from the fence line. By the time the soldier climbed over the fence, there was no sign of the peeping tom, only cattle standing in the field.
His girlfriend was in no mood to return to their previous activities and she insisted upon going home. As they walked to the village she said,
"He must have been very short because his eyes looked to be at the level of a child." Her boyfriend replied,
"He was probably bending over to peer through the leaves." Word soon spread throughout the area that the mysterious "peeper," the name given by the residents of the village, was a "ginger" (red hair), having unkempt, long hair and brown eyes.
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On the day of the picnic, Leigh packed the food into a large basket along with cloth napkins, two plates, two wine glasses and a medium sized blanket. She wore a red day dress, along with the usual undergarments, stockings and a pair of low heeled black pumps commonly called 'flats.'
Spencer brushed her hair, touched up her make up and reapplied her red lipstick. Bill soon arrived with the bottle of red wine. He insisted on carrying the large picnic basket. They left the cottage and held hands as they walked on a road leading from the village to a secluded country lane.
Neither Bill nor Leigh had been in this area before. She told him that the lane reminded her of home.
"If this is where ya wanna have the picnic, Sweetheart, it's fine wit' me. Let's look for a nice, quiet spot in case we wanna get up to somethin' later."
"In case we want to get up to somethin'? Are you falling out of love with me already, Sergeant Guarnere?" Bill noticed the impish twinkle in her eyes and he grinned.
"Ain't no danger o' that happenin', Baby. You got my heart for eternity. I love seein' ya in red. You look good enough to eat."
"Is that a promise? " she slightly blushed before adding, "I mean the part about 'eating.'" Guarnere had a wicked grin as he said,
"Oh, I guarantee it. You ain't the only one enjoyin' it. You taste so damn good!"
"Bill, not so loud, a farmer might be working close by."
"I'm tellin' the truth. 'course I don't wanna encourage somebody to watch us. Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to keep it down so everybody don't know our business."
"Thanks, Honey. You're very good at that...you know what I mean."
"You bet I know!" She laughed,
"Smart ass." They walked past a small house with a gate surrounding it. After passing the house, they went around a curve in the lane and found an ideal spot for the picnic and privacy.
An isolated pasture with three large trees was a short walk from the road. The pasture was lined on three sides of its perimeter by trees instead of fences.
Someone must have owned the pasture because the grass wasn't tall and choked with weeds. Bill looked around to see if there was a farm house tucked away within sight of the pasture.
He didn't see a house close by and he decided that this area had enough privacy for a picnic and some erotic activity. Bill and Leigh walked toward the trees in the center of the pasture.
They decided to sit under a large oak tree that was flanked by two other oak trees. A gentle breeze was blowing and they sat in the shade after they spread the blanket on the ground.
Leigh unpacked the picnic basket, setting out the food, plates, silverware, napkins and two wine glasses. Bill got the bottle opener and the bottle of red wine out of the basket. He opened the wine bottle and poured some wine in each glass.
Then he grinned as he noticed the sandwiches.
"Homemade bread an' homemade Italian sausage. It smells great! You're one hell of a good cook." He stopped himself from saying what he thought, "You'll be a perfect wife, Sweetheart" Bill didn't think it was the right time to propose to Leigh. Although he was fairly sure that she would agree to marry him, he thought it best to wait and find out how she really felt about marriage.
Leigh got out a dish with a small lid and opened it,
"I made a kind of makeshift antipasto from your mom's recipe. I hope it turned out OK."
Guarnere got a fork and put some of the antipasto on his plate. He sampled it.
"This reminds me o' Ma's cookin'. You done a good job wit' this, Baby." Leigh was pleased that he liked the side dish. They enjoyed the sandwiches and they casually talked while they ate their lunch.
Leigh got out a small box and opened it.
"How about a few pizzelles, Honey? I feel guilty about lying to our neighbor about no sugar due to rationing, but I wanted you to have some pizzelles. If you don't feel like having cookies I brought apples, too." Bill got two cookies out of the box,
"Well, ya did ration it. Don't worry about it, Sweetheart. I know ya don't go around lyin' about everythin'. Thanks for makin' the cookies for me. You're spoilin' me, Sweetheart. Ya shouldn't have gone to so much trouble."
"It was no trouble at all. I like to make your favorite dishes." She laughed at Bill sneaking another cookie out of the box.
"Eat as much as you want. I won't slap your hand if you want another cookie."
"I gotta keep my cookie swipin' in good shape for when we get back home. It's kind of a joke wit' me an' Ma. When I was a kid, she wanted to make sure everybody got equal amounts o' food.
Pizzelles have always been my favorite. I'd eat two of 'em real fast. When Ma wasn't lookin', I'd swipe a few more. One time, when I was real little, Maria an' Teresa watched me me to keep me from gettin' into the cookies.
I started cryin' 'cause I wanted another cookie. They felt sorry for me, an' they said,
'Oh, the poor baby! He must be hungry.' Then they each gave me half a pizzelle. I made out like a bandit an' I showed those dirty (he pronounced the word as 'doity') rats. I was smart, like a fox." Leigh giggled at the story.
"How many times did that work for you?"
"Just a couple o'times. Ma got a real kick out o'it, so I didn't get in trouble." He noticed that her glass was empty.
"Would ya like a little more o' the wine?"
"Yes, just a little bit. It's really good."
"The guy at The Blue Boar said this was a nice red wine. It ain't bad. I think I'll have a little more, too." Guarnere poured the wine. He leaned back against the tree. Leigh moved back to sit with him and Bill put his arm around her shoulders.
They sipped the wine and relaxed, enjoying the sunshine and the peaceful pasture. When they finished the wine, Bill decided to recline on the blanket. He rested his head on Leigh's lap.
She stroked his hair and had her arms around him. Guarnere reached up and gently pulled her close for a kiss. The kiss quickly deepened and he sucked the tip of her tongue into his mouth.
Bill reluctantly broke off the kiss,
"Stretch out beside me, Baby. It'll be easier than bendin' down to kiss me. He moved aside and Leigh lay beside him. Guarnere put his arms around her and the kissing resumed.
They enjoyed the slow, sensual kisses. Leigh sighed into Bill's mouth as his tongue explored her mouth.
Guarnere moved his hands down to Spencer's hips, pulling her as close to him as possible. He paused to kiss her eyelids, then he gently nipped at her ear before kissing her neck.
Bill loved the little gasp from Leigh when his lips touched the soft skin on her neck. He unbuttoned the top button of her day dress, kissing every inch of exposed skin as he unbuttoned the next button on her dress.
Leigh was caressing Bill's back, loving the feeling of his lips on her skin.
"If you keep this up, I'll be tempted to strip off everything and ask you to make love to me. We've never done it outdoors." Guarnere found the idea extremely arousing.
"I love the way you're kinda wild. Sweetheart, I don't wanna disappoint ya, but I didn't bring anything' wit' me for protection, 'cause I wasn't sure if ya would wanna make love outdoors."
"You're not disappointing me, Bill. I'm sure we can think of something. How about I do what you promised to do for me? I enjoy it, and I need to practice so I can be good at pleasing you that way."
"Only if ya really wanna do it, Baby. I don't want ya to think ya have to do that."
"I love all of you, and you taste pretty damned good, too."
"Then, I'm all yours. Do whatever ya want wit' me. Seems like I was gettin' ready to do somethin'..." He moved down and started to slowly trail kisses up Leigh's leg, moving her dress up a little.
Bill repeated the same actions on her other leg and Leigh felt herself becoming wet. She moved her dress up above her knees.
"Looks like my angel is tellin' me to move a little faster." He chuckled before kissing his way to her thigh. Leigh opened her legs slightly to accommodate him. Bill lowered his voice for only Leigh to hear,
"I think my beautiful baby is already nice an' wet. I'm gonna enjoy takin' those panties off so I can taste you." He moved her dress up further and licked the silk fabric between her legs.
" Baby, you taste good!" Bill sucked her silk covered clit.
"Oh, my God! That feels wonderful." Guarnere continued sucking her clit. A few minutes later, Leigh came. Bill enjoyed her sounds of passion. He began to remove her panties.
Suddenly, she heard the sounds of heavy footsteps near the line of trees in front of them. Keeping her voice down, she told him,
"Somebody is on the other side of those trees." Bill turned away, to rearrange himself in his trousers to hide the sign of his arousal and swore under his breath. Leigh quickly pulled her dress down to cover herself.
"Where did ya hear the noise, Baby?" She pointed to the trees closest to them. Bill looked in the direction she was pointing, keeping his voice low as he told her,
"I don't wanna scare ya, but I see some brown eyes an' red hair. That guy almost has hair in his eyes. He must be a nut. No wonder he's watchin', no girl would go out wit' somebody lookin' that bad. I know one thing, his peepin' days are over!"
He got up and quietly approached the area where the peeping tom stood. Leigh followed behind him, not feeling afraid since Bill was with her. She was angry that the peeper spied on them and she was ready to give him a piece of her mind.
Bill used a type of hand signal that was becoming second nature to him. He had his right hand, palm down, pushing in a downward motion.
"What does that mean?"
"It means stand down, stay back. Sorry, Baby, we've been learnin' all sorts o' hand signals lately." All at once, a large tongue appeared from behind a branch. Bill replied,
"What the hell...?" Leigh started laughing,
"It's a cow!"
She moved a small branch and revealed the face of a bovine absorbed in eating a few leaves. Leigh quickly looked down, wanting to see the underside of the animal so she would know if it was a cow or a bull. Bill told her,
"I see horns on that thing. It's a bull. I may be from the city, but I know bulls are dangerous. We gotta get movin'!"
"Cows can have horns, too. I looked at its undercarriage, so to speak, and I saw udders. You're right, bulls aren't something to mess with. If I'd seen something else, I would've kicked off these shoes so I could run faster and told you to run like hell." She looked at the cow, still munching on leaves,
"I wonder if this is the local peeper. Think about it, the cow has shaggy red hair and brown eyes. It walks with a sort of heavy step and sometimes cows sound as if they're doing some heavy breathing."
"You might be on to somethin', Sweetheart. It makes sense. No wonder nobody saw the guy when they went lookin' for him. A cow standin' in a field ain't an unusual sight around here. How can we prove what you said?" Leigh thought about a solution and carefully went through the branches to get closer to the cow.
"This always worked when one of my grandpa's cows got out of the fenced in pasture or if he was trying to get the cows into the barn to milk them." She gently swatted the cow's rump, telling it,
"Go home!" The cow turned around and started walking away. Leigh followed it,
"Don't worry about the basket and the blanket, we can get it later. Let's follow the cow home and we can talk to the farmer. Once you're in this pasture, remember to look down frequently or you could have fresh cow pie on your boots.
Cows 'go' whenever and wherever the notion strikes them, and there might be several smelly 'land mines' scattered around." Bill chuckled, thanking Leigh for her tip.
"I learned somethin' new today. Too bad we never had the chance to get Sobel in this field an' not tell him about those land mines. It would have been funny as hell to see his boots covered in cow shit." He took Leigh's hand as they walked across the pasture.
As they strolled toward the barn, Bill noticed a man who appeared to be in his late 60s walking toward the cow. The tall, slightly heavy set man was bald with a fringe of white hair and blue eyes. He wore sturdy boots, well worn brown trousers, suspenders and a light brown shirt rolled up to expose his sun tanned arms. Both Bill and Leigh heard the man say,
"So there you are, Delilah. I see you broke out of the barnyard again. I've half a mind to sell you next market day." He noticed the American soldier and presumably his girlfriend approaching him, asking,
"Young man, are you and your young lady lost?" Guarnere smiled,
"Sir, my name is Bill Guarnere, Sergeant Guarnere, an' this is my girl, Leigh Spencer. No, Sir, we ain't lost." The man introduced himself to the couple,
"My name is James Alderson and this is my farm. If you don't mind my asking, why are you following my cow?" Leigh grinned,
"This will sound as if I'm crazy. Have you heard about the local peeping tom? I have reason to believe that your cow could be the 'peeper'." Alderson looked a bit puzzled,
'Yes, I know about the peeper. Why do you think Delilah is the perpetrator?"
"Mr. Alderson, as you know, the peeper is supposed to have unruly red hair and brown eyes. Delilah wasn't in your pasture when she made her presence known during the picnic we were having.
The peeping tom is supposed to have a heavy footed walk and is also known for heavy breathing. I grew up in a rural area of Ohio and I'm familiar with cattle. I'm guessing the heavy breathing is Delilah sort of snorting, for lack of a better word.
Does she have a habit of getting out of your pasture?" Alderson considered what she told him, then he started to chuckle. The chuckle grew into loud laughter as he said,
"I never dreamed that my cow would cause havoc in the village." He laughed again, "She flummoxed the constable. He couldn't find a man and even got some of you Yank soldiers to help find the elusive peeper." He opened a gate to the barnyard and Delilah walked in, heading for some food in the barn. Before the cow got past him, Alderson patted her back and chuckled,
"You made quite a stir." Then, he answered Leigh's question, "Yes, Delilah has a bad habit of getting out of the fenced in area near the barn. She likes an occasional stroll in the village, too." Spencer asked,
"There were no peeping tom reports for a month, did you find a way to keep her at home?"
"I kept Delilah in the barn during that time. It seemed the perfect solution to her escaping, but she was unhappy. She didn't eat as much as she normally did. I rang (called) a veterinarian, thinking she was ill.
He said that she was depressed, not physically ill. I never realized that cows could feel depressed. The doctor also told me that she's getting out because she's looking for companionship. Delilah should be very happy next week, I'm getting her bred with a bull who lives down the road." Bill made Leigh blush a bit when he asked Alderson,
"In other words, Sir, are ya sayin' that she's lookin' for some action? I know I'm happier..." he noticed that Leigh was blushing and decided to leave well enough alone, adding, "Never mind, Sir, I'm talkin' too much." Alderson tried to suppress a grin as he figured out why Spencer was embarrassed.
"Yes, that's another way of saying the same thing. No harm done, Sergeant Guarnere. If you or your young lady see Delilah again, just send her home. I'm going into the village to speak with the constable and clear up this peeper situation.
Would you and your young lady like a lift into town? My vehicle isn't working at the moment, so I'm taking my horse and wagon." Both Guarnere and Spencer thanked Alderson, declining the ride back to the village. Bill replied,
"We appreciate ya offerin' to take us into town, but we need to get the picnic basket an' some other stuff. It ain't that much of a walk." Alderson excused himself in order to go to the barn and get the wagon and horses ready for the trip into the village.
Bill and Leigh left the farm and went back to retrieve their items from the picnic before they walked back to the house Leigh shared with Melissa. Residents of the village were relieved to learn that the peeper situation was over and they were amused to learn that a cow straying from her pasture was their suspect. Leigh was jokingly called "Sherlock Holmes" and "Cowgirl" by George Luz since she figured out the identity of the peeping tom.
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After Bill and Leigh finished reminiscing about the peeper, Bill told Leigh,
"I had another run in wit' a cow in Normandy. The krauts shot a cow on some guy's farm. We were hungry an' a guy from C Company was fightin' wit' us. He got separated from his unit an' he tagged along until he caught up wit' 'em again.
This kid grew up on a farm an' he said we could eat some fresh beef instead o' those lousy rations. He told us that he would dress the cow an' then we could start cookin' the meat.
I didn't know he was talking' about cuttin' up the carcass for meat. I thought he was nuts an' he was gonna try to put a dress on the cow." Leigh laughed,
"Was the meat good?"
"It was real good, but we had to be careful eatin' because there was a lot o' shrapnel in it. We cooked it over a fire we built. I wonder if that guy got back home?"
"I hope he got back. I'm glad you got home, you're somethin' else, Honey. Even if you did tell Mr. Alderson that we were sleeping together." Guarnere smirked,
"Are ya telling' me you don't feel happier after gettin' up to somethin'?"
"Of course I feel happier, you adorable smart ass!" Bill winked at her,
"That's my baby!"
*Author's note: The story of the cow in Normandy came from Bill's and Babe's book. I paraphrased the story. The story about Bill's older brother and sisters giving him extra cookies is true. I changed it from doughnuts to cookies. The quotes about "Oh, the poor baby" and "Smart like a fox also came from his book.*
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