Burma Road

OWL -- Tuesday Noon

The day was warm. The sky was a clear blue with a few wisps of clouds here and there. The humidity was thick enough to cut with a knife. The dirt road was dusty. There was opposing foot traffic, both human and animal dodging its way on the road. Going down from the road on the right was a near sheer drop of nearly 1,000 feet. On the left was a near sheer cliff that went up at least 500 feet. The road was crooked as a snake's back. Rock falls were always a worry.

The truck that Owl was riding in kept grinding along at something less than 30 miles per hour. The road was decent but the convoy could only go so fast on the twisty mountain road in some of the remotest mountains in Yunnan, China. Varoom was more like just a faint rumble. The convoy stopped for ten minutes approximately every hour. There were local people on the road with animals heading to or from market. Most of the people were women, old men and children. The older boys and working age men apparently had been corralled by the Chinese Army either for work up north or drafted into the largely illiterate and ill-organized army. Owl and his platoon of truck driver/guards had made two round trips previously. This was the third round trip in about six months. Mostly they stopped for the night in official rest stops where they could park the trucks inside a fence and sleep with some assurance that the trucks would still be there in the morning. This trip had turned into a slog. There had been lots of rain and a few washouts that slowed progress. Tonight they still hoped to make the regular rest stop but they might be late. Their radio was useless in these deep valleys.

Up ahead Owl could see a jeep with a Chinese Army officer and three military policemen in it. The spiffy looking officer was sitting in the front seat. As the convoy got closer the officer unwound from the seat and flagged them down to a stop. Owl signaled for a halt. After the break they would start up a long and steep grade. Then they would drop down along a valley with a village in the middle and some springs. They had never stopped there but this time is might be a good place to bivouac for the night. There was ample water and Owl had sensed a hot spring from the odor of rotten eggs on previous trips.

"Sir, I am Captain Lo. I have a message from up the road. There is a bridge out from flooding and no detour yet. You are to stay in the next village until the bridge can be repaired and the road reopened." Captain Lo passed over the written order to Owl.

"Thank you Captain. We will move on up to the next village and wait for the order to resume. One question. Is the village friendly toward Americans? As you know, some are not. We want no trouble."

"Lieutenant Owl, I believe you will be safe. There are no bandits." Captain Lo replied.

There were salutes and the captain turned around and departed up the road. He wanted to get back to his base before dark if possible. He knew that he wasn't welcome in that village.

Owl called for his sergeants. They chatted and were told about the change in plans. None of them were really upset. One village was as good as another and there was water and presumably food. When they got near the small town Owl and the senior Chinese driver would go into the village and meet with the headmen. A bargain would be struck and the bivouac locations worked out. The important parts were safe parking for the trucks away from the river and dry ground for camping. The Chinese drivers camped away from the American soldiers but they worked together as a good team. One group needed the other to survive in the event of trouble.

What no one knew was that Owl spoke Mandarin Chinese like a native. He could speak, read and write Chinese fluently at a high native speaker level. He had been born in Hankow in 1922. His father had been working there for Standard Oil. A bit later they moved to Ichang further up the river where his father had been manager of the tank farm. In 1940 with an active war in the Yangtze Valley, Standard Oil had greatly reduced staffing and the family had moved to California.

Owl's fluency in Chinese had been earned by daily exposure and an insistence on the part of his parents that he learn. In this part of Yunnan the language was a variant of Mandarin. After more than six months of living in Yunnan he could understand the local language well and could speak it with some fluency too. The written language was universal throughout China. He kept his language skill quiet. That way he could check on the conversations between the local officials and the head driver. The head driver was a mission Chinese and spoke passable English. Owl had caught him out in minor stuff once or twice but in the main the head driver was honest.

The meeting broke up. Tentative plans had been made. They would stop at the next village and set up camp for 2-3-4 days. There would need to be guards at night but the days would be free except for doing maintenance on the trucks.

With a roar they rumbled down the road. They convoy ground along in low gear over the summit and then picked up speed going down the gentle grade into the beautiful farm valley. There was rice everywhere with vegetables and some fruit. Each cluster of households had pigs and chickens. Some of the damn chickens were enormous. They were as big as turkeys but were still chickens. Owl was thinking some fresh eggs would be good and some good Chinese food would not go amiss for the next few days. A few of the soldiers claimed they hated Chinese food but Owl knew that the slop they had eaten previously was just that, slop. The real deal with good rice and vegetables would change their minds. Besides, how much canned corn beef hash could you eat, day after day, before anything would taste better?

OWL -- Tuesday late afternoon -- The convoy came to near the edge of the village. It was bigger than Owl had thought. It spilled across the road in both directions. The river was about 200 yards to the east down a slope that made the village just high enough that it usually wouldn't flood. On the west were several good streams coming off mountains that were less than a mile away. There were fields all around. Owl noted an empty shelf of nearly bare dirt on the uphill side of the road that would be perfect for a bivouac. He observed that the market appeared prosperous. There was lots on offer. He also noticed, a little out of town up on a hill what appeared to be a church, a nice looking semi-western style house and a smaller building that could also be a house. He would explore that later.

Now came the deliberations. The delegation from the village came out to talk. After much head nodding and general chit-chat they got down to business. The men deliberated back and forth. Owl used the head driver as the middle man. Since he understood the whole conversation comletely Owl bargained for camping. They, of course, wanted money. Way too much money. After much tough bargaining they agreed on a fair price. Owl also wanted fresh food. That was possible. The buyers would be welcome in the market. Cash or selected goods could be traded. There was one firm demand though. Keep the soldiers out of the town after dark. Owl understood there were two reasons. The elders didn't want to deal with drunken soldiers that were twice the size and weight of any of the elderly local men and they wanted to avoid sexual misconduct between the soldiers and women in the town.

Owl had previously observed that there were no men of working age and no older boys. No males between the ages of 14 and 50 appeared to be around. There were no babies either. There were young children of two and more but no babies.

Owl agreed that his soldiers would be well behaved during the daytime and stay out of the village after dark. If there were problems they would be taken care swiftly. Smiles all around now. The head driver was pleased and said so. They went inside a nearby tea shop and sealed the bargain with multiple cups of tea, a bowl of rice and soup.

Then it was time to go.

The soldiers and drivers quickly organized the bivouac with camps at both ends and a ring of trucks parked so that the rear doors couldn't be opened without moving the trucks. The tankers were completely surrounded. It appeared that three men would be enough to look after the camp at night.

One of Owl's soldiers reported that he had discovered a hot spring just up from the road that looked as if it was used by local folks for soaking. Owl went to look and indeed, there were three pools of water. One was very hot, almost scalding, and held the water as it came out of the ground. The other two were larger and had rock benches built along the edges. One appeared to be hot but somewhat cooled. The other mixed the hot water with cold water coming from a nearby cold spring fed stream. After some thought it was decided that daytime and afternoon use would be fine but between four pm and six pm the soldiers would stay out. It was already approaching late afternoon and it was time to organize food and get cleaned up. Tomorrow would be maintenance all day.

The men worked efficiently to organize food. They would bathe that night down at the river.

While this was going on Owl wrote up his daily report. They had done well but were really about two days behind schedule. There was nothing to do about that. If a bridge was out and he had an order to lay up for a few days that was that. The men were happy for a break. The setting was good and it appeared that the cooks among the crew had done well in the market. No canned corn beef tonight. In fact one case each of corned beef hash and spam had been traded for fresh local food. Owl thought that was a real bargain.

Owl and two of his men walked down to the river. It was freaking cold water that would make cocks shrink and balls disappear for certain. It was also very fast moving and appeared to get deep very quickly. They scouted up and down the river banks and found nowhere that was good for swimming or bathing. They looked around and went up a nearby stream that seemed to be downstream from the hot spring. There were some trees and benches that indicated other people bathed here too. This would be the place for tonight. It was deep enough to get clean and warm enough not to freeze. By late afternoon it would be private enough too.

Owl saw a young boy, about 10 years of age approaching. The boy spoke the local dialect. Owl pretended not to understand. What the boy said was that the men should come up to the hot springs to bathe after dinner. It would be better and safer there. Owl thanked him in simple Mandarin. The question was, who sent him? The second question was why did the folks in the village care about where the men cleaned up? As a society Chinese disliked soldiers.

No matter though. The folks had been friendly enough. Market prices had been fair. They had ordered some special food for tonight and tomorrow too rather than try to cook it themselves. The Chinese drivers were chattering about getting a good meal.

OWL -- Tuesday Evening

They ate about 6pm. Dusk would be after 8 this time of year.

Owl had gotten clean. It felt good to free of stink, even for an evening.

The food was served. Like a good officer Owl was last in line. He even ate after the drivers. They didn't teach that in Officer Candidate School but Owl didn't need to be taught. He had seen the way his father had worked with his people in the tank farm and offices. "Treat your people well and they will take care of you!" had been his motto. It worked.

After dinner the watches were set. The men were free to meander. They had to stay out of town though.

With at least an hour remaining before sunset Owl walked into town. There were the usual shops selling all things imaginable. Lots of food stuff. But also odds and ends from all over the world had somehow found its way here.

He continued up the road. His vague destination was the church. A few minutes later he arrived. The door was unlocked. He went in. It was a nice country church. It could have been anywhere but it was here in remote Yunnan. He looked around more inside and found a small pump organ and a real piano that had been made in Germany of all places. Getting it here, in remote Yunnan, must have been a real mission for the mission. Owl could play some pieces. He sat on the bench and tickled the keys. Simple music flowed. He played more music from a hymnal on the piano. It flowed like a stream. He heard a door open. He looked up and turned his head. He saw a youngish western woman approaching. She appeared to be about 35. Somewhat full bodied but still quite beautiful. She had curly reddish hair. She was also carrying a pistol in one hand. She was smiling but Owl took full measure of the pistol.

Owl stood, smiled and introduced himself. The lady introduced herself as the wife of the missionary. He was gone at the moment but would be back in a day or two. They talked. She was DonnaRay from Kentucky USA. She asked him inside the house for coffee and chat. Just for 30 minutes if he liked. The housekeeper was in the house.

Owl liked.

The unspoken but implied message was simple. You are welcome. I am married. There is another person present and if you misbehave I'll blow your balls off or worse.

Owl liked what he saw a lot.

DonnaRay was hot. She had a beautiful face and a body that looked like a mom's body that belonged to a woman that took care of herself as well as her family. She appeared to have full breasts and a nice ass. Owl flashed for a second that her Kentucky girl cunt must be warm and silky. It had been a while since he had had round-eye cunt. Honey-skinned Chinese cunt was good too. The Chinese girls generally had small boobs with dark brown nipples. Hot, wet pussy, Chinese or Round-eye was still pink inside. Owl's cock did a flutter before his mind took control again. "Screwing with a married mission lady! What are you thinking Owl?"

Owl really liked what he saw more than a lot. He decided to behave though. Getting his balls blown off wasn't worth the risk. Yet.

Owl stifled a second itch in his cock and a stirring in his balls. "She is a mission lady Owl. Behave yourself."

They went into the house and coffee appeared with cookies. The house helper was a young woman that appeared to be about 20 years old. There was a certain sparkle in her eyes. Owl thought she cleaned up really nice. She would be a good fuck if given the opportunity. She had a pleasing Chinese face with honey brown skin, dark brown, almost black eyes, small but obvious breasts and a nice, tight and solid ass under her dark blue trousers. Owl was thinking "a piece of nice Chinese ass would be good if it could be arranged. Getting a piece of DonnaRay was out of the question, probably."

"Mmmhmm. A few days here would be a nice break and might provide some long overdue Chinese poontang!"

His mind was turning into cold boiled rice.

Owl and DonnaRay talked about many things. Thirty minutes came and went. The sun went down. Owl got the straight information regarding the lack of men. The Chinese police had, in fact, swept through the whole valley in the middle of 1941, about two years ago. They had dragooned all the males from 12 to 50 into the army. That left no men to do the farm labor or make babies. Most of the males went into the labor corps. The rest went into the army as a rabble of untrained cannon fodder. They were fighting both the Japanese and the Communists. Life in China could be difficult but living in a fucking war zone could make life truly miserable.

There was no mail. Once gone the families could only assume the males were dead. It was close to the truth. After the men were hauled away those villagers that remained memorialized those that had departed. If they did come back it would be good. But they were dead to the families for now.

Overnight the population dropped by about 200 people. All males.

That left about 200 women and girls without boyfriends, husbands, lovers and farm workers.

They had worked it out on their own. They all needed to eat. Some fields were no longer worked. But the whole village worked as one taking care of the fields, planting crops and harvesting. It was an early form of cooperative farming brought on by necessity. There were no slackers.

Owl was not shocked. It had to work. It had worked well in the main. The village appeared prosperous.

DonnaRay allowed that she had three children that were now living with relatives in Hawaii. They had left China in early summer of 1941. The plan had been for her and her husband to follow along six months later. By late summer of 1941 travel for foreigners in the interior of China was almost impossible. The Japanese were suspicious and required permits for each leg of the journey. Going out through Japanese occupied but nominally French controlled Tonkin was not possible any longer. They had stayed in place because it was safer.

Then Owl noticed DonnaRay slow down her talking. She turned misty eyed for a moment.

He asked if she was okay.

She told him that she hadn't quite been truthful earlier. Her husband had disappeared 25 months earlier. It was just a week before the impressment of the men. He had gone on a mission trip and never arrived at his destination. He had simply vanished. His horse was missing along with all his kit.

She had decided to stay on because he might return and it was safer to stay than trying to leave. Now it was all but impossible for her to get out.

They chatted for a bit more. By this time is was long past 30 minutes. They had been talking nearly two hours. The maid came into the room and said something to DonnaRay. DonnaRay smiled and said something back. Then the maid said something more and DonnaRay pinked up briefly and also said "Yes. Give me ten minutes."

DonnaRay turned to Owl and said "Lt. Owl, the maid needs to go home. If she leaves then we have no chaperone. You must go too because people will notice that I am entertaining a young man without a chaperone." Owl smiled and agreed that it might appear unseemly.

"Lt. Owl. Tomorrow evening you can come for dinner if you like. There will be additional guests and we can continue our conversation. Come about 6 Chinese time."

His cock did a brief stiffy and his balls churned again.

"I would like that Miss DonnaRay. I will come at 6."

Then DonnaRay told Owl that apparently several of the women in the village had been down to the springs and seen the soldiers. They had asked the soldiers to join them. Apparently several of the girls had really joined the soldiers completely and had become enmeshed at the groin.

With that DonnaRay blushed again and smiled sheepishly.

Owl asked DonnaRay to ask the maid if the girls had started it and if the men had behaved themselves. The maid replied that she had heard that the men had behaved well and that it was the women that had initiated the full-body contact. Owl waited for the translation but understood the Chinese conversations perfectly. Apparently his men had behaved well.

DonnaRay explained that there was a fourth venue below the spring that she often used in the morning. She was often there about 9 o'clock in the morning. It was quiet and a bit off the main path. The water was warm and the sun felt good.

They shook hands. Owl offered to escort the maid to town. The offer was accepted. Then Owl took his leave and departed. He escorted the maid into the village where she said good-bye and they separated.

OWL -- Tuesday Late Night

He hadn't been blind.

The maid was pretty and obviously interested in the story about the goings on at the springs. There was pussy, Chinese poontang, to be had and at least some of his men were getting it!

From the perspective of the women and older girls there was fresh hard cock. They want to get laid.