Jasta 18
4 February 1917 Halluin

It was loud and Leutnant von Bülow's words could barely be heard over the noise of the celebration.
- "Paul, please check on our new Leutnant. He has the early morning patrol and we need him to be awake."
Paul Strähle understood and his neck started to do the exercise of searching his surroundings that he knew so well. He spotted Aldi at the next table behind a row of bottles making most of the racket. He stood up and approached him.
- "Leutnant Schwarzkopf, you are needed at the next table." Paul yelled in Aldi's ear and pointed in von Bülow's direction. Aldi picked himself shakily up and wobbled to von Bülow's table.
- "Offizier ... I mean Leutnant Schwarzkopf reporting for duty!" His attempt at saluting failed miserably as his hand missed the general area of his head.
- "Sit down before you hurt yourself." Von Bülow offered Aldi a seat beside him. Aldi slumped down beside him nearly missing the chair.
- "Want me to tell you how I got thish pretty medal?" Aldi tried to point at his chest where a fresh Militär-Verdienstorden was hanging, but his hand only managed to go as far as his belly button.
Walter cringed as he was forced to listened to the story twice this evening already, but responded. - "If it'll keep you from drinking, by all means. Regale us with your latest exploits. Here, drink this. It's coffee." Paul Strähle was carrying two steaming cups of the mentioned brown stimulant-laxative. Aldi grabbed the mug and took a deep gulp.
- "Thash goot!" He announced wiping his mouth with his sleeve. The freshly minted leutnant put the coffee down and started his story.
- "We had line patrol that day over ... Paul, help me. You were there." Aldi turned to Strähle for the location of the patrol almost falling off the chair again.
- "Rumbeke" Paul offered the answer, helpful as always.
- "Yesh! We barely shtarted our patrol when five of the French machines showed up."
- "Four." Paul corrected. Aldi looked at Strähle as if he had just kicked a puppy.
- "We encountered FOUR Nieuportsh." Aldi continued. - "But theesh weren't any ordinary Nieupesh, theesh were the old N 10'sh ..."
- "N 11's" Paul interjected. Aldi dismissed the comment and continued.
- "They were shpeshal becaushe they were shlower than our Albatrosh and shooting them wash like shooting ..."
- "Fish in a barrel?" Paul tried to help again.
- "Like ducksh!" Aldi rejected Strähle's help on purpose.
- "But Aldi, ducks aren't easy to shoot." Paul tried to argue.
- "It ish if you have twin Shpandaush!" Aldi started a maniacal laugh which concluded with a cough when some spittle ended up down his breathe hole. Von Bülow slapped him on the back to help with Aldi's cough. Unfortunately the slap threw Aldi off balance which in turn caused an indiscrete sound come out of Aldi - a result of Aldi's recent indigestion. A pungent smell of rotten eggs hung in the air for a few moments. Aldi intent on disregarding the incident continued.
- "I wash able to hit the little bashtard on the firsht pash. He shtarted to shpin and went down all the way to the ground. I wash shocked and shurprised at the shame time. I wash already looking for the neksht target. I shaw Shträlhe being chased by one of them..."
- "I was chasing him, not the other way around. They were easy to shoot down, remember?" Paul was defending himself.
- "I wash too bushy to notishe." Aldi rebuked. - " I found the neksht Nieupe on my tail, sho I made my move like thish." He extended his hand with his palm down and then twisted his hand upside down and then made a swooping move and threw his arm behind him, nearly hitting Paul on the nose.
- "Then I went like thish." He made move with his hand straight in front of him.
- "And he went like thish." He made a slashing move with his hand nearly chopping off Strähle's head. Paul slowly moved away to avoid any further maneuver demonstrations.
- "And thatsh how I got on hish tail. I dove after him and finally shtarted to shoot. Rat-tat-tat!" Aldi made sounds with his mouth to mimic the sounds of his Spandaus. - "Boom!" and with that he lost his balance and fell under the table. He raised one hand to try and pick himself up, but abandoned the feeble attempt. He curled up under the table and started to snore.
Von Bülow and Strähle breathed a sigh of relief. Paul started to pick his inebriated friend off the floor to get him back to his room and sleep it off. While straining under Aldi's weight Sträle commented through clenched teeth:
- "I hope he doesn't get promoted too often. I don't think I could survive another one. He causes more damage than the French and British combined when he's not sober." With that he had Aldi on his feet, albeit unconscious, dragging him to his room with one arm over his shoulder.
- "Paul, give him two Aspirins when he wakes up in the morning. He'll thank you for it". Von Bülow yelled after the pair. Walter finished off his drink, got up to his feet, adjusted his tunic and added: - "And keep an empty bucket close to his bunk."