[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
what h~ does inside that matters."
"They don't have to make sense. All they have to do is say you're different.
Now do you get it? Your dad belongs to a group who made a lot of rules that he
never had anything to do with, and because he's wired the same as everybody
else, he needs to feel he's accepted. To be accepted, he has to be seen to go
by the rules. If he didn't he'd become a threat to the group, and they'd
reject him. And nobody can take that. Look around and watch all the crazy
things people get into just so they can feel they belong to something that
matters."
"Even you?"
"Sure. What could be crazier than the Army?"
"You're not crazy," Jay said. "So what made you join?" "It was a group, just
like I've been saying-
-something to belong to. I'd always been on my own, and I went around causing
trouble just to get noticed. People are like that. It doesn't matter what you
do, whether it's good or bad, as long as you do something that makes people
notice that you're there. Nothing's worse than not making any difference to
anything." Colman shrugged. "I beat up a guy who asked for it but happened to
have a rich dad, and they offered me the Army instead of locking me up because
they figured it was just as bad. I jumped at it."
Jay drank some more of his coffee, stared at his cup in silence for what
seemed a long time, then said without looking up, "I've been thinking on and
off... you know, I think I'd like to get into the Army. What would be the best
way of going about it?"
, Colman stared hard at him for a few seconds. "What do you think you'd get
out of it?" he asked.
"Oh, I dunno---some of the things you said, maybe."
"Get away from being caged in at home, be your real self, break out of the
straitjacket, and all the rest, huh?" "Maybe."
Colman nodded to himself and wiped his mouth with a napkin from the dispenser
on the table while he tried to form the right answer. He was stuck in the Army
but wanted to become a professional engineer; Jay could walk into being an
engineer but thought he wanted to be in the
Army. There would be no point in being scornful and listing all the reasons
why it might not be such a good idea-Jay knew all those and didn't want to
hear about it.
Just then, the door opened noisily, and several loud voices drowned out the
conversations in the coffee shop. Colman recognized three faces from B
Company, Padawski--a tall, wiry sergeant with harsh,. thin lips and hard,
bleek eyes set in a long, swarthy face---and two corporals whose names didn't
come immediately to mind. They had been drinking, and Padawski could be mean
at the best of times. Colman's earlier friendship with Anita had developed at
a time when she had taken to staying close to Colman and Hanlon because
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Padawski had been pestering her. Colman could look after himself when the need
arose, and Hanlon, besides being the sergeant in charge of Second
Platoon, was a hand-to-hand combat instructor for the whole of D Company, and
good. The combination had proved an effective deterrent, and Padawski had
nursed a personal grudge ever since.
"Who are they?" Jay asked as he sensed Colman's tensing up.
"Bad news," Colman hissed through his teeth. "Just keep talking. Don't look
round."
"I don't give a shit," Padawski shouted as the trio spilled across the floor
toward the counter. "I don't give a goddamn shit, I tell ya. If that asshole
wants to--" His voice broke off suddenly. "Say, who've we got over here? It's
Goldilocks from D Company--they're the shitheads
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teryear.txt who're so smart they can screw up a whole exercise on the first
day." Colman felt the floor vibrate as heavy footfalls approached the booth.
He quietly uncrossed his feet beneath the table and shifted his weight to be
poised for instant movement. His fingers curled more snugly around the
half-full cup of hot coffee. He looked up to find Padawski leering down from
about three feet away.
"This is private,,' he murmured in a voice that was low but menacing. "Beat
it."
"Hey, guys, Goldilocks has got a new girlfriend Take a look. Is there
something you wanna tell us, Colman? I've always had my doubts about you." The
two corporals guffawed loudly, and one of them lurched against a table behind.
The man sitting at it excused himself and left hurriedly. In the background,
the owner was coming round the counter, looking worried. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]