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Show house/ 451 with a deeper, eternal cold and I began to shiver, shifting from one foot to another. At last he looked up. "She won't do it. She won't sign the papers." His voice was heavy and cold as the morning air. "Brian, what can we do!? What about your CO.? Can he do it?" "I just talked with him. He can't do a thing without her consent. I asked for an extended leave, just a little time to work something out. He says it's out of the question." "But...but the Marine Corps has taken over your life! Why can't he give you permission?" His shoulders lifted and settled like two dead weights. "I'd like to go AWOL." He said nothing more, his shoulder blades jutting like icicles beneath his undershirt. For a long time I stood stiffly beside him, waiting for a miracle. But tension grew in both of us and I wanted to dart at the ticking clock, tearing the hands from its obdurate face. We drank coffee in silence. We dressed in silence. We packed Brian's clothing, carefully creasing the new uniforms, muttering only the necessary words. We drove to the airport in a huge elastic silence drawn taut. In the coffee shop, waiting for his flight to be called, we drank more coffee in silence. All this time I was thinking one thing: Brian did not really want to marry me. "You could do something if you really wanted to," I whispered hotly, His eyes widened, then shrank back into their shrouds. "You Dfomised me you'd \hink of something. You said |