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Show 166 whose reverberations reached Tokyo. The problem, of course, was equating rank with house: officers and vacancies seldom meshed, so that captains ended on the back of the L and lieutenants on the foot, a malfunction that, in the army, has lost wars. At last the Major called a halt. A practical type but not unaware of protocol he cleared out the three on the L, installed himself in the first, the exec in the second, and the largest family, the Murakamis, in the third. But Mrs Bryce's thoughts had raced ahead. "Wouldn't that be nice," she murmured, for Dinah and us. She'd get a house in Naka, and" - she chuckled and looked craft -- "we'd get her out of Higashi." That woke Mike up. "Oh no," she cried. "Murakami house not for Engineer. Engineer house for Engineer; Detachment house for Detachment." "That's how it's been," Mrs Bryce said drily, "but it don't seem right." "We moved in," Louise pointed out, "and took the base. The Engineers moved in and took the school. Each has its housing." "You got trees," said Mrs Bryce, "we got puddles. You got flowers, we got duckboards. Every time Dinah goes to the John she gets a splinter. And now" - she chuckled - "she gets a cold." "Well," said Mike, thinking to end the discussion, "nothing to do." Mrs Bryce grunted. "When Dinah makes her mind up. . . ." And the train, reappearing briefly in the distance, ended that conversation. |