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Show house/ 407 Brian started, half-out of bed before his eyes were open. "Time is it?" He stared vacuously at me, then blinked. »0h. Thought I'd missed reveille." He sank back to the pillow, covering his face with his arm. "Tsk. That Marine Corps has more hold on you than I do." "Don't hassle me," he mumbled into his flesh. "Too early." He turned over and buried his face in^ the pillow. "Are you going back to sleep?" I asked anxiously. Time was so precious, so short to waste on sleeping. "No. But I sure could use it. Didn't get much sleep." "Why not?" He lay still for a long time, his breath unsynchronized with the ticking of the bedroom clock. At last he turned over, blinking at the ceiling. "I don't know." "Is it something I did?" I asked, my stomach knotting. There was another silence. "No." He sighed. "No." The silence was bearing down on me like a thumbscrew. "Brian. if it's about the ring " "No. It isn't that." He sucked his tongue to clear the morning taste away. "Got coffee on?" I nodded. "You're sure it isn't the ring?" He shook his head. "But I've been wondering how we'll swing it. You know what my wages are in this Green Machine? two Thirteen cents an hour. In a month or A I'll be getting combat pay - a big twenty cents an hour. Now, I ask you, how am I gonna support a wife on twenty cents an hour even if I do get paid twenty-four hours a day?" M |