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Show Flying - 43 hamburgers, mashed potatoes, peas, brown gravy, and bread pudding in metal trays still hot from the dishwasher. It is still over a hundred outside, and the mess-hall is not air-conditioned. "Fuck the whole fucking army," says O'Connell more loudly as they balance their food with delicate and practiced motions and look for an empty table. "This food is enough to make hogs puke," says O'Connell very loudly. Heads are beginning to turn. He slams his tray down on the table with a bang and raises his arms to Heaven. "If God had any sense of propriety he'd wipe out this whole fucking place with one great blast of fire.1" ' yells O'Connell. The officers are peering over their partition now, looking to see who's screaming so loud in the segregated side of the mess-hall, and the mess sergeant is walking toward them with a nasty expression. Thompson and Arkwright grab O'Connell's arms and sit him down between them. "O.K. Joe, O.K. Take it easy, man," says Thompson. "The old man's looking over here." O'Connell smiles and starts eating. Relieved and a little disappointed, John Henry goes back to the mashed potatoes and gravy he had been ready to throw at the walls with cries of triumph. The mess sergeant turns away. |