, 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 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 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.
Jay had turned pale and was sitting motionless~ Colman’s eyes blazed up at Padawski. Padawski’s leer broadened. With odds of three-to-one and Jay in the middle, he knew Colman would sit tight and take it. Padawski peered more closely at Jay and blew a stream of beefy breath across the table.
“Hey, kid, how do you like—”
“Cut it,” Colman grated. “You leave him out of it. If it’s me you want, I’ll take the three of you, but some other place. He’s got nothing to do with this.”
The owner bustled forward, twisting a cloth nervously in his hands. “Look, I don’t want any trouble. I just wanna sell food to the people, okay? They don’t want no trouble either. Now why don’t–”
“Oh, so it’s trouble them fellas is looking for, is it?” a voice with just a hint :of an Irish brogue asked softly from the doorway. Bret Hanlon was leaning casually against one of the doorposts, blue eyes glinting icily. His huge shoulders seeming almost to reach the other side of the door. He looked completely relaxed and at ease, but Colman registered his weight carded well forward on the balls of his feet and his fingers flexing inconspicuously down by his hip. The two corporals glanced at each other apprehensively. Hanlon’s appearance altered the odds a bit. Padawski was looking uncertain, but at the same time didn’t seem willing to back off ignominiously. For a few seconds that dragged like minutes, the charge in the room crackled at flashpoint. Nobody moved.