"Wright, colonel wants to see you. What's up?" Mendez said, sticking his head through the door.
There was plenty of guilt written all over my face. "I dunno, Sarn't."
"Keep it zipped, Wright," he warned.
As if I would just spill my guts all over the place. Right, Sarn't. I'm not quite
that
stupid, Sarn't. "Yes, Sarn't."
I reported to the colonel with perfect military manners. Well, as perfect as possible on a pair of crutches. I stood as close to attention as I could get and stared at the wall above his head while he regarded me from behind his desk. Shades of the week before and another officer sitting behind his own desk. I mentally shook myself.
"Tell me about Friday, private," he said finally.
I swallowed the temptation to run screaming. I tried for a mild tone, slightly questioning, but completely innocent. As if I hadn't been driven off for an illegal affair with the major in his bright red gigolo car. "Friday, sir?"
"Don't play stupid with me, private."
Keeping my expression as carefully blank as possible, I tried not to fidget. I shifted my weight from one crutch to another and felt inspiration hit. That was probably what this was about. But why would the colonel care? Other than the paperwork, this was a problem for my platoon sergeant or the first sergeant at most. "I was running, sir, and I tripped and broke my foot. I reported to the staff duty NCO and he took a copy of my profile, sir."
"I meant with the major." The air was thick, thick enough to choke on.
Oh gawd. "The major, sir?" I asked in as innocent a what-major-might-you-be-talking-about voice as I could manage.
"Don't fuck with me, private."
Oh gawd, oh gawd, oh gawd! Think, Wright, think. "Well, sir, I'm not really sure what happened with the major on Friday. I was running, and when I tripped, he took me to the TMC because I couldn't walk, sir."
He picked up a piece of paper from his desk and scanned it. That paper probably held every intimate detail of every intimate moment I'd spent with the major. In lavish detail complete with pictures. So what if it was only one piece of paper and we did enough to fill up four bad porno films? He slammed the smoking gun, the damning evidence, my ticket to hell, what looked like a half page memo down on his desk. "'Fuck off and die, sir,' does that jar your memory? How about 'You can take your Non Judicial Punishment and stick it up your Non Judicial ass sideways, sir'?"
Uh oh.
"Is it your practice to scream gross disrespect at officers every chance you get or do you just do it on Fridays?"
"Well, uhm, sir, I don't usually disrespect officers at all, sir." I'd screamed that? Oh my gawd. I thought I'd been more circumspect. "I don't know what came over me, sir."
"What has the major done about this?"
What
hasn't
the major done? I tried not to blush. "I, ah, I'm not certain, sir."
"Nothing."
I flinched at the coldness in his voice. He knew. Oh God he knew. He knew, he knew, heknewheknew--
"He said you were in pain and it should be overlooked. What do you think about that, private?"
Pain? I hadn't even noticed it. "I, um, think the major is being very generous, sir."
The colonel's seat squealed as he leaned back in it. I wanted to look at his face, to see what he was thinking, but kept my eyes locked on the wall behind him instead. Military bearing, Wright. Military bearing.
"First you request a transfer, and then you tell an officer in your chain of command to," he referred to the paper again, "'Fuck off and die.' What's going on, Wright?"
I was going to cry again. I could
feel
it.
"What's your beef with the major? Did he do something to piss you off?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat and told the biggest lie of my life. "No, sir."
He stared at me for a while, letting the silence drag out. My nerves were jangling when he finally stood up and came around the desk. He didn't stop until he was in my face. "I don't know what you've heard about him, private, and I don't care. He's a good man and a fine officer whatever the rumor mill says. I expect professional behavior from all of my soldiers, even
soldiers
like you. I will not have my command disrupted by insubordination and someone thinking she can shake her tits and her ass and get what she wants."
Soldiers.
He meant whores. I couldn't help it, my eyes flicked to his. I felt like a butterfly pinned to a dissection dish all of the sudden. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the colonel thought I was pissed off at the major over something sexual.
"I don't know what your problem is, private, but you'd better solve it. Am I clear?"
I didn't even occur to me to defend myself. "Yessir."
"I expect a formal apology to the major and a heartfelt thanks for his generosity. Today, private. Then I expect you to be the most squared away soldier on the post from here on out. If I even have one breath of trouble attached to your name, I'm going to hang you out to dry. Am I clear?"
"Yessir."
"Your platoon leader will make certain that you're too busy to think of anything more insubordinate than how to handle a mop. You are confined to quarters when you are not in the company area for four weeks effective immediately. If you'd like to take issue with that, you can request a court-martial," he growled. "Dismissed."
I didn't know if what he was doing was legal, but I wasn't about to protest. Instead, I fled.
The major was standing next to the First Sergeant's desk, sorting through some papers. I let my eyes lick over him for a heartbeat--just long enough to notice the concerned expression on his face--then attached them firmly to the floor in front of me. The senior NCOs unlucky enough to be out in the main office bay were subdued rather than full of their usual hooah grunt snort ambiance. I could feel their eyes all boring into me. It was like they'd never seen a private scuttle away from someone's office with her tail tucked between her legs before.
Screw dignity. I moved along as fast as I could.