"San Diego, sir."
"You enlist out of high school?"
"No, sir. I waited a few years."
"Doing what?"
"Ever heard of Bextel, sir? Flooring?"
I waited.
"They make glue for floors--I worked in the shipping office."
"So why'd you join?"
"Wanted to try something else. See what it was like."
"that's a good reason," I said.
We drank water. I asked if he was married.
"Not really, sir."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I have a girlfriend... she's pregnant now she says."
We watched the city from behind camo netting; each of us looking out a different tower window.
"So you're getting married?"
"I don't know, sir. I don't want one mistake to cause me to make another."
"What does she want to do?"
He wasn't sure.
"She wants to get married. I promise."
"We only just started dating, it had only been three weeks..."
"You just met?"
"I knew her from before, but we just started dating on leave. I went back in May."
"What do her parents think?"
"They liked me I guess. They're real nice people."
"They probably want to kill you now."
"They're real nice though, sir."
"What about your folks?"
"Well, that's it, sir--they don't know yet."
