Kathryn eyed the expectant faces of her students and braced herself for the first test of their commitment to the cause. Most failed, and she was curious to see how this group would fare.
“At the beginning of the week, I told you to learn your manuals. Is there anyone here who has not done so?” The class stared back confidently. “No one?” She paused, waiting for someone to confess their sin. Saints all, apparently, as the silence continued. “Excellent.” She sat on the edge of her desk and pointed at her first victim.
“Hendricks, what’s the first line of chapter thirteen?”
Silence ensued as the young man searched the air for the answer.
“Okay,” she drew out. “What’s the title of chapter thirteen?”
He ran his hand across his razor stubbled chin and shifted uncomfortably.
Kathryn crossed her arms. “You did read the manual, didn’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, as more a question than a statement.
Kathryn smiled curtly. “That’s nice.”
She slid off her desk and stood over the trainee with her hands clasped behind her back like a drill sergeant.
“Mr. Hendricks,” she began pleasantly. “I understand this is a lot to take in. So much to study and learn—new words, new concepts, a change in your lifestyle, how you interact with the world, and on and on. Every day is a new gut check, and you wonder if you’re going to make the grade—it’s all rather unsettling, really. Isn’t it?”
“I suppose,” he said cautiously.
“Perhaps I’m being a bit unreasonable to think you could possibly remember such insignificant little details like exact lines of text and numbers of chapters … things like that, hm?”
Hendricks sat up a little straighter. “Well, yes ma’am, I believe it is. Thank you for your understanding.”
“Yes, well, I’m the understanding sort,” Kathryn smiled.
She saw Jenny raise her brow in recognition of her disingenuous delivery. Hendricks didn’t have a clue.
“After all,” she went on, as she paced in front of the class, “it’s the gist of the thing that’s important, not the silly little details, right, Hendricks?”
“Exactly, ma’am,” he said confidently.
“So, we’ll dispense with this silliness and you can just give me the gist of chapter thirteen.” She turned and stared at him. “Sound fair?”
Hendricks nodded but had no answer.
Kathryn shook her head and exhaled a disappointed breath. “Anyone know the answer?” she asked in a bored tone, expecting a flurry of hands in the air. She was met with a room full of silently shifting trainees. “Any answer?” she asked in disbelief.
Out of the corner of her eye came a movement that caught her attention.
“Rogers, do not even think of opening that manual now. Cheating is not going to save your life out there.” She looked back to the rest of the class and raised her voice as she picked up her copy and held it in the air. “I asked you all to learn your manuals. I didn’t ask you to skim through them or just look at the pretty pictures.” She threw the bound paper volume on her desk in disgust. “Did no one do as I asked?”
Jenny looked around timidly before slowly raising the pencil in her hand.
“I did.”
Kathryn found it hard not to smile. Of course she did.
“And?” she said sternly, trying to retain her annoyed composure.
“The title of chapter thirteen is Interrogation. The first line is Welcome to hell, you’ve been captured. The gist is pretty ugly, so don’t get captured in the first place.”
“Thank you, Ryan.” She turned again to the class. “To the rest of you, this is not a fucking game.” She let them absorb her anger and disappointment before continuing. “The silly little details in this book could save your life.”
Kathryn properly scolded the group, walked back to her desk, and leaned on the corner. “Next week we start field training. That means you are one step closer to deployment. We don’t have the luxury of time here, folks. You have to learn, and learn fast, or you’re not going to make it.”
She looked at the clock above the door. Class was mercifully over.
“That’s it for today. I know what you want to do with those manuals … but please learn them. You’re of no use to the war effort if you’re dead because you did something stupid out of ignorance. Any questions?”
None.
“Get out of here.”
She pushed off her desk and walked to the chalkboard to erase the day’s lesson. “Ryan, a moment please?” she called over her shoulder as the class shuffled out.
Jenny looked up in surprise at the stern snap of her last name.
Hendricks nudged her and whispered, “Ass kisser,” as he passed by with a wink.
She grinned silently and waited to approach Kathryn until the last trainee exited.
Kathryn turned around, wiping the chalk from her hands. “Lock that, wouldja?” She pointed at the door and then moved to the desk.
Jenny threw the latch and then joined her. “Tough day.”
“Yeah. Thanks for knowing your manual.”
“It’s a hard chapter to forget.”
Jenny couldn’t have told her anything about any of the other chapters with any certainty, but that one stayed with her because she couldn’t help thinking about what Kathryn must have gone through during her interrogation by the enemy. More questions she wouldn’t ask.
Kathryn took her hand. “How are you?”
“I’m okay.”
It had become an automatic response to the question regardless of whether it was true.
Kathryn brushed her knuckles lightly across her cheek. “We’re not doing that anymore, honey. You’re not okay, and neither am I.”
Jenny deflated beneath Kathryn’s touch. The lie fell away, and her strength went with it. She’d been given permission to face the truth, and it was harder than she realized.
“Don’t make me cry, Kat. I may not stop.”
Kathryn took her in her arms. “Cry if you need to, but we’re not hiding from each other any longer.”
Jenny held tight but refused to cry. It just felt good to be in Kathryn’s arms again. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I’m sorry things have gotten so crazy. I just—”
“I know,” Jenny said, hearing the words that Kathryn left unspoken. She couldn’t bear the thought of what was on the horizon for either of them.
Kathryn pulled back and cupped her face. “Come to the club tonight. I’ll pull together some numbers just for you, and then we can go back to my place.” She stroked her hair. It may have only been a week, but it seemed like ages since they were intimate. “I’ve missed you so. I want to feel you again.” She kissed her neck. “Make love to you again.”
Jenny didn’t need to be convinced. In fact, her humming body demanded it, as her head fell back and the kisses followed her pulse line to the base of her neck. “What time?” she whispered, knowing this was not the place to surrender.
The kisses stopped, and “What?” was mumbled into her collarbone.
“Tonight. What time?”
Kathryn released a shaky breath as she reeled in her desire. “Nine.”
“I’ll be there.” Jenny straightened her shirt and gave her a kiss goodbye. “Don’t forget where you were.”
“Oh, I won’t.”
Jenny bounded down the wooden steps, and strode across the gravel courtyard, trying to ignore a smirking Lieutenant Branson, who was leaning on the doorway of Building 5, arms crossed, with a cigarette dangling from his disapproving mouth.