Tough Day for the Army by John Warner Read Free Book Online

worst enemy, though, so maybe me being back there makes a lot of sense.
Conversation between Researcher and His Wife in Bed the Night after the Incident Involving Case #4557
    WIFE : Are you cold?
    RESEARCHER : No.
    wife : Why are you shaking?
    RESEARCHER : (No response)
    wife : Are you OK?
    RESEARCHER : (No response)
    wife : Are you crying?
Why the Blood Can Arc So High and Far Following the Knife’s Slash (Partial Transcript of Foreman Roy Clampsin Interview, unedited)
    Come here, let me show you something. I said, come here! If you’re going to get sick, just get sick; it’ll all wash down into the same place. Happens all the time. Bend over. Hold your knees, breathe deep. That’s it. Now, come here. Look at that. Big as a basketball, practically. That’s that big bastard’s heart. And the blood. The blood was coming out of a high-pressure artery, and when you think about it, he’d just survived a murder attempt, so you can bet that that fucker was pumping big-time. You ever been to the drag races and seen an oil line blow when one of them dragsters is coming off the line? It’s kind of like that. Shit’s amazing, isn’t it? Could you imagine such a thing?
Legible Portion of Note Left beneath Researcher’s Windshield Wiper, Presumably by Female Protestor a Couple Days after Confronting the Researcher on His Way inside the Plant
    â€¦ about the kids is because I wanted you to think about the world we’re going to leave behind, not because I’d do anything to hurt anyone. I do this because I don’t want anyone getting hurt. You think I look like a fool, but whose [ sic ] the foolish one?
Interview Summary of Foreman Roy Clampsin cont.
    In my experience, people like to kick up a lot of fuss, and the ones who kick up the most fuss, in general, don’t know shit about shit. That whole fucking war they sent me to was fuss after fuss, and not a god-damned soul knew fuck-all about it, but everyone had an opinion anyway, and for the most part, same is true here. People just do not want to know about this shit, perfect case in point being you. You wouldn’t be here if those hippies hadn’t gotten their hemp undies in a bunch, that look on your face makes that plain as day. Not that I blame anyone. Apparently, people more important than me have declared that this is “necessary,” so here I am, which is kind of the story of my life.
    My daddy always said that “Choices have consequences and bad choices have bad consequences.” First time he said it was after I spent my Christmas money on some plastic piece-of-shit toy that Daddy had warned me would fall apart before I got home and did indeed break when I dropped it on the ground exiting the car. The last time was after I’d wrapped my car around an oak, which I’d done because I’d lost the girl I loved and drank too much over the sorrow, and that’s what got me kicked out of college once and for all, which is how the army got their hands on me. When I left for basic, I said good-bye to Daddy, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper, and he said, without looking up, “It’s been nice knowing you,” which I choose to think meant he was worried about what was going to happen to me over there, rather than something else.
    So what I’m saying is that I’ve learned how to live with the consequences of my choices, but what this place is about is the consequences of other people’s choices, which is the messed-up part. Those hippies are a pain in the ass and I don’t like having to wash off the cow shit they throw at my car every morning, and I’m not trying to argue that there’s an equivalence between what went on during that war, or any other war and what’s going on here, but you’ve got to admit, they have a point.
Discussion
    After firsthand observation of 16 operating days it has been determined that Plant #5867 operates within