Four o'clock a.m... He was used to the early wake-up call. Griffin entered the bunks and turned on the light before calling attention in one of the loudest voices Redd had ever heard in a commanding officer. "Dark Signal at attention!" Each of the four members, including Redd, sprung from their bunks and stood stock tall, eyes not meeting those of the commanding officer. Griffin walked along the line of men and stopped in front of Sargent Morales. "Are you ready for today?" The Hispanic smiled broad.
"You don't have to ask me, Sir." Griffin's attention turned to Redd.
"Are YOU ready for today?"
Redd thought momentarily on his response... He didn't really know what Griffin was expecting. "Considering the circumstances, sir... Probably not." There was a conjoined scoff from around the room.
"That's the spirit. Squad to showers! Be done in twenty and meet on the track for assignments! Dismissed!" Everyone sprung for their foot lockers as soon as Griffin left the room. Redd followed suit and grabbed a fresh uniform, boots, socks, and a towel. He was last out of the room, but Manny waited for him in the hall. He motioned for the blond to follow and they walked together to the showers.
"So you don't think you're ready, huh? What makes you think that?"
"I don't know how you guys do things. How can I be ready for something I know nothing about?"
"That's the point. You're not suppose to be ready. Even if you think you are, you aren't and that's rule number one. Never assume. Always keep an open mind and don't let what you see or what you hear dictate your expectations." They made it to the showers and began to prepare to bathe. They had the usual military claustrophobia that was classified as a shower system. There was a ceiling-height wall surrounded by two low-baring walls on each side where there were sets of four shower heads. the smaller walls gave those bathing SOME privacy, but they were still bathing with a decent sized group of other men in a tight space. The military claimed it was to 'toughen-up' soldiers, but Redd knew that it was just a ploy to save money. Individual stalls were expensive, especially on a base of Fair Island's magnitude. As soon as Redd undressed, he stepped under an empty shower head farthest from the current user, a red-head named James Fox. The man reminded Redd of a biker, but Manny had mentioned something about the man having a pair of twin girls at home. Redd turned on the hot water and wasted no time in lathering his hair with shampoo and scrubbing his body thoroughly with soap. Not long after he started, Manny stepped in next to him and seemed to be making it a point to get out before the blond. Redd didn't understand it and finished up. He grabbed the towel he slung over the wall, dried off, and wrapped himself up. He got to his locker and finished drying himself before dressing in his fresh uniform. It was then that it hit him: He didn't know where the track was. Redd looked back to the shower stall. Fox and Keegan were finished and dressing at their lockers, but Manny was just rinsing the shampoo out of his hair. Now, he was going slow. What was his deal? Did he PLAN on making things difficult and awkward for him?
Redd stood by the Sargent's locker and waited for him to finish. Occasionally, he'd glance up to look at the other, finding him doing something or another. After about the fifth time, something caught the blond's eye. Manny had a tattoo... A HUGE tattoo across his back. It was vibrant and intricate, and a wonder how Redd hadn't noticed it before. From what he could tell, it was a stone cross wrapped in vines and poppy flowers. It was incredibly well done and he was almost tempted to ask about it when Manny finally finished, but there was another place for that. "I think we're gonna be late," Manny beamed, obviously smug about something. Redd scowled behind his back, crossing his arms and waiting. When the other was finally ready, he casually sauntered down the halls with Redd on his heels. They weaved between others who seemed in more of a rush then they, but Manny made it a point to keep the pace of a broken-down car being pushed by an emaciated dog. After a while, Redd could even visualize the scenario. Finally, they made it to a set of double doors and pushed into the yard. There were many different fenced in areas. The first they met was, thankfully, the track and they both fell in line next to the others. Griffin seemed just about to address them.
"Pushing it a little, aren't we?" he asked, letting the clip-board in his hands fall to his left side. Manny only smiled and shrugged, meriting a simple head-shake from Griffin. "Alright, now that we're all here, we'll get down to business. Keegan, what did you do wrong on our last opp.?" He obviously already knew the answer, but like a mother trying to teach a young child, he waited for Sargent Keegan to identify his own mistake, which he did respectfully.
"I... fell climbing a wall, sir."
"So, where do you need to go?"
"Course seven, sir."
"Get to it." Keegan broke from the line and jogged across the track to another sectioned-off area of the yard. Before he was even out of earshot, Griffin continued his address. "Fox, I want you at the range. You're shooting was good, but it could've been better. Get moving."
"Yes, Sir."
Griffin stopped in front of Manny and looked between him and Redd before lowering the clip-board. "Manny, take Redd to course one. Take him through to number fifteen. If he doesn't finish them all today, he starts over tomorrow. You're both dismissed." Manny nodded and motioned for Redd to follow as he made his way across the track to the closest enclosure.
"You aren't impressing me so far, Jankowski," Manny said in a warning tone. Redd cocked a brow. He had even done anything and he was already being scolded.
"What did I do?"
"Nothing and that's the problem. I was taking forever this morning and we were on a time restraint. You're lucky we weren't late or we'd both have to do suicides." Again, the confusion grew.
"I didn't think it was my place to say anything."
"Redd, a good soldier follows orders. A better one makes sure others follow them, too. That's what keeps us all on the same page. Better than that, we try to push each-other to make speed and efficiency a virtue." They stopped in front of a rather short obstacle course with the simple makings that the military often used: tires. ropes, barbed wire, a wall, hurdles. Manny crossed his arms and glared disapprovingly. "If you see one of your fellow soldiers lagging behind on the battlefield, what do you do?"
"Get them...?"
"Exactly. Now, get on the line and run the course when I say so." Redd sighed and jogged to the white line drawn on the short lip of concrete. "You heard Griffin. You don't get through all the courses today, you do them all again tomorrow. Move it!" At that, Redd took off down the course, starting with a row of tires lined up to the barbed wire. He passed through them easy enough, them being basic training objects from his base military tenure. After those, he dove under the barbed wire and slid through the dirt undernieth. He came up and jumped onto a rope net that spanned the side of a wooden platform which he scaled with ease. Once he was over, he hopped down onto a pile of sand-bags at the base, hurdled a smaller platform and stopped at on the raised section of gravel. "Good. Move on to the next one. To your left. Go! Go!" It didn't take Redd a second, he moved on to the next course which was much longer and included some water hazards. By the end of it, he was soaked, but ready to move on.
At seven o'clock he made it past the final course and was drenched in both water and rivers of sweat. 'That has got to be the worst work-out I have even done,' he thought to himseld, resting on his knees after he'd finished. Manny approached with another one of his worrying smiles and patted the blond on the shoulder. "That'a boy, Blondie. How are you feeling?"
"Terrible. That another one of your lessons?" Manny grinned broader and offered the other a hand to pull him to his feet.
"Yup, and one you didn't have to learn the hard way: Do it right the first time. You're starting to redeem yourself from this morning. Now, common. Let's get you a shower and something to eat. Tomorrow's gonna be an easy day since you finished this. You could only imagine how bad it'd be to do it all again after your muscles have had time to rest. Reguardless, you're gonna be SORE tomorrow. Be prepared."
"Thanks for the heads-up. What's on the menu, by the way?"
"uhh... Something almost inedible, but, hey, it's better than nothing at all. Common."
In fact, the meal handed to Redd was indeed inedible, but, as Manny had stated, it was better than having nothing at all. Really, it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever eaten and was stomachable. Afterwords, the blond showered as he'd done earlier than day, changed into a pair of loose fitting jogging pants and a white t-shirt, and went with Manny to the recreation area. No one else was in there. That one fact made Redd feel calmer about relaxing on one of the leather sofas. Manny sat across from him in an arm chair and pulled a box out from under the coffee table. Jankowski was curious about it, seeing but a blank, rutty, old box held together by duct tape and small threads of fiber still there from the original bindings. His curiosity was soon ebbed, however, as the box was opened and Manny took out a few sets of playing cards. There were multiple different types of various brands; mostly the standard type of card, but some of the boxes sported the faces of long-ago popular television characters and those from movies that were, at a time, big. Redd recognized some of them as they were from shows and movies he'd enjoyed when he was younger.
"Wanna play something?" asked Sargent Morales with a kinger smile than his norm.
"Sure. Might be nice. What did you have in mind?"
Manny shrugged. "Poker, guts, black-jack, uno, go-fish, take your pick." Redd tilted his head, face turning into that of uncertainty. He didn't want to sound... immature, but the only card games he knew how to play were go-fish and Mafia and Mafia required more people. Maybe the others would join them soon. He didn't want to suggest go-fish.
"Well... Do you know Mafia?"
"Mafia? Uh... No."
"Well, if we have a few more people, I can show you how to play. I used to play it all the time in High School. It's kinda funny, actually."
"I can go get Keegan and Fox. Top's probably working-"
"Top?" Manny froze for a moment then let an amused smile break across his face.
"Sorry, Griffin. We call him Top. Anyway, Keegan and Fox should be here in a few minutes."
"Ah, well... We need more people than that, so... Um... How do you play Uno?" The look of shock on the others face was half amusing and half hurtful. It was like the question was taboo. Manny opened and closed his mouth a few times, false starts bringing him to stammer.
"Y-you've never played Uno? I thought everyone had at least once. Didn't your parents or someone play it with you?" Redd shrugged.
"My mom was concerned with other things and my grandparents hated me. My older brother juggled too much to teach me games. He was more worried about getting me through school. The only fun I really had was with what few friends I had at either lunch in High-school or those I saw in and out through my life. I'd drink at parties some or drive around on back-roads like a little shit, but I guess it's something... Boring, I know."
"No, no... Eh... Well, okay, yeah a little boring, but... Wait, you said your grandparents hated you? Grandparents are suppose to spoil their grandkids, right? What happened there?" Redd shook his head.
"I'm not... I'm not comfortable talking about it." Manny seemed a little hurt, be also seemed to understand. He patted the blond on the shoulder and gave the most genuine smile he'd ever seen.
"Okay, so, when you play Uno, each person starts off with seven cards and needs to get down to one card to win. One person lays down a card and the other has to put a card down that matches in number or color. If they don't have either, they have to draw a card from the deck until they get one to lay down. Aces are turn skips and jacks are wild cards. Aces will make the other player lose their turn to let the player who laid it down lay down another card. Jacks will allow the player who played it to place down any card from their deck regardless of the previous card and can be laid over any card. Understand?" Redd nodded with a smile of his own. It was then that he really started to realize something about Sargent Morales; Besides being smart, confident, and headstrong, he was quite possible the coolest person Redd had ever met, even if he'd just made him run miles.