«Well I’m callin’ you chicken. A gutless motherfuckin’ coward.»
Slowly Kinsman got to his feet. It helped to have the wall behind him to lean against.
«I take that, sir, to be a challenge to my honor,» he said, letting himself sound drunk. It took very little effort.
«Goddam’ right it’s a challenge. You must be some goddam’ pig—secret police or something.»
«That’s why I’m wearing this inconspicuous uniform.»
«To throw us off guard.»
«Don’t be silly.»
«I’m gonna break your head, wise-ass.»
Kinsman raised one finger. «Now hold on. You challenged me. I get the choice of weapons. That’s the way it works in the good ol’ code duello.»
«Choice of weapons?» The guy looked confused.
«You challenged me to a duel, didn’t you? You have impeached my honor. I have the right to choose the weapons.»
The guy made a fist the size of a football. «This is all the weapon I need.»
«But that’s not the weapon I choose,» Kinsman countered. «I believe that I’ll choose sabers. I won a few medals back East with my saber fencing. Now where can we find a pair of sabers at this hour of the morning …»
The guy grabbed Kinsman’s shirt. «I’m gonna knock that fuckin’ grin off your face.»
«You probably will. But not before I kick your kneecaps off. You’ll never see the inside of a gym again, muscleman.»
«That’s enough, both of you,» Diane snapped.
She stepped between the two of them, forcing the big student to let go of Kinsman.
«You’d better get back to your place, Ray,» she said, her voice iron hard. «You’re not going to break up my pad and get me thrown out on the street.»
Ray pointed a thick, blunt finger at Kinsman. «He’s a narc. Or something. Don’t trust him.»
«Go home, Ray. It’s late.»
«I’ll get you, blue-suit,» Ray said.
«I’ll get you.» Kinsman said, «When you find the sabers, let me know.»
«Shut up!» Diane hissed at him. But she was grinning. She half pushed the lumbering Ray out of the door.
The others left right after him, and suddenly Kinsman was alone with Diane.
«I guess I ought to get back to my hotel,» Kinsman said, his insides shaking now that the danger had passed.
«Where’s that?»
«The Stanhope… in the city.»
«God, you are Establishment!»
«Born with a silver spoon in my ear. To the manner born. Rich or poor, it pays to have money. Let ’em eat cake. Or was it coke?»
«You’re drunk!»
«How can you tell?»
«Well, for one thing, your feet are standing in one place, but the rest of you is swaying like a tree in the breeze.»
«I am drunk with your beauty… and a ton and a half of beer.»
Diane laughed. «I can believe the second one.»
Looking around for a phone, Kinsman asked, «How do you get a cab around here?»
«You won’t. Not at this hour. No trains, either.»
«I’m stuck here?»
She nodded.
«A fate worse than death.» Kinsman saw that the room’s furnishings consisted of a bookshelf crammed with sheet music, the waterbed, a Formica-topped table and two battered wooden chairs that didn’t match, the waterbed, a pile of books in one corner of the floor, a few pillows strewn around here and there, and the waterbed.
«You can share the bed with me,» Diane said.
He felt his face turning red. «Are your intentions honorable?»
She grinned at him. «The condition you’re in, we’ll both be safe enough.»
«Don’t be too sure.»
But he fell asleep as soon as he sank into the soft warmth of the bed.
It was sometime during the misty, dreaming light of earliest dawn that he half awoke and felt her body cupped next to his. Still half in sleep, they moved together, slowly, gently, unhurried, alone in a pearly gray fog, feeling without thinking, caressing, making love.
Kinsman lay on his back, smiling dazedly at the cracked ceiling.
«Was that your first time?» Diane asked. Her head was resting on his chest.
He suddenly felt embarrassed. «Well, uh, yeah… it was.»
She stroked the flat of his abdomen.
Awkwardly, he said, «I guess I was pretty clumsy, wasn’t I?»
«Oh no. You were fine.»
«You don’t have to humor me.»
«I’m not. It was marvelous. Terrific.»
It wasn’t your first time, he knew. But he said nothing.
«Go to sleep,» Diane said. «Get some rest and we can do it again.»
It was almost noon by the time Kinsman had showered in the cracked tub and gotten back into his wrinkled uniform. He was looking into the still-steamy bathroom mirror, wondering what to do about his stubby chin, when Diane called through the half-open door: «Tea or coffee?»
«Coffee.»
Kinsman came out of the tiny bathroom and saw that she had set up toast and a jar of Smuckers grape jelly on the table by the window. A teakettle was on the two-burner stove, with a pair of chipped mugs and a jar of instant coffee alongside.
They sat facing each other, washing down the crunchy toast with the hot, strong coffee. Diane watched the people moving along the street below them. Kinsman stared at the clean sky.
«How long can you stay?» she asked.
«I’ve got a date with this guy to go flying this afternoon. Then I leave tonight.»
«Oh.»
«Got to report back to the Academy tomorrow morning.»
«You have to.»
He nodded. «Wish I didn’t.»
She gave him a so do I look. «But you’re free this afternoon?»
«I’m supposed to meet this Navy guy; he’s going to take me up with him.»
«Come down to the campus with me instead,» Diane said, brightening. «The demonstration will be starting around two and you can help us.»
«Me?»
«Sure! You’re not going to let them get away with it, are you? They’ll be sending you to Cambodia or someplace to get killed.»
«Yeah, maybe, but—»
She reached across the table and took his free hand in both of hers. «Chet… please. Not for me. Do it for yourself. I don’t want to think of you being sent out there to fight a war we shouldn’t be fighting. Don’t let them turn you into a robot.»
«But I’m going into astronaut training.»
«You don’t believe they’ll give you what you want, do you? They’ll use you for cannon fodder, just like all the others.»
«You don’t understand.»
«No, you don’t understand!» she said earnestly. Kinsman saw the intensity in her eyes, the devotion. Is she really worried that much about me?
«We’ve got to stop them, Chet. We’ve got to use every ounce of courage we can muster to stop this war and stop the killing.»
«Tearing up the campus isn’t going to do it.»
«I know that. This is going to be a peaceful demonstration. It’s the pigs that start the violence.»
He shook his head.
«Come and see, if you don’t believe me! Come with me.»
«In my uniform? Your friends would trash me.»
«No they won’t. It’d make a terrific impact for somebody in uniform to show up with us. We’ve been trying to get some of the Vietnam veterans to show themselves in uniform.»
«I can’t,» Kinsman said. «I’ve got a date with a guy to go flying this afternoon.»
«That’s more important than freedom? More important than justice?»
He had no answer.
«Chet… please. For me. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, or for the people, then do it for me. Please.»
He looked away from her and glanced around the shabby, unkempt room. At the stained, cracked sink. The faded wooden floor. The unframed posters scotch-taped to the walls. The waterbed, with its soiled sheet trailing onto the floor.