Chapter 3

My squad was in the dog house. I don't understand that phrase, 'in the dog house, ' only that it isn't good. It started with four hours of Moto because Cadet Davis attacked Cadet Corporal Hernandez. Then we were given a Spartan lunch and put in a classroom. Mr. Giovanni began lecturing us on sex crimes.

I raised my hand for permission to speak. When granted, I asked the obvious.

"Mr. Giovanni, how were the rape figures determined?" I asked. "Representative sampling? Crime reports? Surveys? I don't have a lot of confidence in those numbers. Where did they come from? You had me read Kinsey's books and I thought his figures on male homosexuality were excessive."

"Why did you think that, Cadet Thistle?" Mr. Giovanni asked.

"Because homosexuality is still not acceptable to a large percentage of the population," I said. "That is despite all of the Social Awareness initiatives to mainstream gay lifestyles."

"What did you think of the continuum from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual?" Mr. Giovanni asked.

"Masters and Johnson mentioned something about another scale from asexual to ... I forgot the term, but it meant sexually obsessed," I tried to explain. There was nothing wrong with my memories for events over the last two months. Mr. and Mrs. Giovanni had me read more than 60 books during that period. Mr. Ray and Nurse Yardley ran my physical therapy program. "How does that fit the Kinsey Scale? And where was the peer review, the basic research? Sir, the Scientific Method is all about verification. I can make claims, too. My claims aren't credible because I'm still a boy—and because I don't have the data to back up my claims. So where is the Kinsey data?"

"So what does this have to do with sex crimes?" Mr. Giovanni asked.

"I read the FBI crime report," I said. "That report doesn't list female-on-male rape because of the way the FBI defines rape. On the other hand, the State of Arkansas has convicted several women of raping boys. I perceive non-agreement in the data. They are comparing apples to oranges."

Then there was the figure that the average woman had three male lovers, but the average man had thirteen female sexual partners. That didn't add up, especially when there was a slight majority of adult women over adult men.

"My conclusion isn't very scientific, Mr. Giovanni, but there is enough discrepancy in the official figures that I believe them to be in error," I said.

"So, we are all liars, Cadet Thistle?" Mr. Giovanni asked.

"I don't know, sir," I replied. "I could believe that. Does everybody lie about sex?"

The next part of Moto wasn't fun at all. I don't like being hit. I took the 'six of the best' on the butt like everybody else. The lesson was that our squad was one entity and when one of us fouled up, we all did. We would all be punished. Running with a sore but was even less fun.

After that, we were allowed to clean up and eat dinner. I didn't have much appetite.

"I'm blowing this joint!" Cadet Foxly muttered.

"You are going to run away without even the clothes on your back?" I asked. "Good luck!"

"I haven't had a hard-on all week," Cadet Jefferson declared.

"Of course, not," Cadet Davis muttered. "They put salt peter in the food."

"Close, but no cigar," Cadet Corporal Hernandez announced. "Didn't you know? The Shot comes in several varieties. One shot is for girls to prevent pregnancy. Another shot makes boys sterile. Then there is a shot used in prisons to keep the men from raping each other."

"We've been chemically castrated?" Cadet Chan quavered.

"Yes," Cadet Corporal Hernandez acknowledged. "It's reversible, but you won't get a hard-on for at least a month. That's part of Moto—you get fixed. Without the antidote you won't get it up again."