Chapter 12

I knew something was wrong when Drill Instructor Sergeant Saunders woke me up. The two Dobermans knew it, too.

"Kennel the dogs," Saunders ordered.

I did so, telling the dogs to go into their cages. I tossed my blanket in Goofy's kennel and locked the cage doors. I told Goofy to stay—even when locked he could escape from his cage.

"How did you do that?" Sergeant Saunders asked. "I can yell at them all day long and they'll just look at me as if I'm stupid."

"Sir, they understand specific command words," I said carefully, "and those words are German. I learned the commands, sir."

"Why did you put that blanket in with the little dog?" Dopey was larger than Goofy even though Dopey was female.

"Because Goofy is a brilliant dog, sir," I explained how Goofy would pop the latch on his cage door, locked or not. "I ordered Goofy to stay in the kennel and he will, until someone tells him to leave. I put the blanket in there as a reward—and to remind Goofy that I'm around."

After a moment, Drill Instructor Sergeant Saunders ordered me to fall in with the headquarters detachment. Not with my squad in the First Year students—with headquarters.

There were six platoons—First Year, corresponding to Grade Seven in regular schools through Sixth Year, equivalent to Grade Twelve or the Senior class. Each platoon was divided into squads of up to eight cadets. Sixth Year had only two squads. First Year started with five squads—four with eight cadets and one with only six. When we fell into school formation, it was hard to tell that an entire squad was missing.

My squad was gone. I was the only one left. I stood stunned as Commandant Mackie announced that the other cadets in my squad were dead. More than one cadet fainted and was carried out of the formation. What happened?

"To prevent further instances, we will reinstitute the fire watch," Commandant Mackie announced. "That means night watch for several cadets every night, commanded by one of the staff. The duty rosters will be published by 1600 hours.

"Speaking of the school day, classes are cancelled until Monday," Commandant Mackie continued. "Some of you will be questioned by the State Police. At 1800 hours we will have a memorial service for the fallen."

I was one of the first questioned. The questions went on and on and on. No, I didn't know what happened—I was gone most of the day and the entire night. The police investigator asked me a lot of questions because, aside from Drill Instructor Sergeant Saunders, I knew more about those dead boys than anybody else at Mackie. I had missed breakfast. At lunch, the investigator gobbled down a sandwich and guzzled coffee. I didn't even get a drink of water until just before the memorial service. All I did was answer questions.

So it was no wonder that I was wobbly during the memorial service. I was also the only naked cadet. After about an hour I wobbled off to make sure that Goofy and Dopey were fed and watered. Both dogs were frantic to see me. Even chow hound Dopey ignored her dinner to lick my face—but only for a moment before gobbling her dog food. Goofy had to be coaxed. Dopey was finished and stared at Goofy's bowl while the smaller dog ate his food slowly. She licked her chops several times, licked me—if not for weighing the dogs, it would have been easy to say that Dopey was starved.

Goofy had finished his dinner and was curled up in my lap when Miss Krystal entered.

"Nice dress," I commented. It was the first time I had seen Miss Krystal wear clothing. The skirt looked like silver scales and the top looked like a black and silver butterfly. She wore silver sandals with straps that wrapped up to her knees and a black collar. I almost didn't recognize Miss Krystal.