'You going to be busy today, Dino?' he said at length.
'Er, no. No,' Dino said.
'My bed needs fixing and there's some laundry.'
'You, er, want me to do them?' Dino asked uncomfortably.
'You want to?'
Dino swore under his breath, but the remembrance of the perfume of the chicken last night shattered his will. 'Sure,' he said.
'Thanks, pal,' said the King derisively, amused by Dino's obvious struggle with his conscience. He turned and started down the steps.
'Er, which hen d'you want to have?' Dino called out after him.
The King did not stop. 'I'll think about that,' he said. 'You just fix the bed and the laundry.'
Dino leaned against the doorway, watching the King walk in the sun along the jail wall and around the corner of the jail. 'Son of a bitch!'
'Go get the laundry,' Tex said.
'Crap off! I'm hungry.'
'He aced you into doing his work without any goddam chicken.'
'He'll eat one today,' Dino said stubbornly. 'And I'll help him eat it. He's never eaten one before without giving the helper some.'
'What about last night?'
'Hell, he was fit to be tied 'cause we took over his space.' Dino was thinking about the English captain and home and his girl friend and wondered if she was waiting or if she was married. Sure, he told himself sullenly, she'll be married and no one'll be there. How the hell am I going to get me a job?
'That was before,' Byron Jones III was saying. 'I'll bet the son of a bitch cooks it and eats it in front of us.' But he was thinking about his home.
Goddamned if I'm going to stay there any more. Got to get me my own apartment. Yeah. But where the hell's the dough coming from?
'So what if he does?' Tex asked. 'We got maybe two or three days to go.' Then home to Texas, he was thinking. Can I get my job back? Where the hell will I live? What am I going to use for dough? When I get in the hay, is it going to work?'
'What about the Limey officer, Tex? You think we should go talk with him?'
'Yeah, we should. But hell, later today, or tomorrow. We gotta get used to the idea.' Tex suppressed a shudder. 'When he looked at me — it was as though, just like he was looking at a — a geek! Holy cow, what's so goddam wrong with me? I look all right, don't I?'
They all studied Tex, trying to see what the officer had seen. But they saw only Tex, the Tex they had known for three and a half years.
'You look all right to me,' Dino said finally. 'If anyone's a freak it's him.
Goddamned if I'd parachute into Singapore alone. Not with all the lousy Japs around. No sir! He's the real freak.'
The King was walking along the jail wall. You're a stupid son of a bitch, he told himself. What the hell're you so upset about? All's well in the world.
Sure. And you're still the King. You're still the only guy who knows how to get with it.
He cocked his hat at a rakish angle and chuckled as he remembered Dino. Yeah, that bastard would be cursing, wondering if he'd really get the chicken, knowing he'd been aced into working. The hell with him, let him sweat, the King thought cheerfully.
He crossed the path between two of the huts. Around the huts were groups of men. They were all looking north, towards the gate, silently, motionless. He rounded another hut and saw the officer standing in a pool of emptiness, staring around bewildered, his back towards him. He saw the officer go toward some men and laughed sardonically as he saw them retreat.
Crazy, he thought cynically. Plain crazy. What's there to be scared of?
The guy's only a captain. Yep, he's sure going to need a hand. But what the hell he's so scared about beats me!
He quickened his pace, but his footsteps made no noise.
'Morning, sir,' he said crisply, saluting.
Captain Forsyth spun around, startled. 'Oh! Hello.' He returned the salute with a sigh of relief. 'Thank God someone here is normal.' Then he realized what he had said. 'Oh, sorry. I didn't mean —'
'That's all right,' the King said agreeably. 'This dump's enough to put anyone off kilter. Boy, are we pleased to see you. Welcome to Changi!'
Forsyth smiled. He was much shorter than the King but built like a tank.
'Thank you. I'm Captain Forsyth. I've been sent to look after the camp until the fleet arrives.'
'When's that?'
'Six days.'
'Can't they make it any sooner?'
'These things take time, I suppose.' Forsyth nodded toward the huts.
'What's the matter with everyone? It's as though I was a leper.'
