Better for Everyone

Chapter 6: Coding Chaos

The company of trainees formed up into ranks in front of the statue. Their Drill Instructors ordered them to drop their packs and stack their rifles. A boom box began to play the Marine Corps Hymn. Some of the recruits cried. Others stood tall as a commander went up to each man, shook their hand, and handed them an Eagle, Eye and Anchor pin that officially made them Marines.

Jason took his pin and held it with care. As long as he was a Marine, he would never be hungry again.

McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. Republic of Gilead.

It had been a long few weeks. Puddles and Top Hat could only get so tan before the risked skin cancer, so they had taken to the only activity that the local commander allowed them to do: lounge in the flight ready room in their flight suits and knit.

Puddles was pretty adept at knitting. Top Hat had never knitted before, but fighter pilots tended to be good at whatever they decided to do. So they stayed in the ready room with their yarn and their needles and turned yarn into projects.

Puddles had started Top Hat off with a garter stitch for a dishcloth. Top Hat took to it with the same dedication that she devoted to flying and she finished it within a day. She started on a second dishcloth, this one in a checkerboard pattern.

"Do you think," Top Hat asked. "We could knit bikinis?"

"I don't know if you'd want to," Puddles said. "We can't exactly go into the water with them. I guess if you wanted to sunbathe with them we could. You'd get a weird pattern on you, though."

"How would I start?" Top Hat asked.

Puddles thought for a moment.

"I guess it would all be a series of triangles. You would have to think about the rows you would need for each region on the bottom. You could perhaps tie it on the side. Do you want a top?"

"Sure," Top Hat said.

"Then two triangles for each breast then maybe a braided string over the shoulder." Puddles pointed at Top Hat's boobs as she spoke. She traced a line from her breasts up and over her shoulders.

Mongo interrupted the pair as he walked into the flight ready room. "What are you doing?"

"Knitting," Puddles said. "Any news?"

"Well," Mongo said. "I just got off the phone. They came to an agreement and the project manager's on his way." He's flying here on a C-130 with spare parts, missiles and a real ground crew. I was just out on the flight line this morning. After sitting out there for two weeks, there's so much water in the B System Accumulator that we'll have to bleed out the A System and refill both."

"But we can leave once the PM gets here?" Puddles asked.

Mongo nodded.

"We still haven't been given back our pistols yet," Mongo said. "Maybe when the PM gets here?"

"The company can always get me a new one," Puddles said. "As long as we can get out of this place. You want to sit down and knit with us?"

Mongo shook his head.

"Turkish men don't knit. It's woman's work."

"Kind of like how flying a fighter is men's work?" Top Hat asked.

Mongo considered the dichotomy. Fighter pilots never turned down a challenge. He sat down and picked up a knitting needle.

"Okay then," Mongo said. "How do you start?"