Awaiting orders .....

A clock on the wall ticking away, in increments, bit by bit. The Soldier sits, waiting, tic tic tic. Restless, he scans the departure area, thinking of ways to fill his time. Taking some change, he goes to the machine, out pops something to much on, as he waits. Suddenly over the P A, he hears, 'Corpoal McKinsey, pick up a white courtesy phone please'. Bemused he smirks and goes to the phone, not knowing his journey had just begun. Corporal McKinsey he says, 'You just paged me'. 'One moment please', click, 'Corporal?' 'Yes?' 'Go to the ticket counter, show your I D, they will give you a key. Look at the number. Go to that locker'. 'Yes?' Click. Opening the locker, inside a folder, wrapped in red plastc. In yellow letters, CONFIDENTIAL EYES ONLY CORPORAL MC KINSEY Now curious, yet following protocol, goes to the restroom. Rips open the plastic, and reads. PRIORITY CODE 1 MISSION MUST BE COMPLETED AT ALL COSTS UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DIVULGE CONTENTS He looks at next page, an there he sees his orders. He reads them, then goes outside the bullding, with a lighter he sets the orders on fire. He looks around now, nervous in anticipation. A bit of sweat at the back of neck, he wipes with his handkerchief. A man comes in, looking nervously around. He takes a seat and begins to read a book. Recognizing the title, the Soldier sits next to him. Looks at the clock and comments, 'Looks like I am going to be late getting home'. The man with the book says, 'Here just finished it, good read'. The Soldier takes the book and says, 'Thank you'. Having given the book the man exits. The Soldier reads. In reading it he gets more and more exited. Coming to the end, he takes the book, goes back to the restroom, tears the book into flushable bits. He watches the bits swirl, and as they are to go down he is stunned, the words came back to form the title, How to Prevent Total Annihilation of Man. He leaves the termial and hails a cab to a motel, gets on the phone, 'Please connect me to (###) ###-####'. 'Mission complete, awaiting orders'.This came from a 'daydream' I had once. I am hoping that some who read this see what I said without saying it. Written April 14th, 2002 © on Apr 13 2002 10:56 PM PST, Richard Vance Haeckel   0 • 10