Chapter 24

“But,” he continued, “what impressed me—andothers—was how you really dugin.”

“Dug in?”

“Well, you participated in every bit of our routines. You didn’t avoid, or even slack, the hard stuff.”

I grinned a bit sheepishly. “Oh, I wanted to—I guess trainmyself, a bit anyway.”

The Marine nodded. “Yeah, well, you did. And look—” he gestured toward me, “—you’re in not bad shape.”

I grimaced. “I think you’re being a bit lenient.” I gestured toward him. “I mean—wow!”

A second later I caught myself and flushed. The Marine didn’t seem to notice. He just laughed and patted his six-pack stomach muscles.

“A lean, mean fighting machine,” he said, grinning.

I nodded. “A moral warrior,” I added.

He blinked. “Hey! Where’d you hear about that?”

“I read it in a brochure for the Marines.”

He nodded, and looked at me questioningly. “What do you think of it, that slogan?”