SHOTWELL KEEPS THE JACKS and the rubber ball in his attache case and will not allow me to play with them. He plays with them, alone, sitting on the floor he sole hour after hour, t?ing "owosies, threesies, foursies" in a pre?cise, well-modulated voiot so loud as to be annoying, not so soft as to allow me tet. I point out to Shotwell that two derive more enjoyment from playing jacks than one, but he is not ied. I have asked repeatedly to be al?lowed to play by myself, but he simply shakes his head. "Why?" I ask. "Theyre mine," he says. And when he has finished, when he has sated himself, back they go into the attache case.
It is unfair but there is nothing I do about it. I am ag to get my hands on them.
Shotwell and I watch the sole. Shotwell and I live uhe ground and watch the sole. If certais take place upon the sole, we are to i our keys in the appropriate locks and turn our keys. Shotwell has a key and I have a key. If we turn our keys simultaneously the bird flies, cer?tain switches are activated and the bird flies. But the bird never flies. In one huhirty-three days the bird has not flown. Meanwhile Shotwell and I watch each other. We each wear a .45 and if Shotwell behaves strangely I am supposed to shoot him. If I behave strangely Shotwell is supposed to shoot me. We watch the sole and think about shooting each other and think about the bird. Shotwells behavior with the jacks is strange. Is it strange? I do not know. Perhaps he is merely a selfish bastard, perhaps his character is flawed, per?haps his childhood was twisted. I do not know.
Each of us wears a .45 and each of us is sup?posed to shoot the other if the other is behaving strangely. How strangely is strangely? I do not know. In addition to the .45 I have a .38 which Shotwell does not know about cealed in my attache case, and Shotwell has a .25 calibre Beretta which I do not know about strapped to his right calf. Sometimes instead of watg the sole I pointedly watch Shotwells .45, but this is simply a ruse, simply a maneuver, iy I am watg his hand when it dangles in the viity of his right calf. If he decides I am behaving strangely he will shoot me not with the .45 but with the Beretta. Similarly Shotwell pretends to watch my .45 but he is really watg my haing idly atop my attache case, my haing idly atop my attache case, my hand. My haing idly atop my attache case.
In the beginning I took care to behave normally. So did Shotwell. Our behavior ainfully nor?mal. Norms of politeness, sideration, speech, and personal habits were scrupulously observed. But then it became apparent that an error had been made, that out relief was not going to arrive. Ow?ing to an ht. Owing to an ht we have been here for one huhirty-three days. When it became clear that an error had been made, that we were not to be relieved, the norms were relaxed. Definitions of normality were redrawn in the agree?ment of January 1, called by us, The Agreement. Unifulations were relaxed, aimes are no lorously scheduled. We eat when we are hungry and sleep when we are tired. ?siderations of rank and prece were tempo?rarily put aside, a handsome cession on the part of Shotwell, who is a captain, whereas I am only a first lieutenant. One of us watches the sole at all times rather than two of us watg the ?sole at all times, except when we are both on our feet. One of us watches the sole at all times and if the bird flies then that one wakes the other aurn our keys in the locks simulta