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train rattled along forcefully. Earl sat in the private compartment watching America pass in the darkness, feeling the throb of the rails on the track. His head ached, but for the first time, after a day of heroic drinking, he felt as if he were more or less sober.
    The private compartment was a last kindness from his country for one of its heroes. No lumpy seats for the Medal of Honor winner, no sitting upright, unable to sleep because the metal in the ribs still hurt and his back ached. But he wasn’t drinking.
    Junie slept in the lower berth. He could hear her breathing steadily. But he just sat in the leather seat before the little round table, feeling the rhythms and flowing onward toward what would be his new destiny. Then she stirred.
    “Earl?”
    “I thought you were asleep, honey. You should sleep some.”
    “I can’t sleep when you can’t sleep, Earl. Are you all right?”
    “Yes ma’am. I’m fine.”
    “Earl, you were drinking, weren’t you? I could smell it on you.”
    “I stopped for drinks while I was walking, yes. I was celebrating. I was happy. I met the president. I was at the White House. I got the big medal. I got my picture taken. Won’t have many days like that.”
    “Earl, the medal. It was in the pocket of your uniform slacks. The ribbon got all wrinkled. I put it back in the jewelry case. You should take care of it. Someday you will give it to a son.”
    “Well, honey, if I ever have a son, I don’t think I’ll say to him, ‘See what a big man your father was.’ So I think if I ever have a son, I’ll just let him grow up without me telling him how great I was, since I never felt great one damn day in my life.”
    “Earl, you are so angry these days.”
    “I will put it aside, I swear to you, Junie. I know this ain’t been easy for you. I know I have become different than the man you married.”
    “That Earl was handsome and proud and he looked so beautiful in his uniform. He looked like a movie star. All the girls loved him. I fell so hard in love with him, Lord, I didn’t think I’d live till sunrise. Then he asked me to dance with him. But this Earl is more human than that one. This Earl is more man, more real man. He does his work, even though he hates it, and he never yells at anyone. He’s a real man, and he’s there every night, and some letter won’t come telling me he got killed.”
    “Sweetie, you are some peach. You are the best.”
    He leaned over in the dark and gave her a kiss.
    She touched him, in a way that let him know that tonight would be a very good night for some intimacy. But he sat back.
    “I have to tell you something first.”
    “Earl, I don’t like that tone. What is it? Is it those two men who came to see you?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “That showboaty fellow in the nice clothes? And that sad old man. I didn’t like the showboaty fellow.”
    “I didn’t really like him either, but there you have it. Becker is his name, and he’ll be important someday. He’s actually an elected official, a politician. Them two fellows offered me a job.”
    “Did you take it?”
    “It means some more money. And it means I won’t get my fingers chopped off by the band saw. They’ll be paying me a hundred a week. That’s more than $5,000 a year before taxes. There’s a life insurance plan too, plus medical benefits from the state of Arkansas, so there won’t be no worrying about having enough money for a doc. They even gave me a clothing allowance. I’m supposed to buy some suits.”
    “But it’s dangerous.”
    “Why would you say that?”
    “I can tell it from your voice.”
    “Well, it could be dangerous. It probably won’t be. Mainly it’s training.”
    “Training?”
    “Some boys. I’ll be working with young police officers, training them in firearms usage, fire and movement, generalized tactics, maybe some judo, that sort of thing.”
    “Earl!”
    “Yes ma’am?”
    “Earl, you’ll be training them for war.”
    “Well, not exactly,