8
THE ASSIGMENT
I awoke feeling groggy, and glanced over at the clock. The time couldn’t be right. I sat up, Joseph was standing by the doorway, he was chewing on an apple. He smiled. He seemed so patient and so calm. I think he was laughing.
“How are you feeling, champ?” I leaped out of bed and dressed. “Relax,” I thought I heard him say as he chewed. Joseph didn’t move, he was just standing there. I stopped and just glanced at him, but he kept on chewing his apple. I wanted him to say something, anything else. Instead, I rushed out through the hunter quarters. The other cadets just glanced over at me. Some were smirking, others were just shaking their heads as I took a vehicle toward the tarmac. The officers by the private plane wouldn’t let me on.
“You haven’t had clearance,” they s
