I then ask the rail station guard, "What now?"
The rail station guard says, "Normally, you would sit on the bench, over with the rest of the boys. However, I hear the train pulling in and I think that we can avoid possible trouble if you just stay here.
A man appears from inside the rail station and tells the rail station guard, "We got an officer draftee and he rates a private compartment. However, I can't put just one guy in a private compartment."
lI glance over at the girls that they're boarding. I say, 'Then let my lady join me."
The man then speaks to a diesel dyke, who's herding the girls toward the train. The diesel dyke detaches one of the girls and the girl rolls a suitcase over to me.
(The girl isn't very big and the wheeled suitcase indicates intelligence. At least the girl and I can talk.)
I say, to the man, "Okay lead my lady and me to our private compartment."
The man leads me and the girl to a small private compartment, at the front of a train car. I put my trunk and the girl's suitcase into an overhead rack. The girl and I then enter the private compartment.
The girl looks suspiciously at me and asks, "What are you doing here?"
I say, carefully, "I won't bite. I spent my school time studying math and computers. I did well and I got drafted as a Second Lieutenant, a military officer. As a military officer, I rate a private compartment. However, I needed a companion to actually get a private compartment. I got you, by random chance. However, I see that you have a gold top ticket, just as I have a gold top ticket. Obviously, we gold top ticket people deserve a private compartment. Now, if you will put the little gun away, we can get ourselves introduced."
The girl looks hard at me and says, "They said that you killed a man."
I lecture, "A boy attacked me, for no reason, and I defended myself. Unless you intend to attack me, you don't need the gun. I won't bite. My name is Jim Alt."
The girl ventures, "My name is Marlene. You arrived in a juvenile prison van."
I lecture, "A boy attacked me, for no reason and I defended myself. The boy died. They then put me in juvenile prison, after a sort of non trial, I have a lawyer getting me money damages from the non trial. Now, unless you intend to attack me, Marlene, you don't need the gun. I won't bite."
Marlene says, "This us my first time away from home. It's a bit stressful."
I say, "They don't draft ladies into the military, thus you must have enlisted."
Marlene says, "I studied quality assurance, in school. My mother couldn't support me anymore and I had to find a job, This trip to a military base is a trip to my job."
I say, "Marlene, you opted to learn something useful, as I did. The public schools don't like that."
Marlene says, "I did have to struggle to get my quality assurance classes."
I ask, "Marlene, could you get a good job with high school English, high school foreign language,
memorizing dates from high school history, that sort of thing?"
Marlene says, "They told me that I would go to college, after high school. No, they didn't tell me how I could get the money to go to college." (Marlene quietly puts the little gun away.)
I lecture, "Marlene, it seems that it always comes down to money."
Marlene thinks for a moment and then asks, "You have a good job now and money. What happens when the job ends and the money goes away?"
I lecture, "Marlene, I work at the military base and I continue to learn. When the job ends and the money goes away, I have learned enough to get another good job with good money, maybe better money. I know where I'm going,"
* * *
Marlene thinks, (I have...