"Keep the shovels full of grass in a pile over there" "Yeah, we can reuse them later to prevent erosion." "Try to keep the roots intact" "Lets dig in single passes, one shovel deep in a straight line the length of the trench" "Good idea, that'll keep it straight and even" "Cadet Carter, try to rake the excess dirt into the surrounding area." "Keep it tidy Cadets!" "Keep your boots clean!" "Lets work side by side and quick but steady" "Yeah, we'll manage this like an assembly line" "Henry Ford's trench diggers" "Double time!"
Cadet Carter was still trying to come to grips with what had happened to his platoon mates. The two cadets that came back from the barber shop were completely different people. He missed the old Cadet Stone, and not just because he was so entertaining, he also took a lot of the focus off of Cadet Carter's own lack luster performance over the week. Next to the old Cadet Stone, he'd looked like a model Cadet even if he had fallen well short of Cadet Stevens and his eager to impress attitude. With both of them acting so over-the-top straight laced and peppy, he was going to stick out like a sore thumb!
Cadet Steven's had mentioned that he'd been to the barber before and that he'd been effected somehow. He said it made him want to please sir, who was Cadet Steven's father, but that didn't seem relevant...
"It doesn't matter if it's relevant or not" He thought do himself. "If I have any chance of getting out of here with my personality intact I'm going to have to lay out all the facts, important or not."
He had said it was after his hair cut that all of this started. He met the Sargent, and afterward all he wanted to do was please Sir. Cadet Stevens had also been the most compliant of the three Cadets all along. Every day he seemed to be a little more content to live out the roll of model Cadet... and now after a return visit to Sargent, his platoon mates had set a whole new standard of model Cadet. It had always stuck with Cadet Carter how eerie it was the way Cadet Stevens had described the Sargent. "A great Man"... Something about that made his skin crawl. Then there was the fact that Cadet Steven's hair never seemed to grow. It didn't really matter before, but his own hair was growing out. So was Cadet Stone's, or at least it had been. He was starting to think it never would again... Perhaps the Sargent's magic, or whatever it was, was more powerful, more permanent.
"Let's See some hustle Cadet Carter" "You're falling behind" "Spread that dirt" "We gotta get this done quick so we can take you in for your haircut!" "I think it would help to set some goals" "Yeah, our main goal is to get Cadet Carter to Sargent" "That means we need to have the trench fully dug by 17:00 hours" "Even later if we run!" "Of course we'll run!" "So we should have a goal of digging the entire trench deeper by four and a half inches every hour." "Don't forget we need to lay down the logs and carpet the trench with grass like we wanted to" "That could take almost an hour" "We can do it in 40 minutes" "That puts the goal closer to five inches per hour" "That'll be tough!" "Sounds like an Everest!" The boys shared a mutual giggle at the thought, whatever it meant.
Cadet Carter felt lightheaded. He could see his hopes of even making it to tomorrow start to dwindle. His platoon mates were like a burning fuse heralding his own demise. He had to slow this train down, but if he didn't put in enough effort he might get dragged to Sarge's parlor for insubordination. It wouldn't be for the first time today. I suppose it was possible... Without a commanding officer, perhaps majority rules, and they're the majority... His only chance was to appeal to their sense of work ethic and perfectionism.
"We should probably water the grass too, it'll need a good soaking for the roots to become reestablished" Cadet Carter suggested.
"Great Idea, but we shouldn't let it get in the way of our main goal" "Yeah, we can do that after your hair cut during construction clean up time" "Oh yeah, we can wait until then to lay the grass down too, it is extra credit work after all." "That will save us a good 20 minutes, maybe more!"
And fizz goes the fuse. "Maybe I didn't think that idea through enough." Cadet Carter moaned to himself. The Cadets won't be dissuaded from their goals. I just have to hope this project takes long enough and that I don't catch too much blame, and hopefully I can convince them not to go by using some bogus excuse when the time comes. "Maybe I can hurt myself, twist an ankle?" he considered but immediately summoned the mental image of the Cadets carrying him down the driveway draped between them "Who better to heal a sprained ankle than a magic barber?"... no again.