IN SHOCK
587
Witty informed the barracks that anyone who couldn't get laid in
Charleston didn't have man's equipment. The procedure was to go
to a hotel where the bellhops pimped.
So I went to Charleston on a weekend pass. I visited the Citadel.
I went to the Battery and looked out on Fort Sumter. I walked
through streets garlanded with filigree ironwork. I took a room in
a hotel and asked the bellhop for a woman.
"Ten bucks," he said.
"That's too much." He was my age, a shrimp who lacked a chin
and was obviously shrewd enough to avoid the draft. He studied me
as if he could read my competence. I didn't want to allow him any
advantage.
He asked how much I was willing to pay. I told him five dollars.
"I'll see what I can do."
I lay down to kill time and it was more than time that was
killed. I could feel the freeze coming over me, the loss of feeling in
my skin, in my limbs, numb in the head, all my senses ducking down
to my belly and cowering there. I lay in my shorts and saw myself
shrivel up. I felt nothing when I touched. I stayed awake all night
but no one came. Next morning I left for camp.
The insult was unavenged and that made me fair game for any–
one in the bullying line. There was a chunky ambulance driver named
Kish. Going over the obstacle course we climbed a wall and he gave
me the hip. Then crawling through a concrete tube he butted me
with his Neanderthal head.
"What gives?" I asked.
"Move, creep."
There was a tug of war. Kish was on the opposite team. Our
anchor man fell and the other boys gave way and we slipped toward
the ditch. Then I dug in. I held against their whole team. I held
against Kish and three others. They couldn't haul me over. When
the rest of my team recovered we pulled Kish and his boys into
the ditch.
That night after lights were out I went to Kish's bed and sat
down. I said, "Take hold."
"What do you mean?"
"Get any grip you want."
He grabbed me from behind. I braced and heaved and threw
