I was hanging out on a military base today. In a military hospital. In the waiting room. Don't ask me why. I was reading Journey to the End of the Night.

Coicidence?

- - -

I overheard some guy wearing camouflage talking to his superior on the phone.

"No, not yet, were still waiting for a urinalysis."

"Yeah, he's off suicide watch right now."

"Well uh, he's just . . . he's in a bad place, you know what I mean."

"Well, he goes back to post, under observation . . . you know, just give him a call every day, check in."

- - -

Fox News was babbling on the waiting room television. The anchor was talking about how there's an unusually high number of tornadoes in Iowa so far this year. He seems pretty upset about it. The weather girl totally agreed with him. "There's an annual average of 1200 spotted, and this year we're already at 400."

This is April.

- - -

On military bases, the houses have the name and rank of the occupant displayed prominently on a piece of blue plastic.