"Well... yeah. Hasn't everybody?"

"What for?"

"Which time?"

"How many times have you been arrested?"

"Oh, three... maybe four dozen times... but no convictions."

The joker has his eyebrows up now.

"You've been arrested nearly fifty times with no convictions?"

"No witnesses," I say, showin' him my teeth.

"I see," the guy sez, lookin' a little nervous, which is one of the customary side effects of my smiles. "Well... lets try it this way ... are you currently wanted by the authorities?"

"No."

"Good... good," he nods, fillin' in that blank on the form in front of him.

"Okay... one final question. Do you know of any reason why you should not be allowed to enlist in the army of Possiltum?"

In the actualities of the situational, I knew of several reasons not to enlist... startin' with the fact that I didn't want to and endin' with the godawful wardrobe that I would be forced to wear as a soldier-type.

"Naw."

"Very well." he sez, pushin' the form across the table at me. "Just sign or make your mark here, please."

"Is that all?" I ask, scribbling' my name in the indicated spot.

"Is that all, sergeant," the joker smiles, pickin' up the paper and blowin' on the signature.

Another reason for not joinin' the army occurs to me.

"Is that all, sergeant?" I sez, bein' careful not to let my annoyance show.

"No. Go to the next tent now and you'll be issued a uniform. Then report back here and you'll be assigned to a group for your training."

'Training?"

This is indeed somethin' what had never occurred to me or Nunzio, and could put a serious crimp in our projected timetable. I mean, how much trainin' does it take to kill people?

"That's right... training," the sergeant sez with a tight-lipped smile.