After she and her Uncle Jorge ate a meal of plantains and pinto beans, Penny walked to the bus stop on Fortieth Street and Hollis and grabbed the bus to Berkeley. During the ride, she thought about what Jorge had said about her need to fix people; she didn’t really see herself like that. Although she had tried to help Sam overcome his shyness and lack of ability in bed, she did not see him as broken and needing “fixing.” People were the way they were created, with their own set of desires and problems; she knew that she could not change that. She merely saw herself as someone who could help people overcome their limitations. Of course, it didn’t always work; nothing ever did, but when it did, the personal rewards for her left her insatiate for more.
When the bus arrived at Shattuck Avenue, she got out and walked to the pizza place at University. Tim was not there yet; she was a little early. There was a musician on the sidewalk playing an acoustic guitar; the songs were classic folk ballads like “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” He was pretty good; he had a rich, deep voice, and played quite adequately. He could have used a shower, though.
“He’s pretty good, isn’t he,” a voice said behind her. She turned and saw that Tim had come up behind her. He was dressed in a nice blue button-down shirt and jeans. His hair was carefully combed and it looked like he had put some hair gel in it. His smile was attractive; his body language welcoming.
“Yes, he is,” she said and put a couple of dollars in the musician's guitar case. “I didn’t see you come up.”
“I’m sneakier than your average date,” he said. “Let’s go inside.”
They took a booth in the corner. There were blue and red menus with cute angel things drawn in the margins. On the table, there was a scale, for what, Penny couldn’t imagine. Did they weigh the pizza when they brought it? The smell of freshly cooked bread pervaded the air; it made Penny salivate. When the server came, they ordered a large pie with sodas.
“So,” Penny said, “What’s it like to be a librarian?”
Tim smiled and sat back with his legs up in the booth and his back against the wall. “It’s a living. Mostly I shelve books and help patrons with the computers. That’s what I did in the Marines, computers and automated weapon systems.”
“What unit were you with?” Penny asked.
“The 273rd Robotics and Automated Systems Division. We were called the RAS division for short.”
Penny had heard of these guys when she was in the Army. They were largely responsible for winning the war in Iran, although they were controversial. Many people thought those killer robots should never have been authorized by Congress. Penny knew that the demands of the war had necessitated their deployment, and they had been responsible for considerable death among civilians. She wondered if this had any effect on Tim.
“I’m impressed,” she said. “That was some pretty technical stuff.”
“What did you do in the Army?”
Penny took a deep breath. She was a little nervous; this man was incredibly handsome and just her type. She felt attracted to him at a guttural level, something she had never felt with Sam or any other man for that matter. “I was a battlefield medic,” she said. I saw action in the last part of the war.”
“The drive on Tehran?”
“Yes.” Penny felt quiet suddenly, remembering those days. The fighting had been especially heavy in the last weeks of the war before the armistice. She had seen enough blood and torn bodies in those weeks to last her the rest of her life.
“That kind of service can leave a scar on you for life. I should know; I have a problem thinking about my service in the war.”
Penny leaned forward and folded her hands on the table. The look on his face piqued her interest. “What kind of problem do you have?”
At this point, the server brought the pizza and placed it on the scale on the table. Penny thought this amusing; she laughed a little and smiled at Tim. The pizza weighed exactly 1.84 pounds on the digital readout. The server returned to the kitchen; Penny said, “I’m glad we know exactly what our pizza weighs.”
Tim smiled. “Pretty funny, huh? It’s their gimmick. If you get the deep-dish, it sometimes weighs three pounds.”
“So you were saying?”
“Yeah, well I’ve had a lot of therapy after coming home about the war. I blank out sometimes when I think about the war, so I’m trying to work on that.”
Penny could sympathize with that. Her own experiences weren’t pleasant to recall. “What about the war particularly bothers you.”
Tim paused his chewing; he started again and swallowed. “I don’t like to talk about it.”
Penny wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Sometimes, it’s best to talk about these things. That is something I learned by working with wounded soldiers.”
“I don’t think so,” he said and became quiet and withdrawn. They ate the rest of their meal in silence.
Penny was a little taken aback by his behavior. There was an attractive man who had a big problem, something that really appealed to her. She remembered her Uncle’s advice and decided not to push it tonight. There would be time to talk about this if he wanted. She wondered if her attraction to Tim was because of her innate sense that he was damaged and needed fixing. She shoved this thought down and made small talk with him.
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