9

I have been training Gene a lot for the Olympics. We train basically everyday. Gene told me he feels peace and tranquility when we train, even though it is almost impossible to feel that way during war. Leper told all of the guys that he is enlisting to the ski army in January. This just makes the war seem even more unreal to me.
I had the brilliant idea to have a winter carnival. The boys arrange a little ski jump, snow statues, and prizes, and Chet Douglass provides music on his trumpet. It was a fool proof plan. As the carnival began I got up on the prize table and began to dance and I announced that Gene would be showing everyone the various feats of the decathlon. During all of the fun of the Carnival, Brownie came to us with a telegram from Leper saying that if Gene does not come to his "Christmas Location" that his life will be in danger. "If Leper was psycho . . . the army . . . had done it to him, and . . . all of us were on the brink of the army."