MA09 Myth Inc in Action Read Online Free PDF Page B

idea for you boys to lighten up a little? (squeeze)” I sez softly so’s we are the only ones who can hear. “There are two things you should be considerin’ here. First, dis collection of individuals we is goin’ through trainin’ with constitutes a group, and within a group it is always better to be nice than nasty. With nice, you got friends who will cover your back in a fight... with nasty, youse gotta watch your back from them. You got that? (tighten)”
    “Right, Guido!”
    “OW! Sure, Guido!”
    “Good. Now second, I want youse to keep in mind that if you does not abandon your querulous habits, and those habits slow or otherwise interfere with this group completin’ its trainin’ in the shortest possible time...” I sneak a glance at the corporal, then lower my voice while takin’ great pains to keep a smile on my face, “...then I will personally rip off each of youse guy’s heads and spit down your neck! (tighter) You got that?”
    “Gaah! Yeah! Got it!”
    “Anything you... Owww... say, Guido!”
    “Oh yeah. Just one more thing. I don’t talk funny (grind). Agreed?”
    “Aaaahhhh...”
    “God…”
    I notice the corporal is comin, our way, thereby signalin’ an end to our playtime.
    “I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” I sez, and releases my grip all at once.
    I have neglected to mention durin’ my previous instructional oration that if youse relaxes the aforementioned grip suddenly and completely, the resultin’ rush of blood to the area which has been assaulted by said grip causes additional discomfort to a point where some subjects have been known to faint dead away. The advantage of this is obvious, in that you are not actually even touching them at the moment the effect takes hold.
    The Flie brothers are in exceptionally good shape, as I have noted before, so they merely stagger a bit. It is clear to them, however, as it is to me, that for a while they will have extreme difficulty movin’ their arms with any degree of speed or strength... like say, in a fight. This, of course, has the originally desired effect of mellowin’ their previously bullyin’, swaggerin’ behavior noticeably.
    “What’s going on here?” the corporal demands, burstin’ in on our little group.
    I blinks innocent-like and give him a helpless shrug like he was a DA during cross-examination.
    “We was just discussin’ the logical-type benefits of social over antisocial behavior in a group situational.”
    “Oh yeah? Is that right, you two?”
    The Flies try to match my shrug, but wince halfway through the gesture and have to resort to nods.
    The corporal glares at us suspiciously for a few, then turns to the rest of the group.
    “All right, everybody form up in two lines!” he hollers in a poor imitation of the sergeant. “It’s time we move out for the classrooms!”
    “Did our agitators respond properly to applied logic?” Nunzio murmurs, easin’ up beside me.
    “Sure did,” I nod. “What’s more, I think they got it in one lesson. I don’t know why you keep sayin’ that youth today is slow learners.”
    He rolls his eyes at this and fakes a mock swing at me. “Maybe we should start calling you ‘Fly Swatter,’” he grins.
    Some of the other recruits laugh at this, which makes me a tad nervous, as I know from the Mob just how easy it is to get saddled with a screwball nickname after some dumb incident or other. The corporal saved me the trouble of havin’ to change the subject, however, as he chose that moment to start hollerin’ and wavin’ for us to get together for the next round of trainin’.
    “Come on,” I sez, bouncin’ a punch off his arm that was notably harder than the one he had taken at me. “We gotta go learn how to be effective fighters.”

UNFORTUNATELY, THE “FLY Swatter” moniker Nunzio hung on me stuck... or at least the “Swatter” part did. What was even more discomfortin’ was the fact that I got tagged by the sergeant to be Actin’ Squad Leader for