Free The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages Page B

the edge of the fence, trailing her fingers through the lattice of thin wires, feeling the inaudible thrum, like a cheap toy guitar. She picked up some pebbles and tossed them into the Pond, visible again on their right, watching the ripples radiate out from each impact, the edges of the circles sparkling in the sunlight.
    A few minutes later, Betty stopped walking. “Now what?” she asked in a smug voice that sounded like she had also said “I told you so. ”
    They all stopped. The Gamma Building and its fence were on their left, and directly ahead of them was the six-foot chain-link fence that surrounded the Motor Pool. It stretched off to the right for more than a hundred feet, then turned a corner. A narrow strip of dirt separated the fence from the end of the Pond.
    â€œThis isn’t a shortcut, ” said Joyce. “Walking around the Motor Pool is even longer than taking the road. ” She glared at Suze.
    Suze faltered, then forced a big grin. “But we’re not going around. ” She unlooped her shoes from around her neck and sat down in the dirt to put them on. “We’re going through. ”
    The other three girls stared at her.
    â€œHoly Joe, we can’t go through there , ” said Barbara. “We’re not allowed. It’s off-limits. ”
    â€œIt’s not really restricted, ” said Suze. “There’s no gadget stuff. It’s just trucks. ” She put on her other sneaker.
    "But there are still guards, ” said Joyce. “MPs. With guns, ” she added, as if Suze had never seen one.
    â€œThey’re not going to shoot us. We’re kids. They only shoot Nazi spies, ” Suze said, trying to sound confident. At least that was what Tom had told her. “C’mon. ”
    Suze jumped up onto the chain-link fence, fitting the rubber tips of her sneakers into two diamond-shaped openings about a foot apart. She looked down at the other girls.
    â€œI’m walking around, ” said Barbara. Suze wasn’t surprised. Barbara was a year younger, and her father was Navy.
    â€œMe too, ” said Betty. “This is stupid. ” She looked at Joyce.
    â€œSome shortcut, ” Joyce said. She looked at Suze and shook her head. “Show-off, ” she muttered. She linked her arm through Betty’s, and they walked away.
    Suze felt her face grow hot. Stupid scaredy-cats , she thought. It was an adventure. Or had sounded like one when the boys talked about it. But she hadn’t counted on doing it alone. The rounded wires of the fence cut into her hands as she clung there a few feet off the ground. Maybe she should jump down? No. It was a shortcut. They’d have to admit that when she got to the PX first. She’d show them .
    Suze climbed the fence.
    The top wasn’t a rounded bar, like the fence at her school in Berkeley. She’d climbed that all the time. This one ended with sharp, stubby Xs of cut wire. She stood for a second with her right sneaker high up on the fence, secure in a foothold, then threw her left leg over. She felt the edge of her shorts catch, but no skin, and freed herself with a small ripping sound. Her left foot found a grip, and she was over. She climbed down quickly and jumped to the ground between two army-green buses.
    Suze felt like a commando, a member of the resistance, sneaking through enemy lines. She edged her way along to the front fender of the bus on her left and peered out. No one in sight. She sprinted across an opening, edged along another bus, then moved to her right, under cover of the bulk of a weapons carrier. She leaned up against its side, her heart racing. She could feel the heat of the metal through her shirt. She took a deep breath and tiptoed up to the front of the vehicle, then pulled back abruptly.
    An MP with a rifle was walking up the row, only three trucks away. Suze scurried under her truck and lay facedown in the dirt until she saw his black-booted