out of his mind as he turned and went into the theater.

As Joseph drove away and headed for the bridge, in his mind he asked himself, should I stop at the estate or not? I’d better not. I don’t want to start anything this late. It’s best to wait until Kassie and Mary are gone. It’s best to just go back to the base. I have to be fresh and ready for the final exams.

The next week brought on the long awaited tests. What surprised Joseph and Ibrahim was the fact that for the most part the tests contained almost nothing of the material that they had studied and had reviewed over and over. The tests themselves were difficult. The fact that they had studied so hard and then found little, if any, of that stuff there, really pissed them off. In spite of it all Joseph thought he had done very well. His contact with the Arab community had paid off and he found himself doing fine. By Wednesday he had begun to relax. By Friday afternoon the marks were posted. At the top of the list was Private Joseph Benson. Ibrahim was third, and between them was a Christian of Lebanese extraction.

Ibrahim jokingly said that the army was prejudiced against Muslims, but even he said that he had to admit that he had goofed up on one of the essay questions. However being third was not that bad. Only a few percentage points separated the three top students.

Graduation was set for Monday. As soon as Joseph saw the posted schedule he went into the company office to arrange for Fazzi and the family’s permission to attend. “No problem,” the company clerk said. “I will take care of it for you. Just fill out this security information form and I will see to it that a pass is waiting for them at the main gate. We are going to have a special bus to transport all of the guests to the school. So, are we are finally going to meet this girl of yours? Remember you were going to see if she had a sister for me.”

“I’m sorry but she does not have a sister. I’ll ask about a friend if you like.”

“Yes that would be nice. Make sure you introduce her to me,” Williams said.

“I can ask her myself. By the way let me offer you my congratulations on your passing out on top. The C.O. just asked me to have you paged. There is someone in with him and they both want to see you. Wait, I’ll inform them that you’re here.” He pressed the inter-com button and announced, “Private Benson is here, sir. Shall I send him in now?”

“Yes Williams, please do,” the Captain said. Joseph entered and saluted and said, “Private Benson reporting, as ordered, Sir!”

“At ease and have a seat, Benson,” the C.O. said, “you know Mr. Barnes?” Joseph nodded that he did. “First let me congratulate you on the excellent record you have amassed here at the school,” the C.O. said smiling. “Is it really true that you never knew any Arabic before you started the school?”

“Yes sir, that is the truth. Not one word.”

“Amazing! Look, Private Benson, I have to admit that lots of us, including myself, never thought that this would work. Yet here we are with our first graduating class. You really are a great group and