He grinned at me. "Shot you down, eh?"
I didn't answer.
He said, "What happened?"
"I thought it was an Ivar K-12, and I put that card in my calculator. Turned out it was one of those new models, K-12a. That was enough, of course."
Bill grinned at me again. "That's two this week. That flak got you near that bridge and now you get ..."
"Shut up," I told him.
He counted up on his fingers elaborately. "The way I figure it, you lose one more ship and you're an enemy ace."
He was irrepressible. "Damn it," I said, "will you cut it out! I've got enough to worry about without you working me over. This means I'll have to spend another half an hour in operations going over the fight. And that means I'll be late for dinner again. And you know Molly."
Bill sobered. "Gee," he said, "I'm sorry. War is hell, isn't it?"
