"Good!" Dawson chuckled, and bit off another hunk of chocolate. "Worrying about me will keep you out of trouble, and that will be fine. But, seriously, what's on your mind, my good fellow? You do have a mind, don't you?"
"I have a mind to toss you overboard, and not even mention it to the others!" Freddy came right back. "But seriously speaking, too, I really am worried about you. You've lost your pep and you're going stale. And—"
"Hey, what gives?" Dawson cried, and sat up straight. "Just stick a Jap Zero out there, sweetheart, and I'll show you who's going stale. Where do you get that stuff, anyway?"
"Oh, I don't mean that," Freddy said with a faint gesture. "I imagine you could shoot down a Zero—if the pilot would keep it still long enough. No, I mean about your pep, your—well, your disinterest, Dave. Once you used to be all keyed up about what was going to happen next. But now...? Well, you just seem to slide along from day to day. Sort of take things as they come."
"So?" Dawson mumbled, and munched on his chocolate.
"See what I mean?" Freddy cried angrily. "No interest at all in what's going to happen next. Take this flight we're making right now. A couple of weeks ago we were pulled out of China to India. And now we're on our way to Australia. And, from there to where, or what? You haven't said a word about that. Yet once you used to comb your brain for the answers. Nowadays, though, you don't appear to give such things so much as a thought. Are you getting war weary, Dave, or just naturally slipping."
Dawson didn't say anything for a while. He finished his chocolate and licked his fingers in frowning silence.
"Well, I'll tell you, pal," he finally spoke. "Maybe it's because I'm getting old. And so are you, only you won't admit it. Yet maybe that's not right, either. I think it's because I'm all washed up with guessing, and never guessing right. I mean about jobs for us to do. Think back over our war experiences, Freddy. Think back and just name one time when we got orders to report some place that we knew why, and what it was all about. Go ahead. Think hard, and try and come up with one example. Just try, brother; just try!"
Freddy Farmer concentrated hard for a moment or two, and then finally shook his head.
"No, I'm afraid I can't think of a single time," he said. "But—"