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Feeling slightly nervous about another episode of “she’s giving me that look again”, NutJob turns to CandiCrush instead.
“Why did you join the Garrison?” he asks.
“Horses,” says Commander Crush, “quite simply, horses! I was five years old when I first saw them, I learnt to ride when I was six, and I joined up when I was sixteen. I could have left school earlier and joined the ranks at fourteen, but I wanted to be an officer so I had to wait!”
“That meant waiting two more years?” asks KristalClear.
“Yes, I was less interested in being a marine, and more interested in horses. Riding horses, their welfare, and how things are organised,” she says, “and because I was doing well at school, I was encouraged to stay on right to the end, and then apply for officer training.”
“And BarmyWaffle?” asks NutJob, “why did he join the Garrison?”
“Barmy’s not a marine,” says CandiCrush, “he’s on the civilian staff, same as Kristal. He’s a scientist, the chief engineer.”
KristalClear has a part time job, working in the stables, whereas BarmyWaffle has been working in the Innovation Lab at the Garrison for many years. BarmyWaffle looks like a doctor, a doctor who’s about to tell somebody exactly what’s wrong with them. He’s one of the few people outside the medical field who has a Diplôme Supérieur which means that he must have done some further study after he left school.
A tall man, aged about sixty, BarmyWaffle even looks like a doctor! Habitually he wears a tie, though these days that’s a rarity. He has a slightly receding hairline with abundant dark wavy hair, streaked with ample traces of grey. Although at the back it’s a bit untidy and straggly. He says he keeps it that way deliberately so that nobody mistakes him for a marine.
His narrow, piercing, deep brown eyes are perched behind rimless glasses atop a bold, prominent nose. He invariably has a welcoming smile that makes people feel at ease, even if he is about to deliver an unwelcome diagnosis!
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