Sincerely Adeline

Journal Entry #1: Men and Boys

Dear Journal,

It's about 1900 hours right now. I got the night off, but I'm still here in this office. I can't tell you how much I hate this office and hate doing paperwork. Then again, there are those who probably hate it more than I do. I guess I am here out of my own free will. I hope I'm not becoming a workaholic.

I just finished filing a few reports on some of the performances today. They're... getting better, or at least some of them are. Okay, so half of them are still in the hospital wing of the building because of the barbed wire. That wasn't my fault. I told them to actually put their whole bodies in the mud, not just the torso. And I'm sorry if they can't climb a rope if their hands are all muddy. If you're about to die then, oh well, you get shot in real combat. They just need to listen more... it's not my fault!

As I filed, I got a phone call from my mother out in Gotham. I still don't like Gotham. It was never a real nice place to live. She asked if I could attend a formal get together, but I couldn't and thank goodness for that. I never liked those things. My mother always made me wear the frilliest, biggest dresses when I was girl.

She never let me wear the nice, thin, slim, green one, oh no, never. Just pink and frilly. She wanted to raise me to be a proper lady. I will say this. She was able to force manners down my throat. But every time I'd come in with mud in my hair and wearing a dirty skirt, she'd freak and start screaming her head off.

"ADELINE KANE! Wait till your father hears about this. Go upstairs and change, no, wash off that dirt outside, but take your shoes off..."

I'd cower in fear every time, but then go off dancing in the running water. Dad would get home and I'd be sopping wet and ready to tell him that I played baseball with the guys in the diamond lot. He'd smile and once I was cleaned off, he'd teach me something that he learned while in World War II. Mostly, fighting tactics.

Mom never knew. Dad and I were close, but he was still distant. Since Mom would often go see her sisters, I'd be left behind while Dad read for the day. Going to this party, though, would have just made mexzc\ miserable. I think she wants me to get married and plans to play the fairy godmother or something... fairy mother. Whatever.

Yeah right. I hate dating. I hate the men that she's already paired me up with. I hate the men that I pair myself up with! But the worst are the ones who pair themselves up with me. They drive me nuts, the whole lot of them. Immature, reckless, unintelligent, disgusting, restless men. No, boys. They're all boys. The day I meet a man, shoot me. I mean, really shot me. Because right now, all I've met are boys.

I didn't mention this earlier, but after my mother called, I found out that Walsh was attempting to prank call me. Yes, Bill Walsh, the 'hot shot' who thinks he's all that and a gift to women. Please. He doesn't' even look that good. I picked up the phone and heard noise in the background, a bunch of snickering boys. Idiots. Who doesn't have Caller ID these days? And this building is a US military building! It just proves what incompetent idiots they all are.

I can't stand Walsh. If it was up to me, I'd have kicked him out the instant he walked into this Camp. He's lucky I'm only a captain. He reminds me of the high school jock that was always full of himself and thinking that he was king of the school. In this case, Walsh thinks he's king of the camp, when he fails to realize that the President of the United States runs this place.

I remember one conversation I had with him. It went something like this:

"Walsh, you were in shooting range again."

"So I was out in the open. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you'd be dead."

"But you could see me."