Books yells, "Lloyd?"
No answer.
"LLOYD!"
"What?"
"See anything?"
"It's all clear," Lloyd shouts down from the gun turret.
Cutter yells, "Don't go to sleep on us up there."
"Funny guy. You wanna try taking one for the team up here in this fucking oven? Hot enough to roast a Thanksgiving turkey."
"Keep throwing me those lines, Lloyd." Matt laughs.
Cutter helps Books remove the wheel. "Taking one for the team! Why don't you come down here and change one of these mothers—that's taking one for the team, right up the ass."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah—yabba dabba fucking do! How much longer are you mechanics, gonna be down there?" Lloyd asks.
"As long as it takes, so keep watching up there, turkey man," Cutter says.
The Americans strain as they lift the spare wheel onto the Humvee's front hub.
"Nearly done," Books grunts.
"Hurry up, guys, I'm fucking cooking up here," Lloyd complains.
Matt hands the lug wrench and a wheel nut to Books. He mutters under his breath, "Man, I'd like to tighten his nuts."
Silence.
"Son, are you sure you know what you're saying there?" Jim says.
"Er . . . no, rewind that!"
"Hey, Lloyd," Cutter shouts. "LLOYD?"
"For fuck's sake—what now?"
"Matt down here . . ." Cutter laughs hard.
"What about him?"
"Well, my man Matt here . . ."
"Yeah, what?"
"Would really like to tighten your nuts."
"What are you guys, like fourteen years old?" Lloyd asks.
"Come on, guys—play a different song," Matt says. He looks embarrassed. He fumbles and drops some of the wheel nuts.
"Get worried, Lloyd." Cutter laughs in hysterics. "Matt's nuts have just—dropped."
Books and Jim laugh too. Matt smiles and shakes his head. "Whatever."
Jedi shrugs at Sophia. "Sorry, locker room stuff."
Sophia smiles. "Don't worry, boys will be boys. I had three older brothers, so I grew up with that kind of talk—just about every day."
"Three older brothers, huh? How was that for you?"
"Liberating until I put my first dress on."
"How come?" Jedi asks.
"Because nothing got in the way of me being treated as an equal. I learned to fight, smoke, drink, swear, and play baseball with the best of them. Then I'm sixteen and Dressgate happened."
"Dressgate?"
"Yeah, when I put that first dress on, it dawned on them that I might actually be a girl."
"You mean, like, tomboy to their little princess?"
"I suppose."
"They treated you differently?"
