As Reggie reached for a cup of dried Shin ramen, he heard Matt’s response and grimaced. He then assumed that Matt already knew how horrible his comeback was, and decided not to respond. With a pitying shake of his low-hung head, Reggie placed the cup of ramen on the kitchen counter and walked over to the water-heater. It was annoying to wait for water to boil, but the taste of ramen was worth it. [i]Nonetheless, we should get better quality food soon…[/i] he mused, filling the small tank in the water heater with water.

The two had not gotten a call in eleven days, and were beginning to ration their supplies. Their agreement was to accept any job given to them by a certain number, but with no calls, there was nothing to do. Reggie occasionally practiced his surgical skills on the unfortunate rodents who wandered into his room, or his first aid on his greatly annoyed roommate. Beyond these things, all he could do is go to the shooting range and play cards. Reggie wasn’t a very sociable person, so wandering the streets was painful to Reggie just to envision. Chills shot down his spine with the thought, and a frown creeped across his face as he imagined another two weeks without activity.

As Matt passed by behind him, Reggie looked around in the cupboards for extra spices, eagerly awaiting the steady, “beeeeep” of the water heater as it completes its task. He found a few veggie packets and a bag of soy sauce, but the rest of their extra ramen supplies were gone. “Hey, Matt,” Reggie asked as the soldier shut the refrigerator door with his foot, “where did all the extra spice packets go? I swear there were at least five extras in here!” With his question posed, he turned around, ramen cup in hand, to barely see the foot of Matt as he turned the corner.

Reggie predicted that Matt would have no idea where the packets were, or what happened to them. Sure, Matt was the only other person around to have touched them, but only Reggie himself used the ramen-drawer at the top-left. Matt tended to stick to the silverware drawer and the refrigerator only. Still, Reggie wanted to use the question to start a conversation, as he wanted to express his distaste with waiting for a call.