“Sure.

But permit review takes ten business days.” He clicked his pen and headed for the curb.

“You won’t be back in this house before the end of the month, ma’am.”

I stood on the lawn holding the yellow paper.

Across the street, a woman in a bathrobe stood at her window and let the curtain drop.

—

The Norfolk base administrative office, the wall clock reading 13:30, and Commander Ellis had my file open with a photo of the code citation clipped inside the cover.

“I’ve looked at this from every angle, Major, and I can’t find a way around it.”