Compton rains on a foxhole containing George Luz, Skip Muck, and Alex Penkala. "I'm serious!" he tells them. "Sure thing, boss. Nothing stupid. We got it," Skip and Penkala say. Compton demands the same assertion from tired, unenergized Luz, and finally gets it. Compton leaves, satisfied that he could make a run at the Grim Reaper's racket once this dang ol' war ends. "Don't do anything stupid? Who the hell is he talking to? A bunch of morons who volunteered to jump out of a perfectly good airplane," Penkala giggles. "Can it get more stupid than that?" Luz moans, "Probably not." Skip gulps and admits he swam across Niagara once on a bet. "What, in a barrel?" Luz asks, curious and dubious at once. "No, I didn't go over the Falls, I swam the river ten miles up," insists Skip. "That current is damn strong. Must've carried me two miles downstream before I got across." He laughs that he didn't find it stupid, but his mother and sister thought otherwise and blasted him for doing it; so did his girlfriend Faye. "Well, they had a point," grumbles Penkala. "You're an idiot."