Keep Your Head Down #231739

T was still dark when he got to the draft board. Three other inductees were already there, standing self-consciously against the wall. He stood by a radiator until he got warm, then sat on the edge of a desk, across from a poster showing a group of laughing air cadets. He wished he had taken time for breakfast. The room gradually filled up.. He didn't know any of the men, although some of them knew others. Finally one of the members of the draft board arrived: a small, round, ba1d~ headed man, who came in smiling and rubbing his hands, and immediately knocked on a table for silence. The room quieted and the little man took out a piece of paper and began reading names. The men answered promptly; one of the names was not there and there was a pause as everyone looked around for the man, wondering who he was, what he had done, what had happened to him.