“The Mouse” by Rolf Yngve (fiction, ’12)

Rolf Yngve’s (fiction, 2012) story “The Mouse” was included in the 2017 issue of War, Literature and the Arts. “The Mouse” is one of a series, The Ehrlich Stories, one of which, “A Prerogative” appeared in Kenyon Review issue May/April 2015.

The Mouse

The executive officer … shall be primarily responsible to the commanding officer for the organization, performance of duty, training, maintenance, and good order and discipline of the entire command…

Standard Organization and
Regulations of the U.S. Navy

Zero Three Thirty—0330—has always been the normal hour to relieve the morning watch, the watch associated with the rise of spirits brought on by the smell of night-baking newly out of a ship’s ovens and the dawn over the sea. Of course, in the Pentagon, there is no night-baking. Nor is there really a dawn, only the maze of corridors and offices, empty and the same, where at 0330 one Saturday morning, Commander James Ehrlich found himself stabbing his key code onto the tiny buttons of an electronic lock. … continue reading here.