Tom had approached Tina, at that point, who was about to stand to leave the cafeteria.  “Don’t mind her,” he said gently, “She’s always belly-aching about something, and usually about guests that she’s been assigned.  I really don’t know why she complains, since that’s her primary role here.”

Tina had shaken her head, motioning to Tom it was not big deal, “I’m not bothered by it.  I’ve got real things to worry about, with Bette being out there, instead of getting upset about what Cheryl says or does or thinks.”

Tom didn’t respond, but also shook his ruefully.  Tina continued, “Think I’ll head to my room…just feeling tired right now.  It’s been well over a day since we left New York, you know, and neither Bette nor I slept much on the flight.  With luck, I may be able to grab some sleep.”

She’d given Tom a quick smile, before heading to take her tray to the tray collection area.  Her path to the tray collection had allowed her to stay away from where Cheryl and her group were sitting, thus Tina didn’t need to glance at all towards Cheryl as she walked.  After laughing initially at Cheryl’s complaints, the group had fallen silent when they’d seen Tina stand up from her table at the opposite end of the cafeteria, and walk towards the tray collection area.

One of the guys had whispered to the rest, “I don’t know what Cheryl could be complaining about, taking care of a hot blonde like that.  I wouldn’t mind taking care of her at all…,”as the others had chuckled.

Tina had shaken her head as she opened the door of the cafeteria, and then stepped out into the cool desert air.  She’d thought that it probably took different types of bonding rituals for co-workers to survive out here, including snarky comments about blondes, given the range of security concerns like bombing threats that people who were assigned here regularly faced.  She’d been mindful that, at the end of the day, she was a visitor here, while the others were living and working here for long periods of time.   A tough assignment, any way you looked at it.

Now, as she walked away from Tom and Cheryl, thinking about Bette, she smiled to herself that the brunette would likely have a great time teasing her about the guy’s comments to his mates.