Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Stupid Shit Civilians Say [by Mark]

 

Stupid Shit Civilians Say [by Mark]

He’d been home a couple of months

Against his better judgment

He said yes he’d come

To his fraternity’s party


Before he left for Iraq

He never drank alcohol

Even with his fraternity brothers

But he wouldn’t drink at the gathering


He suspected he wouldn’t last long

Little things unnerved him

Like seeing so many people 

Casually fingering their cell phones


Hanging with three friends

They were talking about baseball

Which, when he was over  there, 

He’d daydream about being in the stadium back home


Now he had no interest whatsoever

To go downtown to a game

His peripheral vision indicated 

Someone was approaching


Turns out, a woman his age

Named Stephanie

“Hey, Stef,” Brandon said

“Meet Drew”


Both smiling, they shook hands

Brandon: “Drew just got back from Iraq”

Stef:  “How cute!”

Drew slowly looked across the room and pointed


“Hey, I’m going over to see Jordan”

He said politely

So he could get way

The fuck away from his fellow Americans


--my work-in-progress, Dear Love of Comrades

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