Forget the Dead You’ve Left
The world fell into the inferno. Therein it caught afire and burned down to ashes. Out of this timeless dust rose a new existence, entirely unlike the old one in many ways. Yet, for each of the old world’s evils that were lost in the fire, two new and more horrific demons were born. Eventually, the new existence became so marred by these sinful forces that the people started to die in droves. A wise leader beseeched higher forces for another rebirth of the land, but no reply was heard. All was silence except for the sound of guns in the distance, expelling bullets in a steady mimicry of the beating of the war drums. This is the story of the conflict men said would end all others.
“There’s some things I’ve got to say: stuff about the war . . .,” mumbles one man to another, his voice gradually gaining strength with each careful word. The pair sits in a darkened room. They are isolated from the bustle of the outside world by heavy drapes and closed doors. The shadowy figure resumes his speech, “I haven’t ever said most of this before, and I don’t know why that is. I just never felt like talking about the entire . . . well, you know . . . But now I want to tell someone about what happened back then. Marcy thinks that if we gab about all of the stuff that went down during the war, then all of this now will be easier for me. I don’t know if that’s true, but I probably owe it to Marcy to try.”
“Okay, Jack. I’m here to listen. Where do you want to start?” asks the other man, a pensive listener in the dark.
“How about joining up with the army? That’s about when everything started to go lopsided."
“Sure. . . When did you enlist?”
“April 5, 1915. It was a beautiful day. I remember cause before I went down to the recruiting station, I went to a picnic at the old park. Marcy was there. . . She told me not to join up; to wait until the army boys came to drag all of us in. I told her it would be easier this way. . . I can’t remember if I really believed that or was just trying to keep her from crying. In any event, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid service much longer.”
“Why?”
“Well, when I joined, the States wasn’t exactly fighting yet; we were trying mighty hard to keep out of the whole mess in Europe. Then, a few weeks after I got my uniform, that big ole ship got sunk and the country got dragged straight into the conflict. The president tried to keep us out, but he just couldn’t.”
“So, you saw combat pretty soon after enlisting?”
“Yeah. . . We got shipped out right soon after war broke out. . . I barely knew how to fire the damn rifle . . . That’s when . . . well, that’s when everything went to hell.”
* * * * *
“There’s some things I’ve got to say: stuff about the war . . .,” mumbles one man to another, his voice gradually gaining strength with each careful word. The pair sits in a darkened room. They are isolated from the bustle of the outside world by heavy drapes and closed doors. The shadowy figure resumes his speech, “I haven’t ever said most of this before, and I don’t know why that is. I just never felt like talking about the entire . . . well, you know . . . But now I want to tell someone about what happened back then. Marcy thinks that if we gab about all of the stuff that went down during the war, then all of this now will be easier for me. I don’t know if that’s true, but I probably owe it to Marcy to try.”
“Okay, Jack. I’m here to listen. Where do you want to start?” asks the other man, a pensive listener in the dark.
“How about joining up with the army? That’s about when everything started to go lopsided."
“Sure. . . When did you enlist?”
“April 5, 1915. It was a beautiful day. I remember cause before I went down to the recruiting station, I went to a picnic at the old park. Marcy was there. . . She told me not to join up; to wait until the army boys came to drag all of us in. I told her it would be easier this way. . . I can’t remember if I really believed that or was just trying to keep her from crying. In any event, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid service much longer.”
“Why?”
“Well, when I joined, the States wasn’t exactly fighting yet; we were trying mighty hard to keep out of the whole mess in Europe. Then, a few weeks after I got my uniform, that big ole ship got sunk and the country got dragged straight into the conflict. The president tried to keep us out, but he just couldn’t.”
“So, you saw combat pretty soon after enlisting?”
“Yeah. . . We got shipped out right soon after war broke out. . . I barely knew how to fire the damn rifle . . . That’s when . . . well, that’s when everything went to hell.”
(To Be Continued)
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