Originally Posted by HolidayInTheSun
Sofia's flight has just gotten in, and I've taken her from the airstrip to a cafe in the centre. We're seated next to the window and the skyline is dotted with mosques and churches side by side. It's a place that has seen its fair share of conflict, but it is deep inside the motherland, and these days, peace has befallen the area. The people here live in harmony. Couples wander down the lane, the air is slow and heavy with midsummer humidity.
Sofia raises a cupcake to her mouth; a gift from the cafe who are celebrating their fifth birthday. It's summer, peacetime, away from the front. I'm happy to have Sofia back. I start to wonder, do I love her? Or is it just lust?
The fifth anniversary of the cafe. Where was I on this day, five years ago? Where was she? "Funny to think," I tell her, "that five years ago, you were in your hometown, and I was, god, I can't even remember, and who could have ever predicted that we would meet, or that we'd be meeting here in this city, of all places, tonight?"
She smiles, satisfied, then asks, "Where were you, five years ago?"
2014. Summer. Yes, the South American campaign. Was I in Argentina? Colombia? July 5th...July 5th, would I have been on R&R?
A sinking feeling.
Suddenly, all at once, a parade of images. Shotskis. The American flag. A sloppy blowjob and a dingy basement, and an email from China. A tabloid headline. "Top American General DRUNK As Chinamen Surround Half His Forces." That foul, yellow stench of plastic Chinese lies.
Asianconnect. The hundred thousand dollar theft. July 5, 2014. And now I know exactly where I was, five years ago today.
Sofia is looking at me, now concerned.
I start to tell her. It was an historic day. She should know about it. "I was," I begin, "on R&R. It was American independence day." But I hesitate. Only a few weeks ago she had lectured me on stability. She didn't like to hear about the war. It frightened her and made her upset. Last year she got too close to the front and saw something I wish she wouldn't have. She wouldn't have liked me back then, in 2014. She could never have understood it. I decide, for now, she doesn't need to know about that gruesome day five years ago. I change the subject.
"How's your tea, darling?" I ask her. In the centre of the cafe, a projector is playing some American cartoon, dubbed over for the dozen or so guests seated in front of it.
Breakfast where the news is read
Television, children fed
"Such a beautiful place, isn't it darling? Would you like to ride the Ferris Wheel after this?"
It strikes the helmet's head!
"...from Chicago, did you know that? George Ferris, was the man's name..."
It's all over!
The war is over!
"...read it in a book, about the 1896 World's Fair. Devil in the White City, but you know..."
All over! All over baby!
And just then a rocket smashes straight into the tower of a light blue church across a hill, I watch it through the window, glass and concrete are everywhere, and I'm back in it. They said I was too old. Give him a desk job. He is too important for the front.
I'm scrounging through the bottom of my pack, searching for my walkie talkie. It's the offseason but even now, we've got the firepower to lay them to waste. I'll call in an air raid. **** the lot of them. Stan Lee still hasn't been brought to justice. "One day, someone's going to tap you on the shoulder," I wrote him, "and you will know that it is us." Five years to the day. Today is that day.
When I was here, I wanted to be there, when I was there all I could think of was getting back into the jungle.
I can't find my walkie talkie and heart is pounding and my finger's caught on something and it's bleeding and I need to get the call in, and Sofia is looking at me; she doesn't know what to do. I try to take a drink of tea but my hand is shaking so I put it back down and hope that Sofia didn't notice and although I know she doesn't like to hear about the war does she not see that we are under attack and that maybe a tactical strike is in order?
This life chose us. The war is over. All over baby. Today I want to kill every Chinaman I see. Asianconnect will pay for this. All over baby! Some day, someone's going to tap you on the shoulder and you will know that it is us. And that will be the end for you.
"Sorry, darling, I just can't seem to find my...chap stick. I don't know, I don't know what's...what the problem is. Just a bit of dryness. This wind today." I smile.