On Veterans

The raindrops bounce off of the bill of my hat and the slight breeze brings with it a slight chill. The clock has been punched, the ticket writing machine retired and there will be a dog to walk at home. The city of Portland Oregon is made up of old brick buildings from the Victorian era, mixed in between the climbing skyscrapers of various corporate eras. A gargoyle watches me cross the street and there is some sort of victory in my step. I read a letter from a Texas prisoner I served with in the Marine Corps, he had handwritten that he was where he belonged. I thought about his intensity in combat, he was just a little more violent than the rest of us and sometimes we all need a break. I remembered the smashing china and its startling crash on the concrete floor of some foreigner’s home.
The city was on fire, smoke signals rose from the burning tires set ablaze on a rooftop. I received a message from our old point man and noticed that he was cradling a new child on the profile picture of a social networking website. He wrote that he knew I saw the world in a different way. He lives in Mexico now and I remember what he had taught me about fighting and heart. After he was shot I picked his helmet up and found a card with a Spanish styled illustration of the Virgin Mary. I was an atheist, there was a full moon and I read the prayer on the back of the card in the moonlight and put the card inside my helmet for good luck. I read a message on a social networking site I frequent, it was from a friend. He wrote that he picks up cans during the day to pay for his drinking at night. I knew him in boot camp and he would call my father on Christmas to wish us well.
The raindrops cease when I unlock the community door to the apartment. There is a happy and anxious border collie, or springer spaniel terrier mix depending on who you ask, waiting for me. Tail wagging and clumsy tongue waiting to lick the hand that pets her. We will go for a walk, and I will return home to drink a beer and listen to the symphonic classical station on the internet.