“How you doin today sir?”

“I’m alright.”

“You’re looking sharp. Would you mind if I take your picture?”

“No questions asked?”

“No questions asked unless you want me to ask questions. You got any stories for me?”

“You don’t want to hear em. You wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I told you.”

“Well, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to but I do want to hear whatever you have to say.”

“Well bring on that motherfucker. Excuse my language but I was in Vietnam three times.”

“I bet that was heavy.”

“Like I said, you wouldn’t sleep at night.”

“I can’t even imagine-”

“Naw, you wouldn’t want to…you wouldn’t want to. I thought I wasn’t gonna come back on three or four occasions.”

“But you made it back though.”

“Part of me did. There’s a lot more of me over there than I am here.”

“I guess they never tell you that part of it when you sign up.”

“Shit. They didn’t know, them assholes was sitting behind a desk in Washington. Still is.”

“That’s the Truth.”

“Fact. They don’t wanna hear it. Them motherfuckers was in Canada. Or some Ivy League school back east. ‘Hey, when did you go?’ ‘Oh, I got a deferment.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Now you wanna come back and run the motherfucker in the ground some more?’ ‘You seem kinda bitter.’ ‘Motherfucker get off your ass and go see.’ That’s what I’m talking about. ‘Well, ain’t nothin we can do for you.’ ‘You damn right, you don’t wanna do nothin for me.’”

“I hear you.”

“You wish you could. Thank you.”

“Thank you. I’m Garry.”

“Raphael.”