He took a drag on his cigarette.

"You want to know my story huh? Well it’ll take a while."

"We’ve got time"

"OK."

He picks up a sly grin.  He watches his companion place the pocket recorder on the table and press 'record.'

"Once upon a time there was a guy. He didn’t have much. See he just graduated high school…literally when he decided to join the Army. He joined for all the wrong reasons of course. He was tired of his life at home. He was tired of everything. This would be his ‘escape’ from the hell he’d been living. The woman he was in love with didn’t know he existed, even when he professed his love to her."

"Wow!"

"She told him ‘he didn’t know what love was’ and he’d have to ‘prove’ his love for her. So he did the only thing that he could do. The only thing he knew TO DO. He ran. Far. Very far indeed. He went from being a punk in New York City to a punk in the Army. I got stationed in Texas first."

"I?"

"Oops. His first duty assignment was in Texas. Better? Anyway, when he got there he realized how lost he was. He didn’t have anyone there at first, but that changed very quickly. See, that’s the cool thing about the Army. There are so many lonely people that you can’t help but make friends. He was content. He had a decent job, room and board; places to go -- you know…the usual. He wasn’t even thinking about anyone at that point. He had a map of his life that was perfect…"

He takes another drag on the cigarette. Pauses to look at the spiral of smoke in front of him.

"Then she came into his life. It was completely unintentional. His roommate spotted a babe across a parade field. Even from 30-40 feet away Martin (that’s the name of his roommate), was ‘hooked.’ The problem for Martin was that she was with another gal. You know the story, can’t go over there alone. He finally talked the guy into going with him, to ‘pick up the slack’ so to speak. I can’t remember what Martin specifically said, but he didn’t hook up with the other girl. However our hero….Say, shall we give him a name?"

"Sounds OK by me."

"Good. Lets call him Stuart. So where were we?"

"Martin didn’t get the girl he was after"

"Ah yes. Martin didn’t get anywhere, but Stu did.  He and…we’ll call her Mary…decided that they’d take off and let the other two work out their differences. That day they just walked and talked. Nothing you’d call ‘special’ by any stretch of the imagination. The stars didn’t fall, no "cosmic event’ happened. But they got along and decided to meet again the next day. And the next day and so on. People started to say they were an item, but they were quite content not to be."

continued...

Last Updated: Monday March 17, 2003
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