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Show I missed - or r a t h e r , I h i t , dead c e n t e r . The way these rounds work they tear a t i n y hole when they go i n , but they take half the organs with them when they l e a v e ." I looked down where he l a y on the pillow. He was looking deeply into my eyes, t r y i n g to see past the shadows, waiting for my response. What would I say? You animal! A c h i l d ! How could you? On You had to do i t . Your l i f e , the l i v e s of f o r t y others, depended on you. •->./«&>„,x. a^cu.iti J %^J. ax ;-.•_ -v.^rX Z,u_ .< .>v,-i.' ,, t "Did you shout for him to stop?" - Brian nodded. "Did he have a grenade?" •§ ,„ I J - , . / , / , « •,,**'•' . . -/>• "Yeh, but the pin wasn't p u l l e d . He might have been coming to show i t to us, to t r a d e i t for candy, anything. He might have been just a k i d , any kid - your l i t t l e brother, or one of his friends playing a war-game l i k e kids do." Tears streamed down his cheeks now, and he covered h i s face with his hands. "I didn't know what to do." I could feel something happening as he spoke, a softening of the shield that had been a l l around him when we f i r s t came together, °nce the door was closed and the s u i t c a s e s thrown on a shelf. I sensed that t h i s was h i s armor, h i s way of surviving, just as I bad hardened to survive the months without him. And suddenly I was afraid for him, a f r a i d t h a t by encouraging him to t a l k , to feel humanly again, I had betrayed h i s capacity to survive the. war. men I spoke i t was m c a r e f u l l y measured tones. "You did right. You have to f i g h t to l i v e , any way you can. I want you t° come home to me. I need my husband. Our daughter needs her / father." Then my s t r e n g t h dissolved in t e a r s . "But i t i s n 't tight: we know i t ian'-t-righ<! K i l l i n g l i t t l e children! It can't /- |