“Whatcha doin’ P?” the soldier asked. We were on the phone.

“Oh, I’m suffering through another episode of The Unit. This one is about SERE school,” I said. SERE is where they teach you to withstand torture. “I like watching it though. You told me about this and now I’m watching it.”

“Yeah, they put you in a tube in that school and leave you there for days. Days! You have to stand in this narrow tube, it barely accommodates your body and then they take a hose and fill it with water up to your mouth.”

“Oh my God.”

“Yeah. And you have to stand on your tippy toes too. With the water up to your mouth, standing on your tip toes in a tube all day, otherwise if you stand flat on your feet the water covers part of your face.”

“Claustrophobia.”

“Yeah.”

“So what were you thinking in there?” I asked.

“Oh well you know me, P. I’m thinking you can’t kill me. I’m not going to die over a little bit of water. There’s no way. And guess what they feed you while you’re in there? For weeks, this is. The give you the same thing over and over.’

“What?’

“Little bit of rice and some fish heads. Just the heads only,” he said.

“Yecch.”

“Yep. And you have to eat them because they’re protein. And the eyes are looking right at you when you do.”

“Gah. Yuck.”

“Breakfast of champions,” he said with a chuckle. “I cleaned my plate. I ain’t dyin’ over a fish head either. They can kiss my…”