The soldier is happy today courtesy the Grand Trine which is lying on top is natal Grand Trine. He’s in Kansas getting fed donuts by the locals. He delivered half of a log cabin kit to a couple on a farm…

“Yeah, they had coffee and they had donuts. I took the coffee, it was butternut or something. You know. It was that fancy flavored coffee and I had some. I said no to the donuts but they kept telling me to have donuts so eventually I did. I had to, P.”

“Yeah, you’re polite like that.”

“Uh huh, they were all over me. He was helping me. He was helping me with the tarps and I was thinking, all right. I am back in America again. This is the heartland and then she was talking to me the whole time. Standing right next to me trying to get me to have some donuts and making me nervous. You know civilians make me nervous but anyway she was just following me around the truck as I unstrapped, going on and on. First I was this and then I was this and then I was a teacher. I taught home economics and then we got married…’

“They sound nice.”

“Yeah and I kept saying, no donuts, no donuts. Can’t you see my belly hanging over half of this flatbed? It’s because of my belly you needed two trucks for your cabin. If I didn’t have this belly you could have gotten by with one. ‘Course their bellies were bigger than mine so they probably thought I looked like a skeleton or something. Come on have some of these donuts. You’re too skinny. Your belly is not big. It’s not that big… eventually I just had to give in.

(snip)

“Now P, please. Please, please, please, I don’t know where they are going to send me yet so don’t ask me. Don’t ask me if we can get together this weekend because I don’t know.”

“Oh for Godsakes! Quit acting like I am all skittish or something.”

He roared laughing.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, I’m going in this store now, P and the people are going to look at the dents in my head and ask me what happened. Oh that? That’s where P hit me with a frying pan. Yep, those are frying pan indentures from my girlfriend, P, but she’s not skittish or anything. And she loves me! See this mark here? That’s from when she threw the ring at me years ago, I’ve loved her for years, that P. P who I love who has never been skittish not once, not ever in her life.”