The sun blazed from the cornflower blue sky and the wind played with the stray strand of hair on his face. Sean tucked the hair behind his ear and cursed the ribbon that held his ponytail as the letter hit the bottom of the letterbox with a dull thud. If only he could fit into that envelope he sighed and mused with a half-hearted smile.
He had joined the war with zeal as an enthusiastic youth who now longed to escape the bloody clenches of war after facing bitter realities and aging beyond his years. All he had seen were the gaping jaws of death, blood flowing like water and corpses of friends.
He had started fighting for his country against enemies, now he fought for himself against the black shadow of fatality. Grand victories meant nothing to him...only the passing days mattered when spring would take him home.
Day buttoned up its jacket and night spread its drape. Sean sat on a rock facing the western mountains and thought about how thrilled his Mary would be upon receiving his letter announcing his early arrival.
The pale moon shone down and the stars gazed sorrowfully as Sean buried his face in Mary’s handkerchief. Suddenly a gust of wind from the mountains blew it from his hand and Sean scrambled up in haste to retrieve it.
Just then a signal flare tore the deep sky and exploded into a thousand colors...another challenge was born! Its suddenness stunned him! The cease-fire was unexpectedly broken after three months and the tranquil and serene twilight was a cacophony of war.
Sean cursed his stars and ran blindly, his mind silently screamed in protest to the foul timings and fear was on his chest like a wounded lion. The earth vibrated beneath his army boots and his head pounded with the clamor produced by the mortars, whistling shells, grenades and thundering machine guns; the wind howled...
Reaching the trench he was benumbed by the grotesque sight of his childhood friend and war-companion who seemed mauled by a ferocious beast. Death grinned at him in the face. Sean’s wail of despair came out as an agonized shriek of rage; it was the last straw! He lugged at the loaded Stinger missile-launcher and hysterically searched for a target like a man crazed. The stunning force of rage, loathing for war and thirst for revenge possessed Sean like a demon! He stood exposed in the flashing lights, took aim and whispered, “fire”......the litany of death.
At the same fateful instant the embattled Hind war-ship steadied itself and the blast of its Gatling cannon swept around Sean like a tempest, blowing him off his feet. The Hind trembled and hovered still for a second before it fell back in screaming mortal agony, striking the ground in a flower of brilliant crimson conflagration.
Sean lay sprawling on the ground, ears buzzed with the supersonic shock of the cannon shells and eyes swam with hot desperate tears. He wept not due to the tearing pain but for his dreams that would be left hollow and become sweet lingering memories. He felt no pain, just the hot bitter tears that washed his smudged face.
Dazed he found himself not on the battlefield but in a meadow on a woman’s lap who cradled him securely and sang a lullaby. Then he saw his Mary as he had seen her for the first time in a scarlet gown with inky black hair flowing on her bare shoulders. The image grew misty and he saw her again in a white robe with wings, her hair loose and arms stretched. Smiling dreamily Sean reached out and locked his fingers with hers and his shivering soul left his body cold.
Far away, back in his hometown, his darling sat by the fire clutching his letter. The warm blaze cast a contented and happy orange glow on her face as a colorless drop trickled down her quivering cheek. She held his letter against her breast ...her love was coming home!
She laughed as tears rolled down her cheeks, emotions cornered her trembling frame and she echoed the call of Sean’s heart that he had so often teasingly quoted:
“Western wind, when will thou blow
The small rain down can rain,
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!”
A young man’s need for respect and his search for love enables him to be coerced into becoming an undercover cop. Follow this man to see how others see him and try to understand why the job he becomes obsessed with and his quest for love, tear him ap
