alaric
01-13-2011, 11:17 AM
I'm standing at the edge of a field with an old man. Across from us are his son and granson. The old man and I turn to the west and walk a short way. The old man stops and hands me a hat, "For my grandson, when he is old enough to understand", he walks away. He's going to fight in a civil war, and not expected to return.
Now I'm on the land-side of a dock, with the old man's grandson, who is now around 18. I hand him the hat, which has a slit in the brim. He takes the hat, folds the edges of the slits back and pins them to the body of the hat, forming a narrow "V". All the boys were wearing their hats this way now; it was how the patriots had worn them. I walk alongside the warehouse to the part of the dock open to the sea thinking how can I go on, when I have lost so much ?
Now I'm on the land-side of a dock, with the old man's grandson, who is now around 18. I hand him the hat, which has a slit in the brim. He takes the hat, folds the edges of the slits back and pins them to the body of the hat, forming a narrow "V". All the boys were wearing their hats this way now; it was how the patriots had worn them. I walk alongside the warehouse to the part of the dock open to the sea thinking how can I go on, when I have lost so much ?