The Kings Of Cool

164

Chon stands in the doorway, leaning on a cane.

O does her happy dance and then throws her arms around him.

“Chon’s home,” she chants. “Chonny’s home, Chonny’s home, yay, yay, yay, Chonny’s home!”

“Easy,” he says, just maintaining balance on the cane.

“What are you doing here?” Ben asks.

“I’m a civilian now,” Chon says. He walks O back over to the couch and sets her down. “Honorably discharged. Physically unfit for duty.”

“Morally unfit,” Ben says. “Ethically unfit, psychologically unfit, but physically unfit, no.”

“What I told them, but…”

Ben peels O off him and hugs him.

“Welcome home, bro.”

“Good to be back.”

“What do you need?”

“Cold beer,” Chon answers. “Hot shower. In-N-Out.”

O trots to the fridge and gets him a Dos Equis.

“I’ll take it into the shower,” Chon says. “I’m going to be in there awhile.”

Chon lets the hot water pound him and the cold beer slide down his throat and can’t decide which is better.

Then he remembers he doesn’t have to choose.

Doesn’t have to watch his back.

Doesn’t have to listen for the sound of an IED going off or the whistling of a mortar round coming in.

Doesn’t have to wash a buddy’s blood off his hands.

Doesn’t have to kill anyone tonight.

Tonight he can close his eyes.

There’s no war here.