THE PHONE CALL
THE PHONE CALL

Hello Mother, yes I am coming home tomorrow
Yes, it’s true they gave me a medal or two
No I am no really any kind of a great hero
When you are scared, you just do what you have to do

I glad Mr. Miller held my Vice-President Job for me
No mom, I don’t want a big party at the club, it is alright
I just want to be there with you and dad just to talk
Yes, I want to see Becky, but I can do that the second night

Mother I have a favor to ask of you and it is a big one
I have a friend I met in the hospital, and he has no place to go
I want to bring him home to stay with us for a while
He was injured very bad in the war, I just wanted you to know

A mortar round landed next to him and blew up in his face
It took off leg, his arm is a stump, and his eye and his ear are gone
The whole side of his face is scared. What? yes it is a shame.
He gets around in his electric wheelchair, but he is withdrawn.

What? Yes mother I understand, you couldn’t stand the sight
Yes mother, I am sure when I explain that he will understand.
Your friends at the club, Yes, They are a bit funny about such things
You, dad and I couldn’t be seen with a person that was half of a man

They found him the next morning with a box on medals in his lap
And a note that read “Sorry Mom, I knew you could not stand the disgrace”
Beside him a forty five pistol one shot fired laid in a pool of blood
He sat in his electric wheel chair, with a bullet through his scared face.

---RJ