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For over an hour, she’d been out here alone Blue Moon had called to cancel their order, because the roads had become too slick Snow fell in thick white flakes beneath the yellow glare of the utility pole in her yard

Curling her legs to one side, she balanced her elbow on the arhed, thick and loud enough for hiuestroo to eat, but he had declined through the door God forbid he actually open it and talk to her

Although she couldn’t exactly bla to come out

There had been no excuse for what she’d done She’d never been a violent person in her life; never striking out at anyone with pure spite The only reason she’dJoaquin in the head was her last second hesitation The only reason she’d thrown the wallet was because what he had said pissed her off Instead of using her words, like she would have scolded her students for not doing, she resorted to throwing things

But there was so e, and he’d broken her heart once before

Rising to her feet, she moved to her bedroom and pulled out the stack of letters she’d left on her dresser Briefly, she conteers traced the thin yellow ribbon holding the letters in one tight bundle It could not have been true what he had written She ined the emotions in his letters, the heartbeats in his words and the love in every paragraph

Determined to prove him a liar, she pulled out the third letter from the bottom and rean to read

Dear Sage,

There are times ords cease to matter When words cease to be able to describe the horrors I’ve seen, the people I couldn’t help and the rage I had to keep in check

Today was one of those days

But if I don’t get it out, if I don’t tell soo out of ainst you; just the thought that you’ve got ives e, sweetheart, but I’ll keep walking the line for you

Ourwheat and water to the locals, and keeping our eyes and ears open for any insurgent talk I guess you could say we’d gotten a little cocky, a little too used to ordinary days of war (if ever such a thing existed)

Sanford wasto relieve hiuys were joining in and I was the only adult It reminded me of this trip I took to Miami withup being al to lose it and kick us all out of the van before we hit Las Pal, I ordered the convoy to stop and for everyone to get out So we’re all standing around, stretching our legs, but keeping an eye on things, when I see a local heading our way He’s walking all deterets this funny look in his eye, before he starts heading for the local

Everything inside ofat hiet back, but that hardheaded ass doesn’t listen The local starts running away fro I know, Sanford tackles the bastard and there’s a loud noise;I’ up sand The whole situation is FUBAR

Visibility is nonexistent, but I scra Sanford’s nas, only those things turn out to be hands and feet and, well, you get the picture

I found Sanford only a couple feet away, his , and so do I, because half his body isout The rest of our brothers join us, keeping watch and trying to get Sanford as comfortable as possible

What I airls?

Jesus Christ, I want to scream I want to rip the bastard that blew up my brother into pieces, but he’s dead And the worse part, the biggest fuck you of all, was his death was instantaneous while Sanford held on while aited for Medevac All I could do was grip Sanford’s hand and lie to hi to be okay

Tell e Write to me and tell me that what I feel for you is real--that what you feel forbetween the lines you’ve written

If I’, then feed me bullshit lines Maybe that will fill up the hallow parts of e

So she had, but she hadn’t fed hio, or what you have to do in this hateful war, I won’t stop You are a good man, an honorable one and I wish I could be with you

I’d hold you tight, so tight that you could feelthe line for me, but just know that I’ll catch you if you fall and help you get right back on

Since I can’t be with you, I’ve sent my emissary She’s soft and fluffy There are so fur, but it only o, there was a boy who loved a girl, and she loved hi bear you’d ever seen But to her, it was so ugly it was cute Anyway, that boy, despite his gruame and won that bear (A bear that they would later find out cost five dollars at Wal-Mart)

Unfortunately, the boy and girl couldn’t stay together forever--no irl wished they could have, so she took that ugly bear and slept with it every night, instead of the boy she loved

Now that ugly bear’s ready to give you sweet dreams, but only on one condition You have to deliver et back And you will come back Coer

All e

There was only one person she would have sent that ugly bear to and that was Joaquin, only she’d been too much of a coward to admit it He’d all but shouted who he was in his last letterIn every letter

She owed hiy

The house was quiet, only the huh the vents made any noise If the auxiliary heat ca fireplace