Page 29 of Hot Doggin'
“Because he’s not alone,” Brandt snickers.
Not alone?“What’s that supposed to mean? If we’re all here, who’s there?”
West starts to hum, grinning hugely, and then he sings the words, “All my exes live in Texas.”
Ahh, that explains it. Tex is keeping him company. No wonder he doesn’t want us there. “Fine, but make sure we check in with him before the day is over.”
Brandt nods. “We’ll drive by there after we wrap this up. Bring him takeout.”
Jax holds up an American flag made of popsicle sticks. “Rhett, go hand this to your man.”
“Why?” he asks.
“Because it’s covered in wet glue, but there’s so much glitter over it that you can’t see it. When he grabs it from you, his fingers will look just like ours, sticky and shiny.”
Rhett takes off with the glitter bomb as we crack up. “You know he’s gonna come after us, right?”
“Shit, he’ll have to catch me first,” Jax swears.
We idle our bikes through the gates of the Western Carolina State Veterans Cemetery and park along the side of the road lined with tiny American flags to celebrate Veterans Day. I hop off and make my way down the uniform rows of headstones, looking for my buddy’s name. Stiles stays behind on his bike.
I hate coming here. I hate remembering, not that I can forget when I’m elsewhere, but seeing his name etched in granite brings it all back with a vengeance.
When I find his headstone, I plop down on my ass and stretch my prosthetic out in front of me.
“Long time no see, buddy. Happy Vets Day. Well, not so happy for you, I guess.”
The cemetery is crowded today, which comes as no surprise. It’s distracting, though. I miss the peace I usually find here and the silence. The sound of the wind rustling through the trees. It's cathartic, reverent.
“I was at this barbecue earlier, and someone brought one of thoseJell-Ocakes. AJell-Omold? I don’t know. But it reminded me of you. Remember that Vets day we spent in the desert? We had aJell-Oeating contest, and you smoked everybody. You didn’t even get sick! I spent the whole day throwing up red slime.”
My gaze falls on Stiles. He’s leaning against his bike, watching me.
“So, I kissed my best friend. Well, my other best friend. You know what I mean. And guess what? I liked it.” A stupid grin breaks out and I don’t even try to fight it. “I already know what you’re gonna say, and no, I’m not gay. At least I don’t think I am. I don’t think about other dudes like that. And I never thought about you like that! I swear. It’s just… it’s just Stiles. Maybe I’m demi-gay.”
A woman walks by, holding her little girl’s hand. She has a tiny American flag clutched in her fist, and she stares at me, and then at my leg, and then looks back at me with a smile. I return it and wave at her.
“Life is good, man. I miss you, Danny. I miss the fuck out of you.” I suck a deep breath into my lungs and hold it there, waiting for the chokehold of emotion to pass, so I don’t lose it. Iwave at Stiles, and he starts to make his way toward me. “Buckle up, you’re about to meet him. And don’t say anything stupid! I can hear your thoughts loud and clear.”
Stiles plops down beside me. He searches my face, probably seeing that my eyes are a little wet.
“Who’s this?” He reads the name carved in stone.
Shit. I’ve never officially introduced him to Danny, but he knows who’s buried here. Or at least, he’s supposed to know. He’s just forgetting again.
“Back when I served, this was my best buddy, Danny Woods.”
Stiles nods. “He died in action?”
Damn. “Kind of. It’s a long story.”
He looks around. There’s still plenty of daylight left, and people are beginning to leave. “We’ve got nothing but time.”
I’ve told him this story countless times. Which sucks because it’s a hard one to tell. What's one more?
“This was back in Iraq, at FOB Al Assad in Baghdad.” Stiles nods, and it looks like he understands. Maybe he remembers something familiar about it that clicks with him.
“My unit had finished kicking down doors, looking for Intel on the location of our informant. He went missing, either dead, or they turned him back and he was feeding them our information. After an unsuccessful round of hide and seek, we were headed back to our ex-fil spot when a bus cut in front of us, splitting our unit in half. They just parked right in the middle of the intersection and stopped.”
