sitting back against the tree trunk. His face was covered with a coal
black substance. His eyes glowed red like tiny bulbs.
Eddie swallowed hard.
"Captain?" he whispered. "Is that you?"THEY HAD SERVED together in the army. The Captain was Eddie's
commanding officer. They fought in the Philippines and they parted in
the Philippines and Eddie had never seen him again. He had heard he'd
died in combat.
A wisp of cigarette smoke appeared.
"They explained the rules to you, soldier?"
Eddie looked down. He saw the earth far below, yet he knew he could
not fall.
"I'm dead," he said.
"You got that much right."
"And you're dead."
"Got that right, too."
"And you're... my second person?"
The Captain held up his cigarette. He smiled as if to say, "Can you
believe you get to smoke up here?" Then he took a long drag and blew
out a small white cloud.
"Betcha didn't expect me, huh?"EDDIE LEARNED MANY things during the war. He learned to ride
atop a tank. He learned to shave with cold water in his helmet. He
learned to be careful when shooting from a foxhole, lest he hit a tree and
wound himself with deflected shrapnel.
He learned to smoke. He learned to march. He learned to cross a rope
bridge while carrying, all at once, an overcoat, a radio, a carbine, a gas
mask, a tripod for a machine gun, a backpack, and several bandoliers on
his shoulder. He learned how to drink the worst coffee he'd ever tasted.
He learned a few words in a few foreign languages. He learned to spit
a great distance. He learned the nervous cheer of a soldier's first
survived combat, when the men slap each other and smile as if it's
over—We can go home now!—and he learned the sinking depression of