Eddie looked around. "But this is war."
"To you. But our eyes are different," the Captain said. "What you see
ain't what I see."
He lifted a hand and the smoldering landscape transformed. The
rubble melted, trees grew and spread, the ground turned from mud to
lush, green grass. The murky clouds pulled apart like curtains, revealing
a sapphire sky. A light, white mist fell in above the treetops, and a
peach-colored sun hung brilliantly above the horizon, reflected in the
sparkling oceans that now surrounded the island. It was pure,
unspoiled, untouched beauty.
Eddie looked up at his old commanding officer, whose face was clean
and whose uniform was suddenly pressed.
"This," the Captain said, raising his arms, "is what I see."
He stood for a moment, taking it in.
"By the way, I don't smoke anymore. That was all in your eyes, too."
He chuckled. "Why would I smoke in heaven?"
He began to walk off.
"Wait," Eddie yelled. "I gotta know something. My death. At the pier.
Did I save that girl? I felt her hands, but I can't remember—"
The Captain turned and Eddie swallowed his words, embarrassed to
even be asking, given the horrible way the Captain had died.
"I just want to know, that's all," he mumbled.
The Captain scratched behind his ear. He looked at Eddie
sympathetically. "I can't tell you, soldier."
Eddie dropped his head.
"But someone can."
He tossed the helmet and tags. "Yours."
Eddie looked down. Inside the helmet flap was a crumpled photo of a
woman that made his heart ache all over again. When he looked up, the
Captain was gone.