Out gets this man who takes a mere couple of steps away from the pumps and a final drag on his cigarette. He throws it to the ground and steps on it. During those brief seconds, I recall what I was taught back in the days when everybody smoked (including me):
"DO NOT HAVE A LIT CIGARETTE IN A GAS STATION. DO NOT THROW IT ON THE GROUND. YOU WILL EXPLODE."
I think to myself, "What an asshole!"
Then he moves directly on the opposite side of the pump from me to begin his transaction. I could only see the top of his head.....his aged eyes and the cap he was wearing. It wasn't a baseball cap but a little similar and it was a shade of brown. Embroidered across the top it read "Vietnam Veteran," one word under the other and it had some bars, three of them, between the two words; medals he had earned.
I finish pumping my 3.169/gallon obnoxious supreme.
Later on this evening I was ironing and watching one of the two TV shows I try to catch weekly. Every Sunday night I iron and watch this show. Near the end of it they've got a preview of the upcoming nightly news and I see this piece on veterans.
Then it hit me.
Today was Veterans' Day.
Tears welled up in my eyes. I should have thanked that man I had seen in the gas station.
I'm the asshole.
bh
He fought for you, he fought for me
Across the land and on the sea
But now he's just a memory.
-n young
where my parents reside: http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/longisland.asp
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