He’d been home a couple of months
Against his better judgment
He said yes he’d come
To his fraternity’s party
Before he left for Iraq
He never drank alcohol
Even with his fraternity brothers
And at the gathering he wouldn’t drink
He suspected he wouldn’t last long
Little things unnerved him
Like seeing so many people
Casually fingering their cell phones
He was hanging with three friends
Talking about baseball
When he was over there
He’d daydream about being in the stadium back home
Now he had no interest whatsoever
To go downtown to a game
His peripheral vision indicated
Someone was approaching
Turns out, a woman his age
Named Stephanie
“Hey, Stef,” Brandon said
“Meet Drew”
Both smiling, they shook hands
Brandon: “Drew just got back from Iraq”
Stef: “Oh really? How cute!”
Drew looked across the room and pointed
“Hey, I’m going over to see Jordan”
He said politely
So he could get leave and get way
The fuck away from his fellow Americans
–from novel-in-process, Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
