From: scm3775@tamsun.tamu.edu (Sean Malloy)
Subject: Re: Speaker for the Dead
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 08:35:00 GMT

 
Alfaven says, about Arty:
 
> "I remember speculation a few months ago on his absence, but thought noth
> it.  Or, rather, I refused to assume the worst.  I had no idea that Arty 
> having any problems at all.
 
A man dressed in faded blue jeans and a black leather jacket is 
suddenly... there.  He removes his sunglasses and you notice that 
he looks very, very tired.  He reaches across the bar and accepts 
the pint of Shiner Bock that Mike seemed to sense that he should 
pour.  
 
"I just heard about Arty." CD says in a deep, soft voice, "and I'm 
a bit taken aback.  You see, I had assumed the worst when no one 
could get in touch with him after he left LA at the end of May... 
That's not exactly true.  I had assumed that he had decided to drop 
off the face of the Earth for a while, or never made it back...
 
"I'll miss Arty, but I know that there was nothing that I could 
have done differently that would have made a difference; so there 
is no guilt.  Arty and I were not close, so it's understandable 
that he didn't turn to me when he was having problems, though he 
could have if he'd chosen to...
 
"I met him this summer on my drive out to California.  He found 
out that I was going to be passing through Tuscon, and he asked if 
I'd like a place to crash for a while.  I accepted, and, after 
I got a couple hours of sleep, we talked for a while on a variety 
of subjects.  He took me on a tour of the University of Arizona, 
and we discussed, among other things, his time in the Navy.
 
"Smoke may be correct in saying that he might have left more than a 
comrade in the Iraqi desert...  He spoke at length about his time 
in the Navy, but was vague when it came to his experiences during 
the Gulf War...  I asked him what he did to survive in hostile 
territory and he replied that he had been an Eagle Scout in the 
Arizona desert.
 
"At one point we were discussing 'manstopper' bullets.  I told him 
about an article that I had read about the particular brand of ammo 
that we were discussing, and he made a couple of statements that 
conflicted with the article...  He had used this brand in combat 
and he told me that I didn't want the details... and that he didn't 
want to discuss it further."
 
CD smiles slightly.  "But he had a mean sense of humor, and I 
suppose that I will remember that most from the few hours that I 
was his guest.  I remember a story that he told about when he was 
training to be a Navy SEAL...  Seems it was Hell Week, and he'd 
been going on about 30 minutes of sleep a day for the past 5 
days...  He told me about a conversation that he had with his 
canoe...  that it used to be a tree, but was much happier as 
a canoe since it got a chance to see the world now..."
 
CD reflects for a while before continuing.  "I don't know why Arty 
chose to do what he did, and I certainly wish that he hadn't, but I 
can't lay all the blame on his experiences in the Persian Gulf...  
It seems to me that it is only one of several factors, the last of 
which was probably being stuck alone in Oklahoma with no money, no 
gas, and no way to get either one."
 
The scene shifts, and the patrons find themselves suddenly 
outdoors, at the site of Smoke's fire.  Smoke places Arty's 
flight jacket on the fire, and CD watches as the silk UN patch on 
the back catches first.  Then the Nazi insignia that his grandfather 
took off the uniform of a fallen German during WWII...  Finally the
leather itself smoulders and catches fire.
 
CD pulls a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary from the 
saddlebags that he has thrown over his shoulder.  Holding the 
massive book before him, he turns to Smoke.  "For when he has to 
stand watch..." He then places the book in the heart of the flames, 
turns and walks towards the horizon.
 
-cd

-- 
 
  Sean C. Malloy  -  Texas A&M University  -  scm@tamu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.callahans