He saved it. American soldiers always had as many cigarettes as they wanted. But this man had the habit of wasting nothing. After all, this was a man I killed. No thought I have about him, no attachment, however odd, is sentimental if I have killed him.
Objects can be very important.
We have our flag, red for the revolution, a yellow star for the wholeness of our nation. We have the face of the father of our country, Ho Chi Minh, his kindly beard, his steady eyes. And he himself smoked these cigarettes. I turn the pack of Salem over and there is something to understand here. The two bands of color, top and bottom, are color like I sometimes have seen on the South China Sea when the air is still and the water is calm.