Walt looked away. “Lotta people like that. War changes you. Sometimes it’s something you did, sometimes it’s something that was done to you. Either
way, you don’t come back the same.”
Jack was thinking his dad seemed pretty normal—except for never talking about it. Jack would have loved to hear some war stories.
He thought of something he needed to know.
“You know, um, Walt. If you were a soldier and al , why’d you let a couple of punks like Teddy and his friend push you around?”
He shrugged. “I’m nonviolent.”
“But—”
“When I got drafted I said I wouldn’t fight but I’d be a medic.”
“So you spent the war fixing people up instead of shooting them down?”
“I don’t know about the fixing-up part. Mostly I just shot ‘em up with morphine so they could stand the pain and maybe stop screaming until dust-off.”
“Dust-off?”
“That was what we cal ed a medevac mission—when a chopper would come in and carry off the wounded.” He shook his head. “The things I saw … the
things I saw …” His voice became choked. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been a medic. If I’d been just a grunt back in sixty-eight, my life would be different now.
But it got ruined.”
Al this was making Jack a little uncomfortable. He wished he’d worn a watch so he could look at it.
“Um, I gotta run.”
Walt swal owed and smiled. “I know you do. Thanks for stoppin’ and listenin’ to me ramble. I just needed to talk to you. You did the right thing yesterday
and I wanted you to know that you didn’t do it for some useless, drunken lump of human protoplasm. That the guy you see on the outside is not the same
as the guy on the inside. Did I get that across?”
“Yeah, Walt,” he said, going down the porch steps. “Yeah, you did.”
He smiled through his beard. “Good. Because I owe you one, man. And don’t you forget it. Because I won’t.”
Jack hoped he’d never need to col ect.
6
After putting in his hours at USED, Jack stopped at the Connel house on the way home. He and Eddie were battling for high score in
Weezy came in just as Jack was handing the joystick back to Eddie.
“Hey, Weez. I need to borrow the cube tonight.”
She stopped in midstride and frowned. “Why?”
“Want to show Steve. He’s handy with gadgets. I want to see if he can open it. I can’t be the
“Gee … I don’t know.”
Jack felt a flash of irritation. “Don’t know what? You think I’m going to lose it or something?”
“No, I mean I don’t know if it’s a good idea to let it get around too much that we have it.”
“If that pyramid is as special as you think it is, I’l bet word of it is al around U of P by now.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She looked deep into his eyes. “You’l take good care of it, right?”
Jack put his hand over his heart. “Guard it with my life.”
“And you won’t tel anybody we found it with the body, right? ‘Cause they’l take it away.”
He held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
“I’m serious, Jack.”
“So am I. You’l have it back tomorrow.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Okay, come upstairs. I need you to open it for me first.”
He fol owed her up to her room where he opened the cube and laid it on her desk. He watched her pul out a sheet of paper and trace the design on the
inside of the panels.
“Why are you doing that?”
