FORGIVENESS

 His face aged and weatherworn, Johnny stood at the once doorway of his burned out house. Twenty years ago he had come in from the cold. He had survived these twenty years by tolerating his specialist doctors’ incipient madness’s. Mia was a memory, she had taken up with her commanding officer Stern and had triplet babies.

 His brothers had already died of unexpected circumstances. Greyson and Eleanor had married now, and his father still repeated his same routine. Without a home, since it had reduced to cinders from fire, he tried re-enlistment.

 The same hedge fund manager offered him another term of service. He was past his youth and from experience the frontlines are too risky. John declined and put pencil to paper to plan a rebuild. He sought an ordinary life.