"Do you believe all that?" He asked, as he found her bending over some wires and unplugging them from the speakers that hung on the poles that surrounded the football field.

"Did you come here to insult me? If you did, you needn't bother. I get plenty of grief for my views. Jane Fonda East is what the establishment calls me."

"I see. How do you know all that stuff?" Angus asked, and Mildred turned around to face him to see what it was he was saying.

"I read books. Believe it or not there is a lot of history written inside stories. Stories that give you a perspective on the history we are taught in school. That's the government line. It's what they want you to know and believe. Look, I thought we were meeting for something or another besides this. I'm off duty now. I did my bit for today."

"Yeah, but I was interested. I mean, we invaded the Soviet Union. I've never heard that."

"Wasn't hard. They were fighting a civil war. We didn't do much fighting. We just sent a few thousand troops in to protect our boat. It was our boat and our arms and we claimed that under the rules of war we got to go get arms we wanted back once the war was over."

"Did we?"

"I don't really know the particulars under which we fight wars. Mostly from what I see, we do what we want, and it was still just Russia when we invaded. It became the Soviet Union after the Russian revolution ended."

"Why so adamant about the black experience? There're white guys fighting."

"Yeah, Billy Joe Bob Jackson from the sticks. This is a war being fought by the poor and the stupid. Anyone with brains or money gets a pass. A black man has no choice. Where does he go if he dodges the draft? If you ain't Ali, you best get scarce quick."

"He won his case," Angus said. "He didn't go and he didn't go to jail."

"It was a religious question. They couldn't believe he was religious enough to believe what he said he believed because he is a boxer. What is that? What did he win? The greatest fighter who ever put on a pair of gloves had his best years taken away from him. The years when he could have defeated anyone, he couldn't fight. It cost him plenty. In the army he'd have been a protected property who toured and shook hands. That's all. He wouldn't play their game and give their war credibility. I don't want to talk about it. I told you I'm off duty now. I've done my bit."

"You know about boxing? You're amazing, Mildred Kane."

Once again she stopped winding cable to take a look at Angus.

"I read, Seaman McCoy. I read books, papers, magazines. I read about things that seem unfair to me. I want to know about them. I want to know why things are the way they are."

"I don't know shit," Angus said, leaning on the front of the stage behind where she was working. "I don't know what this war is about. The communists against the good guys is all I know. I thought I was one of the good guys."

"You think in the Vietnamese thing you're a good guy. Do they bring out the welcome wagons and make you feel at home there?"

"No, I feel like they all watch me all the time and when they aren't watching me, I'm watching them."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to get shot if I can avoid it."

"If you are fighting the war for them, why would one of them shoot you?"

"Why do you do this? You can't enjoy it."

"You really want the answer? Sure, you do. You wouldn't have asked if you didn't want to know. I'm going to tell you, Seaman McCoy. I'm doing this for you," Mildred sat down beside where Agnus was leaning while she spoke.

"You're what? If you're doing this for me, don't. I'm doing my duty. You want to condemn me for that, I guess that's you're right. It's a free country and that's why you can get away with this. Just don't think you're doing it for me. Please stop right now if you do."

Mildred's laughter immediately had Angus fuming, because he had to believe she was laughing at him.

"You're using my material," she quipped.

"What's that mean?" Angus argued, ready to do battle.

"That's my line. You're supposed to say I'm fighting this war for you, and then I say …, well don't," she placed her delicate hand on his bare forearm and Angus jumped.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to …"

"It's not that. It was like a shock when you touched me," Angus explained, not wanting to risk any further misunderstandings. "You're an amazing woman."

"Where's the uniform? I'm glad you didn't wear it. How would that make me look, standing up here preaching the gospel of pacifism and then I go waltzing off with a military guy? It could ruin my reputation."

"Why do you do it, Mildred?"

Angus let his forearm rest gently against hers after adjusting his position so that he could look directly up into her eyes.

"My senior year, last year, we buried Joshua Henry. He was captain of the cross country track team. I went to his senior prom with him the year before. He'd been over there a week. Stepped on a mine or something like that. It blew both of his legs off at the knees. He was a track man. You understand the irony. He had a scholarship to IU. That's Indiana, I keep forgetting you aren't from here.

"He didn't die right away. He had to live for a while knowing he didn't have any legs. How cruel is that? I hate God sometimes. Do you ever hate God?"

"I don't think much about him. I stopped going to mass when I was thirteen."

"You're Catholic?"

"Badly fallen. Was he your boyfriend?"

"Lord, know. Josh was Mr. Everything. All the girls mooned over him. He was in drama, debate club, chess club, and student council, and he ran track in his spare time. No, I asked him. I was really scared when he said yes. I didn't know he knew I was alive. Maybe he didn't until I let him know."

"How come I don't find that hard to believe." Angus smiled easy and was losing his resentment over Mildred's strong presence.

Mildred blushed and looked at her hands, taking her eyes out of his. She saw some tears in his eyes while she was telling him about Josh, and she thought that was some kind of a sign. She too lightened up with her resentment over his part in the war she had learned to hate.

"The year before Josh, it was James Wilson and Sam Proctor. They lasted longer than Josh but I wonder if he wasn't lucky, not that he died but that he died early. They wrote letters back and told us what it was like. I didn't know them that well, but I knew girls who knew them. It was the girls that were doing most of the talking, if only to one another."

"I guess you've earned the right to be angry about the war. I'm sorry you've lost your friends."

"I think we are all justified in questioning what's going on. I haven't heard a good reason why they died or what they died for. Nothing that would justify our government sending them over there. You've got your reasons for being there and I'm not questioning your sincerity."

"I mostly want to do my part. I'm not college material so I never thought about alternatives to the military. I would have been drafted if I hadn't joined, and my name ain't Billy Joe Bob whatever. We might be poor but we're not stupid," Angus explained.

"Never indicated I thought you were. We wouldn't be here if you seemed stupid to me. I don't do stupid," Mildred said.

"What do you do?"

"I go to school. I go to church. I write some guys over there."

"Will you write me?"

"Do you want me to write you?"

"I can't imagine anything I'd like more," Angus said.

"You'll never come back here, Seaman McCoy."

"Could you call me, Angus? I left my uniform at the motel."

"Angus, it's different. I've never known an Angus. Just the cow."

"Black Angus no doubt."

"If you insist," she said.

"I suppose I won't ever be back to Indianapolis. There isn't much here, you know."

"Thank you very much for that vote of confidence. You know, you have a way about you. It's hard to explain, but every time I start thinking you're a very nice man, you say something really insulting to me. Is that just a personal touch or are you ill at ease with the opposite sex?"

"Well, since I don't know anything about the opposite sex, I probably would stick with that, and if you aren't buying that one, how about temporary insanity? You do know you drive me crazy?" Angus smiled and put his hand on hers.

She let his hand sit there for a while before she moved hers in a non-threatening way. She looked into his eyes once she broke the physical contact.

"I can't be attached to anyone else that's over there, Seaman McCoy. I can't loose any more friends. I hardly am able to get through some nights now. These aren't random names on some list somewhere. These are people I know, or did know."

"You loved Joshua Henry," Angus said.

"Yes, I suppose I did, but any girl who didn't was blind and had no taste. He was the best of us. He was kind and gentle and stood as a model we could all admire. Those are the ones that die first. The ones we can love. The ones we can't afford to lose."

"I'm sorry," Angus said, feeling her pain.

"Look, it's time I got out of here. Coach Bennett is coming by to lock up. He'll take care of the rest of this. I told him I'd take care of the sound system."

"He knew about this?"

"Oh yeah, didn't want to participate, politics are dangerous if you aren't careful, but he approved."

"I got no feeling he felt one way or another," Angus said.

"It's like me asking Josh to his prom. He said yes. I didn't question why he said yes. I was grateful he did. He didn't object and he knew the kind of things I was going to say. Maybe we're making progress. Maybe Albert Strong was one too many for the coach."

"Maybe," Angus said, as they walked out of the gate and toward the car.

*****

They walked once they were in town. Angus got to see close up some of the things he'd passed in the car the day before. He still thought it was a small town compared to New York, but it was nice not being elbow to elbow everywhere you went.

"I'm getting hungry, how about you?" Angus asked.

"Yes, I could eat. Do you like Italian?"

"Oh yes, Italian is fine."

The restaurant was on top of one of the hotels and Angus got yet another view of the city. Mildred pointed out different sites for him as they chatted about the city. He told her about New York and he thought about home.

"You were born and raised here?"

"Yes, I've been to Chicago and Louisville. That's about as far from Indianapolis as I've gone. One day maybe I'll travel," Mildred said.

"Aren't you curious about the rest of the world?"

"Certainly, but I also have a life here and it doesn't come without responsibilities. Once I've finished college I can decide whether or not to travel then or wait."

"Travel is nice but I'd like to find a place to settle down and just stay there."

"Not New York City?" she asked.

"I thought I'd always be in New York. It's a great town. Always alive with activity. I've never known anything else. Now that I've been out in the world, I'm not so sure I'll settle down there. Police work can be pretty intense and as intense as New York is already, the job there's got to be a mind blower. I might do better at an easier pace."

"Maybe you ought to think about here. You seem to have endeared yourself to the local constabulary. It would be a shame to waste such good will, don't you think? What's that all about anyway?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," Angus said.

"It concerned Albert, didn't it? I had the distinct feeling things weren't what they seemed at his service, at that funeral home."

"I'm not at liberty to say. I'd like to leave it at that."

"I was surprised that you recovered so fast at the funeral. I mean once I put you on the spot. You impressed me, McCoy."

"You were surprised. Image my surprise. I'm not much at public speaking. I don't know how to rub two verbs together. I'm not very smart when I've got people in front of me."

"No, you aren't well educated. I think you are quite smart. You are quick on your feet. You think fast, and from what I've seen, you think right when you're on the spot."

"What makes you say that? No one has ever accused me of that. Why did you want to nail me anyway? I never did anything to you."

"I don't know. You were there. You represented the war that killed Albert. The fact you recovered so quickly made me feel like you cared about Albert. I thought you were all show. I was also very bad for doing that to you. I do hope you know it was nothing personal. I wouldn't do it now."

"It felt personal and I just said what I felt. Luckily I'd gotten to know Strong well enough to be able to do that."

"You didn't know him while he was still alive?"

"No. I had papers. People told me about what he'd done. Then I was with him three solid days. In fact, you've answered some of the questions I asked him. He was mum."

"You asked him questions?" Mildred sounded skeptical.

"I had questions in my mind." Angus fudged a little. "Just simple stuff. Had he really lived before he died or was it all happening in my mind. The kinds of things guys think about when another guy dies too young. That's what I wanted to know about."

"You are a strange bird, McCoy."

"I'm working on that. Mostly I'm trying to keep my goose from getting cooked over there."

"Don't try to fly would be my best advice to you."

The food came just then and they both ate with little conversation. Mildred shared some of her antipasto with Angus and he in turn gave her a meatball and spaghetti. They both dipped their garlic break into the rich red sauce that came with the meal. Angus had never enjoyed a meal as much as he enjoyed that one. Some red wine and coffee completed the experience. They were much too full to consider dessert.

"You have family here?"

"Two sisters. One is a senior at Central and the other is a junior. Momma spaced us properly."

"How nice. Your parents?"

"Mother died last year. That's why I'm going to school in town. I had a scholarship to Indiana University. I want to make sure the girls finish school. Momma saw to it that I did that. Then, I'll be free to consider options. It's not much of a price to pay for all that she gave me."

"Responsibilities!" Angus said as though he understood something for the first time.

"Responsibilities?" She repeated, watching the coffee in her cup.

"I'd wondered what responsibilities. I'm sorry about your mother. I'm sure it was a big loss."

"Why didn't you ask if you wondered? Isn't that what we're doing? Trying to figure out who the other one is?"

"I don't know. I didn't want to pry. It's none of my business. It's just that I've done a lot of wondering about you."

Their eyes met for the first time in more than a casual, ill at ease sort of a way. Each made the other a little uncomfortable when they got caught looking for too long. Their eyes lingered this time. When Angus nervously reached for the handle of his cup, his fingers brushed hers.

"One would think you are trying to take advantage of my over sensitive nature, McCoy," Mildred finally managed in a voice that was so far from that women at the podium of the church and the high school that Angus had to check twice to see if she was one and the same.

"I'd find it hard to believe anyone could take advantage of you, Mildred. It would be something like a jockey sized guy trying to take down a soma wrestler, if you know what I mean."

The tone of his words were respectful with a touch of reverence, but the results were predictable to him no matter what the tone.

"Once again you have a way of making me feel like a cross between Mother Teresa and Jack the Ripper. I'm just a woman. I'm no more or less than any other."

"Mildred, you scare the be-Jesus out of me. Nobody, not in my entire life, except maybe my father when I was seven and eight, has been able to scare me. I just don't fear things …, but you definitely scare me."

"How is that, McCoy?" Mildred said, becoming amused as he tried to explain his way out of hot water again. "How could a little old girl from Indianapolis scare a great big boy from New York?"

"The scariest part of all is that I can't answer that question. I don't know why. I simply know that every time I'm with you, well, I have nothing to compare it with. I have no experience with women. I don't know what to expect and I don't know what to say."

"No experience? You haven't dated."

"Dances in high school. Maybe one a year and with girls that ran in the group I ran with. I suppose a group of us went to the movies now and again, but we never thought we were dating. I didn't anyway. I suppose I'm just slow that way. I've never had a casual interest in women, and I've certainly never met anyone like you."

"Why not chase girls? You're the kind of guy most women go for," Mildred said, and then decided to amplify the concept for him. "Tall, dark, handsome. Able to protect the fair maiden from harm. I'm surprised some school girl didn't latch on to you."

"I guess you had to be there. My life was never about girls. I mean I'm not interested in boys, if that means anything. I just never took any of the girls seriously. They were more giggly little pests than anything."

"So, why all this integrity and honesty with the likes of little ole' me?"

"Well, if you mean, why am I coming clean with you? I think it has to do with the plane I've got to be on Monday. It also has something to do with the other. The girls I knew. None of them ever had a damn thing to say I thought I ought to waste my time listening to. Except for my mother, of course. We should get that clear. When I'm speaking of girls I don't mean my mother."

"Of course not," Mildred said, trying to hide her amusement from him. "Your mother and father are still together?"

"No. Dear old dad died of cirrhosis a number of years ago. No great loss to mankind. He did leave his mark on me if not the rest of the world."

"How's that?" She had to ask but wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Marks to remember him by, not that I need the marks to remember that son-of-a-bitch."

"So he beat you?"

"Only when he got drunk. Unfortunately he was drunk a lot, or it seemed like a lot to a twelve year old. That's how old I was when he died. He was just mean. One of those ornery men that never do anything but have a few babies so there's someone he can make as miserable as he is."

"And did he, make you as miserable as he was?"

"No way. My mother wouldn't allow it. If he was pure evil my mother was the antithesis. She did what she could."

"Listen to you. I knew you were intelligent. You have a way with words, McCoy."

"I'm not stupid. I've just never had any desire to keep going to school. I do know a few things."

"You know a lot. You're not just another soldier."

"Sailor."

"If you insist. We do have something in common," Mildred advised.

"Your old man beat you?"

"Heavens no. Momma would have gutted anyone who dare to lay a hand on her girls. He was a drinker. I don't remember. I only saw him a few times that I remember. Don't know if he's dead or alive. Not that it matters. He's dead to us. How did we get onto this subject?" Mildred admonished.

"Your mother is where all that spirit comes from?"

"I suppose. She didn't take any shit, pardon my French, and I suppose, once she was gone, well, I had to be momma for the sake of my sisters. At least until they've gone out on their own. It's important that they have stability at home. They should have the same chance I got."

"The War?"

"No one speaks up for it anymore. It was just the opposite a couple of years ago. If you spoke against it, you were a traitor, the love it or leave it syndrome. That's what I'm told. I didn't pay much attention until poor Joshua …"

"Let's not talk about that."

"What's it like in Vietnam? I've never talked to anyone who has actually been there."

"Hot. Humid. Wet. I suppose it's okay. It's a beautiful country. You just don't know who the enemy is. I don't know if I'm going back on the mainland. It's still my duty station right now but I'm going to work for an Admiral."

"You mean you might come home?" Mildred asked with rising interest.

"I don't know. I helped an Admiral when I was first there. His kid got shot down on a bombing raid while he was at my base. I'd been assigned as his guide, guard, and general flunky type thing. I stayed with him until he knew his son was rescued and out of Nam. He's the one who called me to be Strong's honor guard. I'm going to be assigned to him when I get back. I don't have a clue what that will mean. I've never been stationed on one of the boats. Once I fly back into San Francisco, I've got to report to Alameda Naval Base."

"He's an admiral admiral? In charge of all the boats?"

"I'm not sure what he is. I know he comes and goes and he has a flagship. My impression is he came from the Pentagon when he came out this time, and he talked about being at the Pentagon the last time he was on our base. I didn't ask him any questions. You listen to an admiral and keep your mouth shut."

"It seems to have worked. It sounds like he's fond of you."

"I don't know about that. I suppose. I don't make much of an impression on most people."

"Because you're young. Someone has to spend time with you to appreciate your qualities. You've made an impression on me."

"If that's a good impression, I agree entirely, but if it's a bad impression, I strongly protest. I'll grow on you. Just give me time."

"Your so funny," Mildred said.

"So, here we are having a late lunch. How about dinner and a place where there's some music for tonight," Angus suggested. "I don't know anyone else in this town but Detective Curtis, and I haven't known him long enough to ask him to go out on a date."

"You mean we should go on a date?" Mildred said carefully.

"No, not if you think that going on a date is too much too fast. We're just going to eat. Everyone eats. I'm sure of that. I read it. Please! We only have a few days, Mill. Don't make me give you up already. I want to know who you are. I just feel like there isn't going to be enough time. Please!"

Angus put his hand on top of hers. Their fingers became interwoven by no effort from him. He leaned into the middle of the table and she did as well. They're eyes did the rest.

"Do you dance, Angus?"

"Dance, me, don't I look like I dance? I'm a fast learner if it becomes a requirement. I'm quite athletic."

"We aren't talking about football. You do like music?"

"Certainly! I like all kinds of music."

"Well, you just glide to it. That's how you dance."

"Then I know how," he said surprised. "I'm a natural born glider. I've been gliding all my life."

"I bet you have, Angus McCoy. I just bet you have," Mildred said, looking at their hands and how they met.

Mildred felt it too. In fact, she was even more aware of it. It didn't scare her like it scared Angus but she wasn't sure what she felt was worth the trouble it would take to advance what those feelings represented to her. Mildred didn't fear much and she'd never been fearful of any man but she had learned to be practical, and this was not practical or something she'd choose for herself. For her it would require a lot more thought and consideration before she allowed her feelings to get control of her.