As Calvin spoke, I reminded myself that Lee was his name for Count. As I listened I thought of Shannie's eulogy. She nailed it.
Calvin continued, "I mean it's understandable, God himself knows what we was facing could have been the death for the lot of us. I'm telling ya, nothing, I mean nothing was as nerve-racking as those days in the Wadi, not even when we got into combat. No, the Wadi was worse, much worse, we knew we were in the shit, and there wasn't a goddamn thing we could do about it. Everyone knew if the Iraqi's came we'd be lucky to get out of there alive. We was all feeling the heat. Mitchell, he just felt it a little hotter. He cracked first."
"And poor fucking Lee, he did the best he could do. He did too good, you know what I'm saying? Maybe he be still alive if he didn't to do so good."
"What do you mean?" Shannie asked.
"If he didn't care as much as he did, he wouldn't have done what he did. I mean, he didn't have to do it. But he told me, he said, Calvin, I'm responsible for my boys, if I can help it, ain't a goddamn one is getting killed. That's way he took to keeping an eye on Mitchell. Hell, he told before it all came down that he had an eye on Mitchell. 'Cept you see, I didn't pay him all that much attention; I had my mind on more important things, you know what I'm saying? I mean I had my own Platoon to worry 'bouts, like saving my boy's asses if the Iraqis came down the Wadi."
Calvin paused; a painful smile resided on his face. In the distance a police car's siren wailed. "And then our bombs started falling. Even though they was miles away, their explosions rolled down the wadi. It was sweet music, like a Buddy Rich on drums, you know what I'm saying? For that minute or so, I never was so relieved. I knew, I felt it in my bones, the Iraqi's wouldn't be coming. We was out of the shit."
Calvin wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Then I heard a shout, and then a loud explosion. You see, when our bombs started falling, Mitchell, snaps, you know what I'm saying? He goes and jumps out of his foxhole and beelines it for the Kuwait border, one-man invasion style. That's what I hear anyhow. What happened next I know, 'cause I saw it in my night vision goggles.