NZJohn
04-24-2014, 01:49 PM
It's April,
we're nearly at the anniversary of The Battle of Okinawa, which was the beginning of the end for Japan.
As Dad got older he drank too much.
He used to sit alone conversing with an American who had died in The Pacific during that long wearying War.
The old man would slump in a grey chair in the corner of his lounge,
and he'd drink, and talk, and listen attentively to that inaudible voice, cocking his head slightly to hear better.
I'd stand at the head of his stairs watching in wonder as they conversed.
The only sound heard as the old man listened was the ticking of the clock, an 'hmmm,'
then the slurp and hard swallow of the whiskey.
He'd lean forward listening intently, throw his head back, and laugh.
"Really" the old man would ask,
"In San Diego you say?"
and no answer came, as I stood quietly, standing alone in the dark,
feeling somehow guilty, like an eavesdropper, as the clock ticked.
we're nearly at the anniversary of The Battle of Okinawa, which was the beginning of the end for Japan.
As Dad got older he drank too much.
He used to sit alone conversing with an American who had died in The Pacific during that long wearying War.
The old man would slump in a grey chair in the corner of his lounge,
and he'd drink, and talk, and listen attentively to that inaudible voice, cocking his head slightly to hear better.
I'd stand at the head of his stairs watching in wonder as they conversed.
The only sound heard as the old man listened was the ticking of the clock, an 'hmmm,'
then the slurp and hard swallow of the whiskey.
He'd lean forward listening intently, throw his head back, and laugh.
"Really" the old man would ask,
"In San Diego you say?"
and no answer came, as I stood quietly, standing alone in the dark,
feeling somehow guilty, like an eavesdropper, as the clock ticked.