Lunch at Jerry's

SCRIBE (101-150posts) Posts : 121 Join date : 2011-12-13

Lunch at Jerry’s
By Scott Newport

Thin and older now
A cane crutches his
Leg-- the left one mostly

His 60’s smile rests
For a minute; a scarf
Hiding his pain
Triangular side burns
Speckled in grey
Slant toward his chin

“Great Lakes boot camp”
The buddy system
Thought a good choice-
His sold out
“Our laundry
Froze solid”
My chair creeks
I readjust

Vietnam, Morse code
Wrinkled memories unfold
The entree speaks
A bit about drugs
And ships and planes

Limping, he returns
To the sudden death
Of his sister at sixteen
“She died outside”

I prompt him
His menu is full
“My dad was never the same”
I’ll pass on desert

Subject: Re: Lunch at Jerry's Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:13 pm

my brother was a vietnam vet and i recently met and befriended as it turns out another vietnam vet. who happens to be an amputee (leg) not from the war but after but then who is to say, that war left many scars unseen. any really loud noise and if my brother had a few drinks in him, he would dive under a table...never the same. my brother lost his leg as well, not in the war but after, but who is to say. maybe he lost it somewhere out there, hit by unseen shrapnel, he lost more than just a leg.

Subject: Re: Lunch at Jerry's Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:02 pm

We never know the pain that others are going through daily.
So many have had so many hurts in life and need a bit of compassion
and encouragement.

Subject: Re: Lunch at Jerry's Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:08 pm

You expressed the pain and hardship of the vet wonderfully, nice job. Love it!

SCRIBE (101-150posts) Posts : 121 Join date : 2011-12-13

I met Jerry a few years back. One day while working at his house he learned about my son’s terminal illness. Stepping outside the house he called to me and told me about his sister. She had also died at a young age. He then told me, at 15, he had to cut back on school and work a full time job to help support the family. His father refused to go bankrupt and after 30 years paid off all the medical bills.

Jerry is a guy of integrity and now suffers from a neuromuscular disease slowly destroying his body. After working at his house again, I just had to write something about him.