More Old Man

Jim was quiet in high school, his friends called him little Hitler because he had a small mustache. He was interested in library science and planned on going to the University of Alabama.

--
A dirty apartment on belvedere street. Hardwood floors, bad smells and two men with a large age difference sitting on a couch.

"I will never understand women, Mr Harkins." I said looking down from the ceiling.

"Brad, me neither. I want them all to explode."

I laughed, "Some mess. There would be blood, puss, bones, hair, and teeth on everything."

"It would be worth it," said Mr. H.

There was loud thunder outside and it was getting dark through the blinds; we were sitting on my green crusted couch and I got up to turn on the lamp.

"I'm hungry, you want to make something to eat or go somewhere?" I asked standing in front of him.

"Brad, I saw a woman explode in the war."

I sat and we stared  into nothing. I waited for him to continue.

"I was in the Korean war in '56, and we were having rec time in the jungle."

"You were in the Korean war? You have never mentioned that." I said.

"I've never mentioned a lot of things."

"Ok, well go on, but I didn't think Korea had jungles."

"Brad, Korea has a lot of things, hidden things, things people have never seen or heard of."

I gave a nervous laugh, and stared at the floor as he spoke.

"My platoon was in the Jungle, they were all drinking beer and I was drinking milk, they were throwing up their hands, and I was praying on my knees, they were cussing, and I was wishing I was back in Alabama."

Bella ran into the room and stopped in front of Mr. Harkins. A quintessential Doberman pincher sitting on it's back legs staring as Mr. Harkins as he spoke.

"We hadn't heard a peep out of the enemy for over two weeks, and we didn't know if they was any of them left to even fight us. The men wanted action, and I just wanted to go home to Elizabeth."

"Your wife?" I asked.

"Yeah, my wife back home in Birmingham. We was sitting there and it started to rain and didn't quit until about 2200 hundred hours; see that's military time, Brad."

"I know, uh, 10:00 pm, right?"

" No, it's 8:00 pm, but close.
All of sudden that rain stopped and Sargent Bill told us all to hit the ground  and we did.
 I went face first, cigarette still in my mouth and I remember the sizzle as the lite end was extinguished in the mud.
 We just lied their listening to the jungle, staring into the dark green.
  I wasn't too interested in whatever they wanted to kill or see so I rolled on my back and watched as the moon became visible through the clouds.
 It was a huge moon, slightly obscured by the tops of the trees.
I remember it like it was yesterday, Brad.
Taking in that clean rain smell eventhough I was laying in mud and muck.
 My hands and back were wet and it was soaking through my pants.

Blooms of color exploded in my vision and I was in a new world. One second I was laying in mud staring at the moon and the next I was watching bursting swatches tear into a thousand drops and remerge in a cycle of colors. The dark green jungle became purples and blues, and reds, and oranges, and all those colors mixed together turning around and coming back to where they started. A sky of color. A world of color.

As quick as they came, the colors left and I was back in the jungle laying on my back with the smells and the moon.
I rolled over on my side and began to speak but as soon as I opened my mouth the colors came back in an even brighter array.

Images started to appear in the patterns, women, men, but strangely shaped like you would assume the color purple or orange would be if it could be any form. Rainbows of drops and showers of color. This seemed to go on a lifetime. It really felt like I watched this happen for eighty year; the colors and shapes were always different and I knew time was passing but my attention was fully focused. One of the most clearly remembered of the images, was a woman.. She took up my full vision. She was oriental and had oriental clothes and such and they were of an ordinary color;  not like the rest of the visions and she held out her hand to me. I started to reach for her and my arms and fingers were colors and right before we touched,  just right before my colors and her hand were about to unite.

 Brad I'm serious, I have never felt or understood anything like this in my life, and I have never mentioned it to a soul.

Right before we touched, a little envelope floated across our paths. It was kinda like a cartoon and it danced as it went by. Both the Oriental woman and I stared as it slowed bounced between us. It even had carton like lines behind and to the side of it to emphasize its movement. The letter slowly bounced its way into a letter box; like you would see in a neighborhood or a suburb of Memphis. The mailbox shut its door, and I heard the most incredible thunder of a voice. And Brad, remember this is 1956 or 57 in the middle of the Korean jungle, and the terrible God like voice said, "You got mail." and the woman exploded into a billion colors in every direction."

I laughed and Mr. Harkins looked at me sternly.

"I am not telling a joke, Brad. That's what I heard. I wrote it in my diary after I woke up, and that's not all; when I did wake the following morning, all my men were dead."

I laughed and hoped Mr. H was going to laugh, but he didn't. He just stared at my seriously.
Bella was now looking at me and began a low growl.

"God told me I had mail and saved my life in that horrible place."

I didn't know where to look or what to say, so I said,
"That's really interesting."

"You are damn right it is," said Mr. Harkins.

That was the first time I ever heard Mr. Harkins cuss, I realized he must think he is serious.

"Brad, God showed me email in 1956. I could have made a fortune when I got back home, but I got hooked on amphetamines and America Online stole my idea years later."

Bella barked.