Spinning

I have been working on my Capstone writing project. It includes taking a paper from another class and improving it. I have decided on working on a piece from my Vietnam Literature class. It is a weird combination of non-fiction and fiction. The idea comes from reading Tim O'Brien. This was also my first attempt and writing about things that happened during my time in Iraq. The other things I have written so far have been post war stuff. I find this much more difficult and more enjoyable. The paper was a collection of several quick burst of stories. A flash fiction collection really. Here is one.

I was sitting on the steps outside my trailer. We had recently relocated from a series of bombed-out houses to a camp that had two-man rooms. Every night concluded with a cigarette on the steps. Shockley walked up to our trailer and asked if he could bum a pack of smokes for his mission tonight. I liked to keep a drawer stocked full of cigarettes, and the word had spread that my room functioned as an after-hours convenience store. I reached past the Newports and grabbed a pack of Royals for Shockley. Royals are the cheap Iraqi menthols. I tossed the pack to him and said I would be expecting my $2 tomorrow.

Someone was beating on my door. I had been asleep for a few hours, but had no idea what time it was. My roommate got up and answered. Shockley's truck had been hit by an IED. Everyone was alive, but Shockley had to be medevac'd out. I sat up in bed and lit a Newport, and thought, "That fucker owes me $2 or a pack of smokes. Now he is getting to go home."