Never Kiss an Angel

Ken remained silent as he peered at the waving hands below him that were getting further away every second as the Telfair moved from the pier.

The ship rumbled again and with the help of the tug backed from the slip toward the open water of the bay.

The Navy Band commenced playing "Now Is The Hour."

The sad strains of the old love ballad that tugged at the hearts of five generations of warriors, effectively quieted down the multitude of green dungareed Marines, the newest generation of warriors. Many of the Marines started humming along with or singing softly the words of the old song when the band played it a second time. Most of the troops however, became lost in their own private thoughts as the reality of leaving their country and loved ones and heading toward an unknown future sunk into the recesses of their minds.

Ken halfway listened to the soft murmuring of the song filtering over the ship: Now is the hour—when we must say goodbye... Soon—you'll be sailing... far across the sea. While you're away—oh please remember me... When you return—you'll find me... waiting... for... thee.

Among those troops lost in their own private thoughts Ken got to thinking about the dumb joke about an angel Ski had pulled on him when trying to talk him into going to LA on liberty with the third squad. Never Kiss An Angel because they'll fuck over you every time. "Boy—how true that is," Ken muttered under his breath, thinking about the luck he'd had with girlfriends. It may have been because he had been thinking about his past loves that when the Navy Band started playing the same song for the third time, a dim memory came flooding back into his thoughts. He remembered the radio in his old Model A playing Now Is The Hour as he blindly sped toward Donna Breedloves' Christmas party over a year ago as he hurried to find out why Donnel wouldn't talk to him on the phone. Donnel! Poor, sweet Donnel!