• "Come on!"

    I stuffed the cap that was bouncing across the wooden bench back under my right buttock.

    "When are they going to put cushions on these seats?"

    I glanced at my pocket watch, wondering how long I had suffered bouncing down this rutted road. 12:07. Two hours. Two stinking hours. How long had the captain said the would be? Six? Maybe if I sped up I could get it down to five, but would the extra speed bounce me through the ceiling? Probably not, but it would break my tail bone. And who knew how sensitive those canisters in the back were--I certainly didn't want to be the guy my fellow Germans remembered as the idiot who died from his own mustard gas. No, I better keep it under thirty--this was just going to be one long ride.

    I looked out the window for some sort of imaginative inspiration, but t he barren landscape provided little. Everything was brown and grey and the light mist left me feeling colder than I should have. It was as if I had never left the trenches. I don't know if it was the thought or the cold, but a shiver went up my spine. What a horrible place trenches were.

    I remembered when we had to stand on our fallen comrades whom come were our friends and family. People everywhere were dying from either trench foot, trench mouth, the enemy, or even just the poor conditions. I had already started to feel the effects of trench foot. My shoes were leaking and the soles were almost worn to nothing. The watery dirt was filled with all sorts of diseases and it always came rushing in with every agonizing second. The water acted like like acid on our feet as it decayed them into prunes and created sores that were opened to infection. The unbearable stench of littered bodies stung my tender nose and made my eyes water.

    Then out of the corner of my eye I saw the most beautiful sight ever. A plant, a flower, was sticking right out of the Earth. The flower was painted yellow with a pink-ish red burned at it's tips. I stopped the truck almost immediately. As it came to a slow rumble, I took the key out of the ignition. My hand slipped over the door handle and the other over my gun as I cautiously stepped out. My body tensed as I neared the undisturbed life. Every movement was weary as one hand brushed up against the flowers soft and velvety smooth petal as I plucked it from the ground by the roots with the other. I stood back up and walked to the truck. I placed the flower in the visor as I turned the key. Nothing. Horror struck me. My truck wouldn't start. I turned it again but all it gave me was a choked cough. The I remembered something from my science class about wires and batteries. I rushed over to the front and popped the hood. The engine was filthy with grease and rust. It began to look like a rusted out wire that had broken in my attempt to start it up. I pulled out my flashlight and took it apart. I grabbed a wire and took it from it's plastic blanket in another attempt to get it running. I twisted the cold metal around the breakage and shut the hood. I hoped it would hold but my luck wasn't always so good.

    Now I came to the side door when all of a sudden a bullet whizzed past my head. I scattered to the ground as glass fell all around my dirty form. I didn't even hear the shot which meant the gun had to have been a long range rifle. I took out my gun but luck was not good for me today. The sight wasn't fixed it must have loosed when I fell to the ground. I let out a soft curse to god, for I knew this would be the end. Now I heard the shot, it was closer this time. I looked through my sight once more and I saw the man dressed in a blue uniform. I didn't hesitate when I pulled the trigger. I stood from the ground and went back into my truck. I turned the key and listened in sweet relief as it came back to life. My eyes landed on the picture of my wife and kids. I gave a soft smile and rode off into the sunset.....