We need a child like that

#Middlebury #Veterans

The regular crew of older veterans was spread out on the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop, but I didn’t expect they’d be there long. The heat was coming up and it was going to be a brutal day. Half of them were drinking iced coffees.

One of them held out his paper coffee cup to me as I walked up. “A little more ice, please, since you’re standing right there.” I took his cup and tapped on the pickup window glass. The unfriendly counter girl dumped a few more pieces of ice in the cup. When I didn’t take it away, she added a few more.

One of the vets was reading from his tablet, an iPad that seemed to have every single news alert known to man. Every few minutes it dinged.

A woman pulled into a parking space and climbed out.

“Here comes my warden,” muttered one of the vets.

“Daddy, I’m concerned about you in this heat,” the woman said to him. “Are you about ready to come home?”

“I was about to order a sandwich,” he said, but he was finishing up his coffee as he said it.

“I have ham and cheese and turkey and salami at home, if that’s OK. And the big Kaiser rolls you like.”

“Hope there’s enough mustard,” he said, getting up and folding his chair.

After she’d loaded him in the car and driven off, the group went quiet until, “Be a heck of a thing if she hadn’t taken him in.”

The story came out in pieces: The daughter had discovered her veteran father in sad shape in the retirement home; had a few choice, very loud words to say to management; and had promptly packed up her daddy and taken him home with her. That was mere weeks before the coronavirus hit the home and veterans started getting sick.

“Yup,” said another veteran, taking a final sip of his coffee. “We all need a child like that.”

© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.