He’s probably 13 or 14, matchstick thin,
dressed in black pajamas like so many
Vietnamese, flip-flops, thick black hair:
but startled now, wild headlight eyes.
(He’d been walking the narrow jungle
trail, rifle casual over his shoulder, like
a 14-year-old carries a baseball bat,
when the American soldier stepped
into his path.) And the boy stands
frozen for a moment, then drops his
weapon and runs. The soldier snaps
his rifle to his shoulder, sights square
