McMume
them. But the sweatshirt was still too big now and Morrison hadn't had the courage to do anything when they walked his dog into the woods and shot her. They didn't know that he was watching them and that he had felt the boom and saw the smiles on their faces. And they didn't know his dad had taught him how to be real quiet in the woods. In the woods, his dad always said, you must be invisible. In the woods, his dad continued, you must disappear. They were getting closer and Caleb was grinning like always. All Morrison really wanted was for Caleb and Jus tin to tum around and go take the broken log off his dog to prove that it was all just a prank. Because he was willing to forgive them, he was willing to forgive Caleb if Caleb could simply show that the dog was still alive. The smile on Caleb's face assured him it wasn't a prank and Morrison felt something begin to spin in his stomach, an unknown thing turning over slowly and wanting to come up. He remembered his dad had told him that someday he'd do something to make everyone proud and that it would be big, something that everyone would remember forever. They walked closer and Morrison steadied his shotgun as quiet as he could. Caleb heard a click, and Morrison flinched with the boom. His FRIEND BAKER JUST DIED, though he wondered if they were really friends. Baker was younger, by six or seven years, and really didn't talk much. Morrison remembers when they first met and Baker said he was from Hephzibah, Georgia and that he didn't think it was really that hot in the desert. TAT. TAT. TAT. BuRNING FLESH and screeching lungs and sound moving in slow motion. He hears the machine gun fire coming from somewhere behind and knows there must be four or five guns, each one flicking hot metal from one of the rooftops or windows. Tat. Tat. Tat. Slow motion. He had been thrown from the top of the Humvee by the explosion. Lying on his back he knew he was alive, but he didn't know if the little boys and little girls running in a circle around him were real or not. Eventually they stopped and crossed the street and when he gained enough strength he turned over and looked across the street. The group of little boys and little girls were huddled in a doorway sucking hard candies and holding each other's hands, whispering in each other's ears, eyes wide and shirts open and their little feet bare and callused. "If I ask you not to, would that make a difference? They'll just send you over there." "Maybe they won't. I don't know for sure." "But what if I asked you not to?" "I guess I feel like maybe this is something I have to do." 144
FUGUE#3l