As he stood talking to the Marine  through the window he could feel the cold air coming from the car. It smelled clean and cool and as he leaned in the car to talk to the Marine he felt instantly as if he were talking to a friend. 

” My name is Sergeant Torres”.  He shook the Marine’s hand and gave his name. ” I could give you a ride home if you like”. ” I would like to talk to you about a career with the United States Marine Corp.”  He stood up and backed away from the tidy goverment issued car and the scrubbed clean Sergeant Torres. ” Ah… I don’t know man”. He said it with a lump in his throat.  ” I’m just a senior,   I don’t graduate until May”.

” Even better you have time to make important decisions about your future”.  He couldn’t argue with that.  The unforgiving Texas sun was beating down on him making him feel dizzy and sick all at the same time. The walk was about two miles more till he got home.  Sometimes decisions were made for you. ” Yeah… alright ”  He opened the door to the shiny dark blue sedan and got in the passenger seat.

The Marine began talking about his career and told him he came from Helotes Texas.  He talked about his career in the Marine Corp. and told him of all the countries he had been to in eight years. He told him about his family and how supportive his family was of his career choice. He thought about his mother’s begging him not to join after graduation. ” I gotta be honest my folks aren’t real crazy about me joining the Corp”. 

” I would be happy to go speak to your folks and explain how the process works”.   A memory came to mind of his mother coming to answer the door to a Navy recruiter. She told the recruiter without mincing words to

” Take his Ass right back where he came from her son would never join the Navy and if he came back she would either shoot him or call the police depending on her mood”.   His brother told him about it the next day. His mother would not do either one but she seemed to feel more confident  issuing threats than actually carrying any out.

” No, I don’t think that is such a good idea”.  He didn’t offer an explanation.  He thanked the Marine for the ride as he stepped out of the car. ” Here is my card, let me know if you would like to go to lunch or dinner sometime and talk some more.”  He thanked the guy and stuffed the card in his front pocket.  The card felt warm against his chest.  He gave it a pat and held it there for a second. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the look of horror on his mom’s face when she saw his face.