Ben slowly walked over to Lee. He sighed. “Did you ever find her?”

Lee shook his head. “It’s hard being righteous when everything around you is so un-righteous. But I think that is when we need to be the most righteous.”

Ben stared at his friend for a long time and did not move. Slowly he sank to the ground in a heap and started crying. The pistol fell from his hands.

Lee sat next to his friend and held him tightly. He said nothing as the two of them rocked back and forth.

The cool, night air brushed by their faces. The clouds had parted and revealed a sky full of glistening, luminescent stars. As he continued to hold Ben, Lee looked upward and felt a peace he was certain, up to this point, had deserted him.

Gradually, Ben’s crying stopped but he did not want to let his friend go.

“I need to get this man a doctor,” Lee said gently. “Are you okay?”

Ben took a few moments before he was able to look up at his friend. His eyes were still red but he had stopped crying.

“I hate hating,” Ben said poignantly.

“I know you do. Will you be okay?”

Ben nodded.

“Can I get this man a doctor?”

Ben nodded again. “You better bring the MP’s, too.”

Lee smiled. “I don’t see any need for that. This man just needs a doctor. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Ben watched as his friend rose and disappeared into the night. With difficulty he turned and looked at the German soldier. The latter was perspiring and semi-conscious. Ben swallowed a few times and then slowly moved toward the wounded man. He loosened the tourniquet and noted that he had stopped bleeding. He checked the man’s genitals and noted that the bleeding had subsided there as well.

Ben got up and then sat down by the soldier’s head. He reached into his jacket and took out a bag of cotton balls. Removing a few he softly dabbed the young man’s head blotting up the soot and sweat.

The German suddenly opened his eyes. Ben stared at him and offered up a faint smile.  Ben removed his jacket and covered the soldier’s chest.

“There’ll be a doctor here soon.”

The young man smiled and then drifted off into unconsciousness.

Ben held his head in his hands for several moments and said nothing. He listened to the soldier’s shallow, but steady breathing. He knew he would live. He could feel it. He closed his eyes and continued to hold the man’s head in his hands. His lips started quivering. “I’m sorry.”

Ben rolled up what was left of Lee’s jacket and placed it under the soldier’s head. He got up and stood over the German, just staring at him. Everything was so tranquil. It was as if nothing had happened though he still smelled the stench and heard the groans a few hundred yards away. Nothing seemed to make sense to him anymore. So much had changed. He hoped he could sort it out.

He looked in the direction in which Lee had gone, hoping to hear him returning. But he did not. Ben turned around and let out a deep sigh. He felt alone and he did not like that. Suddenly his eyes were drawn to something shining off the ground. He had temporarily forgotten that the moon was full tonight and that the stars were quite bright in the dark sky. As he moved closer to it he smiled. He noted that one of the stars must’ve fallen to the ground. He bent down to pick it up, along with his bible.

By Peter Fisk