The moment I met him, I fell in love. He was a few years younger than me, and his face still held an innocence about it I knew the war would destroy, but I loved the way he clung to his childhood fiercely. He slept with an old teddy bear at night, and he carried a rabbit’s foot dyed a vivid shade of green that sometimes seemed to match his mercurial eyes. When he was assigned to my company, I knew I wanted to be his friend.
No, I wanted to be more than that—I wanted to be the world to him. But I would be satisfied with friendship, if that was all I could get. I just knew I needed that boy in my life. He had a smile like quicksilver and hair like coils of copper wire. I wanted to plunge my hands into those curls; I wanted to capture that smile for myself alone.
I remember the first time
