“We’re here to establish peace,” Egan said. “We’re not here puttin up permanent bases. We aint even tryin to defeat North Vietnam.”
“Yeah,” Brown carried on. “We don’t care what you guys do. You can be free to do whatever you like. Soon as we stop the dinks.”
Minn was overwhelmed by their retorts. Cherry attempted to come to his rescue. “Fighting for peace is like f*****g for virginity,” he said. It had been a cliche at college and everyone in the peace movement agreed it was valid.
“No it’s not,” Egan said. No one else commented. Egan’s words were final. Now Cherry felt shunned from the group.
“I mean …” Cherry began after a pause.
“No it’s not,” Egan repeated flatly. “That’s a lamebrain’s over-simplification and the analogy doesn’t hold. And it doesn’t hold because you don’t know wh
