In My Mind | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: In My Mind | Previous Challenge Entry
By richard coffey Jr.
11/22/08
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

It was 1980 and I found myself spending Christmas Eve in the cold dark clutches of a bunker decorated with Christmas lights that ran along its snake like walls, think Apocalypse Now, the movie. My six comrades were all ROK (republic of Korea) soldiers. They didn’t speak a lot of English and I knew very little Korean but somehow we managed to get by. We shared instant coffee and chocolate bars I had stashed away. My new friends began to play some type of dominos and I found myself searching the pages of my mind for Christmas memories. I was very lonely and though I was surrounded by people in these dark confines, I could not help but feel sorry for myself. I rolled my sleeping bag out onto my cot and lay down. I felt my eyes begin to flicker as the Christmas lights became out of focus and then turned into star burst. Outside, the North Koreans blasted propaganda across the divide known as the DMZ on speakers the size of a house. I wanted so badly to get a grenade launcher, stand silently by the bunker entrance, get my bearing and blow those speakers to smithereens. I know, way to much television. My mind continued to flip through Christmas past while letting the recorded voices of the North Koreans fade into the dark wet ground of the bunker. My comrades were playing and laughing and engaged in a conversation far beyond my understanding. I continued searching for some Christmas memory that would help me forget the one I was living. Wait a minute back up there! What was that? For just a second I felt warm and cozy, like some one had added another blanket. Ah! There we are, I am about ten years of age and I am lying in front of my Grand Fathers huge fire place. My mother had just kissed me good night and I turn away from my little sister who is already fast asleep. I face the fire deep inside the hearth and watch as the flames whip around the burning logs. The flames dance and twist like Indians during some kind of ceremony. The orange ambers popping like drums being beat to accent the movements of the tribe. Some braves became larger and stronger only to disappear in to crevices of the spent logs. My nose would fight off the smell of burning wood and ash, to attach itself to an invisible line of scent that hung alone the large stones that made up the fire place. I turned my head into its path to locate the smell of coffee and blackberry pie. I could hear the faint sound of my parents and grandparents as they laughed and teased each other while playing euchre. I could hear the sound of a card being slammed to the table top to accent the unspoken aggression of a winning trump. The darkness consumed the room except for a crack in the door that shielded most of the action. The light from the fire place fought a losing battle to light the darkened room and I watched as the last of the Indians settle down for the night. The logs fell into crumbled charcoal bits and glowed each time they caught air. I felt my eyes begin to flicker and watched as a granddaddy longlegs scaled the massive stone wall to the mantle that rested on the stones high above me. Finally, I felt the night take me over and knew that Christmas morning was just a few hours away. Back at the bunker totally oblivious to the Koreans I had found comfort, warmth and love in an Indiana memory that lasted no more than a few minutes, Yet, kept me warm and happy for hours. The day after Christmas I returned back to the rear. There I found a package on my bunk that some one had put together for me, to this day I don’t know who. Inside was a tiny Christmas tree with lights and cookies. I put up my gear and took a shower and began to eat my cookies. The little tree twinkled in the darkness of my room and I thought this wasn’t a bad Christmas after all.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.