they said

They said he was in a new land and that the battles were different now. He’s lost weight. Smiles less honestly. Blinks more. This wager of gossip tossed back and forth, back and forth. But it is hard to know of a battle not fought or even witnessed. What of the orders lost or misunderstood? Of cordite and burning flesh in the nostrils? Eardrum bursting concussions? Or even the history between, say, the Turks and the Greeks or the Serbs and Croats? None of these things, however, slows the wagging of tongues. And one thinks of little boys and the pleasure of kicking a football, or friend, for that matter. And of other little boys standing mute before turning away in the comfort of twos and threes. The view is different from the ground with blood in your mouth and dirt under your nails.