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The Toy Soldier
i wrote this like 2 years ago, sorry if its choppy
Mama always said i was lucky to have papa. Everyday he gets up early in the mornin', you know when you wake up and it isn't quite light out yet so you sit up in bed until you hear someone wake up. Papa makes breakfast and something icky thats black like dirt and tastes bitter. Mama says she needs it to wake up with the day. Then he would always put on his black jacket and his checkered tie and he would go to work.
One day Papa didnt put on his red checker tie or black jacket, instead he had a tan suit with a funny looking hat with an eagle on the front, it sorta looked like the toy soldiers my Papa had given me when I turned 5. On the night before school ened Papa woke me up. He said he had to go to another country called F-rance, and fight some bad men. He said that I was man of the house now and that he would always be proud of me no matter what. That scared me.
We get letters from Papa alot telling us all about the boat ride to England and how tommorow he would be going on a smaller boat to France. I overheard Mama talking on the phone about the war in Europe and how she hoped Papa wasn't injured or worse. I dont know what could be worse than getting injured in another country, but i guess she could have meant getting lost and not knowing french or something. I had learned to read a little since Papa left and sometimes Mama let me read his letters with her. I missed Papa alot, and it seemed he had been away for a long time . I asked Mama one time when he was coming home, all she said was,
"Your Papa will come home when the war is over."
It was my birthday again and in school my 1st grade teacher let us sing. When Mama picked me up from school she was very happy. She said that Papa had written us again and that he said he was going to be coming home in 3 weeks. All hat week I waited for Papa on the front steps. He was finally coming home.
One day a man in another tan suit came to the dorr and gave Mama a peice of mail. I went to my room to set up my toy soldiers so when papa came home we could play. Suddenly I heard a scream. I ran into the kitchen and I saw Mama sitting on the ground crying. I went up and started to hug her to get her to stop cause it was scaring me. She just kept saying, "No god no!" I saw the peice of paper on the ground. I tried to read it but all i could see was the top. It said US Army.
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"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."
-Gene Fowler
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