HEADS WIN, YOU LOSE

I can't believe I'm standing here. Right here. In the middle of Times Square. This was not how I pictured myself at this time last year. And now it's come down to this? 

It feels like I'm on a game show waiting for the final toss to win the grand prize or at the start of a football game where the winner begins the count to the first touchdown. I made a deal with the devil, and it looks like this will be the final call. Will the devil win? I hope luck is my favorite tune right now more than ever. Never in my life did I have to make a choice so intense. This is just not right, but I got myself here and I can't go back because I'll be shot dead or else disappear in a clever way never to be heard from again. Tinker, tailor, cowboy, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Who will I be? This game is the way the gang decides how the next ambush, selective raid or planned operation will begin. I have to play, no questions. 

The cards were played out in a circle. No one was around as it was midnight. The First Night celebration hosting tons of people, fireworks and an overload of paparazzi, happened days ago and all was clear. We had the area to ourselves and now the moment was here. I was roped in, in a way that made me question who my real friend was. A friend, especially someone you went into war battles with and had your back more times than not, does not become that friend to coerce you to lie, cheat, or steal unless something was going down, big time. My buddy, Bungie, was in a place he couldn't get out of and got hooked up with others who he could not shake loose. The wad of dough he borrowed to get back to even, was a bad choice. Since he fell on hard times the options were hard to come by. I offered to help him somehow with his dilemma but not in the way he wanted. 

The story began one night over a cup of coffee. We met to finally catch up on stuff since it had been quite some time that we last saw each other. I knew Bungie from the days back in the Marine Corps. He and I served in the same platoon for three years during the war. Our tactical unit had its time in combat and now our time was up, and our war time was over and behind us. Sort of. It seemed only a moment ago. Thankfully we survived in the Nine Dragon River Delta aka Mekong Delta. Times were rough but 'we lived to tell the tale', as they say. And now tonight he was coming from one side of the city and I from the other. Heading out from the brownstone I lived at, always led to someone passing by asking for a handout. Enough. Get a job. Do something with your free time, buddy. I could always sense who had the strongest need, yet he wasn't one of us. That person I would help in a heartbeat. No question.

Walking on, my shoes just echoed with a rhythm in the quiet air of the neighborhood. I was fortunate to live where I did, work from home and to get out and about to do my thing which is night walking. It always brought me back to operative moments which was good in a way. I took the long way to meet Bungie. The coffee shop was in the busy part of the city but at this hour the foot traffic was slow. The doorbell jingled as I walked in and saw Bungie give me a nod to the stool nearest him. We fist bumped and began to talk like we were college roomies. We laughed and quietly shared some 'remember when' stories. Coffee was poured and the theme shifted, and we immediately delved into the conversation that brought us together.

"Thanks for meeting tonight." Bungie began with some trepidation. "Can't believe it has to be sort of like under cover." I looked at him with a question mark. "What are you talking about?" Slowly, without hesitation, Bungie went over the past few months and the way he has spent money he doesn't have to spend. And how it has now led to being in with ones who are using him for a bigger gain. He went to the wrong one for a favor and now it's 'do or die', in a sense. "I was working in the warehouse at the shipyard trying to get by." He confessed to stumbling hard when his girlfriend left him at the loading dock. "You know my girlfriend ditched me to move to some island with James Bond." The way he portrayed his girlfriend getting on a private yacht with someone who looked like this well-known character was like a scene out of a movie. I wanted to laugh but it wasn't what he needed right now. 

"Okay, so how can I help?" I questioned him but not quite understanding the real reason for our meet up. He admitted to having to be in the next raid the gang was planning. "They are not playing nice, and I told them I'm not in unless there's another player. And that is you." Bungie confessed that he played me up to be the best of the best in scams. "I brazenly talked about something we did that was a total lie, but it was enough that they believed me." It was a war memory from their time in the jungle and right on point. Bungie was mortified that it had come to this when he said how the scheme was to be played. 

"Tomorrow night. Midnight" I stared at him for the longest time as my brain flooded with 'what ifs'. I could not let him fall so I said, "Let's do this."

Here we are in Times Square standing around like idiots. It was Bungie and I and four others with hats on, hoods hiding faces, no small talk. The plan was for me to be the guinea pig and play a role that was to be decided in a few minutes. The boss of the gang came right to the point. "You. Stand here." He pointed to a spot where there were these random cards played out each with a character of a kid's game I remember playing in the neighborhood. What are we - back in time now playing an updated version of this game? Tinker, tailor, cowboy, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. He took a coin from his pocket, showed it to me and said, "Heads I win, Tails you lose." The coin was flipped in the air, I held my breath, it landed heads up on the card showing a tinker. Everyone laughed and clapped. What the hell just happened?

The gang leader took his hood off and approached with his hand outstretched. I hesitantly shook it and then the real story unfolded. "Good evening to you sir! I am Captain Lerue, US Special Forces platoon leader and head of this unique moment." As my jaw went slack, he went on to explain the charade that was pulled on me as my good friend, Bungie was the instigator. I looked to my friend, and he gave me the cheesiest grin. It happened that a NATO mission was unfolding, and they were needing a band of merry men to join up and work together. The code names were chosen, and the rest is up to one and all. "We are asking for you to reenlist for this vital mission. You were chosen as one in a small inventory that has the right skills. So, Mr. Tinker the United States would be honored with your service once again. You must also acquire the necessary skills to be a top-notch tinker. That comes with the position you are now vetted into."

I stood just shaking my head and looked up. The universe was telling me something and without hesitation I answered Captain Lerue with a determined salute and a hearty, "OORAH!"