The Long Hot Summer Day

Our foxhole was dug in the residential perimeter of the area we were supposed to protect. The spot was chosen in a small patch of forest between four local homes. Apparently, there had been some civil unrest in the recent past. My fellow private, Robert Gonzalez and I, spent the past two months of this incredibly hot summer keeping watch to look out for any local guerillas. In the blazing summer heat, we had spent a lot of time there and had confronted the enemy only a handful of times. We had killed a few of them and came out with only minor injuries. Lucky, I guess. Rob and I had also gotten to know each other pretty well from the time spent in such close quarters. We had dug the three feet by four-foot foxhole ourselves knowing that we would spend a lot of time there but also know that if we made it too large and comfortable we could easily be spotted or get too lazy and complacent on our watches.

“Did you fart again?” I asked Rob while waving my hand in front of my face. “Wasn’t me.”

“Sorry, must have been me,” I said while laughing at my own joke.

I knew Rob well enough to know that fart jokes didn’t bother him. He was a clean-cut kid, with dark hair, dark eyes, and Cuban descent. He had a pretty good build, quick on his feet and very intelligent. Great qualities to have in a person fighting along your side. Sometimes when we were bored on our watch, he would come up with some great scenarios and would question me with what I would do in different situations. Sort of like a dungeon master playing Dungeons and Dragons.

It was strange when I first met him because it turned out we were both half Hispanic, liked video games and liked the same movies. We even preferred to carry the same weapons – a large, Rambo type survival knife on our left hip, a Colt pistol snugly strapped in a holster on our right hip. The only exception was, I like to carry a .50 caliber sniper rifle (of course, being a sniper) and he preferred a 9 mm Uzi submachine gun. He always claimed you can get off more rounds per second with the Uzi. I always

retorted that if he had any aim, he wouldn’t need to fire so many rounds. Our relationship was close enough that I could give him that kind of ribbing without any worry of him getting upset enough that it turns into a chest swelling, macho pissing match.

“Did you hear that?” Rob asked as he quickly grabbed his weapon and searched the area.

I knew better than to respond to that with a yes or no. Based on Rob’s experience and ability as a soldier I knew if he heard something, just shut up and listen. I quickly mimicked Rob by grabbing my weapon and crouching down so not to be seen. Through repetition of doing this motion so many times over the past two months, I immediately scanned the left side, then front, him the right, then the front. We rarely checked behind us because we strategically dug our hole where our backs would be safe. We waited patiently for a while listening for any more noise before moving.

“Probably a fucking rabbit” I finally said. “Probably.”

Rob then sat back in a comfortable position, unstrapped his survival knife and grabbed a nearby stick to whittle. His quietness reminded me that we shouldn’t goof around so much and take our mission a little more serious.

“If it were a rabbit, I hope it gets close enough so I can get some real food” Rob grumbled as he whittled

his stick to a point.

His tone made me feel more at ease, so I finally decided to relax and lower myself onto the small lump of mud I had tried to form in order to make the hole a little more comfortable.

“Think anything will happen today?” I asked hoping he would be as eager as I was to see something

instead of sitting here wasting our time.

“If it does it will happen by nightfall.”

The day seemed to pass quickly as we watched the humid burning sunlight turn into a cool, hazy dusk. The hole was almost unbearable when the night came due to the amount of mosquitoes in the forest during the last of the summer months.

“Not too much longer before the mission ends,” Rob said to remind me that we only had one week to go before being shipped off for continuing education.

“I know,” I responded with dread in my voice.

At that moment we both shot up to take notice of the two bright headlights that turned towards us approximately one hundred yards away.

“Grab your weapon and take the left flank, I’ll go right,” Rob hurriedly said as he switched the safety on

his Uzi.

We both darted out of the foxhole in opposite directions as we alertly checked our areas and awkwardly positioned ourselves to not be seen. The nearest cover I could find was some thick brush created by a bush about four feet high hanging with small red berries. I wanted to yell to see where my partner went but knew doing so would definitely lead to capture. I patiently hid while the sweat poured from all over my body and my heart raced. The sweat only made the mosquitoes ten times more irritating, which made the whole situation that much worse. I couldn’t stand it any longer and forced myself to whisper.

“Rob, where are you?”

“Over here about forty yards to your left.”

I looked over but couldn’t see Rob’s sun burnt face anywhere. Just then I heard the slow creak of a door and looked to see a short, bald man exit from his vehicle and walk toward the door of one of the residential homes.

“Think he’s attacking?” I tried to whisper but had to be loud enough for Rob to hear. No response. At that point I began to worry. I was afraid to speak any louder out of fear. I was in a state of confusion, didn’t know where Rob was didn’t know the intentions of the short, bald man. I tried to position myself partly to get a clearer view and partly not to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. As I moved, I caught a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. I quickly reacted by twisting the upper torso of my body so I could see what was happening and have my sniper rifle ready at the same time. From there, everything seemed to be in slow motion. The short, bald man had already exited out of the back door of the home and was heading straight towards me. I tried to move further into the brush, but it was of no use, I had been spotted. Out of fear and adrenaline I finally tried a last resort and threw a grenade within the vicinity of the man. Amazingly, it just missed as he walked right past my last-ditch effort.

“Get out of the bushes, I see you in there,” the man said. I didn’t respond hoping the man was bluffing.

“Get out of there NOW!” the man repeated with authority.

I still tried to call his bluff and did not respond.

“Quit throwing pinecones at me and get in that house now! The dinner your Mom cooked is getting

cold and it’s already dark out.”

I knew it was over, so I just laid down my weapons and gave up.

“I gotta go Rob, my Dad says I gotta eat.”

“Alright, I better go too. I’ll give you a call tomorrow,” Rob said as he crawled out of the bushes and

headed towards the fence which separated our homes.

“Guns or swords tomorrow?” I yelled as he hopped the fence. “Let’s play guns again, that was pretty fun.”

“Alright, see ya.”

“Yeah, see ya tomorrow.”