Reply #54: I Was Ten [View All]

[Forrest Greene]

...years old. They told us in school that he had been shot, but not that he was dead. I remember imagining one of the harmless TV wounds to the left shoulder like they all got on "Combat" & "The Gallant Men." The school bus, normally a scene of utter chaos, was completely silent & still. My sister came over with her kids, & I played in the yard with them. I remember thinking that, as the oldest kid, I had a responsibility to keep them occupied & not bother the grownups. I also remember not changing out of my school clothes into blue jeans.

Some years later, my brother, a firefighter & Red Cross worker, gave me an emergency blanket, something to keep in the trunk of the car in case of getting stuck in a blizzard overnight. It was sealed in a plastic bag, & marked with the date of its having been cleaned & wrapped: 11.23.63. I could never look at that blanket without feeling somber & knowing for certain what the person who wrapped it had had on their mind as they worked.