Little ears listened intently to the “Big Man” tell his war stories at the dinner table.

About how bullets whizzing by you sound just like they do in the movies.
About how bullets sound frighteningly different when they get really close to you.
About sprinting up a hill to save some soldiers’ lives.

About other situations where the enemy died.

After the man left, little ears got a lecture on how grownups laugh when they would rather cry.

About how war isn’t funny at all.
About how our friend could have died or been injured.
About how the enemy is a person too.

Bill likes to say that soldiers pray harder for peace than anybody else.

I say, except for a soldier’s family.