Selene Slocum-Lofton, out of the corner of her eye, could see that the mood of her fiancee had changed a lot owing to the non-incident at the Commager Mall. John Worley at 75 was rarely somber, but what he had said about not understanding why people wanted to reenact war when the world needed actions of peace had showed her a different side of him.
Mrs. Slocum-Lofton stayed quiet. She knew he had more to say.
“Like your grandson and your first husband, I'm a veteran,” he said, “but I'm a veteran of Vietnam, the first war since the Civil War when a Southern man came home without victory. That wasn't the issue for me, though. I'm fairly self-contained; I did what my country required me to do and if people didn't understand, they didn't understand. I was blessed also to have not seen heavy combat; I was assigned to support and rescue duties.
“Henry and I [Captain Henry F. Lee, Mrs. Slocum-Lofton's grandson] talk about long wars and the worst part for us: at least in the military, if you go down, somebody is coming to get you. Even the play they are doing is really about old General Lofton, knowing he was a goner any way, switching to support and rescue at Saunders Field. This world and this time in which we live out here? No such blessing as that for men especially. If you can't make it out here, nobody is coming to get you. Too many of my fellow vets are still on the streets. Too many men have done the things the country and this society have asked them to do, and are still falling through the cracks.
“Talk about a massive security danger! We've had almost 30 years of war and financial crises every 10-12 years – we are breaking men and their families and breaking men from their families left and right. This doesn't make for peace in the society.
“Henry and I talk all the time about how we are blessed to have the support networks we need, but that isn't the case for a lot of our fellow vets – heck, let a man go through a big divorce and he may fall into poverty and find no help. Lieutenant Dobson is a wannabe domestic terrorist that of course Henry had to take down, but there's a story behind even a case like that – there are so many men edging in that direction because of the situations they don't see a way out of. That's part of the reason a bunch of communities are not safe: if men don't feel that they can provide for and protect themselves first, no one else is going to be safe.”
Mr. Worley paused for a moment.
“So, you've seen what I do for all those adorable young people in my mentorship programs, and you know my children who really are running everything there. I recognize that I am 75 and about done; I just start stuff and drag other people into it nowadays. But that's easy: young people are cute and adorable. Want to see some of my real and personal work, though?”
“John, now you know I am that one sheltered Southern grande dame that is up for anything and everything.”
He smiled again at last, and Mrs. Slocum-Lofton realized how much he had lit up what she had not known was dark in her world in just the three months they had known each other.
“Yeah,” he said, “and that's why you're the one woman in the car, my silver stunner sweetheart. You're gorgeous, but what makes you superfine is your courage.”