Home Again in My Dress Blues

Able comes to his home town in on leave for the 2nd time

I came home in my dress blues again. Everything was so very, the same.

The front isn’t locked. The only thing hampering potential intruders was the clutter from flea market goods and souvenirs from raising children and animals alike.  It’s so dark of course, to find the light switch could prove more precarious than its worth.  “Just shuffle forward. Follow tour instincts.” I feel the wind's radiation though the walls. The cold air reaches out like pointy fingers probing for body heat to covet in their palm, pull it away dispersing it to entropy.  A trail of warmth and newspapers on the floor led me to the wood stove. The hot wood stove left long black suit streaks on the wall behind resembling a small explosion.  I trip over a dog laying by the stove that has decided that the opportunity cost of finding a new comfortable place to sleep far outweighed the risk of being stepped on

The laundry room has water on the deck soaking the already soiled clothes on the floor.  This room must have been above 32^Farenheit.  The smell of dog and rotten wood is,  I don't want to say it........, it is hard to look at. "Thank god its winter" I think for the first time in ten minutes. The steps groan for mercy as I tread up to my mother’s room. 

She wakes up halfway and tells me how handsome I look in my uniform just as she did 2 years ago when came home.  My uniform is the same except it has a few more chevrons, a few more ribbons.

I came home in my dress blues again, and everything was the same, except this time I gave my Mom a hug

Author's Note

"Dress Blues" are the formal dress uniform that's true color is really closer to black. A "sailor" outfit in this case for enlisted personnel. It is the uniform of the classic cartoon figure on the Crackerjacks snack popcorn.