Most men were afraid in combat; he was more curious than anything else. It was like a lesson in geography when he marched northward never faltering or wondering what he was fighting about. He knew.

It happened after they secured a village and halted until they were ordered to go on farther north into North Korea, an order that never came.

For the first time since he joined, he began to wonder. That was after a telegram notified him of the birth of a daughter he could not of fathered.

Alone on guard duty, he saw her. Morning Dawn, fair as a lily in bloom. Soft. Pliable. Dainty, she was like the blossoms along the way. Desirable‑ he wanted her.

She approached him while he made a patrol around the village. Her people needed food. He waited until after another guard relieved him. Then he went back with a leg of lamb he paid five dollars for from a cook who knew no one would miss what he sold, or cared if they found out.

He approached the house with the stained‑glass windows with great caution. Some of the other men were killed on similar errands. He knew he was not on a mercy mission. May Sue could do it, by God, he could, also.

They met outside in the small courtyard away from her father and mother. There is only one universal word understood by all people all over the world, and it is the word 'copulation'. They did not do it their first meeting, but the second.