I left Mike with the Carters and walked out into the entry hall and toward the open front door to call the base on my mobile phone. Outside, the old men we had seen were standing in the front yard under a big hickory tree wrapped with a fading yellow ribbon, along with a small group of neighbors, some of them smoking, the lot of them looking back and forth between themselves and the door. I started to duck back into the house, but they’d already seen me. So I stepped out onto the sidewalk and removed my mobile phone from my uniform jacket pocket. One of the old men shuffled over.

“Afternoon, sir,” I said.

“You boys drive over from Fort Campbell?” the old man asked.

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Served there myself, a long time ago. Airborne,” he said, pointing to the patch on the shoulder of my uniform. “Hundred and first. ’Nam. Three tours.”

“My father was in ’Nam.”

“He must be proud of you.”

“He didn’t make it back, I’m afraid,” I said. “I never knew him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. All the same, I know he’s watching.”

The man tilted his head and pointed to the sky.

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Is it Cody?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“What happened?”

“I can’t say, sir.”

“Understood,” the man said. “How they holdin’ up?”

“As well as anyone could,” I said. “Better than most.”

“They’re good people,” the old man said. “Some of the best I know. Cody was a good boy. He’s a big deal to the kids around here. Wrestled over at Sacred Heart. State champ his senior year at one thirty. Little fireplug. He wasn’t the strongest or the fastest, but, boy, he just kept coming. Made the other guy want to quit. I bet he was a good soldier.”

Was Cody Carter a good soldier? For all I knew, he’d been an absolute shithead; unlikely, given what I’d seen of his life thus far, but, God knows, the Army was full of them. It didn’t really matter anymore. He was a hero now.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said. “I need to take care of some arrangements for the Carters.”

“Beg your pardon.”

“No need to apologize,” I said. “Thank you for speaking with me, sir.”

“You tell Pete and Martha we’re here for them when they’re ready,” the old man said.

I nodded. The old man straightened his back as if standing at attention and held his hand out for me to shake. I knew what was coming.

“Thank you for your service,” he said.