Your War, My War

| Chapter XI |

I huffed, as I read over the paper. I nearly cried over it. The young soldier looked up at me. 

"What's your name?" He asked. "I'm Oscar."

"Silas." I answered.

"Ooo, nice name." He compliments. 

I lightly smile as a result. 

"You done?" He asks. I nod. He gets up, and gestures me to follow, but pauses. "How old are you? You seem shy to be any older than me."

"By right, we should all be eighteen or above." I told him. He rubbed the nape of his neck. "I'm twenty, at least."

"We'll pretend I'm eighteen. The military needs to stop pretending like they don't need men anyway."

I chuckled. We walked over to a drop-off type of section, then went on our way, back to the spot behind the tent. Under the box was a box of cards. They were worn, but they were still cards. As long as you can still read the numbers and they aren't missing anything, it was still usable. 

"Whatchu feeling?" He asks, taking the cards from the broken box and shuffling them. 

"Nothing in particular, what can you play?"

"Rummy, Blackjack, Spades." He answers. "You know how to play any of those? If not, there's also War, Spit and Spoons. If not any of those I can teach you something."

"We can play Spit." I decide. "Something simple."

"Simple?!" He exclaims. "Nothing's simple 'round here. We are going all in, full thrust." He says, demonstrating his shuffling skills. "Also, don't take it to heart if I become very competitive."

He deals the cards, twenty-six cards for each person. We set up the cards in their piles, before flipping the top card of each pile. 

"May the best man win."

The cards moved and flipped from pile to pile. The box we were playing on moved slightly due to the uneven terrain. Finally, the moment came when we had to slap the smaller of piles. Oscar was close but didn't make it in time. 

"Eh-Uhm, my hand slipped. I would have totally gotten that, I was just warming up." He said, creating excuses. 

I nodded sarcastically, shuffling the small pile I had rightfully won. 

"You're older than me, your bond to have more knowledge anyway."

He shuffled along his larger pile. The game went on with him verbal interjections and laughing to the point where he was crying. The game had become playfully tense and we could do was laugh at our frantic movements. When the game was over, it was evident Oscar had lost, but he hugged his stomach as he laughed hard. His laughter caused me to chuckle. We basked in the feeling, letting out troubles pass us by. We pretended that everything was normal, and it was just another day. 

We played a few more rounds, before it changing to spades. 

"I'm definitely winning this. Back at home, they call me the Spade Champion."

The chaos continued, the makeshift table being banged and hit. The day was truly heading into night, and just then, Oscar had won. 

"All right! Boom baby! What did I tell you?!"

"Good game." I say, packing up the cards, placing them in the center of the table. 

"Ah, I'm all done. I'm getting at least an hour of sleep. I'd be happy with thirty minutes, at least." He said, leaning his back against the box and repositioning himself to face me better.