Traveling Soldier

Alfred sat in the booth at the cafe. He was dressed in the army uniform. He'd be leaving later that same day. He looked everywhere, trying to memorize the entire place before he had to leave.

A waitress came up to him with his coffee, a girl he'd seen numerous times in the small town, though he hadn't gotten to know many. Alfred gave a shy thanks as she set the cup on the table. She smiled, a bow holding her hair away from her face.

"Would you mind sitting with me?" he asked.

"Not a good day," she said.

"You could say that."

"I'm off in an hour. Meet me at the corner?"

Alfred nodded before she walked away with a small smile.

-

Natalia and Alfred sat at the end of the pier. "I know you probably have a boyfriend, but-"

"You asking?"

She saw his cheeks dusted in red before he shook his head.

"I don't got anyone to write to, and I was wondering if you'd mind if I write back here to you."

"I wouldn't mind at all." She gave him a small smile that he gladly returned.

She watched later as he went out of town, headed for the war.

-

"There's a letter for you."

Natalia looked up from her book. Her sister walked into the room, the mail in her hands.

"From California. Who's writing you from there?"

"Just someone."

Her sister handed Natalia the letter. She took it eagerly, carefully tearing the paper open.

"It's a soldier. Isn't it?"

She stopped for a moment.

"You never told me you had a boyfriend."

"I don't."

"Then, who's Alfred?"

"No one." She pulled the paper out of the envelope, unfolding it before holding it in front of herself to read. She smiled to herself as she read the letter. He hadn't left the country, yet. He was at a training camp in California. She remembered her own brother had gone to the same place.

She wrote back every letter. Soon they started to come from Vietnam. Natalia found herself thinking about Alfred more often. She looked forward to each letter that came.

"Natalia!"

She wrote down the last words before carefully folding the paper. "Yes? What is it?"

"We're going to meet someone," she shouted from the other room.

Natalia put her letter into an envelope that she had previously addressed. She stood from her seat and grabbed her jacket before joining her sister. "We have to stop at the Post Office."

Katyusha was waiting for her by the door. "That's fine. We should go now, though."

She nodded, quickly following her sister out of their home and down the street. After dropping Natalia's letter off at the Post Office, they both waited in town at a bus stop. While waiting, Natalia thought of Alfred. In his last letter, he had said he wouldn't be able to write for a while. She only hoped her letter would get to him.

"Who are we waiting for?"

Katyusha smiled. "You will see."

It was close to evening when they saw the bus finally slow to a stop in front of them. The sun painted the street with an orange hue in the spring evening.