A Soldier's Lament

Chapter 5

Derek laid in a hospital bed with burns on his back and stitches in his arm. He was in some pain but not as much as a few hours ago, he had received a few letters from his mom and she even sent him a package of some fudge and cookies.
  "Aww thanks mom..." he thought to himself and smiled and took a cookie and ate it. He enjoyed the chocolate chip with coconut and walnut cookie that his mom made. She made the best sweets and always taught him how to make them as well. He missed home a lot and for his remainder of the time he served he only ever fought another time but there wasn't many U.S. casualties, he was shipped home a bit later after that battle.
End of flashback
  Derek now was asleep in his hospital bed now and little did he know a visitor came to see him. It was his ex wife Emily, she had some flowers and left them at his bedside and left. It was tulips which were his favorite, you see even as Exes they were on good terms with one another. She was a wonderful wife to Derek when they were together, they met in 1975...
Flashback to 1975
Derek has been home for about almost a year now from the war, he has been a little different but mostly normal. He moved from Vermillion to Youngstown and he kinda liked it there, the people were nice and it seemed fine, he met a nice woman who was his neighbor. She had him over for lunch on some days and they talked about family and he found out she had a sister who was a year younger than him and she was single.
"My sister Emily hasn't had great luck with men...she keeps going on some of these dates where they just leave her...it's just maddening..." Derek's neighbor sighed and and drank some tea
"Really? That's terrible...what does she look like?" Derek asked with interest
"Not much unlike you except she isn't purple...what is the deal with that anyway?" She asked as she looked at Derek's fur
"It's a little medical problem...but it's nothing of much concern...I just have a weird fur color..." he said and ate a bit of sandwich that she had made. They just sat in a bit of silence and ate a bit and drank some tea.
"What if I went out with Emily?" Derek asked
"You sure? If you wanna date her you better treat her right or I will make sure you can't produce kids anymore...got it?" She said looking at him with a serious tone
"Y-yes ma'am...I promise to treat her right."
"I will go give her a call then..." she got up and Derek felt a little weird but he never really had taken someone out on a date before...he never even had a girlfriend so he was nervous about this.
"Okay she is in...remember...be nice to her...or else..." she gave him another look
"I understand...I will take her out tomorrow...I will meet her at the local diner at 12pm." He gave a smile but he was still worried
"Mhmm...I will tell her..."
"I best head off...bye Mellisa..." Derek said and left to his apartment and headed to his bathroom and looked at himself shirtless in the mirror. He was a little chubby from very little rigorous exercise unlike in the military when he would wake up at 5am and exercise, he was still in good shape though. He went and gathered dirty clothes to wash and he went to the local laundromat after he put on a t-shirt. He saw a young but larger female bear there washing there clothes and he went over to her
"Hello miss" he said as he looked at her and noticed how she was taller than him by almost a foot. Derek was a pretty short bear standing at just only 5' 8, while most bears were 6 feet tall or sometimes 7.
"Oh hello..." she looked at him and smiled a bit
"I'm Derek..." he stretched his paw out for her to shake
"Oh you're the Derek my sister told me about...I didnt think you would be...this small...but you are kinda cute."
"Yeah...sorry if I am not as tall as you expected..." he turned to leave
"Oh no no no don't think that I still don't like you, you are still cute and I kinda like that your a bit smaller."
"Really?" He asked and looked up at her
"Yeah" she smiled at him
"Hehe well thanks...but if anyone is cute here it's you...I love your nails blue is a good color for you" he told her as he loaded his clothes into a washer
"Well aren't you very sweet" she smiled to him
"My mom would always tell me I'm as sweet as a strawberry."
"Well she isn't wrong." She got the last of her clothes out of the dryer and headed out and Derek smiled as she left. He knew that she would definitely be a pleasure to date.