Blindsided

His tattered suit hanging from the hook in the diner, he closes the door and slumps into his chair.

Closing his weary eyes he wipes the grime off his face with his hand.

A glass is thrust at him, filled with golden heat.

He opens his eyes to see the soldier waving the bottle around

Figured you'd need a hand at this recovery business grunted the other

How'd you guess?

Its not hard really, any seasoned pro could see you let your guard down.

For good reason Boots, we were after all invited in for negotiations.

Well, guess who was right?

Silence as the seated man takes a long hard swallow.

So where do we go from here Soldier?

Why don't you just rest up first? We'll figure that out later

The man closes his eyes and falls asleep moments later.

2 down and one to go, thought the soldier to himself as he returned to his lonely vigil.

How many more times must we fall, before we reach that distant shore?