Dreamland

Walking on Broken Glass

I'm young again in dreamland tonight, maybe early twenties. I'm wearing khaki shorts and a camo t-shirt, standing alongside several other guys, chest deep in the warm water of a muddy river pool...

There's a stocky Nordic-looking drill sergeant also standing in the water, facing us. "OK men, we got a job to do!" he barks out.

He reaches down into the water and pulls out a broken beer bottle, hold it up for all of us to see. "This here swimming hole is full of busted glass! It's our job to clear it all out!"

He throws the cracked bottle towards a trash can on the shore, misses and hits a rock, sending glass spraying onto the beach. "Meyers, pick that up!" he says, pointing to the man closest to the glass.

"OK, men, get to work! And if your aim ain't any better than mine, you'd best get close enough before you throw to make sure you put it in the barrel!"

"Yes Sir!" we all respond, as we get to work pulling glass out of the mud.

The sergeant wouldn't let us wear our boots in the water, and we don't have gloves on, so we're all trying not to cut our hands or feet on the glass. But after a while it's hopeless; we're all getting these bad cuts on our feet from stepping on the glass buried underwater in the mud. There's just so much glass! It seems like no matter how much we dig out of the mud there is always more underneath. And the skin on our hands is so soft from being in the water so long that it's impossible to avoid getting our fingers cut. And the mud is being ground into the cuts as we work. It hurts like hell, and we're all staring to complain.

"Men, we got a job to do, to make this place safe for the civilians, so they can wade in here, go fishing, and let their kids swim in here without getting cut on busted glass!" the sergeant says. "I got a few cuts on my fingers but you don't here me crying like a baby about it! I'm gonna stay right here and keep on working until we finish the job! Any of you pussies want to quit on me?"

"No Sir!" we reply.

"Alright then, get back to work!"