Taboo Temptations Contest

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Soldier Girl

He’s better looking than God—muscular, shirt off, waving it above his head. Dark skinned, dark all over, a Latino perhaps, sports a USMC tattoo on his left arm. Thick patches of black, curly hair sweat glistening.

Jim Morrison belts it out on the radio.

You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I were to say to you
Girl, we couldn’t get much higher

The Latino swivels over toward Sally. Her diaphragm contracts with excitement. “I’m a helicopter pilot,” he shouts. “The suicide missioner-aires.” His speech is slurred—his breathe like dirty yellow water in a tin can. “What-a-ya-say, blondie. Give me some nooky?”

Come on baby light my fire

“Shipping out tomorrow. Won’t be back but in a box.”

Pity for the Vietnam icons. Sally laughs at his drunken stupor. It is her first party—a rite of passage; her first reefer—perhaps her first nooky. The night is not over and it is hard to ignore pity.

The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And out love become a funeral pyre

Buffed up little boys with orders in their pockets, exercise their right to exercise fear and courage in the same dirty breath. Nineteen years old, all of them, cut-lose, boot camp graduates, manned up for battle, boozed up for the ladies.

Colt 45’s are passed around. Beer tabs pop. Suds spill and spray. Sally passes. Can’t go home smelling like booze. She is at a study group. Must be home by midnight. Midnight does not mean 12:01—it means midnight. Harsh penalties for disobeying the tick of a clock.

“As long as you live in this house…
as long as you live under my roof…
as long as I pay the bills…
as long as I have breath left in me…”

Freedom comes to the courageous. The Latino braves his innocence. Sally quivers below the diaphragm.

“Let’s go outside, baby. It’s hot in here.”

Hot is waiting for judgment day. Hot are footsteps in the night. Stomach acid is hot. Migraines are hot. Hot is the temperature of fear.

Pop and fizzle the bitter, strong, neutralizer of acid—her first beer.

Come on baby light my fire!
Come on baby light my fire!
Come on baby light my fire!

Hot is forgetting. Hot is melting. Hot is 12:01 am. Fire is Hot.