The Sport

The Sport

“It’s great sport!”
“It’s not and it shouldn’t be.” Said the small older man.
“To me it is great sport.”
“To you maybe, but for me it is not.”
“Are you not good at it?”
“I am good, very good, but I wish that I did not know that. And I wish that you did not think it is great sport.” The older man was offended and could not hide it very well.
“If you are good at it you should enjoy it and think of it as sport.”
“I won’t and you will never change that. I am older and I will never change anymore. This is no kind of sport, this is necessary and that is all.” He hoped the boy would stop talking; it was no sort of time for conversation.
“If I must do this I will enjoy it. It makes it much easier that way.”
“This should never be easy for anyone and you offend me with your coldness!”
The older man was almost shouting and that was a very bad idea. Neither man wished to be heard and found so the younger man stopped talking.
A moment later they started to come over the wall the boy and the older man had been watching. The two men lifted their rifles and put the sights to the other men gathering on this side of the wall. It was a dangerous place to cross so they were crouching and lining up against the wall. When it seemed they had all crossed in, the two men opened fire and indeed they were both very good. All the soldiers died without ever knowing where the bullets had come from, which is the way most soldiers die in war.