I may have read too much Amy Hempel that I start to tell too many animal stories about my ongoing military service.
But you can't shut your mouth up especially when you suffocate a lizard with your ass, you know.
* * *
On the main road in the barracks, there are some signs along the way. Most of them are inspirational or motivational mottos and quotes. My favorite is:
"This road is being walked by the bravest people in the world: Our soldiers."
I instantly remembered this aphorism in the moment that I saw the lizard, dying in agony. It had sneaked under my back while I was lying down, reading a book in my bed. I noticed the beast, which was so big that I thought it was a snake at first, and almost screamed. It got stuck underneath and suffocated there.
* * *
The scene was a tragedy for an animal, but an epiphany for a human. I may initially be scared a bit, but then I felt happy to see that I was still not among the bravest people in the world.
Thinking that I'm too old for the military to change my character, I threw away the dead lizard to the grassland with other humane emotions like sadness and regret. Meanwhile , I was unwittingly singing the March of the Turkish Infantry:
"As long as this passion
That spurs us boils within
We will remain as a constellation
Shining above the battlefield."
