And it was with the front and stride of a soldier, facing the mystery, the ingratitude, the ignorance and hell of war, that he left his room and went down stairs to meet the evils in store.
His mother was not in the kitchen.

The door stood open.

He heard her outside talking to a neighbor woman, over the fence.
"-- Daren looks dreadful," his mother was saying in low voice.

"He could hardly walk....

It breaks my heart.