In the middle of the war field he was hiding next to a tree. Bullets were passing Jason: some came close. He was trying to be safe, but fight at the same time. For a moment he thought about his family, the wonderful time he would have if he was there. Spending time with his 6 month old baby girl, hearing his 6 year old son complaining about the Christmas gift he received. Suddenly Jason felt something on his legs: it was like a pencil stabbing him: not that sharp and not that long, but really thick and painful. Then he realized that was a bullet on his legs. He couldn’t move a bit: he sat down waiting for someone to pass by him so he can yell help. He looked for someone, he saw someone throwing a black round ball at him: that’s the last thing he could remember before he passed out.

Jason woke up smelling medicine, hearing doctors yelling at nurses to get the medicine. Then he saw a nurse waiting for him to wake up; he wanted to wet his lips, but he didn’t have any water to wet his lips. He asked the nurse for some water; however. he couldn’t finish saying it. The nurse gave him some water and ran off to call the doctor. The doctor came into his room which was separated from an other room by some dirty old cloth. The doctor asked him to sign a paper; he tried to read the paper, but it was too blurry. He asked the doctor what it was. The doctor answered Jason, “It’s a permission paper to amputate your leg from the knee down”. The doctor continued, “We have to cut it off or you might lose your life”. He signed the paper because he wanted to see his family, with or without a leg. The doctor told the nurse to bring him to the operation room.
After four hours of surgery, Jason was still unconscious. The doctors were waiting for him to wake up. Then slowly he woke up, squeaking his eyes, horrified: he didn’t want to look at his legs. He was in pain, but it didn’t matter to him because he didn’t want any of his family members to feel bad for him.

At the same time in New York,
Jason’s family was preparing for Christmas, and then Jason’s wife, Susan, heard the phone ring. Susan got the feeling that it is her husband calling her. She ran up to the phone and said “Hello?” but it wasn’t Jason; it was the doctor who was calling. The doctor told her everything that happened to Jason. Susan was shocked, but her face didn’t show any emotion; she just stood still and tears drops came down from her eyes. Susan’s brother, George saw her crying and took the phone from her. George was Jason’s best friend. When George heard the news, he didn’t know what to say. He was just as shocked as Susan. George hung up the phone and tried to calm Susan down. He was scared of her because she wasn’t showing any emotion: she was just still and didn’t know what to do. Susan said to George, “I am not the one who you should be helping now. It’s Jason who you should help”. George said we can’t do anything until his wound is healed, and they had to wait until he comes here. Susan was really depressed and didn’t know what to do or what to say to her kids. Susan didn’t tell the kids anything, and she acted like nothing had happened.

Weeks went by,

Susan was feeling better and realized that wasn’t not going to be the same, and she would have to adjust to it. She decided to write a letter to Jason. She wanted to write a lot, but she didn’t know how to start or finish. She wrote everything that came to her mind. She closed the envelope, tears started pouring down.
After a week Jason got the letter from Susan, he was happy but cheerless at the same time. He read it slowly and quietly, the only way he could.

“Coming home won’t be like the last time,
Or hearing that you are hurt
Make me wonder what this is for
Is there any point losing your life there?

Even if you are back from there,
Are you going to be the same?
Seeing you without a limb is like-
Its like am I paralyzed

It doesn’t matter how you are-
Come back home as fast as you can.”

After reading the poem he was relaxed but didn’t know what to do; he wanted to hear the war was over, but he didn’t know how much time he have to wait for it to end.

He was waiting for it, and he is still waiting for it.