The sun had just come up when Ray put on his old green coat.
He moved slowly. His knees hurt.
They always hurt now.
But he never missed this day. Not once in forty years.
He picked up the single white flower from the table. He had bought it the night before, just like always.
His wife, Ellen, watched him from the kitchen door. She did not say a word.
She knew where he was going. She never asked to come along.
Ray walked down the quiet street. The town was still asleep.
The memorial park was only ten minutes away. It felt longer every year.
He stopped at the iron gate and looked up at the tall stone wall. Names were carved deep into it.
He walked to the same spot. Third row.
Seven names from the left.
He ran his finger over the letters. T-O-M-M-Y.
H-A-R-P-E-R.
Ray closed his eyes. He could still hear Tommy’s laugh.
It was the loudest laugh he had ever known.
They had grown up on the same street. They had joined up on the same day.
Tommy was twenty-two when he died. He saved Ray’s life doing it.
Ray never forgot that. He never would.
He set the white flower down at the base of the wall. He stood straight, the way soldiers do.
He said three words out loud. “I remember you.”
A small boy came through the gate with his mother. He stared at the old man in the green coat.
“Mom, why is that man talking to the wall?” the boy asked.
The mother pulled him close. “He’s not talking to the wall, baby,” she said softly.
“He’s talking to a friend.”
Ray heard this. He smiled a little, just to himself.
He stood there a while longer. The wind moved through the trees.
Leaves fell around his feet.
Then he turned and walked back home. Slowly.
Carefully.
Ellen had made tea. She set a cup in front of him without a word.
He sat down and wrapped his hands around the warm cup. He felt a little lighter now.
He always did, after visiting Tommy.
Some people asked Ray why he still went. He was old.
The war was long over.
“Because he would have done it for me,” Ray always said. “And that’s enough reason.”
Next year, on the same morning, Ray would put on his green coat again.
He would buy one white flower. He would walk to the third row, seven names from the left.
And he would say those same three words. Every single time.