The Fourth Sunrise by H. T. Night Page A

give up that information. Captain Jack was a gentleman and wouldn’t dare talk about anything personal except in an offhand way. He told me random, funny stories about Christine trying to fix the sprinklers or how their son used to run her into the ground when he was a baby.”
    Sharee smiled.
    “Like I said, the best part of my friendship with Captain Jack was that he had at least ten pictures of Christine and I didn’t have a single photo. I hadn’t seen her for so long, at times, I wondered if I could even remember what she looked like. But Captain Jack had a great collection of photos ranging from silly to very professional. There was one that was my absolute favorite. It was photo where Christine is wearing a white dress. Not a wedding dress, but she looked beautiful nonetheless. She was just smiling and facing the camera. It was exactly how I remembered her.”
    Sharee smiled. She was a good listener.
    “When I got my freak injury playing volleyball, I made sure I snagged that picture before I left Hanoi. Hobbled over to it and all. Captain probably expected it was me who took it, but there was no way I was leaving without one.” I paused. “So, that’s the story of me and Captain Jack.”
    “ Pretty remarkable. So that was it? You were able to get out of the war? Over a volleyball injury?” Sharee seemed a bit turned off that a volleyball injury ended my war career.
    “ There’s not much you can do with a leg that was shattered in four places,” I protested.
    “ But you were playing volleyball?”
    “ It was in wartime in a war zone.”
    “ But guys like Captain Jack were there to the end?”
    I paused and looked at Sharee. She must have had someone close die or get seriously hurt late in the war. I didn’t want to argue or assume, so I decided to back off and decided to say what we were both thinking. “I was lucky and unlucky. I got very lucky as it comes to war. As it came to my life, my leg getting shattered couldn’t have been worse. I was never able to play baseball again at a professional level. Not only was my baseball career shot, I couldn’t be a soldier anymore either, for better or for worse.”
    “War makes no sense to me.” Sharee was obviously disturbed by the concept of war in general. She decided to change the subject and I was happy to oblige. “Can I ask you a question?” Sharee asked.
    “ Of course.”
    “ Did you date other women before you were drafted?”
    “ That all depends on what your definition of dating is. Did I remain celibate in the hope that someday the love of my life would come back to me?
    “ I am curious if there were other women in your life?”
    “ Well, I am a man, after all, who played a professional sport. We might not have had major league type groupies, but we had our fair share. I didn’t get close to another woman for ten years, and eventually I knew I had to get over her.”
    “ Anyone serious?”
    “ No one too serious. There was a Latina woman I met while I was in Albuquerque. We took a liking to one another. She was a little bit older than me and we seemed to be able to make each other laugh.”
    “ Can I ask you a terribly personal question?” Sharee grinned.
    “ Sure, go ahead.” I was nervous to see where this was going.
    “ Were you a virgin the night you met Christine for the first time?”
    Then a split second after Sharee asked the question she said, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I asked that! You don’t have to answer that. I didn't realize how incredibly personal that sounded until it came out of my mouth.”
    I laughed. I looked at Sharee and gently smiled. “Yes, I was a virgin on that night.”
    “ You were?” Sharee looked at me with loving eyes. “That is so sweet. You were this big sexy jock who hadn’t experienced a woman yet. Wow, what a detail. Let me ask you this, Joel? Do you think Christine was a virgin on that night?”
    “ I doubt it. Especially, if she and her boyfriend, Captain Jack, were as close as