Read Eggplant Alley (9781593731410) for Free Online Page B

and nervous to think that the official, no-nonsense United States Army wording was directed at his big brother: “Will proceed … report no later than 0800 … for civilian air transport to MACV …” Nicky also snuck a look at the plane tickets that would ship Roy from New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Tan Son Nhut AFB in the Republic of Vietnam.
    Nicky thought, “Wow.” No one in the family had ever flown in an airplane.
    Nicky ran his fingertips along the green wool and brass buttons of Roy’s army uniform, stiff on a hanger behind the bedroom door. Nicky touched the area above the left pocket. “That’s where the medals go,” he thought.
    Later, as the sun set behind the aspirin factory, Mom happily put together Roy’s going-away meal (everyone was careful to not call it a last meal). As Mom cooked, Nicky read the Sunday comics on the floor and Dad watched the Yankee game. In these final moments of peace, the apartment smelled of frying eggplant.
    Roy marched into the living room, cleared his throat, and asked Dad if he had a minute. Nicky looked up from the comics. Nicky was still startled by Roy’s army-regulation haircut. The buzz cut made him resemble Roy from the old days. It was like going back in time, and Nicky was comforted by the sensation.
    â€œWhat is it?” Dad said, looking away from a bases-loaded rally by the Yankees.
    â€œI ain’t going.”
    â€œAin’t going where?”
    â€œYou know.”
    â€œNo, I don’t know.”
    â€œTo Vietnam.”
    â€œSome joke.”
    Roy said, in a tone of voice straight out of big moments in black-and-white movies, “This is no joke.”
    Dad slid forward in his easy chair. He nearly slid off the cushion.
    â€œWhat is this? A gag? So where do you think you’re going?”
    â€œTo Canada. I have it all planned out.”
    Dad said, “Planned?”
    Roy said he had given the matter a lot of thought. He said the war was clearly a big stupid mistake. He said he had no desire to get shot, blown up, burned alive, dismembered, disemboweled, or beheaded for a big stupid mistake.
    Dad said, “They didn’t ASK your opinion. They TOLD you to go.”
    â€œThis is an unjust war.”
    â€œDon’t give me that crap. What do you know of war?”
    â€œPlenty,” Roy said. “I know it’s rotten.”
    â€œOh. An expert.”
    â€œI took a walk through the VA hospital the other day. You should see.”
    â€œThe VA hospital?”
    â€œYeah. A friend. She knows a doctor there.”
    â€œOh. Oh-HO. I smell Margalo in this. I should have known.”
    â€œWhat does that matter?” Roy said. “I ain’t going. And you can’t make me.” He sounded like Roy at age nine, a boy refusing to eat beets.
    Dad said, “Sit down. Listen to me.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œSit.”
    â€œNo. I’ll stand.”
    â€œSit down.”
    â€œNo.”
    Dad stood. Roy sat on the couch.
    Dad sat in his chair.
    Roy stood.
    Dad stood.
    Roy sat.
    Mom entered the room with a wooden spoon, dripping tomato sauce onto the rug.
    â€œWhat in God’s name is going on?”
    Dad said, “Roy and me need to have a discussion. But we’re doing a jack-in-the-box thing instead.”
    â€œNicky,” Mom said. She crooked her forefinger. “Come with me. Roy. You sit and talk with your father.”
    Nicky and Mom listened from the kitchen table as Dad and Roy conducted their discussion. The discussion raged into nightfall.
    â€œYou will do your duty.”
    â€œI have an obligation to NOT go.”
    â€œAre you afraid? Is that it? Listen, we were afraid. We went.”
    â€œYou can’t even run your own life, I’ll be damned if you’ll run mine.”
    â€œIt’s that hippie girlfriend of yours, isn’t it? Am I right? That’s it, right?”
    â€œThis is my decision.”
    â€œYou