dario on Nostr: “Still trying to get all our men to check in," the lieutenant says, “Having a ...

“Still trying to get all our men to check in," the lieutenant says, “Having a little radio trouble, I guess."

Uncle Enzo puts one arm around the lieutenants shoulders. “Let me tell you a story, son. From the first moment I saw you, I hought you seemed familiar. Finally I realized that you remind me of someone I used to know: a lieutenant who was my commanding officer, for a while, in Vietnam.”

The lieutenant is thrilled. "Really?"

“Yes. He was young, bright, ambitious, well educated. And well meaning. But he had certain deficiencies. He had a stubborn inability to grasp the fundamentals of our situation over there. A sort of mental block, if you will, that caused those of us who were serving under him to experience the most intense kind of frustration. It was touch and go for a while, son, I don't mind telling you that"

"How did it work out, Uncle Enzo?"

"It worked out fine. You see, one day, I took it upon myself to shoot him in the back of the head."

The lieutenants eyes get very big, and his face seems paralyzed.

Uncle Enzo has no sympathy for him at all: if he screws this up, people could die.

-Snow Crash