Soldier
Technically ,you’re dying every day. But unlike Mary Smith, you don’t usually realize it the second you open your eyes. Mary saw the harsh, grey stain on her pillow and it (understandably) set off alarm bells in her brain. ‘Discolored stains, especially near the face, are not often good,’ she thought, and rushed to the bathroom. She saw herself in the mirror and saw the black substance was coming from her mouth. Only a dribble, though apparently constant enough to stain her pillow fairly badly. So stunned was she that she didn’t realize her mother was pounding on the door until she burse and wielding a frying pan, ready to bash Mary’s head in. “Mary, what in God’s name is wrong with you? You KNOW I have to be at work by eight thirty, and here you are, hogging the bathroom like a spoiled brat! What have you got to say?” Mary waited for the sudden understanding, that thousand-yard-stare at the sight of her own daughter drooling black, oily poison and clearly close to death. ...
