_____________!!text v[ersu]s. romance

[enter narrator]
we stood and watched this little girl on the floor. she had her legs crossed the way only children can bend them and she sat straight-backed in the center of an empty room on the carpet, focused on the only object there; the television. the walls, blackened from the time of night, were illuminated with shades of red, yellows, and oranges. she did not speak, no, she didn't even acknowledge our presence. she just sat, focused on the explosions of colors from the television that penetrated her eyes and diffused into her brain. amidst all of the colors, a man appeared on the screen cracked from abuse. his voice, solemn and monotone said the four words that children should not have to hear, "we are at war." a message scrolled along the bottom of the blistered screen telling "two US soldiers killed overseas." the child still sat motionless on the grey carpet, hair piled on top of her head, held by a red ribbon that slid down her back as her entire frame began to shake and heeve up and down in violent but rhythmic and harmonious movement. as we walked towards her the girl's sobs became increasingly controlled and before i could reach out to put my hand on her shoulder, she spoke. "daddy?" / "no," we said. "i'm not your daddy." / "daddy said he'd be home for bedtime. he left carrying his uniform and a picture of mommy and me. he kissed mommy's wet cheeks and told her not to worry. daddy said he was going to protect us from the bad man. i waited for two weeks of bedtimes, but daddy never came home." / before we could process the words, she spoke again. / "mommy said she couldn't understand why. she said it wasn't fair. i didn't understand but mommy said 'this damned country and its damned ways.' mommy didn't tell me where she was going. she told me she was meant to be with daddy no matter where he was. mommy said she would see me when the angels came to bring us together as a family again. she turned on the car outside, i could hear it turn on. but she never even opened the garage." as we made sense of it all [flash-back: daddy never came home, US soldiers killed, "WE ARE AT WAR"], i spotted an open package-envelope decorated with an official US goverment seal sitting in the middle of her crossed legs. on top of it sat a gold box with medals, pins, and an american flag attached to a letter that ended with the words "We know he did it for this great nation." she never turned around to see the expressions on our faces, but she knew. she knew.

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