He was a hero. He knew it. Others knew it. So why was he alone on the beach at Nice? Not much of a beach. All pebbles. It was a hot night. He was drunk. It went with divorce.
``Hey! G.I.!'' A girl called to him. Long blonde hair and short shorts. A great tan. Three of them under the light.
``Hey Cap'n!'' He bowed.
He joined them drinking warm red wine and smoking Gauloises. Watching the phosphorescence of the breaking waves along the Bay of Angels.
The three of them were medical students from Brussels. The girl and one boy were American. He listened to their dreams.
``I want to work where I'm needed,'' the girl said, ``I want to make a difference.''
``I'm a hero.'' the captain said.
``I just want to make a lot of money,'' said the American boy. The Belgian dragged on his Gauloise and said nothing.
``I'd like to go to Africa and help kids get immunized and try to get clean water to the villages.'' the girl said.
``You'll get married and live in some fancy suburb. You couldn't take Africa.''
``All you want is a big house and two fancy cars and a beautiful wife who does what she's told.''
``I'm a hero.'' said the captain.
The girl turned on him angrily. ``And you! Why do you keep saying that? You're a hero.''
``Korea. Pilot.''
``Oh,'' the girl said, grabbing at her hair and pulling on it, ``Oh! I see. You're a hero because you killed a whole lot of innocent people. I'm an idiot because I want to save people. Carl here's an idiot because he wants to get rich and Rauol is a fool because he's in love with the science of medicine. But you're the hero.''
The captain got slowly to his feet and walked toward the sea. Slowly he walked into the waves in his summer dress uniform and he stood looking out at the ancient darkness. So easy to end it all. So easy to be a dead hero.
He thought the girl might still be there. Watching him to make sure he didn't ...
But when he turned she was gone.