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my grandson brought the Americans
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to dinner and they are loud
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always wanting to know things
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how we buy food
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they called it - groceries
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I gestured to the garden
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that is food I said
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I don’t buy - groceries
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how we travel
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why should I travel?
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I went to Russia during the war
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and that was enough travel for a lifetime
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I was a general then
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these Americans they laugh a lot
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I brought out the cognac
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the American boy saw a medal on the wall
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what is this? he said
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I told him
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later I went to the bedroom
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and opened the old chest
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in the bottom
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was the uniform
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I laughed and put on the jacket
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the Americans toasted me and I laughed
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by the end of the night the cognac was almost gone
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and I was wearing my full uniform
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the holster was stiff and cracked but
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the gun had been wrapped in oiled paper
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the snow and rain made a mess of the road
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I said stay tonight
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this stone house is cold
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but we still have cognac
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and blankets
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they laughed
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and left
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the car got stuck halfway up the hill
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they all got out to push
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I left the house to help
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that stiff uniform - I don’t know
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maybe it was cognac
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I felt strong
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we pushed, the woman, the men
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got that car to the top
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and then I slipped
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rolled all the way to the bottom
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mud and snow in my face
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damn Americans
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it was god damn cold
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I was god damn laughing
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