it was a mighty battle, the sky was dark and cold……… i awoke to pouring rain beating against my brow………the rocket had landed close to me, but i survived somehow……..my back was laden with the body of a brother in my unit who didn’t make it………i struggled to wiggle free………

i was able to stand with great effort and surveyed the landscape……..broken artifacts of war…….men in open graves

i saw no others stirring as i walked through mud and debris….towards a village not to far away…..smoke rose from a chimney of a church in the lane……i checked my revolver and ammo in the bag…….i causciosly approached the gate and it squeeked as i opened it………i croached down and approached a window to observe what was inside………i held my revolver tight as i opened the door………..a pot-bellied stove was in the center of the room….wood was stacked on the floor…….

crumpled in the corner was a mass of grey……when i approached it, a gun was pointed at me……..it was a young german soldier about my brothers age…..i could tell he had been hurt from the grimace on his face…… we starred at each other for what seemed like an eternity………slowly i holsterd my gun and he put his away………i said as far as i was concerned……i would be his prisoner and he would be mine….i suppose he understood for the tension seemed to ease…..i asked him how bad he was hit and he showed his side to me….

the bleeding had almost stopped……but his wound needed to be cleaned and it and if that wasn’t done he would die from gangrene……i went into the courtyard, found a rope and bucket by a well…….the church had a small kitchen with some towels on the shelf………i found an old pot and filled it with water and boiled it on the stove…..

i dressed and cleaned the wound as best i could and put more wood in the stove…….the rain and wind had stopped leaving a long night to unfold………the night had brought him a fever and i knew he was near the end……i cuddled him like a brother because that’s what he was………just on different sides of a trench…….that would take us both home……

the moonlight shone through the stain glass windows and a peace came over me……a voice whispered in my mind, ”you’ve done all you can…….leave the rest up to Me…..”

the morning came as thunder….soldiers burst into the room, the german soldier lay in my arms……during the night he had passed…….the commander of the unit told the other men to take his body away…….and that i was quilty of treason for abetting the enemy…..

they threw his body in the woods and placed me against the wall…….i never felt the bullets i only heard a call…….”come,come my brother you will walk with me”……

2 soldiers walked into Heaven………on the same side…………….finally

.