First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rusack. In the late afternoon, after a day's march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending. Tim OBrien
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First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rusack. In the late afternoon, after a day's march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending. He would let his mind wander as he imagined standing with Martha on a grassy hillside overlooking a blue lake, watching as she removed her shirt and slipped off her shoes.

In those letters he found clues as to what she was like as a person. He could picture her as an independent woman with a sense of humor and a passion for music. Yet he also imagined her as fragile and vulnerable.

If only they could be together again. If only they could kiss good night without knowing that they would never see each other again.

Source: The Things They Carried

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