It was a fifteen-minute walk to the castle. The Italians built it into the sea wall a hundred years before. It was made from brown granite mined along the shoreline, as were many other buildings like the main cathedral and Mosque. Beaten by a century of Indian Ocean rain and weathered by the wind and sun gave the crumbling stone an ancient look far beyond its years.
The breeze felt cool on Tom's face. The ocean looked dark blue, almost black, as the sun set. Tom could make out whitecaps in the distance. Farther out, three U.S. Navy ships circled.
Tom thought about where he had been three days before at the same time, looking for a hiding place. He hadn't stopped thinking about Cat. He knew it would get to him sometime. Probably when he would visit Cat's mom and dad. Maybe he'd break down then.
October 3 was a cursed day forever.
Grayson walked up to the wall and stared out at to sea. Only a few rays of light remained.
"For over a thousand years, this city has been here. Fought over. Burned. Rebuilt. Burned down again. They resisted everyone from as far back as the Portuguese. Instead, it was ruled by the Nomads, Sultans, Prime Ministers, and then back to the ancestors of the Nomads. With it's gleaming whitewashed walls and elaborate mosques and minarets, it must have been the most beautiful sight on all of Eastern Africa."
"And then the Italians came," Tom said. Grayson nodded.
"The Italians. Then two World Wars. And the most devastating of all, for the Somalis, the Cold War. The U.S. and Soviet Union pumped so many weapons into this small nation and backed so many different dictators that it was no wonder the country came apart at the seams. When the Cold War ended, so did interest in Somalia. They were hanging on to the edge of a cliff by a cracked fingernail. And then the fingernail broke. But we came back. When the country fell into complete anarchy, ruled by mad men with guns, we responded. We didn't try to change things; at least that wasn't our mission, contrary to what the Somalis might think. They killed our peacekeepers; we killed their elders.
"Then it should have ended. Once both sides showed what they were capable of, we should have sat down and talked. Instead, we tried to enforce law in a place where there is none. Meanwhile, Aydiid sat and waited for the right time. Muslim teachings allow for fighting if it means being pushed out of your home and loosing your belongings or crops. Aydiid didn't let them forget. 'It's the American's fault. What they really want is to make slaves of all of you and take over your beloved city. Although we have no crops now, we could have. The Americans know how to make things grow where there is no water. They have the technology. I know,' Aydiid would say. 'Because I asked for it. But they don't want to give it to us. They think we won't know how to use it. Instead, they want to kill us, imprison us and enslave us. I would rather die.' And now it seems our government has bought into Aydiid's rhetoric."
"We never would have been sent here if the president had taken the test," Tom said. Grayson turned and looked at him.
"He didn't take the test," Tom said.
"What test?"
"The test that every commander should take before making a decision about committing American lives anywhere. We think about it, every time our ass, and not someone else's, is on the line."
"What is the test?"
"The president stands in front of a mirror and in his mind pretends to be in front of a soldier and the soldier's wife, and the soldier's son and the soldier's daughter. He didn't do that. He didn't stand in front of a soldier's family and say, 'You know, Mrs. Soldier, this mission is very important. It's so important that we need your husband to fly over to the Dark Continent and fight. It is so important and so critical,' and this is where he looks her right in the eyes, the light to her soul, and says, 'It is so important, that your husband may have to give his life. And it will be worth it. That's how important this is. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be sending the best soldiers from the mightiest army from the greatest country on the face of the earth over there.' And he would hold her hand and kiss her cheek. And then, he would kneel down in front of the boy, maybe rub his hand in his hair and say, 'This is so important, that your daddy may die. That would mean you would be the man of the house and you'd have to take care of your mom and sister. This is so important that God may take your daddy away forever. You won't have him around to play ball with. Or to watch you grow up. Or to help mold you into a man. But that's how important this is. And when you grow up, you might have an important mission to go on, like your daddy.' And then he would turn to the girl who would have tears running down her cheeks. He would lift up her chin and look into those big bright beautiful innocent eyes and say, 'But know this, I will do everything that is humanly possible to make sure that your daddy is safe and returns home. This, I promise to you.' Then he would stand up, pat the soldier on the shoulder, and they would exchange salutes.
"No, the Commander in Chief didn't take the test. He didn't even think about the test. He had no idea. Hell, the average American has no idea what awaits us as we fight and die in the dust of a Third World country thousands of miles from home. Even our so-called political leaders seem to know nothing about our isolated, savage encounters against Third World irregulars as we attempt to alter the political equation in one tumultuous location after another. They wouldn't pass the test either. But you did, sir. You took the test. And you looked us all right here," Tom said, pointing two fingers at his eyes, "and we knew it was important, and we volunteered, and we came. And we bled. And we died."