The Soldier and the Girl

It was a summer day of 2006. There was not a slightest sign of wind blowing and the atmosphere was dry and burning, with the determination to toast every living thing. On a street of Baghdad, which is a little distant away from Green Zone, an American soldier was dragging his feet forward, inch by inch, with a loaded automatic rifle in his hands. If not with this mission of patrol, he would never have stepped out of the barrack in such weather.

On the shoulder of the road sat an Iraqi girl dressed in abaya (Arabic robe), who seemed to be in her teens.

It is absolutely weird and suspicious for a girl to sit alone on the road, in such a chaotic time and in this dangerous place.

Out of instinct, he raised his gun the way he had been trained for thousands of times, pointing the dark eye of the girl with the identically dark muzzle.

The girl, as if unable to spot the gun, looked directly into the sweating face of the soldier. The eyes of the girl is so clear and bright, just like lakes whose bottom could be seen through their clear water. The face of the girl was frozen with calmness and peacefulness.

The rifle was lowered. The soldier removed his big sunglasses, revealing his blue eyes that used to aim at the front sight of the gun for a long time. He knelt down and smile at the girl whose face still remained calm and peaceful.

It seemed that something suddenly occurred to him. He then removed some small gadget from his belt. It was a key ring with a logo of Orlando Magic, a NBA basketball team.

He gestured to give the key ring to the girl as a little present. The latter took it with a smile that was hardly detectable and vanished in a blink of eye.

The soldier waved goodbye to the girl and got to his feet. Immediately the soldier turned around, the explosive hid under the girl's robe was detonated, tearing both of them into pieces.

What is left is the blue and white logo lying on the ground, stained with blood.