Flat Feet

I met McDougal when he was on recruiting duty in Jackson, TN.

I was going to be a Marine until McDougal broke every bone in each of my feet with a stuffed miniature schnauzer, then gouged out my eyes with an ivory Buddha paperweight, and crushed my larynx with a trowl.

Eleven months later, when I was released from the hospital, McDougal greeted me in the foyer.

When I asked him why he'd done that, he just laughed and laughed and laughed for a long time.

When he was done laughing, he stabbed my dad in the cheek and bit my sister on her stomach.

I was going to be mad until we found out my sister had a bleeding ulcer and McDougal had saved her life.

"Lacey," he told me (though my name's Jim), "There are friends you meet and know for a short time, and some you know for a lifetime. Other's you know at the right time."

That was the last time I saw McDougal.