LEAVING THE ALAMO

More than thirty years after the Vietnam war was lost, its aging American combat veterans cope with the judgments of their stay-at-home peers and the fighting that still goes on in their heads. Here are sixteen stories of middle-aged Texans who are not in prison, panhandling on street corners or sleeping under bridges. They have learned to live, with varying success, with the dreams that stalk them at night and lurk in the background during the day, although one also has murder on his mind. Another has a new baby whose birth surprisingly snuffed all of his father's war nightmares, except for one that gained new meaning as it moved to the daytime. Two have memento mori from the battlefield which they would like to be rid of, but only one may have finally found a way. And a widowed career officer spends his nights in the locked Alamo shrine seeking redemption for an old hero. You may contact the author at cavalryscoutbooks@yahoo.com