James, middle-aged, is given to one-night flings with younger men in whom he searches for someone he lost long ago. A random comment by his latest catch draws his mind back to the past, to a boy he once loved so fiercely, a boy drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. A boy lost in the war. A boy James has never forgotten. Warning: This is a very sad little story. It's also one of my best.
I tell him I’ll be right back but it’s a lie. The bracelet burns my wrist, the name etched through the silver and onto my skin—the only man I’ve ever wanted, the only one I can never have. I stand on the porch and listen to the rumbling surf, the sounds from the house behind me, the laughter, the fun. I stare at the metal, dull by the moonlight. I stare at the name. It’s aluminum alloy, the same thing his dog tags were made from. I remember the way those tags felt in my hands, smooth and warmed by his skin. I remember the way they would fall into the hollow of my throat when he lay above me. I remember the way I pressed them to his chest the last time I kissed him goodbye. They were never found. All I have of him is this bracelet and the memories, and his field jacket with a peace si