It's Not Fair!

         The little boy lay on his bed sobbing. The dark blue bedspread was stained darker by tears in many spots. His small arms and legs quaked with the sobs, as his blond head shook.

         "It's not fair! My ninth birthday's in three days and Daddy's gonna be gone! I don't want him to go!"

         He kept screaming until he was hoarse. Then his voice was quiet, but his mind was racing.

         'Why does Daddy have to go away? Just because bad things are going on far away, why does he have to go. So the Japs attacked some harbor! I don't care. Why does did Daddy have to leave me cause of that! It's not fair!'

         'I wish the bad men in Japan would just go away. Why do they have to take Daddy away? When I get big I won't let any body take my Daddy away again. I'll make the bad guys behave and not take any body's Daddy away.'

         A woman looked into the room. "Bill, come down and say goodbye to your Father. He has to go now."

         "No! I won't! I don't want him to go!" His voice still sounded weak from screaming, but he was strong enough to be heard.

         "Okay, if that's how you feel. Daddy's going to go whether you come down or not. He'll feel bad that you didn't want to say goodbye, though." She waited at the door, wrinkles forming on her forehead.

         This surprised Bill. He thought if he didn't say goodbye, Daddy wouldn't leave. But, if Mommy said he would, then he would. Mommy was always right, so he made his choice. "Okay, I'll come. But I still don't want him to go."

         "I know. Daddy knows too. And he wishes he didn't have to go. Come on." She held out her hand, and Bill took it.

         They went down the stairs and Daddy was there in his soldier suit. He saw Bill and held both arms out. Bill let go of Mommy and ran to Daddy. He thought it was funny that Mommy didn't scold him for running down the stairs.

         Bill jumped into Daddy's arms and cried again. "Daddy! I don't want you to go! Stay here! Please! I promise I'll be good! Don't go away!"

         Daddy just held him and let him yell. When he was finished, Daddy said, "I know you don't want me to go son, but I have to. There are a lot of people counting on us. There are lots of little boys out there that are going to die if we don't help."

         "Why don't their Daddies help them? Then you wouldn't have to go!"

         "Believe me, their Daddies are doing everything they can. But it's going to take a lot of Daddies to fix this mess. And once it's over everyone's going to be a lot better off."

         "But what if you don't come back? I won't be better if you don't come back!"

         "Hey, what makes you think I won't come back. Worry about the other guys. Some of them are younger than me and don't have their own families. I've got a wife, and the best son in the whole wide world. Why wouldn't I come back? I've got everything to come back to. Now, no more crying. You've got to be brave for Mommy, okay?"

         Bill sniffed, and let one more tear fall down his cheek. "Okay, Daddy. I'll do it for Mommy. But you'd better come back or I'll be mad."

         "Well, I don't want to make you mad. Here," he let Bill go and reached onto the porch. When he could see Daddy's hand again, it had a new mitt and ball in it. "I was going to give these to you on your Birthday, but since I can't be here, I want to give them to you now. See, there's a new bat here too. Now, I can't very well not come back and teach to you play can I? This whole thing'll be over before you know it, and then we'll be together again, and you can show me how good you are at baseball. Now, be good for Mommy, okay?"

         "Okay. But when I'm big, I'm gonna make sure Daddies never have to go away again. No more wars."

         Bill was surprised when he saw a tear fall from his Daddy's eye. "I hope you're right son. I truly do." Then he said goodbye to Mommy and walked down the front walk.

         Bill remembered his promise, but he couldn't help saying, one more time, "It's not fair."