a year before the war

it's 102 degrees.
humid.
mosquito bites pepper the skin.
a sociopath -- who doubles as a US Marine, yells orders off-camera.
he's hung like a light switch (i assume).
can't be more than 5'4".
and wants me as his gunner -- because gunners' get it first. 
cobra attack helicopters circle the adjacent savannah.
baboon brains betwixt the Humvee's grill.
it's Kenya 2002.
near Mombassa.
about a year before the War.
marking a target with my ma deuce.
-- the .50 caliber browning machine-gun.
incendiary rounds standby for deployment.
the gun is lubed thick and sticky.
CHUNG-CHUNG-CHUNG
firing like a champ.
a salty dog honed smooth since the Gulf.
the hellfire missiles sail in, go...KA-BOOM!
the choppers egress.
all is quiet on the African front.

later, we drank warm dark beer amongst the African grass.
just dumb kids talking Thai whores and war.
neither a reality...yet.