by P. Constance Smith

Created on: April 17, 2008   Last Updated: June 12, 2008

It was a crisp autumn morning in the small town of Victory. Everyone along Main Street was getting ready for the annual Veteran's Day parade that was to take place at noon. The sky was clear and blue, and it promised to be a lovely November day.

Large American flags hung from lamp posts along each side of Main Street, eleven on the east side, and eleven on the west. The flags represented the Veteran's Day holiday, which fell on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. People were moving about everywhere getting ready for the parade, which was for this town an important annual tribute to all who had ever served in the Armed Forces.

Large floats made of recycled material and flowers were parked at the head of the parade, each one representing a branch of the military, five in all. Probably the most interesting of all the vehicles was an Army tank decorated with red poppies, a flower which has come to be a symbol of the holiday. The tank was the pride of the local museum, and was usually parked in a covered area outside their front lobby. Normally it would be protected from curious hands by a black velvet rope encircling the entire vehicle, but not today.

The curator of the museum, Dr. Neil Bixby, was fussing around the tank as if it were his child. He kept all curious passersby at a safe minimum distance. His nervous presence visibly irked the two volunteers attempting to attach red poppies one by one around the perimeter of the tank. One of the volunteers was shorter than the other, and chose to be in charge of handing over pieces of tape, letting the taller companion do all the straining to reach the top edge of the tank.

Dr. Bixby was beside himself with what was going on. "Now be careful with those paper flowers! Do you really need so many? That tape might leave a residue!" Dr. Bixby reached up and peeled off a single flower. He rubbed the tank where the tape was, to test his theory, and then reluctantly replaced the flower. He seemed almost annoyed that the tape left no mark.

In spite of the curator's protests, the volunteers finished hanging the ring of red poppies around the tank. Since it was chilly where the two had been working in the shade, they decided to go directly across the street to get coffee and sit in the sun at the outdoor cafe. Dr. Bixby lingered a while, with a stern look on his face as he stared up at the poppies. Eventually, he joined the volunteers across the street. As he walked away, a blue jay landed on the tank's long gun.

The tank was

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