Wounded Warrior No More

I awoke this morning before the sun rose over the ocean and ever since then I've been trying to figure out what to wear for my first day at work. Mr. Kyltowsky never said anything about a dress code so I'm torn between what to wear. Should I wear something casual like I did when I went into the store or put on something a little more business looking? I looked down at the two outfits I had picked but just couldnt decide. A knock came to my door pulling me away from my delima. I went over to the bedroom door and pulled it open to the face of my smiling sister.

"I've got breakfast ready if you want some."

"I'll be down in a minute. I'm trying to decide which outfit to wear." I said and Payge walked in and over to the bed.

"Did he say anything about a dress code?"

"No and I forgot to ask." I said shaking my head.

"I think you should wear the more business looking one and then you could ask him when you get there if it's alright."

"Alright. Let me get dressed into it and I'll be right down." I said and she nodded before leaving my room and shutting the door behind her. I locked the door so I could have extra privacy as I changed. I would hate for Matt or even my sister walk in and see the scars that are on my body. Those damn doctors could have prevented the scaring if they wanted to.

I dressed into the nice pair of dark colored jeans and black t-shirt before slipping the dress coat on. I tied up the laces on my new pair of converse and left my room. I hope this is good enough but if not I think Mr. Kyltowsky will say something. I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen where my sister stood smiling as she noticed my presence.

"Well don't you look snazzy!" Matt immediately turned around to see what Payge was talking about and nodded his head.

"You look nice Blaze. The business look is good for you."

"Thanks. Does it really look good? I mean I want to make a good impression." I stated as I looked down at myself.

"Hell yeah it looks perfect! They would be crazy if they aren't impressed with the way you look."

"Thanks. It really means a lot." I said smiling as I took a seat next to Payge to eat breakfast. I ate my breakfast fairly quickly before setting my plate into the sink. Payge handed me the keys to my...I mean her car and told me to have a good day. I left the house and got into the car and backed out of the driveway.

I drove over to the mall and parked the car in a space and getting out locking the door as I walked away. I went through the main entrance and down to Mr. Kyltowsky's store. He stood behind the counter filling out something but looked up as the bell dinged above the door. He smiled as he came out from behind the counter.

"You didn't have to dress up that nice."

"I didn't know what to wear since I forgot to ask you." I said shaking his hand.

"I meant to tell you but you had already left by the time I remembered." he chuckled which made me smile. In the midst of his son's death the man can still smile like he doesn't have a care in the world.

"So what am I doing today?" I asked curiously.

"Today you'll be taking down orders of what people would like and answering any questions they might have. If you don't know about something just come to the back and let me know and I'll see if I can help them. I've got to unload some crates in the back and I'll let you know when it's break time."

"Alright sounds good." I said nodding.

"Remember come and get me if you don't understand anything."

"I will Mr. Kyltowsky." I said in a polite manner.

"Please call me Jerry. Mr. Kyltowsky makes me feel old."

"Alright Jerry." I said slightly chuckling. He left me and went into the back and I stood behind the counter awaiting any customers that should happen to stop in.

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I filled out the last order form for my last customer of the day before saying goodbye to the gentleman. Jerry took what money was in the register and locked it up into his own safebox.

"You did great today but I didn't want to mention this earlier but are you having problems with your leg?"

"Oh sometimes the prosthetic makes my leg ache if I stand on it too long during the day." I said truthfully. I was thinking about lying to him and saying it was an old injury from some kind of sport but I'm sure he would have seen right through that.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry."

"It's alright. I believe in being honest with my employer." I said waving off his apology.

"Listen if you need to sit down every now and then, I can bring a chair out here from the back so you can sit down. I'm going to let you in on a little secret." he bent down and lifted up both of his pant legs.

"I have prosthetics as well. I lost my legs in the Vietnam War. I was lost from my outfit and I found some footprints in the snow. You see if you follow someone else's footsteps you avoid landmines but then where the snow had turned to slush, the prints were gone. I took maybe four or five steps and that was it. A patrol found me a couple of days later and sent me to a MASH unit where they treated me for hypothermia but couldn't save my legs because of the damage." Jerry explained as he leg the legs of his pants fall back into place and we walked out of his shop.

"At least the cold kept you from bleeding out. I was near death's door by the time I got to a field hospital."

"You were damn lucky too. Well I need to be heading home. You have a safe drive." Jerry said as he got into his car once we left the mall. I waved goodbye to him and got into my sister's car to drive back home. After standing up for such a long time today, I'm ready to get in that Jacuzzi and relax.

I pulled into the driveway and parked Payge's car next to Matt's. I went inside where I could hear the TV playing in the living room. I followed my ears right into the room where Matt and Payge were watching the news.

"Hey guys." I said smiling as I took a seat on one of the chairs.

"How was your first day?"

"Tiring. I haven't written so much since I was in high school and I'm tired as fuck." I said reclining back in the chair.

"Your dinner is in the microwave. It should still be warm."

“Thanks sis.” I said and I got up from my seat and started into the kitchen but stopped when Payge had called my name.

“Some package arrived for you today and some mail. I had Matt and the guys to carry your package up to your room with your other mail.” I gave her a confused look. Who the hell would send me a package? I know it can’t be from Jerry because I haven’t ordered anything from him yet. I guess I’ll see when I finish my dinner. I pulled the plate from the microwave and it was still warm so I sat down at the table to eat.

I finished my plate and washed it off before placing it into the dishwasher. I said goodnight to Matt and Payge and went upstairs to my room. I saw the package as I walked into my room and it had my mail on top of it. The address on the rather large crate made me smile. It was from the General from my unit. He didn’t lie when he said he was going to send me that stuff. I pried open the crate with a hammer that was laying on top of it and found what I had asked the general to send. All of my Kevlar, my harness, and field pack along with my weapons which had a registration slip with them. I think when I come home from work tomorrow I’ll give them a good cleaning and hopefully there’s a good handgun and weapon range around here somewhere so I can test them out. Maybe Jerry will know of a good place to shoot. I’ll have to ask him when I come in.

I grabbed some of my pajama shorts and a tank top before going into the bathroom and filling up the Jacuzzi with water. Once it was filled with warm water I turned on the jets watching the water bubble. I stripped out of my clothing and prosthetic before getting into the water and I could feel the aches and pains melting away. I’m so glad they installed this for me before I came home. It’s so relaxing on my leg muscles. When all my aches were gone, I got out of the Jacuzzi and dried off before changing into my pajamas and strapping one of the straps of the prosthetic to my leg. I got to my bed and sat down and took off the prosthetic once again and got comfy in the large bed. It didn’t take long after I laid down to fall into a deep sleep.