Page 28 of A Hero Comes Home

His dad was more practical. “Can they make it any better?”

Jake shrugged. “There are some experimental surgeries I might try. Later.”

“I don’t think it’s creepy,” Matt concluded. “I was ’spectin’ blood and gooey stuff, like snot.”

Sally put her face in her hands for a moment with dismay.

But Jake was okay with his kids’ observations. He wanted them to say what they thought. Better that than folks who pretended not to notice his bum eye, like they had back at the hospital before he’d started wearing the patch.

Luke got up and came over to give him a closer look, even touching the scars that had yet to fade from the stitches. “Kin you thee me at all, from that eye?”

“Not really. Just a shadowy form. But that’s better than it was before my last surgery. Before, everything was all black,” Jake explained.

“How many surgeries have you had, son?” his father asked.

“On my eye . . . two.” On my leg, three.

“Jake is scheduled for appointments next month at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and one at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore,” Sally told his father. “I checked on the internet and they are the best places by far for eye and orthopedic surgeries.”

Really? That was news to him. That Sally had bothered to see if those facilities were up to par for her “ass” of a husband. Hmmm.

With the kids’ curiosity satisfied, Jake flipped the eye patch back down, and the boys were off in other directions.

“Do you know how to play batheball, Daddy?” This from Luke.

“Yeah. It’s been a long time since I’ve played, but . . . yeah.”

“I can’t hit the ball worth crap,” Luke told him. The kid had more chocolate on his T-shirt than in his mouth, where, yes, his two front teeth were missing.

With my one eye, I probably can’t hit a ball worth crap, either.

“Luke! That is not a word that little boys use,” Sally reprimanded.

“Ith what Coach Thutter thaid.”

Sally looked at Jake and told him, “Coach Sutter is the T-Ball coach. You remember Ted Sutter, don’t you?”

Yeah, he remembered Ted, and when they were in high school Ted had a foul tongue with which crap was the least of what he would have said. To Luke, he offered, “We can work on your batting, if you want. That, and your knots. No, I didn’t forget, buddy.” Almost immediately, he wished he’d kept his mouth shut as the expression of what could only be described as adoration hit his kid’s face. Shiit! He didn’t intend to be around any longer than he had to.

“Do you wear that eye patch all the time?”

“I’m gonna be a doctor when I grow up. Maybe I’ll be able to fix your eye for you then.”

“I’m gonna be a fisherman like PopPop.”

“Maybe I’ll be a doctor and a fisherman.”

“Can I have another piece of cake?”

“Why do you have that thing on your leg?”

“Does it hurt?”

“I broke my arm one time and it hurt soooo bad.”

“Did you really live in a cave, Daddy?”

“My scout troop went on a field trip to Crystal Cave over on the mainland. There was thousands of bats hangin’ from the ceiling. Yeeech!”