The Puddle
The days aren't as hot. And the wind doesn't blow like a blast furnace any longer but yet there is still no rain in sight.
So what are the puddles? What is it that runs down the gutters along many of the streets? There's absolutely not a single house with grass in the front lawn so it's not sprinklers. The cars and trucks you see on the road look like they haven't been washed in years. So it's not people washing their cars in the driveway. And for that matter, what's a driveway. And heck, many homes don't even have running water
None of the Soldiers doing their day to day routine have ever stopped to determine what the "fluid" is or what it contains. Most of it is the color of cocoa but doesn't smell like it. Most of the guys surmise that it's sewage. Raw, unfiltered, unadulterated sewage.
A patrol of Strykers were cruising down a street in Mosul the day before yesterday. The patrol had so far been uneventful. The "pounding" insurgent locations had received, from the ground and from the air, over the preceding days sort of took the fight out of the bad guys.
Things on the streets had somewhat returned to normal. Cars and trucks were out on the road. Pedestrians were out walking, shopping in the markets. The old men were sitting in front of the cafes sipping their tea. Things were peaceful.
The line of Strykers rounded a curve in the road and there it was. Laying in wait in front of them stretched across the entire street. The biggest ugliest most foul body of water imaginable. A street puddle of monstrous proportions. It looked like it could swallow small dogs or young children whole. It's surface had no reflection - it seemed that the puddle absorbed every bit of sunlight that struck it.
On the far side of this puddle a single Toyota approached. The Stryker patrol and the Toyota were converging at a rate that would cause them to meet almost exactly in the center of this murky dark liquid. And so it was. The Toyota entered the puddle and produced a wake as it started across it. The Strykers entered the puddle from the opposite side. But there was no wake. There was only a spray that leapt out from the eight tires of the Strykers. The Toyota entered the spray. With it's windows open!!!!
A check of the rearview mirror on the lead Stryker revealed a single brake light burning brightly through the onslaught of cascading "water". The Strykers passed through the puddle in a line, each in turn bathing the Toyota with the foul looking liquid. The driver of the lead Stryker brought his eyes back to the street in front of him, a slight smile lifting one corner of his mouth. A vision of an Iraqi sitting in his little white Toyota totally drenched in that liquid with something brown resting on his nose passed through his mind.
So what are the puddles? What is it that runs down the gutters along many of the streets? There's absolutely not a single house with grass in the front lawn so it's not sprinklers. The cars and trucks you see on the road look like they haven't been washed in years. So it's not people washing their cars in the driveway. And for that matter, what's a driveway. And heck, many homes don't even have running water
None of the Soldiers doing their day to day routine have ever stopped to determine what the "fluid" is or what it contains. Most of it is the color of cocoa but doesn't smell like it. Most of the guys surmise that it's sewage. Raw, unfiltered, unadulterated sewage.
A patrol of Strykers were cruising down a street in Mosul the day before yesterday. The patrol had so far been uneventful. The "pounding" insurgent locations had received, from the ground and from the air, over the preceding days sort of took the fight out of the bad guys.
Things on the streets had somewhat returned to normal. Cars and trucks were out on the road. Pedestrians were out walking, shopping in the markets. The old men were sitting in front of the cafes sipping their tea. Things were peaceful.
The line of Strykers rounded a curve in the road and there it was. Laying in wait in front of them stretched across the entire street. The biggest ugliest most foul body of water imaginable. A street puddle of monstrous proportions. It looked like it could swallow small dogs or young children whole. It's surface had no reflection - it seemed that the puddle absorbed every bit of sunlight that struck it.
On the far side of this puddle a single Toyota approached. The Stryker patrol and the Toyota were converging at a rate that would cause them to meet almost exactly in the center of this murky dark liquid. And so it was. The Toyota entered the puddle and produced a wake as it started across it. The Strykers entered the puddle from the opposite side. But there was no wake. There was only a spray that leapt out from the eight tires of the Strykers. The Toyota entered the spray. With it's windows open!!!!
A check of the rearview mirror on the lead Stryker revealed a single brake light burning brightly through the onslaught of cascading "water". The Strykers passed through the puddle in a line, each in turn bathing the Toyota with the foul looking liquid. The driver of the lead Stryker brought his eyes back to the street in front of him, a slight smile lifting one corner of his mouth. A vision of an Iraqi sitting in his little white Toyota totally drenched in that liquid with something brown resting on his nose passed through his mind.
posted by deesci | 10:12 PM
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