"They're you people are. I was worried I'd miss you."
I resisted leaving go of Shannie's hand, she yanked hers from mine and extended it to the familiar stranger. "Hi," Shannie said.
In front of us was the soldier who freight-trained Mulberry. "Sorry I'm late, I had to take care of some business, you know what I'm saying?" He took Shannie's hand into his.
"You gotta do what you gotta do… Captain Gray," Shannie said reading his nametag.
"Please, it's Calvin, I hear enough of that Captain bullshit all day," he said with a toothy smile. He introduced himself to me with a bone crushing handshake.
"Thank you for what you did back there."
"Anytime," Calvin's smile faded. An uneasy silence fell between the three of us. Both Shannie and Calvin began. With an uneasy laugh, Shannie insisted Calvin begin first. "I couldn't help overhearing that you're Sergeant Lightman's sister. I knew Lee, knew him good, he never mentioned nothing bout a sister. Guess you never really know people as well as you think; you know what I'm saying?"
Shannie's cheeks flushed. "Well, like, I'm not like a blood sister. Like we grew up together, we're kinda best friends; he's like a brother to me."
Calvin pointed. "You're the neighbor. Heard all about you. He spoke highly of you."
Shannie looked at her feet.
I remained speechless. This was Shannie's quest; she didn't need my stupid remarks.
"Look, this ain't going to be easy, you know what I'm saying?" Calvin said. "Let's take a walk, maybe grab a pop or something."
We walked along the mall. Calvin said his family was from Atlantic City, that he had a half-sister who lived there. "She's keeping something I'm supposed to pass on to you. You see, Lee, he took a liking to writing, he was always scribbling his thoughts down. I used to give him lots of shit about it. And he'd say - if you knew how to do it, you'd be writing things down to." There was a sad glimmer in Calvin's eyes. "Anyway, he made me promise that if anything happened to him I'd see that his log would get to Ortolan. That's what he called you. Never called you by your first name, just called you Ortolan. I never thought anything would happen to him - he was a survivor type, you know what I'm saying? Anyway, he gave me your address and all, but I lost it. So, I got my sister helping me find you. I knew he lived on a cemetery and all, once I got out, I was planning on driving up to Pennsylvania and delivering it personally.