KilRoy

William is exhausted and his hand is numb from the pain. He sits down along a small stone wall, to take a breather, and checks on his hand hidden beneath the blood soaked dressing. As he is unwrapping the dressing, a Medic a few yards away sees William and comes to his aid. “Are you hit?” The Medic asks. “Bastards shot the end of my finger off.” William responds. The Medic kneels down beside William and begins to removes supplies from his satchel. “Sit back and let me dress that.” He orders. William rests his left arm on a bended knee and drinks from his canteen while the Medic works on his hand. Situated in the corner of the wall, William is quite comfortable considering what is going on up ahead by the edge of town. He watches and waits while the Medic patches up his hand. He closes his eyes, tilting his head back against the wall, and reflects on the horrors he had just experienced. In the span of just a few hours, William has taken the lives of several enemy soldiers and narrowly escaped death himself, but William cannot help thinking about Killian. Killian could not wait to see France and William could not wait to get out of there. In his minds eye, he sees’ the “KP” brand on the tank obstacle beside Killian’s lifeless body. Killian’s last effort alive was to leave his mark on France. Now he is gone and no one will know who he was or that he was ever in the war. William cannot have that. Killian may not have been a smart man or a handsome man but he was a good man and William told himself then and there that he would re-write the letter to his mother and get those pictures to her so she would know of her boy’s bravery. Not only does William remember his friend, in this manner, he wants the world to remember him as well. He makes a pact with Killian, at that moment, to continue leaving Killian’s mark everywhere he goes from that second, even if no one knows the story behind the “KP” brand and perhaps never will. That is not Williams purpose. William wants the world to see that Killian Pomelroy was here. William removes the stick of chalk from his blouse pocket and begins to draw the little cartoon character Killian’s mother had drawn, at the bottom of his letter, on the rock wall beside him. Killian was fond of that drawing and it will catch the eye of the people passing by. When the drawing is done, William removes Killian’s letter from his pocket to check the spelling of his name but the bullet hole destroyed it. William instead uses the letters, remaining on the envelope, to remember Killian. Beneath the cartoon character William writes; “Kilroy was here.” Kilroy was here. Killian was fighting, laughing, hurting, and living with William. William looks at the Medic finishing up his hand. “See that?” William asks, while putting the chalk back in his blouse and motioning to the drawing. The Medic looks at the silly drawing. “Yeah.” The Medic replies. William climbs back on to his feet while the Medic stores his supplies. “That’s my best friend.” William tells the Medic. The Medic just sat and watched William draw the cartoon and thinks William has lost his mind. William scans the area around him, trying to decide the best direction to head to get back into the fighting, just over the horizon and then inspects the Medic’s work. “Nice job… thanks.” William tells the Medic as he walks off toward the fighting.