Chapter 1. Betty
She didn't know why she still bought cologne, but the idea that people thought there was a man in her life made her feel good. She spent hundreds of dollars convincing others that she never met that she wasn't a loser. Why she felt the need, she didn't know. She used to just let the Right Guard deoderant, the Brut aftershave, the mens underwear, sit in her apartment and collect dust. That's all it seemed it was good for.
Then the war happened, and she decided to donate it all to an army platoon in Iraq. There were boxes filled with shaving cream, mens shavers, condoms, cologne, you name it, she'd had it. It was almost an embarassment how much of the stuff she had.
When she donated, she'd picked a platoon at random. She had no idea, NO IDEA that it would be someone she knew in there.
Barry Certis was his name. He'd recognized hers off the bat. When he wrote to thank her, he asked if she were the girl he'd known back in high school.
She tried to write a response. But she wasn't sure how. What could she say to Barry? Back in school he was well... a huge dork. And even though he was a Marine now, she couldn't stop thinking about the time that some older boys stuffed a bunch of milk cartons down his pants and then kicked, spraying milk everywhere.
