The Creightons
were proud of their son Frank. When he went to
college, naturally they missed him; but he wrote
and they looked forward to his letters and they
saw him on weekends. Then Frank was drafted into
the army.
After he had
been in the army about five months, he received
his call to go to Vietnam. Of course the
parent's anxiety for his first letter was
greater than before. And every week they heard
from him and were thankful for his well-being.
Then one week went by without a letter -- two
weeks -- and finally three. At the end of the
third week a telegram came saying, "We regret to
inform you that your son has been missing for
three weeks and is presumed to have been killed
in action while fighting for his country."
The parents were
shocked and grieved. They tried to accept the
situation and go on living; but it was
tragically lonesome without Frank. About three
weeks later, however, the phone rang. When Mrs.
Creighton answered it, a voice on the other end
said, "Mother, it's Frank. They found me, and
I'm going to be all right. I'm in the United
States and I'm coming home soon."
Mrs. Creighton
was overjoyed. With tears running down her
cheeks she sobbed. "Oh, that's wonderful. That's
just wonderful, Frank." There was silence for a
moment and then Frank said, "Mother I want to
ask you something that is important to me. While
I've been here I've met a lot of wonderful
people and I've really become close friends with
some. There is this one fellow I would like to
bring home with me to meet you and Dad, and I
would like to know if it would be all right if
he could stay and live with us because he has no
place to go.
His mother
assured him it would be all right.
Then Frank said,
"You see, he wasn't as lucky as some; he was
injured in battle. He was hit by a blast and his
face is all disfigured. He lost his leg and his
right hand is missing. So you see, he feels
uneasy about how others will accept him."
Frank's mother
stopped to think a minute. She began to wonder
how things would work out and what people in
town would think of someone like that. She said,
"Sure Frank, you bring him home -- for a visit,
that is.
We would
love to meet him and have him stay for a while;
but about his staying with us permanently, well,
we'll have to think about that." There was
silence for a minute and then Frank said, "OK,
Mother" and hung up.
A week went by
without any word from Frank and then a telegram
arrived -- "We regret to inform you that your
son has taken his life. We would like you to
come and identify the body."
Their wonderful
son was gone. The horror stricken parents could
only ask themselves, "Why had he done
this?"
When they walked
into the room to identify the body of their son,
they found a young man with a disfigured face,
one leg missing, and his right hand gone.
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