Childhood Dreams
The assignment was over, leaving them a few hours to pass at the ranch before their flight to New York. Napoleon leaned on the fence, idly chewing a stem of grass and watching a cattleman on horseback corral the herd.
"I always fancied being a cowboy when I grew up," he commented to the partner at his side, "how about you, Illya, what did you want to be when you were a kid?"
Illya thought back on his childhood, played out on the war-torn streets of Kiev and underpinned by the persistent ache of hunger.
Finally, he answered.
"An adult."