"Hey, Hitchcock!"
Hitch looked around him for the source of the shout. Running pell-mell toward him was another private, Dobbs, who he'd talked to a couple of times. Dobbs waved a piece of paper over his head. "There's a letter come for you!" he shouted, coming closer. "Lucky your group's still here," he added in a normal tone as he reached Hitch.
Excitement filled him and he grabbed the letter, for once not thinking about manners. He never got any letters. Mom had never quite forgiven him for joining up, and she'd never once written him. Tully got letters from his mom every time he came to base. Troy got official mail, but it was still mail. And Moffitt's dad, mom, and kid brother wrote to him once every few months. But Hitch had never gotten anything. Until now.
Sure enough, it was from his mom.
"Dear Mark, I have good news for you..."
After just a few moments of scanning the letter, he balled it up and tossed it on the ground. "That was GOOD news?!" he nearly yelled across the desert. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Troy and Tully coming up towards him.
"What's the matter?" Tully asked.
Hitch shook his head, angry at his mother and frustrated with the world in general. "I got a letter from Mom." Before either of them could say anything about how he'd wished for that very thing and what news she'd written and was thinking of getting a few days leave to go see her, he said, "She's getting married again. I've been in the army for over a year and the only time she writes is to tell me she's getting married to some creep?!" His voice rose with every word.
He'd never understand her.