Killing Civilians

"Last week," we had the sort of exposition and character development that a more skilled writer would've subtly woven into the very fabric of the story.

While the computer programmer spoke a remarkably gaffe-free version of American English, his accent was preposterous, and the American couple had to concentrate in order to process his words. The computer programmer, accustomed to speaking to Americans primarily over the phone, was in the habit of speaking English very slowly, which certainly helped matters.

The computer programmer explained that the daughter had only been away for a week, or possibly ten days, before the middle-aged guy had rounded up a pack of his friends for a counter-invasion and/or rescue mission. The computer programmer had not accompanied his fellow villagers on the raid, because he had a steady job and an employer who expected results, but he'd later heard that the middle-aged guy had personally taken the life of the man guilty of the abduction. This seemed to surprise the Americans, which surprised the computer programmer. He further explained that according to all accounts, the middle-aged guy had beaten the abductor to death using only his two bare hands. Confoundingly, this only seemed to increase the surprise of the American couple, as the American man slapped his forehead and the American woman gnawed on her handkerchief.

After a prolonged and somewhat uncomfortable silence, the computer programmer offered to take the American couple out to the shed. For the past two weeks, or maybe twenty days, he'd been coming by in the afternoons to take food out to the daughter. Not because the middle-aged guy refused to feed her anything--that certainly wasn't the case!--but because prior to her abduction the computer programmer had kind of had a crush on the girl. Ultimately he'd ended up marrying one of her cousins, who was much closer in age to the computer programmer, but that was neither here nor there.

TO BE CONTINUED