He Sent Every Dollar, So Why Was My Daughter Starving? novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Honorable
Kurt's POV
The call came at six in the morning, on the laptop Emmeline's neighbor had lent us.
I sat at the kitchen table in a clean T-shirt and my dress trousers, with my back straight.
The screen showed a conference room in Germany.
My first sergeant sat at the head of a long table.
Behind him stood the whole platoon, thirty men and women in uniform, shoulders touching.
I had not expected an audience.
"Gleason," the first sergeant said. "You're a hard man to get on the phone."
"First Sergeant."
"I read the Criminal Investigation report last night. Every page of it."
I said nothing.
"Your wife and daughter went hungry. And you were two thousand miles away asking for leave that was denied."
"Yes, First Sergeant."
"Who denied it?"
I looked at the faces behind him.
A specialist near the back looked at the floor.
"I did," the first sergeant said. "Three times. Because I needed you on the roster, and you never told me why you needed to go."
"I didn't want to complain."
"You should have complained to me like a man with a wife." His voice cracked on the last word. "I'm sorry, Kurt."
The room was silent.
I had never heard him apologize to anyone.
"I'm calling because of orders," he said. "You're due to report in two days. I need to hear it from you."
I took a breath.
I had thought about this for sixteen days.
"First Sergeant, I'm not coming back."
A ripple ran through the room.
"I'm resigning my place on the roster," I said, "and I'm submitting for separation, today. I'm sorry to leave the unit short. But my daughter's weight dropped four pounds because I wasn't home, and I won't have the same thing happen twice."
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