A lot of people asked for a sequel to Breakfast Meeting, so here it is. If you haven't read the previous story you better do so before you read this, or it won't make much sense.

Light Lunch - Part 1

"I can't see anything about it at all."

Percy couldn't help raising his eyes a little as Elsie's voice floated out to him from the kitchen. Just for a second he felt like not answering, but he didn't, instead he folded the potion of the newspaper he had taken with him into the living room, tucked it down the side of the chair he was sitting in, and stood. He grimaced as the rheumatism in his legs flared, waiting a moment before he took the first steps that would take him into the room where his wife was sitting.

Elsie looked up as he entered, peering over her reading glasses, her expression one of annoyance.

"I've looked all through here." She gently shook the edge of the newspaper she held in one hand. "And there isn't a word about it. Nothing. I don't understand."

Percy came around the table and slowly made his way to the refrigerator. He opened it, staring into it vacantly, in the hope that something inside would inspire him to eat. Elise was worried about him – that he could tell by the sidelong glances she cast at him when he cleared the dinner plates. He knew she had been discussing his lack of appetite with their son, Paul, and he understood, really he did. But things had changed since the shooting.

That morning at 'Firenz Coffeeshop' was replaying over and over in his head. Every night he went to bed and woke to the sound of gunshots and every morning he pretended he had only been up for just a short while before Elsie came down. He had no idea why he was reacting this way. It wasn't like he hadn't been under fire before - admittedly it was over sixty years ago now, but some things you don't forget. Elsie didn't seem to have a problem with it. She had been terrified at the time, so much so that she had been admitted to the hospital overnight for observation, but, once she was back in the comfort of their own home and was able to fuss around with her flowers and talk to her friends at the seniors' center, it was as if it had never happened.

Except for her desire to find out just what it had all been about.

And that was the odd thing. Their statements had been taken down at the local police station a couple of days later, and they had been driven home in a patrol car – and then nothing. Apart from one small paragraph buried on an inside page, the papers had ignored the affair.

Percy twisted his head down to look once more at the headline on the front page of the newspaper Elsie was still holding. The terrorist attack on the building in Seattle was still the story of the moment. He could see why a simple shooting in Washington wasn't of interest when an entire multi-story office block had gone up in smoke.

Yes, things were a lot simpler sixty years ago. Then you knew who the enemy were – they were the ones in the other uniforms.

He did wonder about the man though – whether he had made it. He hoped he had. Seeing him rushed off into the ambulance, people crowding around him, Percy had almost felt a fatherly concern, as if he was responsible in some way for the victim's wellbeing. Holding a man's life in your hands can do that.

"Close the door – you're letting all the cold air out. You're the one always complaining about the electricity bill."

His wife's only slightly joking comment prompted him to pull a can of cola from the refrigerator and shut the door.

"Don't worry about it, dear. It's over and done with." He took the paper from her hand and folded it, laying it down on the table. "What did you say you had planned for today?"

Elsie smiled – the same smile he remembered loving from the minute he had first met her so many years ago. "I'm going to the shops with Beth. We both need new yarn. We have some knitting to finish. She's only got one small section of her grandson Tyson's blanket to do. I want to get a start on something for Judy's baby before she's born."

"She? I didn't realise they knew the sex. Did Paul tell you when you spoke to him last night?"

Elsie shook her head, already standing. "No, silly. I would have told you if he had. I suppose I'm just hoping for a girl after two boys – I know Judy is."

"There's nothing wrong with boys," Percy commented, as he watched her collect her things together and pick up her handbag. He concealed a smile, knowing the response his words would get.

"Of course there isn't! Did I say there was anything wrong with the boys? Two more beautiful grandchildren you couldn't hope to see ..." She stopped and gave him a long stern look, before waving her index finger at him. "Oh, you! You had me going there for a minute, and look at the time, I'll be late to meet Beth if I don't hurry, and it's all your fault."

"Of course it is, dear."

He laughed as Elsie poked her tongue out at him, looking thirty years younger. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and followed her to the front door to wave her off. She had barely stepped out on to the pavement when Beth's small red hatch-back pulled up. Percy waited until Elsie had gotten in before turning, having planned a long movie marathon with Clint Eastwood.

He was trying to find the remote under the chair cushions when there was a knock on the door, its firm rap making him jump slightly in surprise.

Maybe Elsie had forgotten her keys and was back to get them. He sighed and hurried back down the hall.

Opening the door, Percy soon realised it wasn't Elsie. Instead of his wife he found an Air Force colonel standing there, with an official sedan parked at the end of his front path.

"Mister Curtis?"

Percy nodded. "Yes, that's me."

The officer ducked his head in a slightly formal fashion. "My name is Colonel Davis. I've been asked to take you to the Walter Reed Hospital, sir. And your wife ..." His eyes shifted to scan the hallway. "Is she ...?"

"She's out. What's all this about? Why do you want me to go to the hospital?"

"General O'Neill has asked to see you, to thank you."

Percy racked his brains to put a face to the name, but came up with nothing. "General O'Neill?" Anyway, he could count the generals he knew on the fingers of – well, no hands. At least not since the war, and even then he hadn't exactly travelled in the same circles as generals.

For a moment the colonel looked startled, then his expression cleared and he nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise you didn't know. General O'Neill is the man whose life you helped save last week. He wanted to thank you personally for what you did, but he's still in the hospital."

"Wait ... you're talking about the man at the café? He was a general?"

"Is ..."

Percy didn't let Davis continue, interrupting him hastily. "Is. Of course, sorry. It's just that I assumed he ..."

This time it was Davis who interrupted. "I understand. The general was badly injured." He glanced down at his watch. "We'll have to hurry. We're on a tight schedule."

"Could we make it another time? My wife won't be home for at least two hours." Percy really couldn't grasp what was going on, but if it involved finding out more about the shooting, then he was sure Elsie wouldn't want to miss it.

The colonel took another look at his watch. "I'm sorry."

"All right. Just let me leave her a note and lock up. She refuses to carry a cell phone. Says they fry your brains."

xoxoxoxoxoxo

TBC