New Army Recruitment
Still, the breeze carried a new weight.
Smoke bites the air, but it is not from houses on fire.
Nothing like the thick smell of blood. Still, it wasn't that cloying scent from killing floors either.
Smoke hung in the air, mixed with engine grease, then cut by a hint of rain-washed stone.
Burned filth.
Slowly, movement returned where stillness once held every corner. Sounds came again after years of nothing filling the air.
Footsteps echoed where kids walked once more down the road.
Standing clear of entrances. Away from shadows where people might gather. Moving through open spaces instead.
Staring out wasn't happening from shadowed corners, no startled gaze breaking the quiet.
Running.
Laughing.
Shouting over nothing important.
A bunch of kids raced down the slope behind a rolling hoop, tapping their sticks fast, almost smashing into a wagon till they swerved off laughing loud. The smallest tripped on pebbles, tumbling headfirst into the dirt.
