Monday - Mazin

Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about Mazin, the husband of my stepmother's best friend, Jackie. Jackie and Mazin were looking forward to two big events: their 20th wedding anniversary, and his return from Iraq, where he has been working as a translator and consultant for at the United States government. My stepmother mentioned that Jackie had stopped by the other day to ask that they go with her to the airport for Mazin's homecoming. He was due to come home in two weeks, and she had been making plans for a grand reunion. Now there is a change of plans, and he is coming home early. He will not be running to great her with hugs and a kisses like she had hoped, however. She wants my stepmother and my father there with her because this homecoming is not something she wants to face alone.

Mazin is not flying home as a passenger on the plane. He is coming home as cargo. News sources mentioned late last week that two civilian contractors were killed in the Green Zone on the 27th.

One of them was Mazin.

( Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone… )