Dragon Rising

   Firecrackers exploded like bursts of machine gun fire as Dragon walked down the crowded streets of Hanoi. After almost a year of felling trees in Laos, he was glad to be home.
   It was New Year's Eve. Tomorrow he would be 16 years old, almost a man.
   A bicycle swerved drunkenly down the street. The rider shouted a greeting and made Dragon simile, then he saw a Japanese soldier standing on the street corner and his smile faded.
   He kept walking, just a few more streets until he would reach his Uncle's house.

   He got to the muddy banks of the massive Red River, where farmers scratched out a living raising oxen or growing vegetables on the flood plains. The huge iron suspension bridge that the French had built loomed in the distance.
   'Not a bad bridge ,' he thought,' I hope they don't come back for it.'
   Then he turned into the alley where his aunt, uncle and five cousins waited for him. They were all that were left of his family. .  
To be continued.

Neil Gaiman's 'Death'.

DEATH, MY LOVER.

DEATH, MY LOVER.

Death, She is my lover,

But we don’t love each other,

I need Her, and She needs me,

Just to be and not to be,

In the end, I know She won’t forget,

Me, and I won’t be able to regret,

Nothing could be left unspoken,

Nothing left broken or unbroken,

Death, She is my endless lover,

We can’t exist without each other.