Dustin's Singing Mockingbird: A Story of Unity and American Spirit

The last of the sun was fading behind the horizon as Dustin walked back to town. The temperature had fallen a good twenty degrees in the last hour, and the wind was picking up. As he walked, his feet kicked up sprays of dust. Dust that had only been stirred by the wind today, and dust that had not moved in years. He imagined it all blowing away with the next gust, and then he imagined it all settling again, just as it always did. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his name being called out from behind him.

"Dustin!"

He turned around to see who was calling him. There, on their porch, were Mr and Mrs Parkman. They waved at him to come over, so Dustin picked up his pace a little bit and headed for the house. As he approached, Mrs Parkman went inside to get flannel blankets for them all, and Mr Parkman sat down in one of their rocking chairs. He was smoking a cigar and wearing a warm smile that reached from ear to ear.

"How are you today young man?" Mr Parkman asked with a grin. "I haven't seen you around town much recently."

Dustin shrugged, "I've been busy with schoolwork."

"That's good," Mr Parkman said, "but make sure you get some time outside too. The sun's setting now, but I bet there's still plenty of light left." He took another puff on his cigar before asking, "So what brings you here? I mean obviously you know where we live." There was always an air of joviality about Mr Parkman that made Dustin want to laugh whenever they spoke. "But I don't think we've ever really had a conversation before."

Dustin sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he answered the question. "Well sir," he began slowly, "I wanted to ask your opinion on something."

Mr Parkman raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest as if he were very interested in hearing what Dustin would say next.

Dustin took a deep breath to steady his nerves before continuing with his request: "Sir, well... I've been thinking about joining the army since I can remember... Well no... Not since I can remember... But since I was eight years old or so..." He trailed off for a moment before catching himself and starting again: "Anyway... I'd like to join the army but my dad doesn't want me to go because he says it's too dangerous and my mom doesn't want me to go either because she thinks people won't take me seriously if they know I'm only ten years old..."