Ezoic
Jenny set down her coffee pot, heart pounding. “I’m Jenny.”
He approached, extending a hand. “Colonel David Reeves, United States Army Special Forces. I’ve come because of a promise one of my men made.”
The diner was silent.
Ezoic
The Letter
“The boy you fed,” the Colonel continued. “His name is Adam Thompson. His father was Master Sergeant James Thompson — one of the finest men I ever served with.”
Jenny’s breath caught.
“Is Adam alright?” she asked.
Ezoic
The Colonel nodded. “He’s safe now with his grandparents. What Sergeant Thompson didn’t know was that while he was deployed overseas, Adam’s mother left. The boy was surviving alone, too proud and too frightened to tell anyone. Until you.”
The Colonel pulled an envelope from his pocket. His voice softened. “Two months ago, Sergeant Thompson fell in Afghanistan. In his final letter, he wrote: If anything happens to me, please thank the woman at the diner who fed my son without asking questions. She didn’t just feed a child. She gave dignity to a soldier’s boy.”
Jenny’s hands shook as she accepted the envelope. Tears blurred her vision as she read the soldier’s words.
Ezoic
Then, in perfect unison, the Colonel and every soldier with him saluted her. Customers rose to their feet, the diner hushed in reverent silence.
Jenny — the waitress who had lived quietly in the background of life — now stood at the center of honor.
A Town Transformed
