Blast from the Past by Stephen R. Wolcott

We all stared in shock at this guy under the table, shaking, freaked out.

“It’s okay,” Janet said, trying to calm him down.  Most of us were into our fifth or six beer at this festive barbecue on a Silver Lake hilltop home when, hearing the explosive sounds nearby, the most macho dude of the bunch suddenly dove for cover, on instinct, reliving another time.

“They’re just fireworks from Dodger Stadium, across the canyon. They do that after the game.”  He started whimpering, full of shame, Janet holding him.

She turned to me, mouthing the words, “He was in ‘Nam.”

© Copyright 2016 Stephen R. Wolcott. All rights reserved.
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Stephen R. Wolcott is an award-winning writer producer, whose credits include 5 Star Trek Specials, hundreds of DVD/Blu-Ray documentaries, and a few bits of fiction on this site.

5 thoughts on “Blast from the Past by Stephen R. Wolcott”

  1. I’m sorry but this is an overused theme. We probably all knew the story’s end after the 1st paragraph. I would have made this more current by referencing Iraq or Afghanistan. Some 70 year old being the most macho dude at this festive bbq just doesn’t seem realistic. Sounds like a gathering of a much younger crowd.

  2. Yup. Saw my first husband freak out when helicopters circled our apt. one night back in the early 70s. They came back changed and no one understood. Might want to clarify time frame and set this one in the 1970s when it was all fresh.

  3. During my days as a television journalist in the early 80’s, our news service ran a national story on PTSD, one of the first. I still remember the heartbreaking letters we received, mostly written by the wives and girlfriends of Vietnam vets, begging for help for their men, but also expressing relief – there was a name for the suffering, and they were not alone. It might have been the only time no one got snarky about the comments sent to us. Stephen, your story brought it all back to me.

  4. Thanks for the comments. A time frame would have helped. The 100-word limit is a good exercise to condense important details. I should know better. I written 100’s of Trailers and promos in my profession.

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