QUOTE : What do you do?” Leon leaned forward. “You left the Army and disappeared. How come?”<br />“Leon,” Mother warned.<br />“Is it because of the war?” Lina asked. “People on Herald say you have PTSD and you became a hermit like a monk because of it.”<br />“Either a hermit or a monk, not both,” I corrected out of habit.<br />“Herald also said he was disfigured.” Arabella made big eyes.<br />“Yes, I’m a hermit. Mostly I brood,” Mad Rogan said. “Also I’m very good at wallowing in self-pity. I spend my days steeped in melancholy, looking out the window. Occasionally a single tear quietly rolls down my cheek.”<br />Arabella and Lina snickered in unison.<br />“Do you also brush a white orchid against your lips?” Arabella put in.<br />“While sad music plays in the background?” Lina grinned.<br />“Perhaps,” Mad Rogan said.<br />“Do you have a girlfriend?” Grandma Frida asked.<br />I put my hand over my face.<br />“No,” Mad Rogan said.<br />“A boyfriend?” Grandma Frida asked.<br />“No.”<br />“What about . . .”<br />“No,” Mom and I said in unison.<br />“But you don’t even know what I wanted to ask!”<br />“No,” we said again together.<br />“Party poopers.