Summary

"The New Veterans" - Beverly, a massage therapist, meets with her new patient, the 6’2” 25-year-old Sergeant Derik Zeiger, veteran of the U.S. Army, who has a strange tattoo across his back which seems more like a cascade of blues, greens, and patches of browns than any actual picture. It is the first of ten free sessions for Zeiger, covered by military insurance under a new law. Zeiger explains he has had trouble sleeping due to pain in his lower back. Beverly, at age 44, wonders what it must be like to barter one’s life for the future, such as by enlisting to serve a set amount of time. It causes Beverly to reflect on how, when she was 18, she had no plans for the future at all. Beverly reflects on how, after both her parents were diagnosed with cancer, she went...