the boy understood that the man felt he’d communicated something important, some truth that was essential to Scott’s grasp not just of Bluestone’s situation but of what it was to be a man, to be a soldier. And those scars on his face and his missing leg were all testaments to his ability to bear witness to that truth. But Scott was only a boy, and a boy with an imperfect heart that would keep him out of whatever war might erupt in his future. So what he said, he said only to please the man. “I see, sir.”
