When We Had Wings

by Ariel Lawhon

a seasoned doctor could take a crisis and—using little more than a calm voice and a scalpel—put an entire surgical team at ease.

“What about the patients?” she

The world is filled with strange mercies. Little miracles that save us when we least expect them.

The Japanese flag had already been taken down, and now an American flag that someone had kept hidden all the many months of their imprisonment was raised.

“The Americans are here!”

“I don’t think bravery is something you feel, Eleanor. I think it’s something you possess. I see courage in you all the time. Everyone at the camp does. You nurses are like angels from

Few things reveal the true nature of a person like success and defeat.

Hope hadn’t killed David; evil men had. Hope had been his companion until the very end. And even then, hope had escorted him from this life to the next. Hope had done that. Not fear. Not defeat. Not gunshot wounds. David had been right to hold on to hope. He’d been right to tell her to do the same.

She’d seen in this war the very worst one human could do to another. But she’d also seen the very best. Perhaps only the people who see the very worst get to see the very best. Or maybe it was just that because she’d seen the worst, she’d been able to recognize the best.