The years passed like pages turning. Mike Kowalski joined his friends at last, his voice quiet, his face dim in memory. But the story he left behind grew brighter with each telling.
His great-great-granddaughter sat in a garden, the old photograph in her lap. Four young men in uniform, grinning at a camera, frozen in time.
Her own daughter played nearby, chasing butterflies, laughing at nothing.
"Mommy, who are those men?"
The mother smiled, touching the faded image. "That's Mike. And Danny. And Leo. And James. They fought in a war a long time ago."
"What's a war?"
"It's whe