“Still nothing?” Kat asked.

I closed the newspaper, blinking back tears. “There’s no mention of his division, his platoon, his location. Nothing. Mom’s read all the papers from back home and there’s nothing.”

“And you’ve called the army number?” she asked.

“I could call them a dozen times and it won’t change the fact I’m not family. They won’t tell me anything.”

Kat sat down at the table with me, frowning. She squeezed my hand. “What about his actual family? His parents?”

“And tell them what? That I’m his boyfriend and I’m worried sick?”

“No. Tell them you’re a classmate or a friend from training who came home already.”

“I can’t lie to his parents. They don’t even seem to like him too much, let alone some strange man who calls looking for him. His dad already suspects that Richard’s gay, and that’s why he went to Vietnam in the first place.”

“Then I’ll call them.”

I stared at her. “You would?”

“And if they won’t tell me, then I’ll call the local store or the diner you found him in. Maybe someone there knows something. You know how small towns like to talk.”

Twenty minutes and two different switchboard directories later, Kat had a number. She was put through. She covered the mouthpiece with her hand. “It’s ringing.”

My nerves were about to give out, and my stomach was in knots. I held my breath.

“Yes, hello,” Kat said. "Is this Mrs. Ronsman? … My name is Linda and I went to school with Richard. We exchanged some letters while he’s been away in Vietnam, but I haven’t had a reply for a while now and I’m sick with worry. … Yes, that’s right. Linda Bentford. … No, he was in the year above me…”

Kat frowned and I thought for one dreadful moment that our ruse had been found out, and we were going to meet another dead end. But then Kat snatched up my pen and scribbled across the newspaper.

Telegram. Injured.

Then she started to write something but scribbled it out. Then she wrote Balboa Hospital, San Diego.

“Oh my,” Kat said, more politely than I’d ever heard her speak. “Is it serious? Will he be okay?”

But I didn’t hear anything else. My head was swimming and the room tilted and the world started to turn again.

He was alive.

He was in the US.

---

He was alive.

---

And then the tears started.

“He’s alive?” I croaked out.

She nodded, teary-eyed too. I hadn’t realized she’d hung the phone up. “His leg is shattered pretty bad. His mom didn’t know when he’d be out. They haven’t been to see him; can’t leave the farm apparently.”

“I’m going,” I said, standing up.

Kat blinked and looked up at me. “What? Now?”

“Right now. I can take the next flight and be there before dinner.”

“Do you think you should call first?”

I probably should, but I was already packing.

I heard Kat sigh from the living room and mumble about taking time off work. I stuck my head around the door. “What are you talking about?”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “You don’t think I’m letting you go alone?”

I gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

She waved me off and was already on the phone again, asking directory assistance for the phone number of the airport.

We were on the next flight to San Diego. I was grateful Kat was coming with me. She didn’t want me to go alone, but she also thought we might need a fake girlfriend in the mix to seem less suspicious.

I hated that she was right.

Kat put her hand on my arm as we arrived at the hospital. “Gary, just wait. Take a breath. I know you’re excited to see him, but did you stop to wonder why he didn’t call you?”

“He didn’t have my new number in San Francisco. He didn’t have my parents’ number back home. He would have been back here after we left college, and who knows, maybe he left Vietnam without any of his things. If he was injured so bad and they choppered him out right then and there—”

“Okay,” she conceded. “I just don’t want you to be hurt.”

“I need to see him regardless. If he doesn’t want to see me, then at least I’ll know.”

She squeezed my arm and we got out of the taxi and made our way to the main doors. The reception area was like most hospitals, but the doors beyond had an army officer with MP on his arm at the entrance. The lady behind the glass window glanced up at us and smiled. “Can I help you?”

I froze. If I couldn’t see him… If I’d come all this way…

“Yes, hello,” Kat said. “We’re here to see Richard Ronsman.”

The woman didn’t even blink. “Your relation to the patient?”

“He’s my brother,” Kat answered like it was the God-given truth. She put her hand on my arm. “This is my husband, Gary. We’ve come from San Francisco.”

“One moment, please.” The lady took a file and disappeared through another door. The guard at the door eyed us, and Kat gave him a natural smile whereas I was close to going ape.

“Thank God you’re here,” I whispered to her.

She smiled and gave me a side-on cuddle. “We’re close.”

“So close I can’t stand it.”

The reception lady reappeared, her white uniform and white shoes in pristine order. She smiled. “This way, please.”

Oh God, it was really happening.

We were ushered down a corridor, then another, to a set of double doors where another nurse took us into the room. It was a huge open-ward room and it was lined with beds down both sides and an aisle; some beds were partitioned off, some weren’t. There must have been forty beds in the room. Each bed had a man in it, with all different kinds of injuries. Some had their heads bandaged, some were torsos of bandages, some had only one arm or one leg. There were televisions on but it was otherwise kind of quiet. Three other men had visitors, and I was trying to scan faces of the men, looking for him.

The nurse stopped walking, nodded toward the last bed, and gave us a curt smile. “Visiting time ends in one hour,” she said.

And there he was.

He was lying down, covered with a sheet and one of those blanket support things over his left leg to keep the sheet and blanket off him. He looked at us, then looked again, his eyes falling on me like he couldn’t believe it. And his smile…

His whole face lit up, and I knew then, no matter what we had to overcome, that we’d get through it. He started to cry and scrubbed at his face, then tried to sit up and winced at his leg.

“Hey, stay there,” I said, going straight to him. I put my hands on his shoulders to keep him still, but then it became a hug and he clung to me. Fisting my shirt, he sobbed into my neck, and I sat on his bed and held him as he cried. Kat stood at the end of the bed and cried too, and I just held him until his tears dried up. “I’m here. I’m here.”

He scrubbed at his face and laughed. “I can’t believe it’s you,” he croaked.

The truth was he looked terrible. He’s lost so much weight, his face was gaunt, like his eyes and teeth were too big for his head. His hair was longer, shaggy and down over his ears, and there was a haunted look in his eyes. “You can believe it,” I said gently. “After all this time, I finally found you.”

I stayed seated on his bed and took his hand. Kat walked to the other side, pulled over a chair, and sat beside him, taking his other hand. “Told them I was your sister,” she whispered. “And that Gary’s my husband.”

I squeezed his hand and rubbed his arm. “I only found out where you were this morning. I’ve been out of my mind with worry,” I said. “I called the army a hundred times, but no one would tell me anything. Then Kat had the idea to call your mother.”

Richard looked up at me, then to Kat. “You did?”

Kat nodded. “I told her I was a girlfriend from school, and that we’d been writing letters while you were away. I’m sorry I had to lie to her.”

He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad you did. I didn’t know how to call you, and I wasn’t even sure where you were. They shipped me straight home. There was no time to get my gear. I didn’t have your address.”

“I wrote a few times and never got a reply, and I thought the worst, for sure. I was going out of my mind, and then we found out this morning you were in San Diego, so we boarded the first plane.”

Richard looked up at me and smiled, taking in my face like he couldn’t believe he was seeing me. “I’m so glad you are here. You have no idea.” He swallowed hard. “I haven’t had any visitors, and I almost didn’t believe it was you.”

“Your mom said they hadn’t visited because they couldn’t leave the farm,” Kat said gently.

Richard scoffed. “I’m sure that’s what she told you.”

“It’s okay,” I replied. “You’ve got us.”

“I’m sorry for crying all over you,” he said, letting go of Kat’s hand so he could put his hand to his forehead. “Guess my emotions got the better of me.”

“Don’t apologize,” I said. “You don’t ever have to apologize.”

“I’m sorry I made you worry. I thought I’d never see you again.” He was holding my hand so tight, it almost hurt. “Did you get all moved to San Francisco?”

The guy in the next bed was asleep, so I stole his chair and pulled it up next to Richard’s bed. I quickly took his hand again. “It’s beautiful. I can’t wait for you to see it. You’ll love it. We can walk down to the piers, and there are mountains just an hour away where we can go hiking, and we can start crossing off the things on your list.”

His guys flashed to mine, then he looked away. “I’m um… I’m a bit of a mess. My leg isn’t good, and I don’t sleep too well.”

“Hey,” I said. I threaded our fingers and waited for him to look at me. “I’m pretty sure when I made you that promise, there was no fine print about having two good legs.” I smiled at him. “And I didn’t make that promise to your leg. I made it to you.”

He smiled, all shy like, just the way he did on the day we met. I leaned in real close, making sure no one else could hear. “You’re still as cute as the first day we met.”

Richard laughed and his cheeks filled with color, then he looked at us both, then looked at me little longer. “I am so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

“And you too, Kat. Thank you,” he said. “For everything.”

“That’s fine,” she replied. “Someone had to keep Gary from flying to Vietnam to find you.”

Richard smiled at that. “Really?”

“Well,” I amended. “I was running out of options. I had to find you somehow.”

Richard sighed happily, but he was also tired. That much was clear. “My leg is pretty bad. The doctors told me they were going to amputate, but some quick-thinking field medic did such a good job, they thought they’d try and save his handiwork.”

“What happened?” I asked quietly.

He licked his lips, and his grip tightened a little, and he did that quick-blinking thing like his mind was taking photographs, seeing horrors I couldn’t even imagine.

“We left Binh Phuoc, which was bad enough, but we went to do border patrols of Cambodia. We teamed up with half the Delta boys and our new squad went north to the border. It was some fill-in mission that our CO thought was a good idea. We weren’t even supposed to be there.” He swallowed hard. “We were doing sweeps and patrols and working shifts, sleeping in holes in the ground, using our gas mask pouches for a pillow. And it rained for a week straight. Rain like you’ve never seen. Then one morning, just before sunrise, Karel and I went out to do a perimeter check. And it’s funny, because I remember thinking the mountains were beautiful that day, then we heard AK fire back at the camp. So we ran back, and the enemy troops were coming out of the jungle. Our radioman got a call out before they shot him, but the chopper took ages. It felt like hours, but I’d lost all sense of time. Anyway, we held them off and pushed them back, but not before they killed half of us. Then we heard the choppers coming in, and I remember thinking it was over, but one of the VC came running in, screaming, then he launched grenades. I broke cover to take him out, but it was too late. Karel tackled me, and he took the brunt of it.” He did that quick-blinking thing again. His voice was barely a whisper, his eyes full of tears. His voice was just a whisper. “It caught me in the leg and shattered my thigh, but it got him in the back and the neck. I tried to hold the wound, but there was too much blood. I don’t remember the medics screaming at me or the sound of the chopper. I only felt the pain when the doc said the morphine would help.”

Jesus Christ.

“Oh, Richard, I’m sorry,” I said, crying with him. It was all I could say. I wanted to pull him into my arms and hold him forever. “I’m sorry about Karel. I know how much he meant to you.”

“I’m sorry too. He saved my life, but I couldn’t save his.” He shook his head and tears streamed down his cheeks, and his bottom lip trembled. “I’m not the same man you met at Woodstock. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same again.”

“Then I’ll just have to get to know the new you,” I answered. He looked at me like I’d told him the sky wasn’t blue. I smiled through my tears. “You can’t get rid of me that easy. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

He began to cry again, like he couldn’t let himself believe it.

I leaned in. “Richard, I love you. I’m not going anywhere. I know you’ve been through hell. You don’t need to hide anything from me.”

Then he cried again but laughed this time, and he let go of Kat’s hand so he could wipe his eyes. He never let go of my hand.

Some dinner ladies wheeled in a cart and a nurse followed them and came directly to us. I hadn’t realized the other visitors had gone. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Visiting hours are over.”

Richard’s hold on my hand tightened. Kat was quick to take his other hand in case she thought anything weird about him holding mine. There was a hint of panic in his eyes, so I was quick to reassure him. “We’ll be back tomorrow. I promise. First thing.”

“Visiting hours are from nine to eleven,” the nurse said. “Then again from three to five.”

The dinner lady slid a tray of food onto his bed table, and Richard made a face. The food didn’t look that great, and then I noticed what was on it. “He doesn’t like Jell-O,” I said. “It wobbles.”

Richard laughed with fresh tears, his grin wide, and even the nurse smiled. “Well, considering this is the first time I’ve ever seen Mr. Ronsman smile, you’ve got five more minutes. Maybe you can convince him to eat something.” She gave a wink and turned on her heel and walked out.

I wheeled his table so it bypassed his covered leg and was over his waist. He looked at the food and frowned. “The food here isn’t great, but at least it’s not C rations,” he said.

“I’ll be back in the morning. I’ll bring you anything you want, just name it. Did you ever get that burger and fries?”

He half smiled and shook his head. “Nah. But I don’t reckon bringing that back here would make me too popular with the guys.”

“Fair enough,” I said. I looked around the room at all the men eating, gave Richard’s hand one last squeeze, and held onto it. “We’ll leave you to eat in peace, but we’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Promise?” he asked quickly, like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

Kat answered first. “Of course we’ll be back. Now eat your dinner, we need you strong and healthy.”

Then I leaned in and pressed my lips to his temple and whispered to him, “I keep my promises. I’ll be here as soon as they open the doors. I love you.”

As Kat and I walked out, I looked back at him one more time. He was wiping a tear from his face, but he was still smiling. I waited until we were out the front doors before I let my emotions get the best of me. It was a mix of relief, happiness, love, and a little bit of fear that bottled up inside me and brought tears to my eyes. “Oh my God, he was so happy to see us. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but he was happy to see me, right?”

Kat put her hand on my arm. “He was overwhelmed, and it’s clear that he is still in love with you.”

I knew there was something else she wasn’t saying. “But?”

“But he’s been through a lot. And when he said he’s a mess and that he’s not the same man you met all those months ago, I think you should believe him. War does horrible things to people, Gary.”

“I know. But I also meant it when I said that I would just get to know the new him. I love him, Kat. I’ll help him, and I know it won’t be easy.”

She gave me a half smile. “I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I know, and thank you. But this feels right.” I put my hands to my chest. “In here. I know we’re meant to be together.”

She smiled more genuinely now. “The nurse said she hadn’t seen him smile before. And the way he was looking at you…”

“Like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing,” I said.

“Like he was scared you were going to disappear or that he was dreaming.”

I nodded and it solidified something inside me, and I promised to myself right then that I would never let him down. “Come on, we have a lot to do. I want to buy him some things, and—”

“And how about we find a motel first,” Kat said.

Oh. “Right, yes. Good idea. Let’s find a room, then we can go shopping.”

We walked through the hospital doors at exactly nine o’clock the next morning. I was somehow more excited this time. There was no dread or wondering if he would want to see me. There was no fear of the unknown this time, and I was practically buzzing with anticipation to see him.

And when we walked through the doors to his dorm room, my eyes went straight to the back corner where his bed was. He was sitting up in bed, and his whole face lit up when he saw us. He looked freshly bathed, his hair brushed, clean-shaven, and bright-eyed.

“Someone’s happy to see you,” the nurse said to Kat. We were still going along with the ruse that Kat was Richard’s sister.

Kat smiled at her. “He sure is.”

“You look great today,” I said, putting the bag of goods on his tray table.

Kat held up the flowers she was holding. “For you,” she said, then kissed his cheek first, as a sister should, then I leaned in and gently pressed my lips to his cheek as well.

He seemed a little flushed and nervous. “I wasn’t sure if you guys would come today. I know you said you would, but then after you left yesterday, I started to think maybe I dreamed the whole thing.”

“No dream,” Kat said. “Though going through every aisle in the store three times over could be considered a nightmare.”

I sorted out a laugh. “Don’t believe her. She loved every minute.” I wheeled the tray table toward him, careful of his leg, of course, so he could reach the bag I brought with me. “This is for you.”

“All of it?”

“All of it.”

“I’m going to see if I can find a vase for the flowers,” Kat said, giving us a wink. “Won’t be long.”

I sat in the chair beside his bed and watched him pull out each item one by one. The first was a writing set, an additional notepad, and a few pens. “So you can write every day,” I explained. Then there was a puzzle book, a magazine, and the photo frame with a picture of Kat and me in it. “We found one of those picture booths at the mall. Four for a quarter.” I explained. Then I said much quieter, “We thought it would be less conspicuous if it had your sister in it as well, and not just your brother-in-law.” I winked.

Richard laughed at that. “I love it, thank you.”

“You can keep it on your bedside table,” I suggested.

“I will,” he said, like he was about to burst.

Next was a tin of cookies and some candy, but also some fresh fruit as well. A pack of cards, two cans of soda, and two dime novels. “I can’t believe you bought all of this for me,” he said. “I never got this much stuff for all my Christmases combined.”

“You deserve more,” I answered gently. “I’m sorry your folks haven’t been to see you.”

Richard shrugged. “I’m not surprised.”

I looked around at the closest beds to see if any of the other guys were paying us any attention, but none of them were. “My mom said to say hello,” I said, quiet enough. “I called her last night to let her know where I was. And so she would stop worrying. I had her watching the news and reading the papers, trying to help me find my missing soldier.”

Richard blushed, and he whispered, “I can’t believe you told her about me.”

“She wants to meet you.”

His eyes went a little wide. “Oh. Yeah, wow.”

I laughed and patted his hand. “No pressure.”

Kat came back then with a vase with the flowers in it. She put them on his bedside table, then helped him organize his gifts where he could reach them. We talked for a while then about our place in San Francisco, how our new jobs were going, and how we were finding the change of pace. Richard listened intently, smiling and laughing along with us, and we must’ve been talking too loudly because a nurse came in to pull the privacy curtain around us, blocking us off from the rest of the patients. And maybe the nurse would’ve chastised us, but she clearly liked to see the change in Richard.

But now we had some privacy, and it gave me an idea. I stood up and put my finger to my lips in a shhhh motion, then leaned over the bed, took Richard’s face in my hands, and kissed him.

He was surprised at first, but after a second, he relaxed and kissed me back. It was all too brief but very sweet, and when I pulled away, his cheeks were scarlet-red. He glanced at Kat, chewed on his bottom lip, then burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you did that,” he said, his hand covering his mouth.

Kat leaned in and whispered like it was some big secret. “I think he’s wanted to do that for a while.”

“You don’t mind?” he asked. “Seeing that?”

She patted him on the arm. “Not at all.”

“Good,” Richard whispered back to her. “Because I’d like him to do it again.”

Now it was me who laughed. Not wanting to disappoint him, I lifted his chin with my finger and kissed him again.

We talked some more after that, about how he was being treated, and if he was allowed out of bed yet. “Nah. The doctors said I gotta stay like this for a few weeks yet, give myself some time to heal. He showed me the X-ray, and he said he never seen a bone break like fine china, so he fixed it with some kind of special metal plate and bolts. Said I should be as good as new in a few months.”

“How long will you be here?” I asked. “All that time, or will they ship you somewhere else?”

“Somewhere else in the war?” he asked and I nodded. “Nope. My days in the army are done. Even if I wanted to go back for another tour, which I sure as hell don’t, the doctor said there’s no way I’d get medical clearance. I’m up for a medical discharge.”

I sighed with relief, not really knowing how much I’d been dreading the thought of him going back to war until he said he wasn’t. “Thank God,” I breathed. “Thank God.”

He gave me a sad smile. “There is no God in war. Not where I was anyway.”

I took his hand and threaded our fingers. “You’re home now. And when the doc says you’re well enough to leave, you can come and stay with me.”

“I’m guessing I’ll be laid up here for months,” he said. “Gotta have more surgeries yet.”

“That’s fine,” I replied. “I can fly back every other weekend between now and then.”

“It’s too expensive!” Richard shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”

“I have the money,” I replied. Well, actually, my folks had the money, but that was beside the point. “Anyway, they have super cheap coach tickets. Just need to wait till the last minute, that’s all. It’s really no problem.”

“You’d really do that for me?”

“Of course I would.” I put his hand to my lips and kissed his knuckles. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

He smiled, his cheeks tinting pink again. Then he put his fingertips to my beard, feeling the coarse whiskers. “I’ve missed this.”

I gave my chin a scratch. “I was going to trim it back the other day.”

“Or you could leave it,” he said, blushing again.

“Or I could leave it,” I said with a smile, kissing the palm of his hand.

We heard a nurse outside the curtain, so we pulled our hands apart. “When you come home with me, we’ll have real privacy,” I whispered.

He was chuckling when the nurse pulled back the curtain. If she noticed his flushed cheeks, she never mentioned it. “Ah, Mr. Ronsman, time for a quick checkup before lunch.”

Lunchtime already? Wow, the time had gone so fast.

Kat pulled on my arm. “Richard, we’ll be back when it’s visiting hours again, okay?”

Richard craned his neck around the nurse to look at me. “You’ll be back?”

“Of course.”

He visibly relaxed, and the nurses distracted him with the questions about all the gifts and the flowers he received today, telling him it was good to see him smile.

And when we came back in the afternoon, I brought him in a slice of apple pie. His eyes went wide and he grinned. “No way!”

“I remember you saying it was one of your favorites,” I said. “They were serving it at the diner we found for lunch.”

He ate that piece of pie like it was the best food he’d eaten in months. But the afternoon wore on, and as we talked about what we’d been doing at work and he told us a few more stories of his time in Vietnam—about the beautiful beaches and the village children who would laugh and play games—it was easy to see he was getting tired.

I doubted he’d spoken so much since he arrived back here.

His blinks were getting longer and he kept trying to shake it off. “You can sleep,” I urged him.

“I don’t want to miss a thing,” he whispered.

“You won’t. Kat and I have to get back to San Francisco soon anyway. And you have to write to me every day. I’ll be back in a week or two, I promise. And we can speak on the phone.” I took his hand, not caring who saw, and looked him right in the eyes. “You’re not alone anymore.”

He became teary. “Do you promise?”

I nodded. “With all my heart.”

He closed his eyes and a tear slipped down his cheek, but he was soon asleep. We stayed there while he dozed. I saw other men resting, crying, yelling, babbling nonsense, resisting, and some were clearly sedated.

I was so very thankful that Richard was okay.

I knew it wasn’t going to all be sunshine and roses. I’d seen the reports on television. Doctors saying the returned men suffered not just physically but mentally as well. More mentally than anything else. Depression, anxiety, bouts of anger. I knew what I was getting myself in for.

But as I watched him sleeping, I knew in my bones that he was worth it.

When the nurse tapped her watch signaling it was time for us to go, I needed to say goodbye. I didn’t want him to wake up alone and wonder, again, if it had been a dream. I gently shook his arm. “Richard,” I whispered.

His eyes flew open and he pulled back in fear, and I was sure if his leg had been better, he’d have jumped to his feet. He immediately winced and groaned in pain. He blinked a few times and let out an unsteady breath.

“Sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

He had a sheen of sweat across his brow and he’d paled considerably. He was panting shallow breaths. Kat called the nurse over and she came back a few seconds later with a white paper cup of pills. Richard took them quickly and he settled back in his bed.

After a moment, when my heart had returned to normal, I asked, “You okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m just a little jumpy until I get my bearings.”

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to wake up and for us to be gone.”

He slow blinked. “You have to go already?”

I nodded. “I’ll be back the weekend after next.”

He frowned and I squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry. I fell asleep. I didn’t want to,” he whispered.

“It’s fine. You need to rest. You have to write to me every day. I put our address and phone number on the inside of the notepad. I’m not losing you again.”

He smiled, but it was chemically induced. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he murmured.

“I’ll see you again real soon. You concentrate on getting better. San Francisco has a lot of hills, so we’ll need your leg to heal the best it can, okay?” I squeezed his hand one last time. “And you can call me any time.”

He let his head fall back, his eyes were glassy. Whatever drugs they’d given him worked well. He felt no pain now. “You really want a cripple?”

I leaned in and pressed my lips to the side of his head. “Don’t talk about the man I love like that.”

He grinned, and Kat leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Take care, brother,” she said with a wink. She pulled his dinner over for him and took the lid off the plate. “We’ll see you again soon.”

As we were walking out, the nurse gave us a kind smile. “Thank you for visiting. It’s the first time any of us have seen him smile.”

I looked back at him. He was now holding the fork and attempting to eat at the pace of a sloth. I laughed and said, “If you want him to actually eat sometime today, he might need a little assistance.”

Richard looked toward us and laughed. “Love you,” he said with a dopey grin.

Everyone in the room simply assumed he’d said it to Kat. She giggled and waved, but she knew, just like I did. He said it to me.