Bert’s Vietnam Flashbacks
(Scene opens with Bert sitting on a rusty folding chair, staring off into the distance, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. Ernie watches from the doorway, concerned.)
Bert: (voice low, almost a whisper)
“You ever hear the sound of an M60 rattling in the jungle, Ernie? It’s like thunder and death rolled into one… and you pray to whatever god you got that it ain’t your ticket home.”
(Cue flashback: A young, battle-worn Bert in a mud-soaked helmet grips an M16, ducking behind a sandbag bunker. Explosions light up the night, shadows of Viet Cong soldiers moving through the trees.)
Bert (voiceover):
“I was just a kid… a grunt in the 1st Cav. They sent me in with a bunch of other wide-eyed recruits, barely outta Sesame Street. We thought it was all gonna be honor and glory. We were wrong.”
(Flashback shifts: Bert and his unit march through the rice paddies, their boots sinking in deep. A buddy nudges him—Private Grover, young and scared.)
Grover:
“Ohhh, Bert, I do not like this, nope nope nope!”
Bert:
“Keep your head down, Grover. Just keep moving.”
(A sudden burst of gunfire. Grover drops. Bert freezes for a second—then drags his friend behind cover, shaking him, but the light in Grover’s eyes is gone.)
(Back in the present, Bert exhales, his hands trembling. Ernie steps closer, unsure what to say.)
Ernie:
“Bert… you never told me.”
Bert:
“Some things you don’t talk about, Ernie. Some things you just live with.”
(A long silence. Bert stares into the distance again as the echoes of war fade. Outside, the sound of children laughing fills the air. Bert closes his eyes, gripping his knees, caught somewhere between the past and the present.)
