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 The Items They Were Transporting Written by Tim O'Brien The Items They Were Transporting

Cross, the first lieutenant, received letters from Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. letters, Lieutenant Cross stored them at the bottom of his backpack, folded in plastic, because he was hoping. After a day of marching, he would dig his foxhole in the late afternoon, wash his hands beneath a canteen, open the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and pretend for the last hour of light. He would envision romantic camping excursions in New Hampshire's White Mountains. Occasionally, he would taste the envelope flaps, aware that her tongue had touched them. He longed for Martha to love him as much he did, but the letters were primarilyas

talkative and evasive when it comes to love. He was almost positive that she was a virgin. She was a Mount Sebastian English major who wrote brilliantly about her roommates, professors, and midterm exams. She also talked about how much she loved Virginia Woolf and how much she respected Chaucer. She frequently cited passages from poetry; she never brought up the war, other than to advise Jimmy to look after himself. The letters were ten ounces in weight. Though he occasionally feigned that Love meant something different, Lieutenant Cross recognized that Love was only a means of signing. He would carefully put the letters back into his backpack at twilight. He would rise up and go among his soldiers slowly, a little preoccupied, surveying the area,

He would then go back to his burrow at dusk to observe the night and ponder whether Martha was a virgin.