“But it didn’t matter,” the old man chortled. “You shoulda seen what I did to that Mountie!”
The rest of us laughed, too, except for the reclusive man.
He lingered for coffee after the forum, and our eyes kept meeting, as they were meant to. I finally asked him what he thought of the veteran’s talk.
“It was okay, as far as it went,” he said cautiously. “Some guys don’t like to talk about their Party affiliation, and he’s one of them.”