3 Quotes by R.J. MacDonald

Torpedo! Starboard side!” The lookout grasped the cold metal handrail tightly, his knuckles white, staring helplessly as a 20-foot torpedo, travelling at 60 feet per second, disappeared from his view to ram 400 pounds of high-explosive TNT-Hexanite into the majestic ocean passenger liner.

Harris looked up at the sky and then stared at Stuart. “The sun will set soon. Follow Lieutenant Morley to the aid station.”“I’m all right, Sergeant. I want to stay with my brother.”Harris looked Stuart up and down. “You’re covered in blood.”Stuart looked Harris up and down. “So are you, Ser- geant.”Harris looked at his own uniform and pursed his lips. “Good point; well made. All right, stay if you want.

Their schoolboy gang of friends had weathered the storms and squabbles of puberty, and now they were young men. Ready to join their fathers at work and in the pub, ready to court the girls they’d gone to school with, ready to try out for the local hurling team, ready to become adults—but there was always time for fishing. Some things just had to take priority.