He laid the ribbon flat on the counter beside his round wire-rimmed glasses.

Then he reached into his front shirt pocket, took out my shiny brass EOD Master Chief pin and set it down carefully next to his glasses.

“Are you going to put this back on your service dress shirt?” he asked.

“Sooner or later,” I said, opening the fridge to get a glass bottle of cold milk.

“For now it can stay right there on the counter.”

“I have to read my paper out loud in homeroom Monday morning,” he said.