I reached up, closed the stiff top collar of my dress uniform coat, and fastened the brass hook neatly under my chin.

I set the Distinguished Graduate Medal carefully into its velvet pocket, clicked the lid shut, and slid the blue box into my leather dress cap.

The lid of the dark blue velvet box clicked shut with a sharp wooden snap.

I slid it into my canvas travel bag next to my yellow legal pad and zipped the side pocket shut.

Out on the main parade field, the four o’clock sun stretched the long shadows of the granite grandstands across the plain.