Rico

No matter how much the equipment improves, some guys still don’t make it.
We hang their helmets on the wall at Jimmy’s Bar. It’s tradition to tap each of the helmets on the way to the toilet.
It’s late. Everybody’s hammered.
That’s when the pagers go off. All of them.
Captain walks along the bar, checking eyes and hands.
Rico’s got our keys, so he’s not drunk like the rest of us.
“Go,” says the captain, and he reports the rest of us Not Available.
After the funeral, we went to Jimmy’s.
This is Rico’s helmet.
Go ahead. Tap it.