Brothers
after one falls
Demorris Lee: Matthew Reif and his girlfriend had plans for a really nice dinner. He didn't want to be late, so he dashed for the shower. When the phone rang, he was soaked. He grabbed a towel.
It was his mom. He tried to tell her he had to get back in the shower.
Sit down, she told him.
"Jonathan was killed."
Matthew just sat. He asked how. Then he was quiet for a long time.
Somehow he got dressed, got into his car and headed up I-275 to Safety Harbor, to the house where he and Jonathan and the other brothers grew up.
Jonathan and Matt were stepbrothers, less than a year apart. They'd shared a room, slept 10 feet apart. They had pretend sword fights. Jonathan went to the Army. Matt went to college. Now Pfc. Jonathan Michael Rossi was dead in Baghdad from a single bullet to the base of the skull.