American Bad Boy(70)

“I believe I have. I live my life like every other American now. There’s nothing that I feel like my leg holds me back from anymore. I’ve learned to run with my new blade, and get out everyday for a jog or some sprints. It feels like my life before I lost the leg, except for one thing,” I look up at him.

“What’s that?”

“I still haven’t gotten back on my bike yet. “I need to do that next. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed riding.” I feel myself relaxing a bit as our conversation bounces back and forth like a ping pong ball.

“If my memory still serves me right, I believe you had plans to come home from the war and go on a cross country tour on your motorcycle. Is that still in the cards?” The silver haired news anchor’s eyes twinkle.

“You better believe it, I want to get my bike out of storage next week and take her out for some short trips before I go out to the coast.”

“Of course you do,” he smiles. “For those who aren’t familiar with your story, I’d like to play the video of that conversation we had, and the footage we have of your heroic bravery in Afghanistan. I must warn our viewers: this video is very graphic and raw, as war tends to be. I strongly recommend that if there are any children in the room under the age of fourteen that they be sent out now.” He gives his content advisory and then pauses, again, unblinking. I’m beginning to wonder if he even needs eyelids at all.

“Are we good?” He looks over my shoulder to the producer. The bald man watching a monitor in front of him gives him a thumbs up. “Ok, so the people watching this are going to see the footage we got in the desert. Then they’ll cut back to us and I’ll talk to you about what happened the other day, ok?” His eyebrows look like they’re trying to furrow, but between the fillers and the makeup, there’s no chance of that happening.

“Sounds good, thanks man.”

A couple of crew members shuffle up beside us with a small table and a laptop. “As you can see, for the discussion about what happened here on the road, I’m going to play you a bit of the video. Everyone has seen it so there’s no need to watch the entire thing. I think seventy million views is more than enough,” he chuckles.

Seventy million views? That’s how many people watched my melt down? The number feels too large, too abstract to even be embarrassed by. I can’t imagine what a thousand people look like, let alone seventy.

I don’t have time to really mull it over though, because the man behind the camera is signalling us again. “We’re back on in five, four, three, two…”

Anderson looks straight into the lens, “Welcome back. I’m sitting down with Captain Mack Forrester, for those of you who were able to watch the entire footage that we just shared with you, it’s easy to see how the nickname “Captain America” was given to you. The heroism that you displayed that day was nothing short of the acts of bravery you would expect to see in a movie about a superhero.” His eyes break from the camera and focus back on me.

I try not to squirm at the comparison, “Uh, thanks.”

“I for one would like to thank you for your service and for the unflinching courage you showed when we came under attack. It must have been a surprise to you when, after the other video of you on the highway earlier this week went viral, how many people quickly turned against you.” He rubs his thumb and forefinger over the meat of his hand, “I was disgusted when I saw calls for your medals to be rescinded. How have you been dealing with the fallout of Captain America?”

I blink for a moment, just trying to stay in the moment. “To be honest,” I clear my throat loudly, “that name has never sat easy with me. It’s always made me feel like it doesn’t honor the men I lost that day by comparing me to a Hollywood character. How do I feel about them being angry?” I look down at my missing leg, “I’m sorry that I let people down, but I’m much more concerned with how I made the man who I dragged out of his vehicle and his family feel. Those are real people, whose lives I affected, and for that I’m sorry.”

“I think that’s appropriate. However, it appears to me that this entire thing has been blown out of proportion. As the last video we shared just showed, you’ve been through more than most people will ever face. You’re a true hero. You’ve sacrificed your own health and safety to save others. Now, because you experienced some road rage, people are demanding that you return your medals? I get road rage every week!” His unbiased reporting is getting buried under his emotions. “Everyone gets annoyed sometimes. I’m going to play a bit of the video showing the events that took place earlier in the week, in case there are some viewers at home who still haven’t seen it.” He leans forward and presses play on the already loaded video.