they worked the small machines together , and anybody who passed by couldnt help notice ernie , who , ever since the funeral , had spent everyday cutting air on his engine lathe , staring blankly down the aisle in the tool room machine shop , with a clear view to the main entrance up the long aisle to the offices , like he was watching for the military to come back and tell him it was all a mistake , that ernie jr. wasnt really blown all to hell in a fucking rice paddy not fifty feet from a village full of vietnamese people , the folks he was sent over there to save from the communists .