How he joined the Crossword table

It turned out, that what they really had in common was crossword puzzles. That wasn’t the only thing, but the most consistent over the years.
Every great talk they’d ever had was while doing a puzzle.
Life and death, weddings and funerals, stresses and releases all got discussed while coming up with words.
And somehow they had gotten very close. It probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise. But they found themselves in a place of life—somewhere near the middle they hoped-where they both needed to do a puzzle a day to make it all work.
On this day, the puzzle had a world war’s theme. They got this one, they knew most of the dates of the greatest atrocities in twentieth century history. And he knew all the battle stories as well, as his uncles and later his brother had been in serious combat, and had the messed up life afterwards to prove it.
One day his brother arrived as the two were playing their puzzle.
“How can you sit around doing that mind shit, when people are dying” he said just as he sat down at their table. The table itself had become something sacred to them, and to break its silent concentration, that the locals guarded, caught both of them off guard, especially with such a strong accusation of moral idleness.
Neither responded immediately, but slowly looked at each other, sort of to see if that could be true of the other person. Both silently decided it was not. They agreed without a word that this was a reasonable response to a troubled world, and somehow even a sign that life still mattered. It was not like dada or surrealism, it was a response not a reaction, they agreed silently.
And yet, they understood how a soldier might see them as frivolous, or as having moral apathy or even complacency. But, both decided to keep playing.
Well, said the other brother, after a bit. “We are building a friendship here, and isn’t that what you soldiers have to form on the battlefield. And by the way do you know the date when the battle of the bulge actually ended?”
“Of course.” His brother said loudly!
And from that day on his brother joined them daily at the crossword table.