title: My Father's War Stories: Mt. Battaglia to Quang Tri
author: John Regan
description: John Regan lives in Tucson Arizona with his wife Suzanne and sons Paul and Scott. He works for Pima County's Department of Transportation managing a GIS (Geographic InformationSystem) unit, providing spatial information to decision-makers. John has written over 50 papers on the application of GIS technology and served on various technical advisory boards in Arizona. He is the author of "Rupert" and the children's story "Copper's Arivaca Adventure". In his spare time, John works an orchard in Arivaca with his sons and rides his Harley with the local HOG chapter.
zlib_text: # The Ministry of Changes
  
    1. [](text/ch001.xhtml#section)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * 
  
  
  [Cover](text/cover.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![cover image](../media/epub-to-image.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #
  
  
  _The War is endless. It’s time that's scarce._
  
  
  _This short story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by senior editor[Patrick
  Nielsen
  Hayden](https://www.tor.com/tags/edited%20by%20Patrick%20Nielsen%20Hayden)._
  
  
  Fantine was very lucky to have a job in the Ministry of Changes. She had heard
  her mother tell it to the grannies on their block too many times to forget it,
  and the things the grannies knew were transmuted to truth by some alchemy
  unknown even to the Ministry.
  
  
  “After Reginald—” Fantine’s mother would say, and the grannies would hiss,
  “Yes, yes,” careful to move on quickly from Reginald. Reginald was Fantine’s
  father, and no one wanted to linger too long on him, lest anyone ask too many
  of the wrong questions, which had been one of his failings in the first place.
  Reginald had disappeared after he cri