Called to Arms Again: A Tribute to the Greatest Generation

by J. L. Salter

  “Who won?” Diane already knew the answer.

  “He punched my arm and I punched his. Then he yanked my hair. His hair was too short, so I gave him a windmill slap on the face, with my fist closed. He started crying and I fled the scene.”

  “So that was the end of playing with the boys?” Diane cleared her throat. “I meant school-yard playing.”

  “It was about that time. I wanted to be treated the same, but they sensed they had to treat me differently. Some interpreted that as gentler, but others treated me rougher. It was too dicey. I just wanted to be little Millie.”

  “Millie?”

  “In elementary school I was still called by my middle name. Millie for Aunt Mildred. It wasn’t ‘til the end of high school that I just decided to use my first name, period.”

  “That’s about when your folks died in that awful wreck?”

  Kelly nodded slowly.

  “Must’ve been rough, losing both at the same time.”

  “Senior year. A couple months before I graduated. I stayed with a family my folks had known really well — no kids of their own. Just for those months. Then I graduated and Aunt Mildred told me to come stay with her for the summer.”

  “So you’d actually lived in Somerset previously?”

  “Hardly counts, though. It was scarcely three months before I started college. I didn’t run around town very much. Mostly just stayed home with Aunt Mildred and kind of cocooned.”

  “Interesting that you dropped the name Millie just shortly before you moved in with Aunt Mildred.”

  Kelly thought back. “Actually, I think it was when I moved in with her. Hmm.”

  Elsewhere, Irene had been in constant motion. While buzzing among the five inside areas, she had also checked outside her front door. She saw two more guests and let them in. “Florence.” They hugged. “Come on inside.”

  Florence — divorced some twenty years — lived in the other half of the duplex Melvin occupied, which was to the east of Earl’s. Florence still drove and got around on her own. “Irene, you remember Helen.”

  “Of course, Helen.” Irene clasped Helen’s hand with both of her own. “Come see the buffet.”

  Helen lived in the west half of the duplex occupied by Art. A widow for some dozen years, she didn’t drive anymore and depended a lot on Florence.

  Irene and Florence went inside and Helen scurried behind them.

  Irene didn’t make it as far as the table, because she stopped to introduce Florence and Helen to Kelly and Diane at the couch. Both Kelly and Diane looked puzzled, so Irene summarized the placement of those in attendance. “In this big curve, on that side of our street, we have what’s-her-name and Bernie as adjoining neighbors, Norm and Leo adjoining, Helen and Art adjoining, and what’s-his-name and Frank as adjoining neighbors. Now, on our side of Placid, it’s Alice adjoins us, Betty adjoins Earl. Betty’s out of town and she was supposed to bring potato salad. Then Melvin adjoins Florence, and Gerald is adjoining neighbors with what’s-his-name.”

  Most of those present already knew Irene’s information — though none could supply the three missing names either — so her announcement was for the benefit of guests like Kelly, Mitch, Roger, and the Suttons, none of whom had ever visited the Henley home before. At that particular moment, however, Mitch, Roger and Joe were all outside with Wade, so they’d have to get the briefing later.

  Outside, it was smoky and every wispy particle was delicious. Some raw meat remained, but Wade was finished grilling. Plenty was cooked for everyone already eating, and the only person not yet eating was Wade. All that grilling made him too hungry to clean up first, so he just turned off the burners, rinsed his hands at the Henleys’ spigot, and wiped them dry on the underside of his apron.

  Roger departed to join Aunt Lucile at the dining table. Joe squeezed onto the couch next to Diane, who was almost finished by that point.

  The sun had warmed the day to the low eighties which chased most of the guests indoors. Mitch and Wade were the only diners remaining outside. Mitch quickly stepped inside to get his second plate and also brought a clean dish out to Wade. The hungry chef, who’d been eating directly off the grill with his hands, looked at the plate like it was a novelty.

  They pulled two folding chairs over between the Henleys’ and the duplex which included Earl’s unit to the east. Shade was partly present in the twenty feet between the two structures and a warm breeze wafted through occasionally. From that spot, they sat facing north, looking across the lane. In the spaces between those structures across Placid, they could see portions of the new North Serenity Drive’s roadbed subsurface.

  “The layout of this place is confusing.” Mitch chewed on a piece of chicken which had been slightly more than a normal mouthful. “What happened to rectangles and squares? And straight lines?”

  “Ain’t none out here. Not level neither.”

  “With this curving hill Pete can’t even see where his own lane meets that main drive.” Mitch’s greasy fingers pointed in the direction of the intersection of Placid with North Pleasant.

  “All these other duplexes in the way.” Wade also pointed eastward.

  “Once they build units along both sides of that new drive,” Mitch nodded toward North Serenity, “Henley won’t even have a decent view. Those woods over there are kind of scraggly, but it’s nicer than looking into the back yards of the next bundle of duplexes.”

  “There’s a little creek bed down in there, somewheres past them trees.”

  “Didn’t notice that coming in. But I did see where they’re clearing acres and acres of those beautiful grassy hills, just north of Great Vista.”

  “Crying shame. If you like riding a big tractor mower, that place was a gone-to-Heaven dream.” Wade shook his head. “But not now.”

  Riding large mowing machines was near the very bottom of Mitch’s priorities, but he realized how much Wade loved it. Not counting whatever equipment he maintained at his Cincinnati residence, Wade’s Somerset estate had at least three riding mowers of varying sizes, plus two tractors with belly mowers. “You know what they’re going to build over there?”

  “As much ground as they leveled, I guess they could put Cape Ker-naverel over there.” Wade shook his head again. “Crying shame to ruin such a pretty place.”

  Both resumed their consumption. After the chicken was gone, Mitch still had dollops of baked beans and potato salad on this second plate. Wade just had generous portions of three kinds of meat.

  “That new roadbed over yonder.” Wade waved his hand vaguely northward. “Why’d they go and pile all the dirt like that?” He referred to three huge mounds clustered around the intersection of North Serenity and North Pleasant Drives.

  Those dirt piles were not visible from where they sat because of the hill and curve and other condos, but Mitch understood his reference. “Well, since they took the trouble to run fencing up to it and add a locked gate, I’d say they want to keep vehicles out. Once you get the grade on your road bed, you don’t want anybody driving ruts in it.”

  They’d basically finished eating, except for a sizeable length of bratwurst Wade carried with him, so they wandered along the east side of the Henley house to the neighbor’s back yard. Carrying their folding chairs, they rounded the long cement retaining wall, plus the thick hedges extending beyond it. Wade’s grilling gear was still out on the back lawn and his fingers trailed over it as he passed. “I need to get this stuff loaded before long.” They placed their chairs a few feet away from the Henleys’ rear deck, where there was a thin curtain of shade from the roof edge.

  Mitch looked out to the south. “This could be a nice area for recreation. Lots of room. Shame it’s got such a steep slope.”

  “Can’t do much of nothing ‘til after they fill that long deep trench and move the backhoe out of there.”

  “What do you figure are the dimensions of this common area?” Mitch swept his hand from east to west.

  Wade squinted. “Well, Pete said ac
ross the middle of this field it’s about two-hundred and forty feet between his back wall and the backs of them units to the south, on Cordial. And it’s about six hundred feet from that edge of Serenity to the back of them condos along Pleasant down there to the east.”

  Mitch looked where Wade had just indicated, at the frontage along North Pleasant, which formed the eastern connection between Placid and Cordial. “Those two units look like they’re spaced differently. You see what I mean?”

  Wade shook his head. “Naw. Not much different. Probably the same twenty feet like between these units up here. But look how they got a deck on the inside of that one and the inside of the other one.” He pointed to each. “With both decks on the inside, instead of having one of ‘em out back, the actual clearance can’t be much more than about five feet.”

  “Think your souped-up golf cart could fit through there?”

  “You kidding? I wouldn’t run Old Betsey through that hole, lest I had a good reason. Why’d you ask?” Wade’s eyes lit up. “You got a good reason?”

  “Just thinking out loud. You’re always planning things for your nephews and nieces.”

  “And cousins.” Wade took a generous bite of his bratwurst. “What about it?”

  “Just wondered if this nice common area between these two long rows of duplexes might be usable for a big picnic or something. You know, have a few games going on. Somebody cooking hotdogs, and some jolly uncle riding his nephews and nieces down this thrill hill.”

  Wade smiled. “Yeah. Only thing: Henley says you can’t hardly get up in here. Not from the west, because this side of Serenity has a big old paved drainage ditch the whole way down from Placid to Cordial.”

  “I thought I saw a pile of heavy timbers somewhere over by that spillway.”

  “Maybe they plan to make a temporary bridge just to bring that backhoe out of here.”

  “Well, still a shame it’s land-locked like this. It’s a real nice hill, especially for snow disks and things.” Mitch watched his companion’s bratwurst consumption and wished he’d brought along something else to eat.

  “But there’s no kids out here anyways. This is just old folks.”

  “Old people have grandkids.”

  “Naw. There’s enough space in Pop’s meadow and woods to suit me. I ain’t going to traipse out here and worry these old folks. They don’t like much noise.” Wade pointed again. “Plus, that ground’s way too soft. Anything bigger than a mower’ll sink up to the axles. Too many ruts, too.”

  They both looked out at the wide open, steep slope for a moment.

  Mitch rose and stretched. “Oh, you still want to load your stuff back on the trailer? Or has it cooled off enough yet?”

  Wade slapped the top of the grill cover with a glancing blow. “Yeah, it’s cool. But on second thought, I might take Old Betsey fer a spin down that hill first.”

  Back inside, Lyin’ Leo entered the dining area where several people were still nibbling. “You remember that car I saw last Friday that was casing our neighborhood?”

  Someone at the table grunted.

  “Well I think I just saw the same driver, but he’s in a big van now. Like those biggest U-Move rentals.”

  No comment from anyone.

  “And I found out why that wrecked tractor-trailer rig was in the Community.”

  Nobody seemed to care.

  “It was delivering all new hospital beds to the nursing home complex. Because they were raided last month by state officials after some old biddy got her hand caught in the rail and broke her wrist.”

  Silence met Leo’s investigative report. He waited a moment and then headed toward the sun porch to locate a better audience.

  Helen watched Leo depart. “You think he really saw anything?”

  “Aw, it’s just Leo the Liar seeing Martians again,” Melvin grumbled his dispute. “Now they’re in trucks, though.”

  “Shouldn’t somebody go have a look?” Helen’s head nodded slightly as if prompting the correct answer.

  “If it was anybody at all, it’s probably some worker came back to get his tool box or something.” Melvin turned to see how far away Leo was. “Lyin’ Leo makes up stuff just to get attention.”

  “What about that business with the hospital beds and the big rig blocking our road?” Helen again.

  Melvin just rolled his eyes. “You really think they’d buy all new beds because some twit can’t keep her hands out of the rails? Give me a break.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Wednesday at 12:35 p.m.

  Joe was again poking around the antique oak bookcase near the Henleys’ front entranceway when he heard what sounded like a scream from outside. He looked around to see if anyone else heard it. Apparently not. Must’ve imagined it. When he scanned the room again nobody seemed alarmed. Joe started to pick up a book which caught his eye, but instead decided to check outside.

  He exited the front door and looked both west and east along Placid Lane. To the right, Joe saw a woman limping up the curved hill; she was in front of the duplex to the east of Art’s unit, and nearing Art’s big Chrysler. Joe rushed back inside and got Diane.

  The limping woman was already past Art’s duplex and approaching the Henleys’ when Joe and Diane moved toward her. Their paths intersected where the Henleys’ driveway met their sidewalk and the woman seemed like she might run over the Suttons if they didn’t move. They stepped aside as the distraught woman hurried directly beneath Pete’s large flag.

  Diane looked the direction that woman had come from and saw another elderly female scurrying away from her unit about three duplexes further down the hill, where the street’s curve was quite pronounced. As both Suttons watched, the second woman pounded on the door of Melvin’s adjoining neighbor. No answer. The frantic female looked back toward North Pleasant as she continued up the hill, then banged on Melvin’s door. Of course, he was already inside the Henleys’ place. Then she tried the next unit — Earl’s — but he, too, was gone. Out of breath, the woman was about to knock on the door of Earl’s adjoining neighbor when she saw the Suttons and headed to the Henleys’ instead.

  Barely able to speak, the panicked woman seemed like she might faint from her exertion. The Suttons didn’t ask any questions and she offered no explanations; she just pointed down the hill and then hurried inside the Henleys’ condo. The Suttons, however, walked quickly across the lane to the rear deck of Leo’s condo.

  It was the same truck they’d had to drive around. From their vantage point, higher up Placid’s hill, Diane pointed toward a huge orange and white moving van — the twenty-four-foot-long rental type with a compartment over the cab and a pull-out ramp — which had just turned the corner onto North Pleasant Drive from the access road off Great Vista Boulevard. About a hundred feet behind that was another van, smaller — white with red lettering. It was basically a fourteen-foot-long rectangular box behind the cab. It sat up higher and had no ramp. “Another truck!” Diane punched Joe’s arm.

  Still farther east — almost to Great Vista — was a third large truck, with an open bed and long, low trailer. Three enormous vehicles headed into the Community — the first just barely on North Pleasant Drive and the other two still on the access road, not yet inside the subdivision’s formal boundaries.

  Back inside the condo, Kelly had finished eating and found herself alone for a few moments in the Henleys’ guest bathroom. She enjoyed being with Mitch and liked talking with Diane, but sometimes she just wanted silence. The bathroom was the only place in the Henleys’ very crowded condominium which allowed a person to be alone, albeit rather briefly.

  But she had to leave her sanctuary sometime.

  “What on earth?” Exiting the bathroom, Kelly saw the Suttons dash outside so she followed quickly. She’d just arrived beside them on Leo’s deck, after nearly colliding with the second frightened woman while trotting across the lane. “That looks awful fishy. What was that lady in such a dither about?”

  Joe pointed. Farth
er along North Pleasant, they could see a small boy scoot under one of the garage doors of the many residents who left their garages slightly open. Shortly, the child emerged from the front door, left it wide open, and then moved to the next partly-open garage door. There, he repeated his actions.

  Diane punched Joe again. “That kid’s breaking in!”

  “He’s not the only one.” Kelly spotted some older strangers spilling out of the two farthest trucks and walking along the access road toward the large residential area. “What the…”

  There were six strangers on foot heading into the Community. Several had firearms. When they got to the first unit which the child had opened, two split off and went inside. Two more entered the second condo, and the final two approached the third dwelling.

  “Where’d those guys come from?” Diane’s question went unanswered. The first pair was already hauling sizeable items out to the largest truck — the big van in front. “What on earth is going on?”

  Another woman screamed somewhere on North Pleasant and shortly appeared from around the curve trudging up the hill. She began banging on doors on the north side of Placid, but had no better luck than the previous individual had experienced on the south side.

  Other guests inside the Henleys’ place had not heard or noticed anything happening outside, but several had clustered around the two frightened women who’d already entered. The guests were trying to make sense of the arrivals’ breathless reports.

  Kelly hurried back across the street, found Irene inside her condo, and gave her a quick briefing.

  Irene automatically reached for her home phone. “It’s dead. Pete, the phone’s out.”

  “The backhoe digging that deep trench cut all the phone lines Monday.” Pete didn’t even turn around. “I told you about that.”

  “Oh, I forgot. No wonder nobody’s called today.” Irene began asking guests if they had cell phones. So far, none who possessed cell phones had brought theirs.

  Despite his bad hearing, Chet grasped a small part of their conversation. “They plan ta fix it?”