by A. American
I took the words in slowly. It made me think of Dad, something I hadn’t done in a long time now. He was a crew chief and door-gunner on scout helicopters in Vietnam. He’d seen his share of this sort of thing. In a time when the people of this country didn’t even pretend to support the troops or the mission that detached politicians gave them.
My mind wandered off the topic and focused on Mom and Dad. I wondered how they were doing. Dad was a tough old man and I thought, hoped, he and Mom were doing alright. I imagined them working the river for food. He loved to fish and was really good at it. Doing it for fun is one thing but doing it every day to feed yourself made it something else entirely.
My thoughts were interrupted by Sarge barking at me. “You paying attention over there?”
Rousing myself, I said, “Sorry. I was thinking about my Mom and Dad.”
He nodded and asked, “They live over on the St Johns, right?”
“Yeah. That’s where he retired to. The old man loved to fish, and it was the perfect place.”
“You should go over there and check on them.”
I nodded. “I want to. There’s just been so much going on.”
“We can make time,” he said. Then Sarge looked over and said, “It’s important, you know.”
I nodded. “It is. I’ll make the time soon. Back to the original topic. What’s the deal with the Russians?”
“It ain’t just Russians.”
“I know, I know, there’s Cubans too. Now answer my question.”
Sarge looked over at me. A half grin cut his face. “I think I can get a B1 bomber to hit them. It’ll blast them all to hell. One run and that’s it.”
I took an exaggerated look out the windshield, at the sky. “So, where’s the bomber? What’s the hold up?”
“It ain’t that simple, dipshit.”
I leaned against the door, resting my elbow on it. “Enlighten me.”
“We need to get eyes on them first. I want to make sure that all of them are actually there. At least most of them.” He smiled, “When we were at Eglin, I picked up a piece of equipment for this very thing. A laser designator. Once we have eyes on them and Bone is in the air, we can paint the target and they’ll drop some big ass smart bombs on them.”
I thought about it for a minute. I’d seen YouTube videos of this sort of thing. I had an idea of what he was talking about. “So, what are waiting on?”
“That’s why we’re on our way to see Sheffield.”
“And why am I here?”
Sarge looked over and shook his head. “I know you really just think of yourself as the Sheriff. But you are a very important part of this here. It’s more than you want, I know that. Everyone knows it. But you always step up to the plate. You’re here because I want you here.” He slowed the truck and stopped in the road. “I need your help, Morgan. It’s that simple.”
I nodded. “You saved my life once. I guess I owe you. I’ve got your back.”
The old man smiled and reached out and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “I know you do.”
We’d stopped on the road between Altoona and Umatilla. We were sitting just before the old Pizza Hut. Sitting in the road, just past it, was the bucket truck. I smiled, “Looks like Baker is running power out this way.”
Sarge nodded and put the truck in gear. “Looks that way.”
We stopped at the truck and I got out. There was a crowd of people gathered across the street from the truck. Terry was up in the bucket and Baker and Eric were on the ground. I walked over to Baker and looked up the pole. “You’re uh, moving the wrong direction, you know.” I pointed down the road towards Eustis and added, “Eustis is that way.”
She was stripped down to just a t-shirt with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was looking up at Terry as well and didn’t look away when she replied. “That job is done. Now we’re heading this way.”
I nodded and looked around. “Uh huh. And where are you headed, this way?”
“You know where we’re going, asshole. We’re going to get the power up to your neighborhood first, then we’re going to come back and start checking side lines and restoring power to Umatilla.”
“You have all the parts to pull this off?”
Baker laughed, “Hell no! But we’re scavenging parts as we go. We’ll make it happen.”
Sarge had made his way over and said, “Of course you will!”
“Hey,” I said to Baker, “We’re going to Alexander Springs tomorrow. You guys should come with us.”
“What?” Sarge asked.
“You heard me,” I replied.
From up in the bucket, Terry shouted down, “Hell yes, we’ll go! I could use a day off and swimming sounds like a damn fine way to spend that day!”
“When were you going to tell me about this little field trip?” Sarge asked.
“I would’ve earlier this morning. But you had your ass in a knot.”
“Whaaaat?” Baker asked in exaggeration. Looking at Sarge, she said, “You had your ass in a knot? But you’re such a people person.”
If Baker had been a man, Sarge would have had plenty to say to her. But he held his tongue and worked his jaw. His eyes narrowed as Baker smiled at him, waiting for his response. Finally, he spit on the ground and walked away. Baker laughed and said, “See you next time, Top.”
I looked over my shoulder as the old man walked away. Turning back to Baker, I said, “You guys come out to the house tomorrow morning and we’ll head up to Alexander. It’ll be fun. We’ve got some meat we’ll grill, make a day of it.”
“Sounds good to me,” Baker said.
“Me too,” Eric added.
“Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow. I guess we have shit to do.” Looking up the pole, I shouted to Terry, “See you tomorrow! Bring a swim suit and no banana hammock!”
“Eww!” Baker shouted.
I laughed and headed for the truck where Sarge was waiting, fuming. Climbing in, I looked over and asked, “You get your ass in a knot again?”
“Fuck you, asshole. You’re a dick. You know that?” He shot back.
I nodded, “So that’s what you wanted to say to Baker. Whadda you got for me?”
As he started the truck, the old man shot back, “That was for you! I wouldn’t talk to a woman like that!”
I laughed. “Yeah, ok, it’s your lie, you tell it. Let’s get to town so we can get back to the house.”
We didn’t talk for the rest of the way to the armory. Rolling in behind the building, we hopped out and I followed the old man inside. Sheffield was waiting for us in the conference room when we came in and took a seat.
“Morning, fellers.” Sarge said as he sat down.
“Morning,” Livingston replied.
“What’s on your mind,” Sheffield asked.
Sarge sat drumming his fingers on the table for a moment before answering him. “I’ve been on the horn with Eglin. They want to eliminate the commie issue here in Central Florida.”
“And what do they suggest we do?” Livingston asked.
Sarge looked up and smiled. “They want to hit them with a B1. One strike and wipe them out.”
Sheffield was obviously surprised. “What?”
The old man nodded and replied, “You heard me.”
“Holy shit,” Livingston added.
“Holy shit indeed,” Sarge said. “But it’s the best way for us to get rid of them, with nearly no risk to our people.”
“What the hell are they waiting on then?” Sheffield asked.
“We need to get some people over there and put eyes on ‘em. I picked up a laser when I was up north. They want us to get people in place and paint the target, so there’s no chance of a miss.”
“Let’s get some folks out there then. I’ve been really worried about this. If they hit us once, they’ll hit us again,” Sheffield said.
Sarge nodded, “We’re going to. In a couple of days, I’m going to send Mike and Ted out to identify the target. That’ll give E
glin a couple of days to get the strike organized as well. Things aren’t as easy as they once used to be.”
“That’s great,” Livingston said. “If this works, then we will be rid of the last threat we have.”
“That’s the idea,” Sarge replied. “I’ll stay in touch with you as we work this thing up. Just keep your patrols out in case they try sneaking in. You still have people out on 441?”
Sheffield nodded. “Oh yeah. They’re doing forty-eight-hour watches. Six men are out at a time.”
“Good. Keep that up. If this works, in a couple of days, we can all relax.”
“Damn, I hope so,” Sheffield replied.
Sarge got to his feet, “We’ll see you boys in a couple of days. You need anything?”
Sheffield shook his head. “No, we’re good.”
“Where’s Cecil?”
“I saw him on his tractor this morning headed towards his corn patch,” Livingston said.
“Alright, I’ll check on him on the way back.”
I followed the old man out, without having said a single word in the meeting. Why had I come? In the Hummer I asked that question.
“Say, Colonel. Why the hell was I there again?”
The old man shot daggers at me. “I already told you not to call me that.”
Seeing he was irritated made me smile. “That’s beside the point. No one said a word to me and I didn’t have shit to offer on the situation. So, why was I there?”
“Just shut up and sit there,” he barked back at me. Looking out through the windshield, he shook his head.
I laughed to myself but didn’t push it. He was already irritated. We found Cecil in the cornfield. The corn was tall, over your head. Cecil was sitting in the seat of his tractor, under the shade of the only oak tree around.
Seeing us pull up, Cecil smiled his typical broad smile and waved before climbing down from the machine. “Morning, Linus, Morgan. What sort of trouble are you two up to today?”
“Oh, whatever we can find,” Sarge replied with a smile.
“I’m just here to carry his golf clubs,” I said.
Sarge shot me a look, “Oh, dry up, Nancy.”
Cecil laughed. “Glad to see you boys are good as usual.”
I looked out over the cornfield. “Looks like the corn is about ready to harvest.”
Cecil nodded and shaded his eyes to look out across the field. “Yes, it is!” He said with pride. “We’ll have to get some folks out here soon to get it all picked.” He walked out into the field and pulled an ear from a stalk and peeled the husk back. Inside was a beautiful golden ear of corn. He took a bite of it and smiled, juice dripping down his chin. “Oh yeah. It’s about ready.”
“That’s a whole lot of food,” I said.
“We’ll pick some now, to eat fresh. The rest we’ll leave to dry on the stalk,” Cecil said. “This really isn’t fit to eat fresh, but it’ll be a nice change.”
I took the ear from him and took a bite. “It’s sweet.” Looking up, I added, “But it is tough.”
Cecil nodded. “It’s something different, so it don’t taste so bad. But you wouldn’t want to eat a bunch of it.”
“Gimme that thing,” Sarge said, holding his hand out. I handed him the ear and he took a bite. Nodding as he chewed the tough kernels, he said, “Yeah. I wouldn’t want to have to live on the stuff.”
“Hey, Cecil, we’re going up to Alexander Springs tomorrow,” I said, “you should go with us.”
He thought about it for a minute. “I’d like to. But I don’t have any way to get out there.” He slapped the tractor and said, “It’d be a long ride on this thing.”
“Damn right it would,” I said with a laugh. “How about I come pick you up in the morning.”
He smiled that broad toothy smile again. “That’d be fine. I’d like that. A change of scenery would be really nice.”
“Bring some shorts and you can go for a swim,” Sarge said.
Cecil laughed. “I don’t own any short pants. And I ain’t done no swimming in a long time. But I’d be happy to sit on the side of the spring and soak my feet.”
Sarge smiled, “That sounds like a deal. We’ll collect you in the morning.” We said goodbye and headed back to the Hummer.
“I think this will be good, taking a break from things,” I said as we headed back towards the ranch.
The old man nodded. “Some down time would be good. But I’m sending Mike and Teddy out to put an eyeball on those commies. In a day or so, we’ll hit ‘em.”
“That should piss Mike off,” I replied with a laugh.
Sarge looked over at me and smiled, “Good.”
I was dropped off at the house and went inside. Mel and the all the kids were sitting in the living room, passing the little squirrel around. An eye dropper sat on the table with a small cup, a little formula still in it.
“How’s he doing?” I asked when I came in.
“He was really hungry!” Little Bit shouted.
“Did he eat a lot?”
Mel looked up, “Yes he did. I think he’ll be fine. I need a cage for him.”
“I’ll see what I can find,” I answered, thinking that was one more thing I’d have to deal with. “Tomorrow, we’re going to Alexander Springs for the day. I think we could all use a day to swim and relax.”
“Really?” Taylor asked. I nodded, and she clapped her hands as she got up. “I need to go find a bathing suit!”
Lee Ann, not as much into swimming as her sister, surprised me when she too jumped up to go find something to wear. Little Bit was the most excited, as little kids usually were; and she jumped around the living room with exuberant anticipation.
“What time are we leaving?” Mel asked.
I shrugged, “I don’t know. When everyone is ready, I guess.”
“Are we taking food?”
“I think Thad was going to take some meat to grill or something.”
Mel stood up and put the little limb rat in a box. “I’ll go talk to Kay and see what we can come up with.”
She took Little Bit and they headed next door, leaving me alone in the living room. With everyone now occupied, I decided to go find Mike. Leaving the house, I walked towards the home he shared with Ted, Ronnie and Sarge. The dogs labored to their feet and trotted after me as I walked down the driveway toward the road.
It was a scorching hot day. The sun was high in the cloudless sky. As I walked, sweat began to run down my neck and back. I was already regretting taking the walk. I looked back to see the dogs standing in the road panting. I guess they were smarter than I was because they lingered in the road for a moment, then Meat Head turned and headed back to the house. Drake was immediately on his trail. I laughed and thought of Little Sister as I continued to walk in the direction of the bunker.
Summer days in Florida can be miserable. When the humidity gets up and the temps rise, you’ll sweat like a lawyer in hell; but it doesn’t evaporate, just pools up on your skin until it either soaks everything you’re wearing or drips off. Either way, it really sucks. I tugged at the plate carrier, trying to get some air under it. But doing so allowed the incredible funk that always built up under it to escape and I turned my head to gasp for an unpolluted breath. Shit, that stinks! I muttered to myself.
Imagine wearing the same gym clothes every day, all day, and working out to the max. That would give you an idea of what it was like. Oh, and you never washed any of it. Yeah, now you’re getting the picture. I felt for all the people that ever served in any of our desert wars for what they had to endure.
I found Wallner in a lounge chair under the tarp of at the rear of the bunker. He was stripped down to his waist and sweat covered his pasty white bare chest. As I came up, I put a hand up to shield my eyes from the glare.
“Damn, man. Put on a shirt or something. It’s like looking directly at the sun!”
With his hat pulled down over his eyes, he mumbled, “It’s too damn hot. Too hot to even think.”
“Well, tomorrow we’re going to Alexander Springs.”
Before I could finish the statement, he bolted upright in his chair and shouted, “Really?” Jumping to his feet, he said, “Hot damn! A day of swimming sounds nice. Back at the armory, we would swim in the lake. But someone had to stand guard for gators and the water smelled like shit and was as warm as piss.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I know what that’s like. But the spring will be nice and cool. Clean, clear water. That will be great.”
Then his expression changed. “Shit.”
“What?”
“I know someone is going to have to stay behind to provide security.”
I nodded. “Three someone’s.”
Wallner rubbed the stubble on his chin. “We’ll draw straws. Three of us get to go; three have to stay behind.”
“That’s up to you guys.”
He nodded. “We’ll sort it out.” Then looked at me and said, “Man, I’m looking forward to this.”
“If, you get to go.”
He gave me a mischievous smile, “Yeah, if I get to go.”
“I don’t want to know,” I said with wave of my hand as I walked off.
I found Mike in a lawn chair in the front yard of the house. He was lying there, butt naked, sunning himself. The tall grass came up to the bottom of the chair and it looked as though he were floating on it. I stopped short when I saw him and said, “Would you put some damn clothes on?”
He was wearing sunglasses and I couldn’t see his eyes. But his head rocked towards me and he replied, “Why? I’m getting a tan.”
“There’s some parts that shouldn’t ever see the sun.”
He adjusted the head of the chair to lie flat and rolled over, putting his pale ass in the air. “There. You happy now?”
I half laughed to myself and walked over and fell into the grass beside him. Resting back on my arms I looked over and asked, “You alright?”
I expected some smart-ass reply. But he was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m fucking bored, Morgan. I joined the Army to visit far-away exotic lands, meet interesting people and kill them in a most terrifying manner. This was fun for a while. But, I’m getting bored to death. I need something to do and I don’t mean standing at the damn bunker either. There ain’t shit going to happen there.”