“Hey you’re always beautiful to me, sweetie.” Carl said as he put his arms around her from behind and kissed the back of her neck. “If people stare that’s why.”
The big day came. Amy and Adam both dug into the bottoms of their duffle bags and produced sun faded uniforms and half broken down combat boots. They watched each other out of the corners of their eyes as they took off their civvies from the night before and changed. Adam whistled when his wife tugged on her undershirt. “I forgot how hot you look in that.” he said quietly. Indeed the tight fitting sand colored material did a great job of showing off Amy’s figure. She grinned and playfully swatted at him. The man caught her wrist and pulled the woman onto the bed forcing her to lie on top of him.
All of a sudden she became acutely aware of how long it had been since she and her husband had some alone time. “C’mon, Jarhead. We’re gonna be late.” Amy muttered and smiled as she stood back up. He looked disappointed and let Amy pull him to his feet. She grinned and kissed him again, letting her breasts brush against his chest. Amy gave him a coy look over her shoulder as she threw on her blouse and zipped it up.
There were clusters of men and women in uniform standing around the lobby. Becca shifted uneasily in the glass cylindrical elevator as it slowly lowered to the ground. The young woman sort of remembered riding in an elevator from when she was really little but it was all metal and played music. Mom and Dad stood at the door. She was proud of them. Even if their uniforms were worn out and stained they seemed ten feet tall and bulletproof to her.
The young woman loved them even for their faults: Mom was grouchy sometimes and kind of distant. Sometimes Mom gave Dad dirty looks when she thought nobody was looking after she woke up screaming in the night. Dad looked sad a lot during those times and he would be extra nice, buying little treats or taking the kids fishing or hunting in the woods so Mom could have some alone time.
Amy grinned over her shoulder and ushered the two teenagers out of the elevator when it dinged and the doors slid open. Uncle Carl and Aunt Frannie were already waiting for them with Michael holding his mom’s hand. Aunt Frannie looked different in her uniform too. It seemed to Paulie that his aunt seemed to stand up a little straighter, make more of a conscious effort to walk without her characteristic limp. “What took you guys?” Carl asked as he came forward and hugged his sister. “You look great.” He tapped Adam’s arm and grinned. “Sharp, man. Sharp as hell.”
The group of them walked out onto the street and made a right towards the hall where the reception was being held. Frannie moved almost imperceptibly closer to her husband’s side when she noticed the gaggle of perhaps a couple dozen people holding signs standing behind a barricade that looked like it was pieced together from bicycle racks. However what made Frannie flinch was the fact that a few of the people wore black ski masks like the hajjis. She laughed at herself. Half a world away and half a lifetime ago but certain things still kinda got the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.
“What’s so funny, babe?” Carl asked. He let his hand run down the woman’s arm and play with her fingers for a moment.
“Nothin’, honey.”
Amy snorted a little laugh at the exchange. Truth be told she could guess what had gotten her friend’s attention. The grin fell away from her face when they got close enough to read what was written on the protesters’ signs. MURDERERS! one proclaimed. A SOLDIER SHOT MY HUSBAND! screamed another. Amy felt like somebody had dumped a bucket of ice water on her head and she kind of wanted to go back to the hotel.
Adam noticed the hitch in his wife’s step and slowed down to keep pace. “It’ll be okay.” he whispered reassuringly as he took her hand and squeezed it. Amy smiled and squeezed back, leaning against his arm for a second.
They made it across the street and up to the building all of them doing their best to not acknowledge the men and women behind the barricade. A short, swarthy man in sweats mottled with stains stopped Amy and Adam. He eyed the band on Amy’s upper arm suspiciously. “You’re one of those Air Force police, right?” the stranger asked.
There was something about the way the guy was asking that made Amy suspicious. “Um…yes. Er…I was, sir.” she answered, her hand sort of easing towards her sidearm. She could sense her kids watching the exchange. If this weirdo thought that he was going to lay a hand on them he was going to freakin’ regret it. It was hard to tell what caused Amy more surprise: when the stranger puffed up his lungs and hawked a big wad of phlegm into her face and roared “BABY KILLER! FUCKIN’ BABY KILLING BITCH!” or when Adam dropped the stranger like a bad habit with a hard right hook.
Carl and Paulie grabbed the younger man’s father and hustled him into the building while Frannie grabbed her friend’s arm and hauled her along to prevent Amy from giving the jerk a parting shot or two. “You okay, Frays?” Frannie asked as she pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her friend.
“Yeah.” Amy muttered as she wiped the gob of snot off of the side of her nose. “Geez! So gross!” Once she was reasonably certain that she had gotten it all she noticed that her hands were shaking so hard that she nearly dropped the handkerchief. She tried to hand it back but Frannie motioned that Amy should keep it.
Adam stood before his wife and put his hands on her arms. He grinned down at her and held her for a moment, burying his nose in her hair. “C’mon. Let’s get inside. I have to admit I’m a little curious about what could get people so upset.” Adam whispered, taking her hand and walking with her farther into the building.
Inside the convention hall there were signs dangling from the ceiling indicating where the various units were to meet up. There seemed to be some kind of a display set up along the north side of the convention floor. Carl and Frannie set off with Michael in search of whoever might be underneath the 1/21st’s unit crest while the Lacey clan made for the display.
“Mom…why did that man call you a baby killer?” Becca asked as the four of them made their way through the crowd towards the big display board. The young woman took a long look at her mother. The older woman’s jaw tensed and her face went pale. It almost looked like Mom was going to be sick or something.
“I…we…we can talk about that later, sweetie.” Amy said at last in a strangled little voice. They came to the display and she swallowed hard. “My God. Adam…look…” There was a huge laminated map tacked up onto the carpeted board. She took a few tentative steps towards it then reached out tracing the various lines as if searching for something.
“Checkpoint Twelve.” Adam murmured when his finger came to rest on a purple dot on the north side of the Charles River. Becca and Paulie watched in reverent silence as their parents looked at the map. Something about how Dad pointed to the spot on the map then put a hand on Mom’s shoulder told him he should pay attention. Once Mom and Dad moved farther down the display to look at some photographs Paulie studied the point on the map until he was fairly certain he could find it in the city if he wanted.
Carl held Mike’s hand as he tagged along after Frannie. He wondered who was going to be sitting at the table under the sign. He would not know any of them. Still maybe it would help Frannie to see old friends. That was the whole point of the trip, really. Maybe coming here would get Amy and Frannie and Adam some…what was it? Closure?
He nearly plowed into Frannie when she stopped suddenly in front of him. Carl peered over his wife’s shoulder and was puzzled to see an old, grey haired Hispanic woman sitting there as if she were waiting for someone. “OH MY…MOMMA!” Frannie shouted jubilantly, the pain in her leg completely forgotten as she sprinted towards the woman shoving people out of her way. “OH MY GOD!! MOM!”
The old woman leapt to her feet, the plastic chair she had been sitting on clattered to the concrete floor. The two of them embraced grateful tears. “Oh baby! My little girl! I missed you so much!” Mari Rodriguez cried as she smothered her long lost daughter’s face with kisses. “I knew…I knew as soon as I heard you’d be here!”
&nbs
p; “Mom…I’m so sorry.” Frannie sobbed as she held her mother. “I…I want you to know I’m clean now, Mom.” she whispered in her mother’s ear. “I been clean for almost twelve years now. I…I wanted to tell you…before. Thank you. I love you, Mom.”
“I’m so proud of you, honey.” Mari murmured as she rubbed her daughter’s back. “Good for you. I love you too, Frannie.”
Frannie grinned so hard it made her face hurt. “Oh, holy crap!” she said with a start and let her mother go at long last. The woman motioned for Carl and Michael to join them at the table. “Mom…um…this is my husband, Carl and…Mike. He’s your grandson.”
Carl came rushing over to the display practically shoving people out of the way. “Aim! Aim! C’mere quick! You ain’t gonna fuckin’ believe this!” he shouted when he finally found his big sister lost in thought staring at a photograph. The man grabbed Amy’s arm and started tugging her off into the crowd. “C’mon! Hurry!”
“Jeez! Language, Carl!” Amy grumbled as she tried to get her arm free of her brother’s grasp. “What’s so important?” She looked over her shoulder to make sure that Adam and the kids at least saw where she was going.
“We have a mother in law, Aim!” Carl said proudly with a wave of his hand. Frannie and this old lady were sitting at a table. Amy could see the family resemblance. The old woman and her friend were of similar height and build with similar facial features. “Miss Rodriguez, this is my sister Amy.”
Amy found herself drawn into the conversation. They talked about what had happened. They talked about Michael, who sat on his grandmother’s lap playing with some Matchbox cars he had crammed into his pockets. Adam, Paulie and Becca came over and were introduced as well. Adam left and came back with water. They talked for hours, completely ignoring the droning masses swirling around their table.
Sometime in the afternoon Amy, Adam and the kids left Carl and Frannie to get caught up with Mariana. Carl and Becca wanted to see if they could find their old house and Adam found that he could not say no to the idea. After a trip back to the parking lot they piled into the van and started off. Paulie had the map so he gave his father directions from the middle seat as he maneuvered through the knotted traffic.
By the time they made it six blocks into the city Adam felt like he wanted to pull his hair out. The streets were clogged with vehicles of all shapes and sizes. People even rode horses or in horse drawn carts. Few of the signal lights worked so the intersections were commanded by harried looking traffic cops.
“Dad! Pull over here!” Paulie said pointing frantically towards a parking lot with a few open spaces. The two teens exchanged worried glances as their father grudgingly handed over a quarter ounce of silver to park the car. Amy glanced at the kids in the rear view mirror. There was something familiar about the neighborhood but for some reason she could not quite put her finger on it.
Becca slid open the side door and hopped out of the car. The girl dug into her knapsack and produced her pride and joy: a little digital camera that she had scrimped and saved for months to buy. She had already snapped surreptitious photos of her parents and stuff. So far some of her favorites were of Aunt Frannie and her mom playing with Michael. “I think the house is that way, guys.” Becca said, pointing off to the right.
Realization struck Amy like a ton of bricks after a couple of hundred feet. There had been a lot of new construction but the smell of the roiling water made it click into place in her head. She wandered forward as if in a trance and paused at the point where a semi dilapidated bridge crossed the wide river and wandered past the sawhorses meant to keep vehicular traffic away. She could almost see ghostly outlines of the vehicles that had been emplaced when she had rolled up with Jacobson and Sergeant Emery.
“There were Humvees parked crossways, blocking the bridge.” Amy muttered, motioning with her hand to let the others know what she was talking about. The woman paused with her hands dangling limp at her sides for a moment. “There were hundreds and hundreds of people down that way.” She pointed at the south end of the bridge.
Amy walked a few dozen more paces out onto the bridge, standing near a giant hole in the cement guardrail. “I pulled our truck up right about here.” She could see the ethereal outline of the Humvee and a younger version of herself climbing into the truck’s gunner’s hatch. “They started across the bridge.” Amy pointed at the south end of the bridge and slowly let her hand move towards the north side.
A strangled keening noise like a wounded animal snapped Amy out of her mental fog. Adam sat on the curb with his face hidden in his hands sobbing into his palms. Amy hurried over to her husband and sat down next to him. The woman put her arms around him and held him. Becca and Paulie felt their feet grow roots into the blacktop. “I…I’m so sorry, Amy.” the man mumbled around the tears streaming down his face.
“Shh…” Amy whispered and showered her husband’s face with kisses. Now tears rolled down her cheeks too and she clung to her husband as the man squeezed her hard. “It’s alright.” The words she had wanted to say to him for a decade now finally clawed their way out of her chest and worked their way past all the pain. All the frustration. All the anger. “I forgive you, baby. I love you.” Just like that Amy felt lighter…as if a great big weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “I love you. I love you.”
Outbreak: Long Road Back Page 24