The Golden Key: A Quest for Freedom Episode Two

by Marvin Wilmes

  “Whoa, son, slow down.” Uncle Will eyed him scrupulously. “Martha,” he called into the kitchen. “Roger, we’re sorry if we are in such a nervous state, but we haven’t exactly been shooting from the hip. You impress me as being good people, and you definitely touched our niece’s life. We footed the bill so she could fly out here, and her mother was not exactly for it, if you know what I mean. Debbie has not exactly been straight with you either. It’s all wrong and I suppose we shouldn’’t be meddling.”

  “What is it?” Aunt Martha said as she came walking into the living room, wiping her hands on her apron.

  “Roger,” Uncle Will said, “this is such an awkward situation, but it’s the facts that we feel you should have that caused us to invite you here today. But, we certainly do not want to spoil your Christmas either.”

  “Will, are you sure you want to tell him?”

  Will held up his hand, silencing Aunt Martha’s protest. “You’ll need some time to process all this anyway without us around,”” Uncle Will said in a strained voice. “So if you want to leave, we’ll understand.”

  Roger looked hard into Uncle Will’s eyes, and then to Aunt Martha who was in tears.

  “Roger,” Uncle Will said as he got up and put his hand on Roger’s shoulder, “there’s a good chance Debbie has leukemia. They are still running tests, but they’re inconclusive right now, but it frightened her so much that she wanted to come here. She did not tell you because she did not want to burden you.””

  Roger stared in disbelief at the floor for the longest time. If he wasn’t sure before, he knew now. There was no more hiding. Someone had taken a knife and cut his heart in two. What he was going to do would come later. He finally looked up. “You must have known I really cared for her.””

  “Oh, Roger,” Martha said, “looking at your eyes shine when you two were together was something to behold. It didn’t take an expert to realize you were both in love. You both have such a big barrel of pride that just gets in the way, so much so you couldn’t see the forest for the trees.”

  “Martha,” Uncle Will scolded. “You’ll have to excuse her, she’’s an incurable romantic.”

  “Loved maybe,” Roger said. “It was such a short time…” His voice trailed off. “She came for life, didn’t she?”

  “The best of it,” Will said. “What makes you say that?”

  “Something she said to me when she was here, reach for your stars and dream your dreams, but on the way, don’t lose sight of today. I understand what she meant now. You realize I can’t open a door I may not be able to hold open.”

  Aunt Martha nodded. “You’re the only one who can decide that. We’re all praying for a miracle, for the doctors to be wrong, and she keeps saying she is going to beat it. We trust you to do what is best for both of you. We knew if you never knew the best might never be just because of foolish pride.”

  Roger stood up and embraced Aunt Martha as they both wept. He knew now he was taking Wayne to Yuma, and on the way he could roll all this around in his mind.

  It was Christmas Eve, and for the first time in his life he wanted to give of himself without expecting anything in return.

  It was a trait foreign to him until now.

  ***

  Wayne tapped the road map he was checking. He pondered the crazy idea of conning Roger into taking him to Yuma to surprise his twin brother on Christmas Eve. He glanced at his watch. It was four in the afternoon. Roger had been gone five hours. As he had done a thousand times before, he walked to the window and surveyed the parking lot.

  This time it was there. His ticket to Wes was Roger’s Monte Carlo. Wayne lit out of his cubicle, letting out a war whoop. At the same time, he collided with Corporal Peterson who was carrying an armload of laundry.

  Both Marines went to the ground in a mass of arms and legs as the laundry buried them.

  “Hey,” Corporal Peterson said as he pulled the skivvies off of his head. “Watch where you are going.”

  “Sorry, sir,” Wayne said. “Here, let me help you.”

  “Whoa! You’ll make a worse mess than you already have.”

  Wayne didn’t wait around to argue the point further. Getting to Yuma was now his number one priority.

  As he ran out of the building toward Roger, he couldn’t withhold his excitement any longer, yelling his request across the parking lot.

  “Rog,” he said breathlessly. “I’ve got a great deal for you. I’’ll pay for the gas. How would you like to go to Yuma to see my twin brother?”

  Roger leaned against the car, laughing to himself. “I don’t know.” He paused as if contemplating a great decision. “Hey, you know what. The best things in life are spur of the moment. I’m in.”

  Wayne couldn’t believe his ears. That was far too easy. Nevertheless, he suggested the pair pick up a six-pack of beer for the road, allowing his elated mood to cloud his judgement.

  His mother would have termed it “being young and dumb.”

  ***

  “It’s beautiful,” Donna said as Anita showed her the engagement ring Mark had given her.

  “This one feels right all the way around.” Anita said. “My, what a year. So much has happened to all of us. It’s like a fairy-tale dream come true for me. That must sound ridiculous since I almost lost my life. Do you know what else?”

  “What?” Donna asked as she poured her friend an eggnog, then handed it to her.

  “None of this would have been possible without Roger.”

  “I won’t argue with you. That is strange logic.”

  “No, I’m serious. You, too. I mean we never met until Roger’s going-away party—” Anita paused as she took a sip of her eggnog. “I’ve never said anything before, but I wish he were here finding the answers I have found. His inquisitiveness about life led him to the Marine Corps. I fail to see why he had to play it out so dramatically under the disguise of adventure and travel.”

  Donna patted Anita’s arm. “I know what you’re thinking. He is off by himself at Christmas, missing out on a hometown holiday season. He was home a month ago, but it wasn’’t nearly enough. We all want what we want, but maybe letting him go is best.” She glanced toward the living room. “We all want so much of other people we can’t have.”

  Anita touched Donna’s hand. “Paul?”

  She nodded. “I want the part of him that Vietnam won’t let go of. Maybe it’s a part of him that died there. It’s a part of him I can’t deal with.”

  “Why don’t you quit trying so hard then? Let it go, and let God deal with it.”

  “Oh, Anita. Just because you’ve come back from death’s door and have somehow been able to reconcile everything under a God, doesn’’t help us. It’s not that simple.”

  “Are you saying that you only love Paul up to that point where you have to look in and see his past? It’s a past that neither he nor you can change or could have avoided.”

  “I guess that’s what it comes down to. It’s all surfaced just recently, and it has taken something from him. Jack Alvarez was in the past, and I’’m competing with a man I never knew. I hate myself for not being able to help Paul bury his past.”

  “Donna, all Paul needs right now is your love. You don’t have to fix whatever you perceive is wrong. Isn’t that all you gave Mark and me? Why is it you can give to others, but you can’t receive yourself?”

  “I can see now I should never have brought it up. It’s just my own insecurities about us.”

  “Donna, don’t run from it now. Face up to it.”

  “But how?”

  “Excuse me,” Anita said as she got up and went into the living room.

  Donna sighed and poured another eggnog.

  ***

  “Don’t mind me,” Anita said to Mark and Paul as she marched to the tree, then picked up a tubular package.

  “You are one lucky guy. I’ll give you that,” Paul said to Mark as she left.

  “Well, hey, so are you. Guess Roger is the odd man out.�
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  “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Paul said.

  Mark raised an eyebrow. “You know something I don’t?”

  “Maybe,” Paul said dismissively. “I feel like Donna and I might be drifting apart though.”

  “Drifting apart? You can’t mean that after all you did to help me face up to my love for Anita?” Mark paused when he saw the pain etched on Paul’’s face. At least since Paul had opened up to him and Roger last month, he had a better handle on what demons haunted his friend. “Vietnam?”

  “I don’t know.” Paul threw his hands up. “Maybe it’’s just the fact that I am blessed and enjoying the best of life.”

  “And your friend is dead.”

  The fire in Paul’s eyes was so present as the hatred in them zoomed in on Mark. “He was more than a friend, damn it! He was a confidant. We went through the war together. We shared the worst and the best of our lives. He had plans when he got out, and would you believe it, he believed in God. What a joke. Where was his God when he needed him?”

  The demon in Paul’s soul had shown itself, and Mark now knew what was wrong. The look on Paul’s face scared him, pained him, and made him want to hug his friend and ask him to get it all out…but he didn’t.

  He knew the time had come for Paul to face down his problem. Mark had run once before. There came a time when friends were called upon to return the favor.

  “So, that’s it. Listen, Paul—”

  “No, you listen. You’ve never been in a foxhole with mortar shells zinging over your head. Or never knowing who the enemy was, leastways not a young kid. A young kid, damn it, barely able to enjoy his boyhood before he was led to kill and destroy with a stupid grenade in a fruit basket. Innocent, hardly! No, you just sit around in luxury and all high and mighty and just moan and groan about how tough it is on poor Mark.”

  “Stop it!” Mark said as he slammed his drink down on the table. “Who is being high and mighty, Paul Wilson, the martyr of all the ages? You seem to forget that foxholes come in many different forms, or do you forget where Anita, Roger, and I were a month ago. Paul, I never knew Jack Alvarez, but I’m sure he didn’t want you to still be mourning his death and living in the past. All you are doing is destroying your future. Maybe if you’’d stop and think for one second, you might realize that maybe where his God is, he is.”

  Paul stared dumbly at Mark as Donna burst into the room. “Paul, look what Anita got for me.”

  Mark, intimidated by his own outburst, went to Anita and put his arm around her.

  Paul opened the poster and read the caption aloud, “‘Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road.’ God, I need some air,” he said, as he angrily grabbed his coat and left, slamming the door behind him.

  “What did I do now?” Donna asked.

  “Nothing,” Mark said. “I’m afraid what’’s bugging him is going to have to be worked out in his own time.” He walked over and picked up the poster Paul had dropped and studied the caption. He looked toward the door and added, “With the help of Jack’’s God.”

  The two women gave each other a puzzled look.

  “Let’s get some eggnog. This is supposed to be Christmas Eve, you know,” Mark said as he walked toward the kitchen.

  The girls followed him.

  Episode Three is phenomenal!

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  Abar’s defeat. Hope rises. Destiny arrives.

  In the grand finale of The Golden Key: A Quest for Freedom, Zeke and his mortal protégé Roger become more powerful than anticipated by the schemes of the dark man.

  The showdown takes place on the island paradise on Maui as Roger, Wayne and Paul’s spirits come face to face with their guardian angels.

  The spirit of the Christmas season finds Roger reflecting on what’s most important in his life in the desert town of El Centro, California as he strives to free his friend from jail so the marines can complete their trip to Yuma.

  However, a small boy, a two bit cab driver and a sealed letter promise to give him more than he bargained for.

  Meanwhile, in Blair, Paul struggles to put the memories of the Vietnam War behind him and to embrace a new future, finding his answers in the most unlikely place as he and his fiancé journey to rekindle their love for each other.

  The key to their hearts and their souls lies in their trust and reliance on each other as the mysteries of the golden key are revealed in the third and final installment of The Golden Key: A Quest for Freedom.

  Author Bio

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  Marvin Wilmes is an observer of the human condition, writes about life's passions, faith and hope and opens the reader's eyes to "the process." In addition to a memoir, Marvin is bringing to the arena a contemporary post Vietnam War era fantasy in three episodes. Marvin is an Iowa resident with Missouri roots, a cancer survivor and most of all, an eclectic storyteller. Writing from a diverse background of experience, Marvin celebrates the the gift of hope and faith in God's purpose for living life and living it more abundantly.

  Also by Marvin Wilmes

  Beyond the Horizon: A Memoir

  The Golden Key: A Quest for Freedom, Episode One

  Website: www.marvinwilmes.com

  Email: keypublications@gmail.com

  Facebook: Beyond the Horizon

  Marvin Wilmes is a northwest Missouri native, graduating from Northeast Nodaway RV in 1973. Marvin studied broadcasting and journalism at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo., graduating in 1982. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1975-79. Marvin worked for newspapers in Maryville, Mo. and Cherokee, IA, establishing and operating The Chronicle newspaper and Little Sioux Valley Express from 1992 to 1997. Marvin has worked in human services since 1997 and currently resides in Boone, Iowa with his family.