by Dave Hazel
“I wouldn’t say I’m like a movie star. They got their top of the line big shot movie stars. Then they got their A and B and C list celebrities. I’d be more like a friggin F list has-been,” he said in deprecating humor and gave a fake pout.
“No you’re not,” she playfully slapped his shoulder. “You are my very own A list, super-duper, better than any movie star, rock star or celebrity that is out there and you’re all mine,” she said and slow danced before him in a slinky, sexy rhythmic manner.
“Yeah, but you have to say that,” he joked and pulled up her left hand. “It comes with this ring that makes you stuck with me,” he chuckled in reference to her wedding ring.
“Ring or no ring, you are my hot shot super star. But seriously honey, everyone is also asking why you haven’t been involved in the media blitz. Everyone says you need to be there,” Pam expressed with pride. “They want to thank you publically and in person. They want to thank my husband,” she said and wiped her eyes of happy tears, “for being their hero. These strangers want to share with the entire world that my husband didn’t turn his back on them and abandon them when it was an almost impossible mission. Every single one of those people knew they were going to die if a miracle didn’t happen. For those who believe in God, said, God performed a miracle and you were the instrument in His hands.”
“I really appreciate all that, and that is all fine and good, but if I had been the only person, and if I was wearing red tights and a cape like Superman,” he joked, “then I would go and accept all the humbling praise. But it wasn’t me. It was us, those of us of Towbar One and Towbar. And after looking back on it, I’m not really sure where I am in what I believe about God, but there were some pretty amazing things that happened just like a miracle. So I would say I agree with Ski in that God’s hand was on us and got us through it. Honestly honey, my reward and my thanks is right here,” he said and he took her into his arms. “You and the boys are the only reason why I’ve done everything I’ve done.”
CHAPTER TWO 01/05/1984
1. Thursday, January 5th 1984
0734 hours, Home With Family, Minot ND
Mykal stood in the doorway of his boys’ bedroom. Several toys littered the bedroom floor and it brought a smile to his face. Most of the new toys from Christmas hadn’t lost their sparkle and newness to the boys yet. ‘Lil Mykal and Frank said they had to be left out of the toy box because these were the toys they wanted to play with every day. It made Mykal laugh when ‘Lil Myk tried to argue with his mother and tried to make the point it didn’t make sense to put the toys away if they were going to pull them out the next day. Being close to four years old, one hand on his hip and arguing with his mother wasn’t the best thing to do, but Mykal couldn’t stop laughing which didn’t help the situation. Frank, who turned two a couple of months back stood beside his older brother and nodded to everything his big brother said. Since Mykal knew he would be leaving he agreed to stay up and play with the boys and promised to pick up the mess in the morning. The boys agreed they would follow Mommy’s orders from this point on or else.
Mykal couldn’t keep from laughing quietly as he looked at his boys sleeping. Mykal Jr. loved his He-Man and Masters of the Universe pajamas because “He-Man is just like daddy’s friend, Towbar.” Mykal will never forget the wide eyed expression his two boys gave when they met Towbar for the first time. Frank loved his Smurf’s pajamas and he must watch “Murfs” every time they’re on TV. ‘I’m glad Pam has to deal with that stuff,’ he chuckled in thought while he quietly gathered up the toys to put them away.
He looked at them sleeping in their beds and they slept just like dad, blankets thrown all over the place and their bodies sprawled over the bed in wild positions. Mykal wanted to wake them both up to hug them and to tell them how much he loved them. ‘Leaving again is gonna be hard. It seems to get harder each time.’
“Don’t wake them,” Pam whispered as she hugged him from behind. “I’ll be getting them up in a half hour.”
“I’m gonna miss them like crazy and I’m gonna miss you even more,” he whispered while he turned to hug her. “You even look sexy first thing in the morning with your ‘old gran’ma nightgown’ on.
“Don’t make fun of it,” she pouted playfully and wrapped her arms to her bathrobe and nightgown. “It’s comfy,” she added and looked at her floor length material covering her fuzzy slippers. She quietly closed the bedroom door when they left.
“If you ever pull out the flannel nightgown, you’re sleeping on the couch,” Mykal joked. “You’re too damn young to be wearing this old lady crap.”
“It’s comfy,” she repeated. Suddenly her face turned sad. “Do you really think you’ll be leaving today?”
“Yeah. Percy told me last night he would be here this morning. I know we have the green light, but we’re just waiting on a couple of components or some personnel and then we’re gone,” Mykal said and looked at his watch. “The phone should ring any minute cuz Percy should already be here in Minot.”
“Do you really think this will be the last time you have to go?”
Mykal looked into her pretty, sad, eyes and lied to her. “Yes. But I don’t know how long I’ll be there.” Mykal didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t want her to worry. He also wanted to keep information from her should she ever be interrogated. He anticipated sometime in the future Percy and the government would turn on him when they realized he wasn’t going to give them secrets to magic or access to Towbar’s world. He would try his best to keep Pam from having to lie for him.
‘That’s something to worry about for the future,’ Mykal thought while he stared into Pam’s eyes. ‘For now, my only concern is helping Towbar win his war against the Sosos, their allies and that mysterious Zizmon-Tarl.’
Downstairs the telephone rang. Mykal and Pam were locked into each other’s eyes. “It’s him, isn’t it?” Pam asked softly.
“I think so,” he said and darted down the stairs. The phone in their bedroom had the ringer turned off so not to wake the children, which made it easy to forget they had a phone in their bedroom. The chances of it not being Percy were small since only a few people had this phone number. Though he anticipated this phone call that would take him back to Towbar’s world he had to take a deep breath before he answered it.
“It’s me, Percy. I’m here at Minot Air Force Base. We should be able to actually head out in the next two hours. I would start coming out this way Myk. I know you have to say good-bye to your family.”
“Will do,” Mykal answered and gently let out a sigh.
“Do you know all that we have packed up to take back with you?” Percy asked.
“No one has briefed me on anything. I’m in the dark here. To be honest, I’ve been avoiding everyone,” he admitted. It wasn’t just because he wanted to stay with his family but every time he pulled away from his family the craving to use his magic ring and turn invisible became stronger and he noticed the more he used the magic the more he became angry and filled with violent rage.
“That’s fine. I’ll fill you in after you get out here,” Percy said.
“Are you coming with us?”
“Oh, hell no,” Percy declared loudly. “I’m just a middle man in all this and I want it to stay that way. When you took me there for that ten minute tour you gave me, or however long it was, that was well more than I ever want to spend in Towbar’s world.”
“Are you sure?” Mykal teased.
“After all the reports I’ve read, all the stories I’ve heard and after all the damn videos I’ve watched, I will gladly remain a desk jockey when it comes to the land of Towbar.”
“Well, at least you’re honest about it. Let me ask you a question,” Mykal paused and wondered if he should remain silent and just try to sneak Ski into the group that will be departing. “What kind of consequences would there be if Ski goes back to Towbar’s world?”
“Ski? I’m not following you Myk.”
“Staff Sergeant Winc
zewski, we call him Ski. He’s one of the Air Force guys that I brought home from the first trip to Towbar’s world who wanted to stay there. He wants to volunteer to go back and help.”
“Oh!” Percy said and there was a noticeable sound of disgust in that one syllable. “You’re talking about that damn religious person,” he said and seemed to fight what he wanted to say. “I told you Mykal, we can not have him or anyone for that matter, go there to proselytize, evangelize or share any information concerning faith and or religion of any kind, especially Christians,” Percy said with a noticeable hostility and decibel change on the last two words. “That would give the appearance that our government is sanctioning such religions and with him it would give the appearance that we are approving of his religion over other religions. I will not allow that. And for personal reasons,” Percy suddenly stopped mid-sentence. “I, I mean, since he’s an active duty military person, I would have to report him as being AWOL. And you know from your time in the service anyone who is Absent Without Official Leave will face serious trouble. And I will have to do my part to report him. It’s for his own good, besides being for the good of the people of Towbar’s world.”
Mykal thought Percy’s reaction was a little odd and it made him wonder again if Percy was into devil worship. “What do you have against Christians?”
“I, um, I don’t have anything against them,” he seemed to snarl his words. “What makes you think that? Why, are you in agreement with him?’
“No, not at all. Honestly I could give a rat’s ass about his or anyone else’s Bible thumping stuff. Sometimes I even think he’s a little annoying, but not in a bad way. I’m not into any religion, but as a person he is a good guy and always wants to help people. But you are the one who just said especially the Christian religion shouldn’t be seen as being shared.”
“I, um, I didn’t, oh I meant we can’t have the appearance that our government is approving of one religion over another and the reason why I said especially Christians is because our nation is considered to be a so-called Christian nation so it would sound plausible if people thought that we, as the United States Government, happened to be promoting his religion over any other religion or belief system.”
Mykal thought it was funny how Percy tried to backpedal and talk his way out of what he said. “My only concern is I told the guy I would bring him back. Otherwise he woulda just stayed there and not come back with us. I don’t want it to come across that I lied to him.”
“You won’t be lying to him. I’m the one who said he can’t go. I’ll gladly take the hit for being Mister Negative here,” Percy said with an obvious evil sneer. “And if you would like I will personally tell him I’m at fault and not you.”
Mykal clearly heard it in Percy’s tone that he didn’t like Christians, Christianity or anything that had to do with Ski’s faith. “Percy, listen to me, he’s not a bad guy. He put his life on the line like everyone else when he was there. I mean if he wants to throw his life away then so be it. What’s the big deal?” Mykal asked in the calmest tone he could muster to sway the man with the black eyes.
“No! We can’t have that. He’ll be making a bad name for the government and I will not tolerate that.”
“A bad name how?” Mykal laughed. “By caring about people? And helping those people? He’ll make the government look good compared to what others are gonna do.”
“That’s not it Myk. Even if you’re right about him as a person, you’re violating a long standing policy that the military and the US Government have concerning pushing religion on people. We can’t do it and if you try to sneak him there then you will be putting him into serious trouble by violating his contract with the United States Air Force. He is an active duty member. There is nothing else that needs to be said on the matter.”
“Hey, honestly I don’t care, but you’re the one who is getting all uptight about this,” Mykal laughed. “I know for a fact that all the people who have been stuck in Towbar’s world are being given the opportunity to separate from the Air Force with an honorable discharge cuz they don’t want someone else to snap like Boris did.”
“I’m not getting uptight over this,” Percy retorted defensively. “It takes at least forty-eight hours to get the paperwork finalized and that’s if it is an emergency situation. Your group will be long gone before he has a chance to even get his paperwork started. Remember, you’re the one who wanted to leave several days ago.”
“Alright, fine, he’s not going, but I just don’t understand why you’re getting your panties in a bunch over it.”
“I’m not,” Percy replied harshly. “It’s nothing personal. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Yes you are,” Mykal laughed at him again. “You either got something against Ski himself, or you really do have something against Christians or Christianity. I can hear it in your voice.”
“No I don’t,” he snapped again. “I have a responsibility to uphold the image of the Government and the military is a part of the United States Government.”
“Whatever. You don’t gotta explain to me. I just don’t like it that I have to break my word to him.”
“Like I said, I’ll take care of that for you,” Percy said confidently. “I’ll see you when you get here and I’ll give you a run down on what resources you’re going to take with you.”
“Was that your phone call?” Pam asked when he hung up. Her question sounded like it was bad news from a doctor’s office.
“Yeah it was honey,” he answered her softly and pulled her close. “Even though I knew I would have to go back there, and even though I expected it would be today, it still hurts that I gotta say good-bye to you and the boys.”
“You’re telling me,” she said and wiped her eyes.
2.
Mykal stood with Percy and several high ranking officers while the chaos of bodies and vehicles swirled around them on the tarmac. People and their equipment were being loaded onto a myriad of vehicles for another long convoy of men and machines destined for Towbar’s world. The smell of exhaust and engine oil, with the noise of machines and voices felt like a day at the Indy 500.
“Wow, the weather today is beautiful,” Mykal said as he watched the controlled chaos swirl about him. “It’s forty degrees with no wind. The high is supposed to get up to about forty-five degrees. It’s so nice we could actually take our shirts off,” he joked.
“Yeah, it is nice,” Percy said to be polite. “I’m going to give you this binder,” he added and moved closer to almost speak directly into Mykal’s ear. “It explains everything you’ve been given,” he said and nodded to all the business rumbling around them. “I want you to know that I went above and beyond to get what you asked for because we are looking to the future.”
“Great,” Mykal said with a fake smile. He knew that Percy and those in the Government couldn’t wait to get their greedy claws into Towbar’s world so they could take what they wanted from his friend’s land. “This is good,” Mykal tapped the thick three ring notebook. “Cuz I never had to prepare for a big operation like this before.”
“I’ll give you a simple overview and then if you have any questions, fire away. First of all, just like the previous, correct that, the ongoing operation, this operation will continue with the same name with minor adjustments to the objectives since most of all the people were rescued and returned. It will still be called Operation: Towbar’s Sword. The only difference for the new personnel will be on the patch for their uniform. Where the patch you and all the first timers have Operation: Towbar’s Sword: 1983, the new personnel will have on their patch Operation: Towbar’s Sword: 1984. And to the left of the sword are two red stars two signify this is the second mission to Towbar’s world. If there are more operations and or missions we can add more stars. It is similar to adding clusters on ribbons of achievement for those who have earned medals during their time in service. The color red was selected in honor of those who have paid the ultimate price and died in the line of dut
y during these two massive operations.
“The force itself will still be called Towbar One,” Percy continued, “though we are more than doubling the size of the force. On paper we are trying to massage the appearance by saying it is still just a regimental size force though in reality we could classify it as two to three regiments and would have to say that it is a brigade or division in size. We are trying to avoid the appearance that this is a massive buildup. It is a trick a couple of generals explained for me to do. So when pressed we can honestly say we have just added to the regiment that had been dispatched a month ago.”
“Does it really matter?” Mykal asked.
“To the military people? No. To you and me? No. To most of the people in the country? No. To the left wing loons? Yes. So we have to play the politically correct nonsense to keep them from screaming to the media and turning this into a big deal. The lefties with the left leaning media have the ability to turn this into an ugly ordeal before it goes very far. Look what happened in Vietnam. We have to be careful due to the upcoming election in November. It was the media who screwed us over in Vietnam which made the politicians afraid of their own damn shadows, but I digress,” Percy said and rubbed his chin as if he spoke beyond what he was supposed to. “That is my personal opinion.”
“Shit, I don’t care. I guess I actually agree with you,” Mykal snickered. “But what do I know? I’m just a flunky,” he said with self-deprecating humor.
“Though you joke, that is really another issue we’re trying to hide. A number of military personnel, retired and active duty had a hard time accepting the fact that you, a civilian with minor military activity had been put in charge of a Regiment size force. Since you are without a college education and no officer training and with Towbar who also has no military experience in our world period, the true blue military people wanted to blow a gasket. True you were alongside Major Chick but it created a small disturbance. Now with this force adding to the size and the scope of the mission it will be difficult to justify.