The Last Letter Ch. 01

"Oh yeah, sir, forgot that," he laughed loudly, as he looked over his shoulder spotting the black Civic again. "Sir, you aware you got a tail? You've had it since the barracks."

"Wow, that was very observant... That is Marge and Emily. They both wanted to see you off, so I thought we would take you to the airport." sadly the older man said, "Sorry about Mel, she just couldn't do it... Poor thing..." he shook his head.

When Joseph looked at him with slight a slight nod of his head, he still seemed a bit unsure of what to say. Captain Jones laughed, "Now don't bother trying to act like your not apart of my family, Scout. Trust me, if that little girl you write to every week didn't have your head wrapped around her little finger, Emily would have beaten you till you married her."

"I doubt that, sir. I mean, what would Melissa have said?" Joseph quirked quickly back and smiled brightly.

While Emily certainly would have made Joseph a wonderful wife, Melissa was the Captain's ten-year-old daughter. She had always turned a bright pink whenever Joseph would talk to her, or smile at her. Joesph had truly come to think of them both though as his own family.

"Ah very true, little one would be heart broken to see the love of her life taken," the Captain mused quietly.

Then as he turned left out of the base, he looked back into the mirror and spoke again. "Marge and I wanted to be sure you got off in time. She was beside herself earlier, when she told me it was like letting one of her own kids move out. She and I both consider you one of our own."

Looking over at the Captain, Joseph sat stunned. While he had always thought he had been treated better than almost anyone else Captain Jones ever dealt with, the meals at his house almost being a frequent event, he still had never heard the Captain say anything of how they felt he was close to them. He knew he looked up to them both as parents but shock was still there.

"Anyways," Jones said, "I figured you might want some advice, about what will happen when you wake up in a week."

"How do you mean, sir?" Joseph asked still in shock but then quickly looking forward. His thoughts moved a thousand miles a minute as he tried to assemble the pieces of the last words he heard.

"Well next week you will wake up as a civilian. I have had many men re-enlist two weeks after they got out. Some adjusted; some found the lack of direction too much."

Jones looked over to Joseph to make sure he had the young man's attention. "Do you have any plans yet on a job, or any ideas?"

"No sir, I was thinking of going back and getting a teaching degree though in world history, or American history," Joseph replied after a few moments, his eyes watching the road ahead now. Seeing nothing ahead of him, he continued to watch, not sure really himself.

"Well, Scout, I want you to do me a favor and think about it for a few weeks. I know you will want to start on your life but do me that favor and think on it," Jones said but then continued, "You might do well, you might not, son. Just remember you can do anything you set your mind to. If you come back, I will see you get promoted quick and hopefully will be able to attend officer candidate school. But if not, I expect a call once a month, at the least."

"Sir, I have been thinking about that as well. I mean I really have no idea what I will be doing. I kinda thought I would just fall into something when I was done, or at least I thought I had a couple of years ago."

Joseph paused to gather the quickly gathering thoughts. "But now, I honestly want to do something with my life. I don't think I want to work in a factory..."

"I see." Jones said, "Well factory work is an honest living. But only for the man that wants that life. You son, have a good head on your shoulders and you are highly intelligent. I think you working in a factory would ruin your mind and creativity. I think you should go to college but whether you do become a teacher is up to you. But get a degree son, do not be a grunt. You are too smart for that."

"Thank you sir, and I would like to say I know. But then I ... I am not sure. Too much has happened since I wasn't expected to be up at a certain time and in the field," Joseph said quietly, his mind not a thousand miles ahead but backwards. Each time he tried to speak, he couldn't come up with a complete thought.

"I know, son. God knows I do," Jones replied, then looked over to the sergeant beside him. "But you got time and a lifetime of mistakes and happiness ahead of you. Do not forget that."

For a long time they both set silently in the jeep, each in their own thoughts. Joseph for his own part was debating with himself, repeatedly whether he was right to have gotten out. The wedding would have been no problem; he had saved up his vacation. The only thought that ran across his mind, was two months ago when he was out on a patrol. He had relaxed somewhat. He had what many had come to call the last year sickness. It was where a man got close to the last of his contract and was relaxing, not worrying as much as he was the years before about making it through.

That was until he had taken the wrong footpath and stepped onto a land mine. It should not have been there, the army engineers had gone through the path a day before but yet it was there. He was quietly leading a patrol through the night, down a long sandy road, over and on the side of it, so as not to spook any vehicle that happened to come by the squad. One step and click, was all he heard. Quickly freezing his body, he stood planted, throwing his hand fist up and signaling the men behind him to halt.

He could not breathe, his lungs felt like they were in his head. His heart far into his throat while his stomach had just landed somewhere near his feet. Not daring to move, he turned his head ever so slightly and looked behind him to his men. Each was crouched down and scanning around themselves, a new guy was right behind him. What was his name he thought, how old was he? Then quickly to the corporal behind him, motioning him to come forward, the corporal came up quickly with a questioning look.

Pointing down to his foot, he whispered, "Click."

It may not have been the correct word to use in a situation like this, but it was all the corporal needed to hear. He took a small step but very quick backwards and turned to motion another man forward, after a quick conversation they both crouched down, and began to move the sand gently and slowly away from the area around Joseph's foot.

The corporal came back up with pure rivers of sweat dripping down his face. He whispered behind him, for the men to take up defensive positions. As he looked back to Joseph, he had a strange look of calm on his face. Only the sweat dripping down and off his chin, gave away the true thoughts he held to himself.

"Sarge... It's exactly what you think it is, I will try and see if I can disarm it. Just... well... don't move," he winked to Joseph, and quickly bent down.

A half an hour later, they were all back on the trail moving ahead again quickly. Each man now, especially Joseph being more careful than they had been in months. Joseph had gone back three spots, so that his nerves could work themselves down from the ends of his hair. He had held still for a full twenty minutes before the corporal stood back up, and handed him a decrepit firing pin.

"You must have a guardian angel Sarge, that thing was a dud. It should have gone off as soon as you stepped onto it," the corporal said with a sigh of relief.

"Shut the fuck up, are you serious?" Joseph whispered as his stomach took another lurch.

"Yeah, dud." shaking his head, the corporal motioned for the men to return to their positions and with that he calmly put Joseph into the middle of the squad.

Shaking his head from the thoughts running wildly through it, he looked back over to Captain Jones. He saw that he had been watched as he relived that moment. "Just thinking about the dud sir."

"Good. Because you need to remember that dud, when you see her at the wedding. It will give you that rush of nothing left to lose," Jones said with a warm smile.

"Sir? I can barely think, or even breathe when I see her. She is the one and only person who has ever made me feel like a complete mute. I doubt even that would help me," he laughed quietly to himself.

"Believe me son, from when I first saw you as a young punk. You have grown into a fine upstanding man and soldier. You have led men into battle, and into places few ever see or want to see. You have been blooded with the rest of us old men. You will do just fine, trust me son. If you need any help speaking just think of what would happen if I found out you didn't try," Jones said with a smile, but also with a faint hint of sadness in his voice. But as quickly as it came the sadness disappeared.

"Your right sir, but I have heard how you were when you met Mrs. Jones. So I know you have been my exact position," Joseph said as he tried maintaining a straight face, looking to Captain Jones who had a smirk on his face.

"Lucky you're a civilian now son or I would have you walking the family dog for two weeks, and having your bunk moved into his little house," Jones grumbled good naturedly, although he quickly said, "I know what you mean Scout, but trust me. You will do well; just fall back on your training if you must."

"Which part sir, the clubbing her over the head and dragging her off to a closet, or telling her how to climb up a rope hanging from a helicopter?" Joseph asked.

"Funny Sergeant, but trust me when I say trust the training. You just remember who you are, and what you have been through. Let the rest come naturally, and for god's sake do not dance with the poor lass. Emily limped for a week after you tried fast dancing with her!" Jones howled with laughter, after looking over to Joseph's mock-offended look.

"It was your fault sir, if you and Melissa were not pushing and threatening me with a court martial... Emily would never have had her poor baby toe trampled like that," Joseph snapped back good-naturedly.

Looking back onto that hilarious night, he realized that he really did want to dance with Emily, but was more worried that his blossoming relationship with the family. When Emily had literally begged him to dance with her at the company dance, he balked many times with many very good and some even true excuses. Being an absolute horrible dancer, the unspoken reason was that he in all honesty did not know how Captain Jones would respond.

With one sentence from the Captain that had been dispelled, "Dance son, or be court marshaled." Even though he had winked when he had said it, which was enough of a reason for Joseph to need.

Flinging himself out onto the dance floor with Emily, he had found more luck. The first two songs they danced to were slow, but that did come with some problems, one he had no clue where to place his hands. Second was that he had even more no clue how to dance slowly with the Captain's daughter.

Emily quickly took charge by taking his right hand and placing it on her lower back. Then taking the right hand and holding it in hers, she winked and nodded her head over to her father. Looking over Joseph saw Captain Jones laughing again in pure mirth, as he watched the young man standing straight like a plank of wood. He grabbed his wife's hand; they walked out onto the floor, he smile to Joseph.

"Remember Scout, she has fun or you get the yard arm," he leaned over to speak to Joseph, quickly before winking and howling with laughter.

Smiling to his daughter, he said "Go easy on the poor soldier Em, he's so stiff he could be tipped over by a feather."

Unlike the rest of the dances he was dragged onto the floor for, those two had been wonderful and sad. Each time he would look to Emily, she would smile and tease him. But when he looked back out into the slight darkness, he would think about how this was what he could imagine for the rest of his life. He knew he would have more work ahead of him, but Emily would have made him a wife he would never been ashamed to say that he loved with all his heart.

With that one fateful night six months after he had arrived to the base, he was apart of the family from that moment on. A few times he and Emily had gone out on dates, or went to the dances together. But she had known something was amiss that night at the first dance, so when she asked who was home waiting for him he spilled his guts. Every word he said brought a smile or frown from her, but he could tell she understood and would not pressure him. Thankfully, it seemed like they were more friends than anything else, although Captain Jones' wife did not look at it that way, he was either their son or their daughter's future husband. One way or the other, she was going to be having him a part of her family.

"Sir, would you have given me your permission had I asked?" Joseph looked over to Jones, and tilted his head to the side trying to see if he would have to say any more of that question.

"Son, I would have been beaten to death if I said no. But I know where your heart belongs. I know that if you had wanted to marry Em you would have made the best husband I could have chosen for her," the Captain said evenly, as he nodded his head back to Joseph.

"Thank you sir, but if she is anything like you, I would never be allowed a moments peace," Joseph said smiling.

"Isn't that the truth? However, she is more like her mother, in that respect. She wouldn't have let you settle for anything but what she thought the best," Jones smiled, and then looked ahead onto the road. Nodding to the Airfield, ahead of him. He said, "Well son, looks like we are almost there."

"Sir, is it too late to think about going to Timbuktu?" Joseph said quietly, his words slowly fading away as he looked to the airfield, his eyes looking at the monstrous green airplane on the runway.

Without replying Jones just looked over to Joseph and smiled. Shaking his head, he took his right hand off the wheel of the car and patted Joseph on the shoulder before returning his attention to the road.

Joseph had a hard time concentrating on much of anything as he watched the Airfield becoming larger and larger. Each second seemed to stretch out into eternity, but quickly passing. Looking to the field he closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them quickly, resigning himself to do what he knew he had to. He pulled the back pack between his legs up into his lap, and quickly straightened himself in his seat.

The whole flight he thought, should take about 17 hours. But minus eight hours for his time zone, he would be arriving into Louisville about noon, today. Strange he kept thinking to himself. He never seemed to be able to grasp how he could be flying for such a long time, and then end up only having gone an actual eight hours difference from where he started.

He had a layover in Chicago, and then it was onto his last stop. While he knew he would be cutting it very close to the wedding time, which was at one thirty, he still worried that it would take him longer to get his bags and find the jeep, much less find the church he was supposed to meet his parents at, and then find a seat inside for the wedding.

For the flight, he had no clue what he was going to do for that whole time. He could hardly think of what to do for the first hour beyond trying to hold down anything he had drank the night before. Flying for him had always been a sketchy thing. At best he was a poor flier, at worst he was a terribly sick person, who could barely make it to the bathroom. But as the old adage said, 'If you can't be happy, make sure you are quiet about it.'

"Sir thanks for the ride and well.... Thanks for everything you and your family have done for me over the last what is it now... five years?" Joseph said to Jones.

"You're welcome son, but remember you are a part of this family, so you never need to worry of having a place to sleep, or someone to talk to," Jones said, "Five years; doesn't seem that long does it? I remember the first time I saw you. You came into my office looking about like you were going to fall over if I waved a feather at you," Jones said, his voice full of amusement and mirth.

"Yes sir. I had no clue you were going to be such a pushover. I worried this would have been like the real military," Joseph quipped back to Jones.

"Son, if it was anyone who had said that," Jones laughed quietly, "The base will not be the same with you not around taking care of things."

"Thank you sir, I think I am going to miss it here. Even the bad things I will miss."

Joseph smiled happily though, his mind suddenly coming to terms with the fact that he would in the span of almost a day be at a wedding, and then on a very long vacation.

Joseph had saved quite a bit of money while he was in the army. He tried to live as cheaply as possible. Using his pay-checks sparingly, he ate at the base cafeteria, he bought only what was absolutely necessary and what he had to survive. This was not to say he was a penny pincher by no means, but he wanted enough money when he got out being able to go to college, with the G.I. Bill. With his extra money, he wanted to put it into investments and stocks. He had a broker at home who made sure each week at least half of his paycheck was broken into stock re-investments or into a savings account.

His parents while far from being in the poor house were only at the most at the top of the upper-middle class bracket. They had always made a comfortable living; his father being a electrical engineer, while his mother went into chemical analysis. Each worked for the huge corporation Hewitt-Gramble. They lived in the suburb of Cincinnati called Montgomery. There house was set well back from the street they lived on. It had a tall privacy gate at the end of the driveway, and a tall wall surrounding the property.

Like most families, Joseph's was the typical picture family of function and dysfunction at the same time. No outstanding quirks a few of the families on his street had showed, but they still had their moments. He had one older brother, Luke who was two years older than him. When they were younger Luke was a well behaved terror as his mother would say. Luke would try to see where exactly every line he could cross was, and do almost a ballet dance on the line never exactly crossing it, but having a dancers grace of pulling back each time he felt the line was about to break.

Joseph on the other hand, had always been a very quiet and reserved child. Never one to cause too much mischief, he was more likely to be found out in his fort in the back yard. All matter of things went into that fort, from his favorite blanket named booger because of the awful lime green color it was quilted with, to his parent's toaster. Each had served a valuable purpose in the fort; the blanket was his hero cape, the toaster his science experiment. His imagination was his greatest toy though, because it would lead to learning exactly how to take apart a lock for his parent's room to sitting down for hours and playing with his action figures, always giving them a life of their own.

As the years went by Joseph and his family moved away from Joseph's childhood home in Louisville Kentucky, to Cincinnati Ohio. It was a much different city where the lines of who he was and who he was to become crossed each other so many times he almost could barely recognize the child he once was. Back then things seemed very simple to him, he would grow up become a hero in the military and that was it. No real aspirations beyond that. He would laugh sometimes at night when he laid in his bunk, as he thought back over those days. When a trip to the ice cream store would fix any possible problem he could ever think of.