All Comments on 'Jerome's Story'

Good story!

5

Damn that was depressing!

So he stayed estranged from his daughter and the cheating wife lived happily ever after with her fuck buddy. Meanwhile Jerome's new woman gets killed and he basically becomes a depressed hermit until he dies, with only his grandson for company.

Is the moral of this story to not join the military? If Jerome had never joined the army, he would've been around for his family and not lost everything that mattered to him.

It was such a bitter sweet sad yet wonderfully written story. I wonder what happened to his ex-wife after he wrote his letter. 4 star dear author.

A very well written story, very sad but unfortunately true to life.

On a personal note, I would have liked it if upon returning to the US, he had taken up residence back in his home and kicked “loverboy” out, dumping his possessions on the lawn.

It seems that in the majority of these stories the husband effectively runs away from the matrimonial home leaving cheating spouse and boyfriend in his home.

A great story, l really enjoyed it

Author I wish you well.

Scores 5/5

A wonderful storytelling of how a man's life story might turn out in the real world. As someone slightly younger I am familiar with all of the historic events and times depicted and can vouch for both the accuracy therein and the divisive political stances that haunted some families, communities and ultimately nations. Personally I would have enjoyed more focus upon Jerome's time in Vietnam - only because that was my time and the cross that still looms large in my own life. A wonderful tale overall and one that now has me looking for the rest of Jerome's story to complete the authors wonderful offering. 5 stars!

My only complaint is that it wasn't longer. You are a talented writer. I am glad you wrote the prequel, it fits perfectly. Your stories are so rich they feel real.

It's sad that Jerome never was able to reconcile with his daughter. Politics is the cause of even more family turmoil today. The Vietnam war turmoil was resolved relatively quickly post war between the countries. Same with WW2. We haven't resolved the political divisions of the civil war and now we have another insurrection.

Thanks for your hard work and I look forward to reading more from you.

reasonable man

I will look forward to more in the future.

Story was a 4-5*. Last page was horrible. The Thai stuff had nothing to do with the story - Fluff. And the ending with his GF dying, the heart attack, the dementia. You really fucked up a great story. Just a suggestion - withdraw the story and give it a better ending. It's like the 'Game of Throne' - it's remembered for the shitty ending. Story was terrific until the end. Giving it 2*

. . . I’m not sure of the point. It sort of seems like an MGTOW piece, but if it is, it shows the loneliness of that life.

A few glaring typos: referring to Jerome as Jeremy a few times, and the substitution of heal for heel.

Jerome’s nights with a married woman who had slipped off her rings, in an area with a lot of military, could have turned Jerome into Jody, but that never concerned a guy who’d been Jodied himself. Yeah, I can see that happening, but it didn’t fit the character well.

seems there should be more to this story

This is a marvelous story in all aspects. Sex is wonderful, but it isn’t for most of us the be all and end all of our existence. Thank you for sharing Jerome’s story in such a gracious and empathic offering.

Sorry I gave a 4 when I meant to hit the 5 Great read.

5* sad but true that so many of our faithful military members where vilified during the 1960s and 1970s. I lived it and know personally many good men who where traumatized by the liberal leftists anti war rejection of their sacrifices in the name of God and country. It pains me greatly to see what is happening to our great country as once again the lefts vilification of our law enforcement and military is destroying the moral of so many good men and women Patriots.

Thank you for writing this story.

Very well-written, good plot and good character development. I liked the fact that you built the story around real units and assignments, without getting bogged down with excessive detail. Some critics will complain about the lack of explicit sex scenes, but please don't let that deter you from continuing to write. Good job!

Man who gave it all to country was dealt a blow from his not so loving wife . He really never recovered from her cheating . He should have moved on and found another women to make him happy.but you wrote this sad tale of a ending.

WOW! Excellent story. May Carla die slowly and Felix should be eaten alive by cannibals.

OK story but you let the wife and lover off AWAY easy.

Much of a story here.

It's more like a quick summary of a depressing existence.

I was born a little too late to fully understand Vietnam and the antiwar protests of the time; but the information we had then was only what we saw in the media and who knows how much that was controlled? Then, as is now, when you see families divided over Republican/Democrat lines; some people chose to put their political ideology in front of personal relationships.

...

With limited experience talking to Vietnam vets (I am Canadian, not American), I found myself getting into some interesting conversations while working with a coworker who lived in Chicago. He was a few years older and over the course of these conversations, I learned he was a veteran. I found it hard not ask the question about what kind of reception he received upon returning home after his time was up in Vietnam. This was after Desert Storm and the military was not as unpopular as it had been 20 years earlier, so I was interested in how bad it was for returning Vietnam vets in comparison.

...

I grew to consider that coworker a friend over the decade before he retired, but I learned a lot more about him that day. He told me that back in the 60s, they were allowed to keep their rifle and bring it on the flight as long as the firing mechanism was disabled. He also revealed that he was a big guy (6' 5") and he was in the United States Army Special Forces (no, this isn't a Lit story, he was legit).

...

He said nobody bothered him when he got back to the US, but it may have had something to do with being a 6' 5" uniformed soldier carrying an M16 while walking through San Francisco. I don't know if any protesters would have recognized the uniform or the Green Beret and their significance, but we both had a good laugh at the image and went on with our work. He was one of the nicest guys I ever worked with. Our field was in an engineering discipline where we had to check each other's work remotely and we never met face to face. I found it ironic that I had got to know this decent man fairly well and yet never had an inkling of what a warrior he was. We need people like him in our world and to shut them out over politics is wrong, morally and pragmatically.

...

That's the end of my rant. To my friend and coworker from Chicago, wherever you may be now, I wish you and your family all the best. Respect.

Wow, what a great story line and emotion in writing it. Those of us who know of full military service know the pressures of that life. Thanks for sharing. 5*s.

DogFuzz

Excellent story and I imagine a number of people could relate to it as well.

1. The beginning is a typical Literotica info-dump. There is little to no story-telling. Even when the story progressed well past the 75% mark, there was STILL little actual story-telling. 'Having established....' , 'In the final event...', 'The letter was brief and succint...'. Where is the emotion? Where's the connection? All I could see was a dispassionate retelling of events.

2. The dialogues are lackluster and long-winded. People don't talk like that. This is not a drama being enacted, you're trying to portray a real life scenario.

3. You seem to have a problem with 'military Industrial complex' ? Almost as if you're trying to preach something and not really 'telling' a story. Yes, plenty of people are anti-war and for good reason. No, they do not go around denigrating folks from the army because for the most part they understand that a lot of them are there not by choice, but due to some kind of compulsion.

4. Vietnam was wrong. Everyone knows it nowadays. No one (sane) disputes the fact. What's the point of rehashing this all over again?

If this is the current '4.5' of Literotica, the standard has fallen A LOT I'm sad to say.

My first encounter with this author. Very impressive.

Well written. 5*

5*****......both for the quality of the writing, and the quality of the story.

Brilliant story, so very emotive. Potentially so real as well.

You sir hit it out of the park!. Kudos to you sir and keep up the excellent writing.

The sad fact about Vietnam is just like the story we have today. The people who control both parties have always fed at the trough of the Military Industrial Complex. Biden, Pelosi, McCain, McConnell are all wealthy from never having real jobs. But it is never allowed to be newsworthy where they amassed their wealth. The sad fact is that the Democrats who want peace can not get the funding to gain control so though we all get to hear what they say they have never been in control. Wall Street does not profit from peace-nicks. If Biden was against war he would not be President.

A bit of universe building going on here, and because I don't read much Romance the fact that this led to my reading of The Recluse scores this piece much higher for me as it's the foundation that the Recluse is standing on. Funny to read the comments, some are blaming the left-liberals for the way the military is treated while at the same time you can read that the action in Vietnam was so evil and destructive to the USA that it caused a wife and daughter to commit a heinous terrible act on a man who, as far as we know, never did anything against them except support them.

So there is more to this story than what we are seeing in these two installments. The hidden story is what was going on in Jeromes family as they were shuttled around the world or at home alone waiting for his return. I don't believe people are born evil, there had to be some progression in the wife and daughter's lives that led to not only the adultery but the terrible slap in the face of the man cheating with Jerome's wife walking the daughter down the aisle. I can't imagine a wedding filled with the family sitting still for that, you just show the son leaving but that has to be an incredible story of betrayal. Hanging on Liberal professors and the anti-war movement just doesn't fly in my opinion, it's lazy, and unless you were dropping a trap door in this for you to write another sequel detracts from the whole sequence. I think there probably is a more cogent way to get that opinion across (If that truly is your opinion), betrayal on this level occurs in inches over time, not after one semester or degree. And the fact that the daughter stays away shows that character has no evolution, there are plenty of stories of Vietnam heroes doing the right thing, recovering from terrible PTSD coming to terms with that illegal war and she has to know that, she has to be aware of the John Kerry story and more. For her to come to the conclusion that her father was evil without actually knowing what he was doing I think is a mistake. But the first story is quite an enjoyable romance built on the ashes of this story, we're looking at the Recluse as one survivor of this destroyed family where no one is actually happy or lives happily ever after and that recluse turns inward and loves Jerome not for the man his family THOUGHT he was but for the man that he actually was. Reading that I believe gives Jerome a sense of redemption that he managed to build a relationship in his life that actually lasted and in the long run mattered as Bradley makes something of his life, has a sense of morals and fair play, and even manages to get laid at the end without compromising himself. There are A LOT of threads in these two stories to pick up, either under the Loving Wife genre or the nonerotic or romantic genres and I have high hopes you will choose to continue these as there truly is a sense of a generation-spanning epic here. Looking forward to the next!

Having spent a good portion of my life in the military, your descriptions of feelings were right on. I would have shot the daughter and friend for trespassing. The slut and coward would die painfully under very mysterious circumstances. Then, I could gladly live out my days in peace and solitude. But that is wishful thinking on my part. Still, they all needed some form of punishment.

A *5 for this one without even a second thought. I don’t like Carla and Felix getting off so easily, but that’s how it usually works out in real life. I wanted to dislike your story, but you never let that happen. Just a great story and addition to my favorites.

Well done. I had hoped that Felix (Jody) would have suffered from something terrible and Carla would find herself alone for many years at the end. Caroline also deserved a lonely existence. Thankfully Phillip saved his dad and Brad was there at the end.

Helluva story but if I’m early mid 50’s I’m getting myself a 30 year old Filipina and build a new family. Right after I figure out a way to fuck up my ex and her lover. Maybe the daughter too. Whatacunt.

Lost me when he came home from overseas and just allowed another man to continue living in his house and his bed. He basically tucked tail and ran. Hardly a male role model to me.

Of course this belongs in Literotica. Stories like this are the diamonds in the rough - the rare winning tickets. The reason I keep reading. Sure, I like the sexy stuff too, but what a pleasant surprise to discover a story like this. I can’t wait to read ‘The Recluse’. Thank you for sharing your talent.

A good story.

Starting well before most of us were born.

Different times, different values.

I only know these values trough parents

and grandparents.

And this story mirrors that I've heard.

That makes this story both realistic and interesting.

Top ratings from me.

Manor ... a large house ... generally suggesting being on a sizable estate.

Manner ... way of acting, when plural, behaving commendably.

A fairly depressing tale ... not sure why some authors think that “it ain’t over ‘til the dirt is shoveled onto the casket!”. The last contact with Sweetie was weak, but forgiven because this was presented as a ‘kinda LW” offering.

4*!”

no real drama or confrontation. No reason for him to feel he failed as a husband or father. They knew what they were in for.

Should be no erotic and not loving wife as so little about the wife, affair, divorce, or aftermath.

But depressing as hell for a loving wives story. His wife cheats on him and he just fades away. He lets his daughter totally disrespect him. She needed a good spanking. And he needed some revenge on his wife and her asshole. And then he lets his grandson turn into an old man at a young age because he married a lousy woman. Not good. Not good at all.

We have lots and lots of details about his childhood, his education, his military life, but almost nothing about what happened to his marriage and his children. So it became a review of a photo album of a person's life, with brief explanations, or just a headline, of what the photos and scenes represented.

Why would a military wife have such close friends who hate the military? What was it about Felix that made Carla choose him over her husband, and made her betray her supposedly close friend, Felix's wife? Why did Carla expect her ex husband to accept or forgive her betrayal. What was going on in the daughter's head that made her so ignorant, hateful, and apparently pretty much a failure as a woman?

And Jerome's exclusion and isolated life seemed totally self imposed and contrived. He had to be an interesting and financially successful person who would be very appealing to a wide range of women. His monk-like existence did not make sense.

So it was a decent read, but puzzling and unsatisfying.

Thanks for the effort.

As I usually become a bit of an editing nazi, I must post the beginning of the foul:

"Jeremy never saw her again, but was informed that her information packet was golden, giving insights into the Thai intelligence service and uncovering an American intelligence officer who was double dealing."

From the point of contact with the Thai lady, the protagonist's name is constantly being swapped. Is it Jeremy or Jerome as the story began? It seems the author is schizophrenic.

Interesting tale of woe. Just wish the editing was better.

Smokepole

Oh, wow, I had forgotten about this wonderful series so enjoyable and so well written.

“Now before I forget.......”! Oh how I hear my grand father saying those exact words so many years ago. They are starting to creep into my own lexicon more frequently as my eighth decade draws near. And time marches on!

Thanks for the latest installment of the Wills family saga. Well done.

Cheers

SAGE

I would have loved to have seen some payback on the daughter being such a bitch and a friend or two show up and beat the shit out of Felix.

Thank you!

I was in the Military in my country during the Vietnam conflict period. Although I did not serve any time in Vietnam, I did serve in our Military in theatres outside my home country, and was subject to abuse on my return. To be abused and, in quite a few cases, spat on by my fellow citizens because I was part of the “fascist military regime” was really distressing! While my family did not revile me, the attitude of the general public was, to me, and many of my colleagues, seriously distressing and totally confusing. These feelings have not deteriorated over the years for me.

I, therefore, totally understand the feelings of the leading character in this story and sympathise with his dilemmas.

A very well written and presented view of the so called “Liberal Thinkers” and the damage their “holier than thou” attitudes caused to people who were doing what their Countries Leaders requested of them.

Again, Thank You.

Luckily I found Jerome's Story before reading The Recluse and enjoyed both in sequence. I'm not a big fan of BTB, but Carla's hateful attitude towards Jerome made me think she deserved a bit. For better or worse, here is my addition to the story. "Carla now lives alone in a small condo on the other side of town. Things came to ahead, two years ago when Felix decided to have a fling with the forty-something wife of our neighbour. Her husband came home unexpectantly one day to find them in bed. He shot them both, then himself."

Being born in the 1950s my life has aligned with your story. I was fearful at first this was going to be another rewritten glorifying, banner-waving pro-war story. But no it turned into a quite accurate reassessment of the period. Mainly from one mans standpoint but I believe it to be historically accurate including the toll on human emotions during that period of time. Thank you it was enjoyable.

This a 93 out of 100.i like Thai food...a lot.

I liked the story just shy of 5 stars, Those who marry the Army give up so much, this story brought out many memories of heartbreaks, Carla and Caroline are true bitches in this story and need to be taken deep into the Ardens Forest and given the task on trying to recover human remains. wow I guess this story moved me.

That was a sad and sweet story. I'm glad I found it.

There's a selfish part of me that wishes the wife had karma bite her in the ass, but life doesn't always work that way.

Enjoyed this one much more. Recluse had way too much company politics with the romance emerging again way towards the end before suddenly ending

It was boring. Almost uniformly flat. Very little drama, mostly a drab recitation of events. Hermits make lousy characters because they have few interactions with others.

Vietnam was a mistake. The protesters were right and justly angry at the establishment. Anger at conscripts in the war was wrong, misplaced, and not repeated in subsequent, equally misguided wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq

I thought it was a solid 3, could have been a 4 if Judith had been removed or dealt with differently. The daughter turning on the father just didn't feel realistic if the mother was not poisoning her mind about her father before the break up. It just didn't seam to fit the story. If it would have become an issue after he divorced her mother it would have made more sense. The story being told in third person made it a little dry. But I liked it and didn't think it was to bad. Thanks for the story.

Forget about Jerome, l need to know why she did it. I find this story very disturbing.

Luckily I found Jerome's story before reading The Recluce and enjoyed both in sequence. I'm not a big fan of BTB, but Carla's hateful attitude towards Jerome made me think she deserved a bit. For better or worse, here is my addition to the story. "Carla now lives alone in a small condo on the other side of town. Things came to ahead, two years ago when Felix decided to have a fling with the forty-something wife of our neighbour. Her husband came home unexpectantly one day to find them in bed. He shot them both, then himself."

But judges are murder on asshats who pull shit like this,

It doesn’t matter if she fucked the entire Green Bay Packers football team on live tv with a pound of blow in each hand, Jerome would face prison for attempting to blackmail her into a forced settlement.

He would be paying alimony until she remarried. He would be on the hook for years.

As a result, I couldn’t enjoy it. I get you want Jerome to have his comeuppance; but at least make it realistic. This was about realistic as Maxine Waters winning the Presidential Race.

Enjoyable, but another one would show the wife and daughter’s reasoning.

As for editing, you turn on your HEEL, not heal.

OUTSTANDING! Very well written and enjoyable. Thanks.

A really nicely told ballad! Your protagonist is very similar to my life and yet has to be rediscovered completely. The emotional world of a professional soldier told very well; and also the low blows of a soldier's life! Which I would have liked even better if he hadn't let his ex-wife's lover get away with it so completely without "payment"!

Well written piece that, unfortunately for me, was quite depressing. Did Jerome develop a personality disorder causing most of his family to turn against him?

This is one of those sad stories that meanders toward an ending and after reading it you have to stop and think about the plot (if you can find it) and the point of the story.

So many stories of guys in military getting the letters that there girlfriend or wife was leaving them but also a huge number of them get cheated on while away on duty. I think it’s really sad because you know going in what your getting into . A guy I worked with long ago was bragging how he was fucking this married woman who’s hubby was in the military. A few said we hoped he found out caught them and beat his ass and kicked her to the curb . He was an evil son of a bitch . He would alway talk shit about the guy when he was fucking her. He said sometimes while her blowing him he’d pull out of her mouth and Cum on her rings. She would get a little mad but that would egg him on more , he got off on it . He said he’d face her toward apic of her and hubby by the bed while he fucked her ass every time and say that the ass was his snd say hubby wasn’t allowed in it . Sometimes he’d pull out and Cum on the pic especially when he knew he’d be home the next day . I guess they also say lots of guys in the military also fuck whoever they want and married or not so what comes around goes around but I could never condone cheating especially on a person serving their country. Also was always disappointed at stories my friends closer to my age at the time in the service about how fellow soldiers who were woman were fucked often and by many but not against there will. A bunch of them would say they’d never marry a former military woman because they most likely took more dick than an Asian prostitute. One said there was a girl from Chicago that he described as the most beautiful gorgeous swimsuit model body , toughest fighter, fearless in confrontation, a girl that could be girly even in uniform and a girl who could be one of the guys in every way . A ten out of ten looking for a wife except for the fact that in the three years he knew her he said she fucked so many guys and didn’t care who knew as if she had a guys mindset on it . She loved him also and he did fuck her a few times but she couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t commit when there time was served but he told her he couldn’t get past her mindset on sex and her only knock which she disagrees with him was he couldn’t marry a known slut. With a heavy heart she was so insulted and wouldn’t be his friend anymore. Military life can be sad a lot of ways

Thanks for expanding the story. Good addition. Thanks for sharing.

D@mn

My own daughter won’t talk to me and my ex is a b1tch. I’m retired Army (not an intel) and read this story as if it could have been me. I was lucky, found myself a life partner and we are actually making it :)

But "manor" ≠ "manner" which is what you meant."... behave in a more civilized and accepting manor."

Good complete story. Filled with sadness and many regrets. Would have been nice if more than a Brad had occupied his life.

I'd've hired hookers to fuck the ex wife and daughters husbands every couple of years to send them photos and a note reminding them they they think adultery isnt a big deal

"... a more civilized and accepting manor." A large home that makes one feel welcome? manner

Jerome vs Jeremy

A really sad, realistic story. This is one of those stories that doesn't end the way a romantic wants it to end. Even though is a sad story, it is very good and very well written. 5*

If it were me, I would have thrown all of Felix’s clothes in the backyard and pissed on them! A wife should never move a lover into her house before getting divorced.

If it were me, every time I met Felix at a family get together, I would be asking Felix to step out side and prove how much of a man he was! I would be leaving him the dirt each time, Felix would soon learn that he wasn’t part of my family!

Very good story very well written. I look forward to seeing more from this author. Thanks, AC.

Great story. Well written. And who could have anything but disdain for someone named Felix

As someone from the same age group as the main character it is easy to identify with the challenges of being in the military at that time. But the best part of the story was how, in spite of sorrow in his life, he went on living the best life he could. Finally, the story was very well written - it was put together like a good novel. Maybe this story needs to be expanded but it might go off track with a couple of hundred lovers!

I think numbnutz49 said it for me same age group, Military and it made me look back for awhile. Except for the affair which I cannot prove ! despite repeated questions I get the same story not quite the same each time just enough to keep me guessing. Unfortunately my past is not beyond reproach so don't push to hard. The end result is basically the same. Great story very well written.

PGUK

Excellent contribution. Written in a fine style and characters with depth. I do hope this author will continue to submit. .

Sonny comes back to daddy when he needs $ome big buck$,,,not bad for a long drive and a short day. Good thing about blood money is its liquidity.

Poignant tale of loss and redemption... more realistic for it's failure to make everything right.

well written, rather sad that a man of Morals ends up so cut off from society and feels his life was worthless. I have no idea what "alsialsi" by their posted comment. Korea was a stalemate. the Ardennes was a Win. Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia, Syria all are unwinnable wars, just like 1776 was unwinnable for the English.

4 stars - my military experience was the exact opposite. I left before reaching pension age and never looked back with regret. The military provided me with the best training, skills and certifications, but the pay rate was so wretched, they could not compete with civilian contractors. The time spent away from home on military activities really caused havoc in my family life, but somehow we managed to keep it together for more than 1/2 century. Now in my twilight years, I have very few regrets and spend most of my days interacting with my grandchildren.

Too many epic events are described in a general, high-level manner. It violates the cardinal rule of "show, don't tell." This reads more like an expanded review of a novel rather than a short story. Ergo, properly expanded and developed, this would make a world-class novel.

So many bitter commenters here with nothing good to say. It's grand you all vent your spleens here rather than out in the wide, wonderful world. That's because here, nobody really takes note; it's cursing the darkness.

Good story. Parts of it reminded me of my return from Vietnam. How happy my family, all my old friends, and even my former girlfriend were to see me. Riiiiight. I hope everyone recognizes sarcasm when they see it. Before I could go home I had to spend some time in a Navy hospital in Oakland Cali. Right down the road from the bastion of anti-America, U Cal Berkeley. What a trip that was. I didn’t lose my wife or kids while I was deployed but I damn sure understand the Colonel’s anger for the way he was treated. I still deal with anger like that every single day.

Wow, daughter so ignorant. Much like the protesters to day. Guess that’s when it all started to become noticeable. I’d have removed the financial support.

Point of order daughter, I FOUGHT the fascists.

Make a living writing good

I agree with Schwanze1... I was fortunate to be raised on the central plains where we still believed in right v wrong, freedom v fascism, and that communism/socialism had no place in freedom. Caroline would have funded her own education, wedding, and future. The whole would have gotten even less and her can't chaser might have been a eunich.... I didn't have to serve in Viet Nam (I was AFROTC). I did see plenty of the negative results of our own country's communist leadership (I helped end McGoverns political aspirations). I read these stories an hurt for those who faced the negativity of a spineless population. Thank you for a great first half of the story! TSgtCapt-USAF(Ret)

Probably one of the most realistic and solidly grounded stories about a Baby Boomer's life progressions to present day and to the end... well written.

A good story which I enjoyed again. I just wish Felix and Carla had suffered some calamity over the years.

thought provoking story, both sad and realistic,. life of a Man with morals. Like that your character names and lives are used in another story, "The Recluse"

Real characters, in real situations, with real emotions.

Ver well done.

I LOVED EVERY WORD!

I read this story and then the sequel.

Excellent stories. Both. I mean really, really good.

The thing missing in the sequel...with Jerome's grand son and his story about the family construction company is more detail about the fate of the two miserable bitches Carla and Caroline.

I am Gen X...so part of the next generation after the baby boomers...boomers who were also the same generation of hippies and anti war douchebags.

I can't tell you how much I have always detested the aging hippies fucksticks I had to endure growing up with in the 80s.

Asshats who spent the 60s stoned out of their minds protesting for the sake of protesting...dirty stinky hairy morons who hated all things American. Yet by the 80s and 90s had flipped the script and became yuppies scrambling for the almighty dollar. All the while crowing about how they changed the world.

I once had an older annoying colleague I worked with in banking in the 90s when he was showing me some pictures he had of himself and his buddies at some "sit in" from the 60s. He was spouting off about how they shut some office down for the day with their sit in trying to get some change implemented. I asked him how bad they all stunk sitting in that group out in the hot sun? I told him "I can almost smell the stink just by looking at that pic. Did you guys bathe or wear deodorant?"

There were like 6 hairy unkempt dirty looking dudes without shirts on in these pics.

He immediately reverted back to his hippie days saying, "no man...it wasn't like that. Nobody cared man. It was about getting the pigs to change things. We were all natural man."

I looked at him literally like he was a retard. He was sitting there in his cushy office IN the bank building as an officer of the bank. In his reclining office chair that had his silk suit jacket hung over the back. With a red power tie and his standard issue banker's Oxford blue shirt. Hair slicked back. He had a Beemer out in the parking lot. And he was so fucking NOT self aware that he didn't see the irony of him being a complete yuppie...completely part of the establishment. He couldn't be more a part of the "system" if he tried. And there he was denouncing the "pigs" in some university or government office building that they helped shut down to change the very system he had become a total part of! The irony was completely lost on him. The flare of revulsion that washed over me at that moment...the hostility I felt for him for a split second? I truly felt like punching him I his mouth right then. But I didn't. I just mumbled something and walked out of his office. Saying to myself, "what was it about protesting that precluded daily showers, a comb and some speed stick? Douchebags couldn't protest while practicing a little hygiene?"

As I stated...I detest those aging hippies and have had a number of private arguments with many over the years. If you hated America so fucking bad? You could have left. You could have gone to live in Pol Pot's communist paradise. Or the Soviet Union woulda loved to accept you into the collective. Instead you just sat around in stupid stinky sweaty groups and smoked pot, took acid and whined/complained about "the man", spouted "free love", calling everyone fascist. I've known too many Vietnam Vets whose suffering was made worse by these fucking twats.

So reading about Caroline? I immediately hated her stupid hippie ass. What a stupid cunt of a character. Hypocrite. Fine for her fascist daddy to pay for her college and her life. But any sort of respect for his service in WWII? Or subsequent military service?

Would have loved to read more about her miserable life and two divorces. Hopefully she got a bunch of really nasty venereal diseases from her free love days. That she cheated and was cheated on. That she was never happy in her relationships. Ruining all of them. And eventually lived her later yeas as the wierd cat lady. Alone. Reclusive. Not trusting anyone. And being ignored completely by her extended family. Just another dumb old boomer hippie who occasionally suffers flashbacks from all the acid and schrooms she used to take.

And the Carla character? With Jerome having been in military intelligence all those years? That he eventually visited some unlooked for retribution.

And the way she turned hostile towards him and the military? All while her Colonel husband paid for everything with his Army salary.

It's too bad there wasn't a story about how she and the dumbass Felix were say....taking a vacation to Jamaica in the early 80s. They were taking an excursion from their resort...when some undesirables kidnapped them both. And long story short Felix ended up in the hospital with some injuries to his intimate areas that he would never fully recover from. And that Carla would suffer from debilitating nightmares for years due to the terror and threats the masked kidnappers made to her.

That her and Felix eventually split...and she died old and alone in a state institution suffering late stage dementia. Her only occasional visitor being her bitter and unhappy daughter Caroline.

That is how I choose to remember the end for Carla and Caroline the stinky hippie. Miserable characters. Unfaithful. Traitorous. Deserving of their unhappiness. Stupid cunts.

Well, this was a complete waste of time. Zero emotion. You may as well have published a shopping list