WAR

This is mostly a narrative of how I wound up in a war zone and the results thereof. There is only minimal sex in this story. I hope you enjoy it.

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Ordinance has been going off for about half an hour now. Most of it has been too far away to worry much about it personally. But every now and then, one will explode nearby, probably around fifty feet or so away. It happens just about every day at this time of the evening. Like I said, just about every evening, sometimes it would not happen for two maybe three days. I have been in this area for only a few months now and I still am not used to it. Someone once told me that I would get used to the sudden noise. Another person told me he has been here five years and he still is not used to it. Personally, I am at a loss as to what to do except finish my tour and go home.

I am not a soldier, a sailor, a Marine nor do I belong to any branch of the military. I am a civilian contractor just trying to do my job. It is a job that not many can do. We, the company which I work for, possesses a certain skill that only a few can even fathom. We are an elite group of people that warrant high pay. Even higher pay while in this area.

It was almost a month later when another blast went off. Only this time it was much, much closer. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty feet. I was not injured by the shrapnel per say, but I was by the concussion of the blast. I remember someone told me this merited a trip home to recover. Of course, he had to write it down because surely, I could not hear it. Good. I wanted that, to go home, but not this way.

The explosion did affect my memory though. At least now I had an excuse for not remembering things. Simple things like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and such took on a new meaning for me. Now not only did I not remember them but I could care less about them.

As a matter of fact, I was not supposed to be here. I was filling in for a good friend while he and his wife had their first baby. Billy and Winnie had been married only eighteen months. Now she was giving birth their first baby. It's a birth that I wish I had been there to help celebrate with. But it was not to be. Instead I was going to be at a field hospital, temporarily deaf, at least I hoped that was all it was going to be.

It started when I introduced Billy and Winnie at a night club I liked to go to three years ago stateside. Billy is just a few inches taller than Winnie. Both built about the same, blonde hair, blue eyes, slender with just a bit of heaviness on his side. Honestly, they looked good together. I was glad for the both of them. Then about five months prior to any departure, Billy and I were discussing the situation. I had told him that I would take his shift while he and Winnie had the baby. Since we both worked for the same company, did basically the same job and we know the way each other thought, we went to upper management and requested the switch. I was single, he was not. I had no particular responsibilities, he did. Since I do not have any living relatives and he did, it only made sense with the argument we used with our superior. It worked, all too well, it worked.

I had arrived in what I affectionately call "Camel Land" six weeks later. I went through some important training about water rescue in a helicopter in a large swimming pool and some other goofy training stuff. This way we would know what to expect if something happened to our transportation. Then there was basic first aid, basic this and basic that. This took us just about a week and then they turned the group of us loose on camel land.

Billy wound up going over there anyway to finish my tour. But at least he was able to see Jennie, his baby girl be born. So now the baby is a month old and very cute. Billy had to finish out my tour while I went home to get better.

I finally met Jennie with Winnie after I got home. I still could not hear very well but it was coming back to me. That, in my opinion, was praise worthy. Jennie is as pretty as her mommy. It came to my mind that Billy, Winnie and Jennie had made a really cute family.

It took me almost a year to get a clearance from the company doctor to return to full duty. I had been seeing the doctor the whole time. After only two months of going there he cleared me to go to work on a limited schedule. Our facility was noisy so I had to wear some special ear plugs and ear muffs that were guaranteed to stop loud noises. When I was in the office, it was quiet so I would be able to work without the ear protection. It had dawned on me as to how important my hearing was.

My name is Sam. I am five foot nine inches tall. Brunette colored hair, some what balding, stout build and just a hint of a paunch belly on me. I am now thirty-five years old, free and single and I loved it. Oh yeah, slightly tanned but not from the camel land I had been sent to.

Once a month I would take Winnie and little Jennie to dinner. The company they gave me helped keep me in check. I did like to have a good time. I never drank to get drunk but I did do some drinking. When the girls and I would go out I would not drink. Designated driver and all but I would still have a glass of red or white wine, depending upon what we were eating. Billy was due home in another month and we all looked forward to that.

Billy and I kept in contact so he could fill me in on how things were going. He had me on his emergency contact list in case something went wrong over there. Two days before he was scheduled to come home, I get the dreaded phone call from the supervisor over there, Billy was killed by a random mortar attack. Billy had been killed by shrapnel which had hit him. Two days, only two more days and my friend would be home. That sucks!

It brings to mind an old song "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing." A week later his remains landed at the airport and we scheduled the funeral for him. The hardest thing I had to do was to tell Winnie what had happened. That was the worst thing that had happened to me in my life. It did not even compare with being orphaned when I was a mere twenty-one years old. Both of my parents died while rafting down some white-water rapids. They drowned while trying to get to each other. Tragic yes, but they died doing what they liked to do. I'll never be able to fault them for that. They saw to my education so I would never be a pauper. Looking back right now I gain a new respect for them.

Like I said, putting Billy in the ground was not easy for me. Winnie and Jennie would now be husband-less and fatherless. The love each other had for the other could be seen and felt. I'd known Billy for the last ten years. On the job or off, he and I did a lot of things together. I'd never have fathomed he would die at such a young age.

Winnie took it hard. Jennie was less than a year old so she would never know the loss of her father. I, as a good friend of Billy, took it pretty hard too. These bad feelings Winnie and I had only pushed us closer together. Even though I have known Winnie longer than Billy, she and I become close.

I had known Winnie for about five years through another mutual friend of ours. She is cute but I have never had romantic thoughts about her. The ten months we had while Willie was in Camel Land, we had grown close, but it was more like an older brother, younger sister type of love relationship or friendship. Jennie however was another story. She became to think of me as her Dada. It hurt me tremendously to see her because I could definitely see Billy in his daughter.

I did feel sorry for Winnie. She could not, nor had I, even had thought about Billy's demise. Winnie and I did continue seeing each other, at least monthly and sometimes twice a month but neither of us ever thought about love entering the relationship she and I have. Looking back now, I should have figured that eventually it would happen.

I showed up to Winnie's place one evening about a year after Billy was killed. For some reason Winnie looked especially beautiful. Jennie was about nineteen months old now. She really did remind me of Billy, only a lot smaller version thereof. She acted like she would grow up to be a very smart person.

Winnie was dressed very nice. Her blond hair was now shorter, almost bobbed completely. Her slender frame was now putting on just a little bit of weight. The weight was badly needed, she was starting to look almost skeletal. It looked as she had a whole body make-over. Jennie on the other hand had always looked cute. Just the right amount of baby fat, just the right height for her little frame and she acted as if she was already in her teens. She is a very active little girl.

As I already said, I arrived at Winnie's home ready for an evening with both of the ladies. Winnie had other ideas already in her head that I did not know about, yet. As I settled down on the couch to wait for Winnie and Jennie to make their debut, I could feel something in the air, but what I did not know. It has been just over a year since Billy's demise. My hearing was as good as it was going to get, but it was not what it used to be. I did have some malingering after effects but I dealt with it. Jennie only knew me as her part time daddy and Winnie, well I just was not sure how she felt.

My feelings for her crept upon me like a cat hunting its prey. Slowly but surely, we had formed a relationship that was really new to me. I am in my mid thirties now and still single. I am starting to feel the time is passing me by and I will never find the right woman to settle down with. Winnie on the other hand, was very pretty, has a nice shape, well proportioned, sweet disposition, and has the girl next door type of attitude. For the right person she would make a very good catch. She does have some baggage though, Jennie. Well nine out of ten just really is not that bad.

When Winnie and Jennie finally made their appearances, I was blown away. Winnie was dressed to kill for. Little Jennie looked to be a perfect carbon copy of her mom but she still had Billy's looks. All in all, the total package was nothing to ignore. Me, I had on slacks and a button-down shirt, clean socks and shined shoes. I was the one that looked out of place with these two.

Winnie assured me that I looked fine. She just felt like dressing up a little. She thought the outfit she dressed Jennie in made the two of them look nice, and it did. We went to a steak and ale place for dinner and then chose a cartoon type movie for Jennie. It was a movie like "CARS" but it had planes in it. I think it was a knock off from "CARS" but I was not sure. The evening passed reasonably fast. When we got back to Winnie's place, I helped put Jennie to bed and Winnie and I sat down on the couch.

Winnie started, what I thought would be idle chit-chat, but it turned out to be a subject that I had been contemplating for some time now. Where do we go from here? I felt like I would swallow the entire desert, my throat was so dry. Now why was a so nervous? Why could I not form an intelligent sentence? That is when it hit me like a ton of bricks, I am in love with Winnie and of course Jennie. There could be no other reason for feeling like a total idiot.

"Sam" she started saying. "How do you feel about me?" she did ask without looking directly at me. "We have known each other for a good while now. Somewhere in the neighbor hood of six years now. You have been there when no one else was willing to. Jennie already thinks of you as her father but I need to clear the air about where we are. Can you understand that? I mean..."

I interrupted her at this point. She could not speak any more, not because she was choked up but because I had my lips on her lips. I had really fallen deeply, madly and totally in love with her. As she returned the kiss, I think I knew everything would be all right with us. And return the kiss she did!

Things got a little intense at this point. I really knew we could not nor should not have sex. Even though parts of me said go for it, I needed to wait to be sure. There were so many emotions going through my head. I had started to get a little confused. Although we had known each other for a long time, I still wanted to make sure we are in love with each other. I am pretty sure we are.

I reluctantly decided it was time for me to go home. We both needed to stop and make sure of everything. During the short ride to my home I had a lot to think about, including Jennie. Winnie was just about everything a man would want in a woman. She is cute, nice looking, thoughtful, kind, nicely proportioned and all-around woman! I knew my now gone parents would have liked her. They would even like Jennie. What a package these two were.

Finally, I had made up my mind. I wanted, no I really wanted, to marry her and little Jennie. We could become a family and no one would or could fault our relationship. I had to work the next day. This day included some overtime. Normally I would not think twice about working overtime, because I really wanted to see Winnie. That was probably the longest day of my life up to that point in life. But it only got better.

When we finally got the time to be together again, we sat down for a serious talk. Little Jennie was noticeable missing. It had not dawned on me she was not there until I popped the question. I wanted her there to witness the proposal. She was at Winnie's sisters house.

Winnie and I decided it might be time for us to get romantic with each other. Sort of a mutual agreement thing.

The fireworks, the explosive ground shaking, the intense heat and extreme peace of mind we both felt during that kiss was one I could mark down for the record books. I had never, and I mean NEVER, felt any of that with any of the other women I had been with at this point in my life. The final act of sex was a total emotional and physical, mind blowing experience. The after effects left me drained all over. The intensity of it all was, in a word, GREAT! It was good I had the next two days off.

We both told Jennie that I would finally get to be her daddy. That was more for me because she did not quite understand. It was from that point forward that I, as a man, started acting like I was already married. We set up house and immediately started working on a little brother or little sister for Jennie.

A year later, Sammy was born. But all of that is another story for another time.