“What?”
I was shocked I couldn’t believe they were shipping him out. I fell to my
knees, and Kelly instantly closed the gap between us. He picked me up and
led me out to his car.
In a voice I didn’t quite recognize I said, “How come no one gave me any
warning?”
“Josh, you need to stay on one channel more than 5 seconds,” he quietly
said. “We knew it was going to come to this a couple months before the
president made his first push for war.”
“Where are they shipping you?”
He just croaked “Kuwait.”
I embraced him, crying lightly on his shoulder. “How could my parents, let
alone my da…” I stopped, immediately fearful. “Kelly, what about my dad?”
Apparently crying on my shoulder as I cried on his, he said, “His squadron
will fly out next week. I get shipped out on the 30th.”
My tears began again, and after 20 minutes of sitting by Kelly’s car crying
on his shoulder, we both dried our eyes.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I whispered. “Your one of my closest friends, I
love you like a brother.”
He seemed shocked by this statement, but quickly recovered. “You’re family
to me, too, Josh. I love you like the younger brother I never had. I don’t
want to leave either but I have no say in the matter.”
He quickly changed the subject to save himself from more pain. I didn’t push
him on it.
“I need to do something, you want to come to my place for a bit?” He asked
tentatively.
“Sure do,” I said as I quickly put on a mask to hide my sorrow.
If he noticed me bottling my emotions he didn’t say a thing about it. “Okay,
then, lets get going”
We drove to his place, two miles from the rec hall, and a mile and a half
from my house. We pulled in to his drive and I quickly gathered my
surroundings. His place was a little single bungalow, and it was fairly well
taken care of but it could use some paint. There was a tree in the front
yard: I don’t remember what kind since it was to dark to tell.
We walked up to his front door and he fiddled around for the right key. He
found it a moment later and opened the door. I walked in as Kelly turned on
a light. The first thing I saw was a totally custom M16 sop/mod (special
operations/modified) with optic sights, and a grenade attachment hanging in
a case.
I let out a soft whistle “How did you come by that mother?” I motioned to
the rifle.
“That’s a long story for another time.” He smiled.
“Knowing you, half the parts on that monster are hot.”
“Well, they have cooled off a little,” he laughed as I gave him a
scandalized look. “You might want to call your mom real quick before she has
a seizure,” Kelly suggested.
I chuckled at the thought and went into the kitchen and made my call. A few
minutes later I had things smoothed out. I didn’t tell her about Kelly or
that I knew dad was getting shipped out. If she knew she was waiting to tell
me.
“So what is it you have to do?” I asked him.
“Just check my email, and see what movies are on the theater.”
“Ok I’ll wait in here.” I sat down on the leather couch.
I looked around the room once more. It was really well decorated and I could
tell he put a lot of effort into it.
He came back out “Ok, I’m good. Let’s get to the theater.”
He gave me the run down of our choices: it was either a Tom Cruise movie or
Jackie Chan. We wisely chose the Jackie Chan film, seeing how neither of us
could stand Tom Cruise. The film ended around midnight, and I suddenly
realized I needed to check in.
“Oh, shit. I’d better call mom.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. “I’d rather be shot at then get your mom
angry.”
He chuckled a little and turned inward thinking his expression unreadable. I
knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Hey! Don’t think that way,” I snapped at him. “You’ll make it back here in
one piece.”
“I know, but…” he trailed off.
“But nothing. If you’re going to think about something then think about when
you come back here and getting back to your life,” I said in a dangerous
voice. “Besides if you get killed ill kick your ass.”
He smiled weakly. “Okay… well, let’s get you home, otherwise your mom is
going to be pissed.” We walked out to the car and got in.
He dropped me off at the drive way and we both got out and said our good
byes for the night. I then did something that shocks me even to this day: I
went over to Kelly and hugged him as hard as could. It was the only thing I
could do to show how much he means to me. He nodded and got into his car I
could see him weeping as he pulled away and drove home. I turned around and
walked inside, mom was sitting there with dad. I knew what was coming so I
built up my defenses and prepared myself.
“Honey, we need to talk,” she said in as strong a voice as she could muster.
“Mom I know, Kelly told me first thing,” I informed her in an even tone.
I think she was shocked that I had found out before she had. I went off to
my room saying good night and collapsed on my bed and fell asleep.
I spent the rest of the week with my family preparing for when my father
left on Friday. I didn’t see Kelly at all during that time; I guess he
thought I needed my space.
When Friday rolled around we all headed out to see our troops off. A C130
sat on the tarmac, ready for take off. We had about 30 minutes to say good
bye. Most of the families got pictures together and then get a picture of
the whole squadron and the Cobra helicopters they flew.
We all watched the transport plane take off, and everyone stayed until we
couldn’t see the plane any more. Most of the wives were crying and the
little kids asking where their fathers or mothers were going, waving good
bye not knowing that they may never come back. I managed to keep my
composure the whole time. After we got out of the parking lot my mother and
I went off base to a little place for breakfast. Once she sat down she
sighed and spoke quietly.
“There are going to be a lot of changes Josh and I’ll need your help.”
“I know, Mom. I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” I said coolly
“I’m going to see if I can get my schedule more flexible so I can do some
more things with you,” she said on the verge of crying.
I grabbed her hand which was now trembling. “Mom we will make it through
this okay? Most likely dad and Kelly will be sent back in a year or so.” I
squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
“I love you Josh.”
“I love you, too, mom,” I replied
The waiter made himself present with a small cough. It pissed me off that he
was eavesdropping on our conversation.
“Yes?” I said in a gruff voice
“What would you two like to drink?” he asked nervously, sizing me up.
“Milk for both of us and we will have two orders of pancakes,” Mom replied
quickly, sensing my hostility.
“Okay, anything else?” he asked as he wrote the order down.
“No,” I said sternly again
He reluctantly left and a few minutes later returned with our food and
quickly took his leave of us again.
When we got home the cat was waiting for us on the counter, looking sad and
forlorn. When I walked in he looked deeply into my eyes, probing my soul. I
didn’t look away, and found a strange sense of communication in this simple
action.
“I know, bud. It’s going to be a while ‘til things are normal again,” I
whispered to him.
The cat then broke eye contact, mewed, jumped off the counter and rubbed up
against me. I petted him for a few minutes and went to get a nap, but made a
quick detour to the phone and dialed Kelly.
On the second ring he picked up. “Hello?” He said gruffly.
“Hey, Kel.”
His voice changed to deep compassion “Hey, Josh. Sorry. I’ve had a hell of a
time trying to find cheap storage.”
“It’s no problem.” I replied. “You want to hang out tomorrow?”
“Sure,” he said a little too loud causing me to pull the phone away. “Same
time same place, right?” He asked.
“Yup,” I confirmed. “1600 at the rec hall.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow… bro.”
There was a silence over the phone.
“Kelly”
“Yeah, I’m here…. See you tomorrow, Bro.” The emotion in his voice came
through the phone line clearly.
We hung up and I went to lay down.
“Come on, cat.”
He was already trotting to the bedroom door before I said it.
I followed him in and fell instantly asleep the moment I hit the bed.
I would especially like to thank Harrod and Dewey for editing my stories. I
would also like to thank all of you on Dewey Writer for supporting me. I
trully think of you guys as my second family.