Homefront

By: David H
(© 2011 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Prologue

Part I - Matt

The family of Daniel Landry Sr., along with a few other people whose presence Dan had requested, had assembled at the Law Offices of Jim Bentley for the opening of his will. As he'd requested, they waited ten days before assembling to break the seal that he'd placed on the document himself and to divide up an estate that was valued at around 60 million dollars. His family was sitting around a long conference table, quietly waiting on everything to start, while friends and a couple of others were seated in chairs around the wall.

To the right side of the head of the table was Dan's son, Daniel Landry, Jr., or Junior as he was known to those close to the family. Next to him was his wife, Miranda, and their twin sons, Rhett and Steven. Dressed in very casual clothing, the adults looked more like they were ready to go on vacation than to be respectful of the man that had only days before, been fighting for every single breath he took. The kids sat there, playing with the Blackberrys that their father had purchased for them at some point between the funeral and that otherwise blissful Tuesday morning in June, 2007.

At the far end of the table was Dan's sister, Heloise, and husband number five, George. They were an odd couple of sorts, as Heloise was a good twenty years his senior. Her bright red hair stood out as she wore some hideous blouse that was a cream color with red-brown flowers all over it. His salt-and-pepper hair was almost seemed like a complement to the black suit that he'd worn that day. No one could figure out what he saw in her, but everyone knew what she saw in him. He had money, and money, in her opinion, was paramount to everything else.

On the left side of the table, close to the head, was Dan's daughter, Linda Harper. Two seats away from her was her husband, Ron, and between them was their only child, a son they'd named after their fathers, Matthew Daniel. Being that Ron had come from work and that he was planning to go back, he was dressed in a nice, button down shirt and some Carhartt pants. Linda had a couple of patients to see that afternoon, and, thusly, was dressed as a doctor should dress. Matthew was in jeans, like his cousins, but also wore a nice, button-down shirt and some respectable shoes. Unlike the two of them, though, Matthew had been fighting all morning with his emotions. At one point, he'd gotten angry, but then he'd gotten sad. In that moment, he was sort of just there, numb and pensive, sitting looking toward the palm of his hands.

Behind them were sitting a few other people that had always been very important to Dan. Linda's best friend, Becky, was sitting just behind her, there more to support the Harpers than anything else. She'd never been able to stand Junior or his people, and Heloise had always treated her as though she were beneath her. Linda and her parents, Dan and his wife Virginia, who'd passed away years before, made her feel like she was their other daughter. Her son, Seth, who was more like a brother than just Matt's best friend, was treated like a grandson by Dan, who'd known Becky's dad from their days as Marines fighting in the Pacific during World War II. Seth himself was sitting beside her, right behind Matt. His father, Jimmy, who was also Dan's attorney and had been for years, was out of the room getting things ready for the morning.

There were several representatives from Parsons University that were there as well. Parsons, the university around which the town of Eudora, Mississippi, itself was built, had always been important to Dan. It's where four generations of men had gone to college before he got home from the War and went through college and Law School. It was where both of his children had gone, as well as Ron. Matt was between his junior and senior years. Miranda had gone to East Mississippi University, Parsons' arch rival in all academic and athletic circles, which was the first thing that Dan had always held against her. Their kids had chosen to go to Auburn, for some reason that escaped the most loyal Patriots fans.

The current mayor of Eudora was also there, as were the Chief of Police and one of the judges with whom Dan had served in the 1980s. They were there more as witnesses to the goings on than anything else.

At 11:03, on the nose, Jimmy walked into the room carrying a huge stack of papers. One of his assistants came into the room and fired up a computer as Jimmy got things started. "Thank you all for coming. Mr. Landry requested this meeting prior to his death and that all of the people mentioned in his will be present at the proceedings. I knew a few of you have come a little ways to get here, and I appreciate your cooperation. Before we begin today, I would like to again express my condolences for your loss. Mr. Landry was always a powerful man, and I had immense respect for him both as a jurist and as a human being.

"Mr. Landry," Jimmy continued, "recorded a video for you all several months ago. He said that there were some things that he needed to say to each of you, but he didn't want to say them until after he... until after he passed." Jimmy, who'd joined the law firm of Landry and Smith after finishing law school, had inherited half the firm from in his father-in-law's will some time before. When Dan retired, he sold the remaining half to Jimmy, under the instructions that he would immediately change the name, a stipulation with which he complied. Dan and Bill, Becky's father, had taught him a lot of things about the law, lessons that he'd always carried with him.

"Ready," his assistant said after a moment. Jimmy then walked around the left side of the table to grab a remote for the projector as the assistant lowered the screen onto which the recording would be broadcast. At first it was a blue screen, and then showed the desktop of the computer to which it was connected. The media player was up and ready, but the recording hadn't yet started.

"Are there any questions?" Jimmy asked. When there was no response, Jimmy nodded his head and the assistant started the video.

"Well," Dan said through the recording. His voice was still deep and powerful, just as Matt had always remembered it. "I guess if y'all are watching this that it means that I have passed. I have recorded this video for two reasons. The first is so that I can say some things that you all need to hear right now, and the second is to give instructions on how the estate is to be divided among you.

"To start off, I would like to say that I have lived a long life. These eighty-four years have been filled with good times and bad, memories, some of which I will carry to my grave. For everything that I've done, I have but one regret, that I didn't listen to the innocent wisdom of a five-year-old boy who, years ago, told me that I needed to quit smoking. He said that it was a nasty habit that would one day kill me, and the mass that has fused into the wall of my left lung is proof that he was right," Dan said as Matt could remember the day that he came home from school, telling his grandfather about what he'd learned that day about the dangers of smoking. "Kid," Dan said a second later, making Matthew look up at the screen, "I should have listened to you, and I'm sorry for not doing better with it." "Kid" was the name that Dan had given him when he was born. Matt was the first of Dan's three grandchildren, preceding his cousins by two years. Rhett and Steven didn't have nicknames, though, but Seth was called "Boy".

"So let's get this started," Dan mentioned again on the screen before taking a sheet of paper from which he would be reading directly for a moment. "My name is Daniel Cornelius Landry, Sr., and I have created this video, with the assistance of Jimmy Bentley, as my Last Will and Testament. Being of sound mind, and relatively sound body, I am recording this on Monday, the twelfth day of March, 2007.

"To my sister, Heloise Landry-Bates-Morrison-Jenkins-Reynolds-Hoover and her husband, George Hoover. Sister," he said, putting the paper down and looking at the camera, "in these past few years since Virginia passed, you and I haven't spoken often. For that, I am sorry. I promised father, when he died, that I would take care of you, and from that point, I have been so angry with you that I couldn't bear to see you, to converse with you, or to have anything to do with you, and in that, I have not fulfilled my promise to him. With that, though, you never have really done anything to help yourself. For years, every time I turned around, you were there, wanting something, asking for something, and while I helped you out as much as I could, I find myself torn at this moment. I know that if I leave you money, that you blow through it, just as you've always done. So with that, I will comply with Dad's request, and I will continue to help you out, even though I honestly don't think you deserve it. In the will, I have instructed the trustee of my living trust, to pay off any mortgages that you currently have outstanding. You will provide him, within ten days, a statement from your mortgage holder showing a payoff balance. He will then secure a cashier's check for the balance and send it directly to the lender. This way, I can absolve myself of whatever guilt I have and keep you from having the cash in your hands directly.

"To my son, Daniel Landry, Jr. Son, I have tried my best in life to teach you things that will help you succeed, but you, like your aunt, have taken every opportunity afforded you in life and squandered it away. I am proud of how hard you worked toward your education, but there's little more than that. You chose a partner that only married you, and has only stayed with you, for this very day," Dan noted as everyone looked at Miranda and Junior, both of whom were fuming at the comment. "But you are my son, and I've decided to leave the two of you a cash sum totally one million dollars. Do with it what you want to, but keep in mind that it's the very last money that you will ever get from me. Miranda... It's common knowledge that I've never liked you, but I have tolerated you for my son's sake. I think it's horrible how you've treated him over the years, as it was painfully obvious from the first time we met that you were only after him for what you thought you could get out of him and out of our family. I always felt that he deserved better than you, to be completely honest, but you did give him two sons, and hopefully he'll do good by them.

"To my grandsons, Rhett and Steven Landry. Guys, I hate the fact that I didn't get to know you two better. I'm sure that there are things that I could have learned from you two, and I know that there are things that you could have learned from me. It was your parents' decision, though, to keep y'all away when you were younger, and there's not much I can do about that now. I leave to y'all, though, two trust accounts that were opened when you were born. Each was opened with $100,000 dollars, and they've not been touched, so the interest should be a nice little chunk of change for the two of you to get started in life once you finish college. Don't waste it, though, would be my final advice to you. Sure, spend some of it on yourself, but invest it in something worthwhile to help it grow a bit more." On the video, Dan took a deep breath.

"Several years ago, I created a scholarship at Parsons to help servicemen and women to help finance their education after getting out of whatever branch they were in. Against my wishes, the school called it the Daniel Landry Award for Service to America. I am honored by it, though, and I leave the school a total of $5,000,000 dollars to help expand the program that, to date, has helped nearly 1,000 young men and women finance their educations. I hope that it will be used to help more people, especially those who are coming home from fighting wars abroad with which I can honestly say I do not agree. This isn't the time to express my political views, though.

"To my goddaughter, Rebecca Bentley. Becky, I am assuming that, in the days since my passing, you have been there a lot for Linda and Ron. I would like to take this moment to thank you very much. I would also like to leave you a gift of $100,000 dollars, which is to be used however you see fit. I think, though, that you and your husband need to take a long, romantic vacation to someplace tropical, have a couple of drinks in my memory, and then do whatever it is the two of you do when Seth's not around to screw it up," he smiled as Becky looked at Seth, patting his leg for a moment as both of them understood Dan's joke.

"And speaking of my fourth grandson... Boy. I respect you more than you will ever know. You have a very kind soul and a loving, generous heart. While most people would have considered you the kind of guy that would be all about himself, it does me good to know that you have been willing, on more than one occasion, to go out into the world and help people for the sake of helping people." Dan smiled. "I know that people have told you this before, but you are exactly like your grandfather in so many ways. With all this being said, I would like to make a couple of gifts to you as well. First, there is a building on the Square that your grandfather owned for the longest time but lost to me in a poker bet. It's the building right next to the EudoraBank that's got the sports store in it. I am leaving you that building, to honor your grandfather more than anything else. I'm also leaving you $250,000, cash. The stipulation, though, is that you take Matt away from Eudora for a couple of weeks. And while you're gone, make sure he gets laid!" Dan joked as Seth reached up and patted Matt's shoulder. Matt was smiling a little bit at that point, for it was almost like his grandfather was right there, being as pervy as he'd always been.

"To my daughter, Linda Harper. To make things fair between you and your brother, I am leaving you, Princess, a million dollars. The thing about it is, though, that I want you to go out, as soon as the check clears, and buy yourself a new car. That Volvo you've been driving since Matt was in Pampers needs to be retired. Maybe sell it to somebody that can restore and get some more use out of it, but get rid of it. Ron, make sure she gets something that's befitting a doctor of her caliber and that's nothing practical. I'm thinking something like a huge SUV.

"And speaking of Ron... Unlike my other child-in-law, I have the most respect for you. I remember the day we met, you were a student at Parsons, struggling to make ends meet, and you didn't have the money to pay rent on time. Rather than coming in to ask for an extension, though, you came to me, explained the situation, and then asked for a job to help pay off your obligation to me. Never before that and then never after that have I experienced a tenant asking me for a job rather than an extension. That's why I hired you, and that's why I had no problem when you and Linda wanted to start dating. You're a hard worker and a great man, Ron, and I am honored that you came into my life. Princess," he said, speaking to Linda directly, "I was a little upset when you came to me and said that you didn't want to be a lawyer. I'd always assumed that, of my two children, you would be the one to follow in my footsteps. You became an amazing doctor, though, honey, and none of the old men at the VFW can hold a candle to me when it comes to the amazing things that our children had done. You worked to pay for your own education; you opened your own practice using a small building that you made me rent to you for market price; you, with Ron's help, have raised an amazing son who, to this day, makes me just as proud as you always have." He stopped for a second to catch his composure before continuing. Something about talking about Linda and Matt was making him more emotional than he normally was.

"That still leaves, though, the bulk of my estate. Included in it are my home on South Cossart, the location from which I'm recording this video today, my residential property management company, Landry Properties LLC, my construction company, Landry Construction LLC, and my commercial property company, Landry Commercial LLC." Dan smiled. "I got real original with the names, didn't I?" he laughed as everyone smiled. "The remainder of my estate, though, I leave to my grandson, Matthew Daniel Harper. All the money, the insurance policies that are in both my name and the name of my late wife Virginia, all the offices, apartments, rental homes, my home and all its contents, including the garage and all its contents, all the strip malls, and all the raw property that has yet to be developed or preserved.

"Kid," he continued, "I can think of no better person than you to leave all this to. You amaze me at every turn, and I know that you will know what to do with it all. I believe that you, your father, and your mother, will continue to make our family name bling with excellence and quality, as it always has. Like your mother, though, that car's got to go. I know you bought it yourself, with money that you saved working during high school, but it's 2007, and you've got money. Buy yourself something nice."

Dan stopped again as Matt looked around to see that all the eyes in the room were on him. Jimmy and Ron had been the only two people at that point who knew what the codicils of the trust contained, but neither of them had said anything about it. Junior was looking as though he could come right across and take him out, for he, along with his wife and kids, felt that the lion's share of the estate should go to them because they shared the man's name. They knew, though, that there was nothing they could do, as Dan was a brilliant attorney who knew what he was doing when he set up the living trust that the will simply dissolved. What they didn't know, though, was that Matt would have given it all up if there was any way in the world that it could bring that old man back for just one more day.

For Matt, Dan had been more than he was to anyone else. Not even his parents could understand the bond that existed between Matt and the man he called 'Pa'. It was that superhero of a man who'd taught Matt how to fish and hunt, at the same time how to respect nature for its own sake. He'd taught Matt that everyone was equal, regardless of any difference they might have with Matt. He let Matt develop his own ideas, though, on every single topic. Dan openly respected his religious views, and defended his rights as a gay man in the South. It was Dan that told him never to let anyone bring him down, for usually those people who had a problem with his sexuality were those who weren't yet comfortable enough in theirs.

In the video, Dan spoke to Matt directly longer than he had anyone else. He thanked him for allowing him to be a part of his life; he thanked him for a time, just after Virginia passed away when Matt was six or so, when part of his nightly routine included showering, brushing his teeth, and calling Pa to make sure that he'd done the same. He fondly recalled when Matt told him, after spending a day at work when he was a judge in Welty County's criminal court, that the law was a "flaming pile of shit", a sentiment with which he agreed to that day. He was honored that Matt felt comfortable enough to come out to him when he was a freshman in high school and that Matt required all the people he dated to meet him and attain his approval.

As the video finished, the assistant stopped playback and raised the screen as Jimmy turned the projector off. With silence in the room, Jimmy walked back to the head of the table and distributed paperwork to all those that were present. Junior and his crew left immediately, as did Heloise and George. The people from the University left a moment later, after talking to those who remained for a moment.

Almost with reluctance, they had to go about their days. Becky had a class to teach on the campus of Parsons; Linda had to go into her office. Matt and Ron stayed behind for a moment, though, as there were questions that Ron had to ask in an effort to help Matt get through everything from a legal perspective. Seth stood with Matt as the latter of the two tried to concentrate on what was being said.

When all was done, Matt went out into the lobby with Seth while they waited on Ron and Jimmy, who were a couple of minutes behind them. They made plans that night before Matt and Ron went to lunch to talk about a lot of things that were on his mind. That night, as expected, Seth and Matt drank themselves into oblivion. Matt had a lot that he didn't want on his mind, and Seth was the kind of friend that went along with it so that Matt wouldn't be in the state of numbness by himself.

Matt spent the rest of the week doing paperwork, and the rest of the month was spent doing as little as humanly possible. After the Fourth of July, Matt went to work, learning the businesses that he'd inherited. He knew his father's side well enough, having worked with him off and on over the years. The construction company, though, was almost completely foreign to him. Derek, his father's counterpart, showed him how the business itself was run before Matt decided to go out onto a job site and really get a feel for the business. He'd decided to do that after asking himself what Dan would have done in the same situation.

For the rest of July, while Seth was in class, Matt spent his days in the sun, working his fingers to the bone. It felt good, though. The physical labor was doing wonders for both his body and his soul.

By the time school started back, though, in August, Matt decided that he wanted some time off. After a meeting with major professor in the Music Department and his minor professor, in Spanish, he withdrew from all his classes, under the assumption that, in a year, he would return to the grind of school. His parents were livid when they found out. Ron wasn't as much as Linda, but once they calmed down and gave him a chance to explain himself they understood that he was doing what he had to do for himself.

Rather than going back to work for one of his own companies, though, he made a connection with an organization that placed volunteer workers in underprivileged communities around the globe. Given that he spoke Spanish well enough, they agreed to place him in a small town in northern Peru, and one a sweltering hot day in the middle of August, he arrived in the town Aguilas and was greeted by one of the workers that he'd be replacing. Of the fifteen workers from around North America and Europe, he was the only one who spoke Spanish at his arrival, and while most of the people there came from money, he was the only one who didn't flaunt it by wearing clothes that people in the village couldn't even begin to afford.

He outlasted all of the others, though, to become a fixture as the whitest person in the village occupied mostly by people who could trace their lineage to the Incas rather than the Spanish. He learned a few words in Quechua, but it was only enough to survive and to know when someone was talking about him. He didn't go home from Christmas, but when his 22nd birthday rolled around the next March, he was surprised to find, on the bus that ran through the village once a week, his best friend. Seth explained that he could only stay a week, but that there was no way he was going to let Matt spend his birthday alone. The two had never been apart on either of their birthdays, and Seth was determined not to let their twenty-second ones be the first. Being that their birthdays fell within a week of each other's, it made things a lot easier for their mothers, who only had to plan one party for both of their kids growing up.

Before he left the next week, Seth had Matt promise that he would be home in time for graduation, and, on the first of May, 2008, he took the bus back to Lima and then took a plane back home. Before he left, though, he had his mother wire some money that he then gave, in total, to the elders of the town. It was as a 'thank you' for allowing him to spend so much time in their village, for it gave him enough time and energy to get his head right, something that he needed in order to return home and face all that he'd left behind.

Seth picked him up from the airport in Memphis that evening, driving back down I-55 to Highway 6 and then east until they came into Eudora. Rather than going back to his condo, though, Seth drove them to Wellsgate, the neighborhood on the western side of town where they'd both grown up. Pulling into Matt's driveway, Seth assured him that there was nothing planned, and that the parents hadn't been informed of his return. Being that it was a Thursday night, though, both of their parents were no doubt gathered around the table in the kitchen, playing cards as they'd done since Seth and Matt were little.

Quietly they climbed up the stairs that led to the back deck. Seth opened the door and walked inside. "OTHERMOM!" he screamed, calling Linda, whom he could hear in the kitchen.

"WHAT?!?" she jokingly asked as she came into living room from the kitchen and saw Matt standing there. "My baby!" she exclaimed as Matt smiled and as she wrapped her arms around him. Becky followed, smiling as she wrapped her arms around Seth's waist and as he put his arms across her shoulders. Ron followed Linda with hugs before Becky got into the mix and hugged the man who called her '
Othermom'.

The card game ended right then and there as they sat around for hours just talking. Becky and Jimmy just before one in the morning; Seth left at two. Linda and Matt stayed up until he could no longer hold his eyes open; Ron had gone to bed at around three, but they were up until five.

The following Saturday, Seth had made him promise to go out with him. It had been over a year since they'd done anything like that, since before Dan had informed Matt of his illness. Matt had put his social life on hold to help care for him, against Dan's wishes. It was worth it, though, as Matt grew to realize, for even though he was quickly deteriorating, Matt got to spend some time with the greatest man in the world.

*********

Part II - Nick

Like so many people, like so many New Yorkers, Nick Russo's life was forever changed on 11 September 2001. A senior in high school, he woke that morning to find that his mother had already left for work as the executive secretary to the Regional Manager for HiTelCo's Northeastern region, based in the City that Never Sleeps. As usual, he fixed himself a bowl of cereal and then took a shower. Dressing in the blue pants and white dress shirt that he wore every day to St. Xavier Catholic High School in Brooklyn, he spoke to his mother on the phone for a moment before walking out the door. Everything seemed OK, as she was, as always, making sure that he was actually going to school rather than just skipping, as he'd done the previous year, almost to the point where he wasn't invited back for his final year of study.

Walking outside, into one of the most beautiful days he could remember in a while, his best friend, Henry Johnson was waiting for him.

"You talk to your mom?" Henry asked as they started walking toward the school.

"A few minutes ago," Nick answered.

"Why don't we go back up to your place?"

"I can't Henry. My mom said that if I get caught skipping again, she's gonna ship me off to Mississippi to live with my grandmother."

"She can't do that!" Henry insisted.

"You know my mom," Nick insisted as they continued walking.

"True."

"And you've never met my grandmother," he went on.

"True, true," he told him.

They arrived a few minutes later and walked into the high school. It was just after 8:30 in the morning and the two of them, along with thirty other students, sat in their homeroom class as the teacher struggled to call their names over the volume they were creating.

At 8:47, one of the nuns that worked at the school came into the room and silenced them with just a look. "Nicholas Russo. Come with me..." she explained as Nick stood and walked toward her. They walked out of the room and to the office, which, in his case, was right across the hall. She handed him the telephone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Nick... Nicky..." his mom called, crying.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"Nicky. I love you. I just wanted to call you and tell you that..." she said through her tears. "You are my world, and I never want you to forget that."

"What's going on, Mom?"

"Nick. I'm not going to make it home, and I just wanted to tell you that I love you."

"I love you, too, Mom," Nick said as he looked at the TV in the office, tuned to local news, as he saw flames billowing from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

"Please. Please be a good boy, and don't give anyone any problems. OK?"

"OK, Mom," he told her as the line cut. "Mom? Mom!" he called into the phone. One of the nuns standing in the office took the phone from his hand as his eyes were transfixed on the TV screen, watching the smoke that appeared to be coming from just a few floors below where his mother worked.

"Is there someone we can call for you?" another of the nuns asked him.

"Ma...My aunt, Janelle..." Nick said, almost in a whisper.

"What's the number?" the lady who took the phone from him asked.

"601-555-2918," he said, somehow remembering the number that he had to look up every single time when he was at home.

As they only kid at the school with a parent that worked in the WTC, he was allowed to stand there in the office and watch the news as it came in. The nuns and the secretary, trying the number several times, couldn't reach her. As the North Tower fell, though, so did their hearts, for this young man that stood before them. They all knew his situation, that he was the only child of a single mother and that, other than this aunt they couldn't reach, they knew of no other family members to contact on his behalf.

"Are you alright?" they asked him after a moment of silence.

"I don't know," he responded. "I almost skipped today," he told them, knowing that if he had, he would have missed hearing his mothers for the last time.

"St. Xavier," the secretary answered after the phone rang. "Yes. He's right here," she said, inviting Nick to sit at her desk to talk to whomever was calling.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Sweetie," Janelle said to him, obviously crying. "Are you OK?"

"I... um... I don't know..." he said.

"OK. I'm coming up there, but they've cancelled flights, so I've got to drive. Promise me that you will go straight home after school. OK?"

"OK," Nick responded.

"I love you, Nick."

"Love you, too, J," Nick said as the both hung up their phones. "My aunt is on the way up..."

"Sister," the secretary asked. "Grab Henry Johnson from class and have him come up. I'm going to call Mrs. Johnson and have her come pick the boys up and take Nick home."

"Alright," the nun said as she looked up to see where Henry was.

"Mr. Malia... Spanish II," Nick told the nun. Looking at the secretary, "We have the same schedule." Nick stood only to realize that his legs were about to give out from under him. "Shit..." he said, defying the rule against swearing and not thinking twice about it. Sitting back down at the desk, he put his face in his hands and started to cry. "This isn't happening. This can't be happening. Why her? She was the nicest lady in the world, and I gave her hell as often as I could. God!" he started to cry. "Why?" he said as Henry came into the office. He took one look at the TV screen and knew what was going on.

"Nick?" he said as he walked past the nuns, to his friend's side.

"My mom... My mom was calling..." Nick cried. "She was calling to tell me that she loved me... Who would do this?" he asked, wondering the same thing as every single other New Yorker, American, and citizen of the world.

"It's gonna be OK, man," Henry told him. "Is it OK if I call my Mom and get her to come and get us?" he asked the secretary.

"She's on her way," the secretary told her.

"Um... his aunt..."

"She's coming," Nick said as he stopped crying for a second, to wipe his eyes. "She's driving up..."

"OK."

"My mom..." Nick cried as he sat there. "Why?" he asked as he cried for the hour that it took for Henry's mother to get to the school because of traffic.

Ms. Johnson ran in, almost frantically. She quickly signed papers that the office staff had prepared for her to check the boys out. As they walked out of the school, Nick stepped out with them on either side.

"We need to go to my house," Nick told them. "My aunt's on her way up. She's gonna call me I guess."

"Good..." Mrs. Johnson said. "We'll go over there and I'll start working on some food.

Mrs. Johnson, herself a professional chef, always used food as a means to satisfy a soul in need of comforting. More than half a day later, Janelle arrived at his apartment to find that it was full of people: neighbors, friends, even a guy he'd been known to hang out on occasion. Everyone cleared a path between them, though, as they grasped each other and allowed their mutual emotion to flow freely. It was the first time that day for either of them. People stayed that night at the apartment, standing vigil and hoping that Patrice would be found among survivors. Even if she was hurt, she was still alive.

A week later, they found her body among the rubble. Nick cried and cried, throwing up until there was nothing left. At just three weeks shy of his 18th birthday, he was officially an orphan. A few days later, after his mother's cremation, he packed his things and, instead of returning to school, left New York in the passenger seat of his aunt's car. They drove through central and western Pennsylvania and then West Virginia before coming to Kentucky and Tennessee. At Knoxville, they took I-40 to Memphis and then I-55 to Jackson, where his aunt lived with her daughter, Jenny, who was a few years younger than Nick.

She'd always thought of him as a brother, especially when he would visit over the summers or when she would go up there. He was so cool just by the way he was. When he got there, there was no walking on eggshells around him, at least for her. She refused to believe that he was anyone other than the man she'd always known him to be. Even though, on the drive down, the two had discussed his schooling options and had decided that a GED would be the way to go, at least for him, Jenny was the one who made him sit and study, even if he didn't want to. She made him get out and go to football games with her on Friday nights and insisted that he chaperone parties that she hosted on Saturday nights when her mother was out of town. She had such influence over her friends that they eventually became his, too, even if they were all younger.

In December, when he got his GED scores, he was happy that, in the eyes of the State of Mississippi he was no longer required to attend school. He found a job working for a small, local construction company, but it was just temporary, until he got well enough in the head to decide what he wanted to do with his life. His grades, even before he got his GED, weren't the best, so he assumed that college, especially one like Parsons of East Mississippi, would laugh at him behind his back.

Then one day, out of the blue, he was driving home from work and got rearended by a guy that, as he looked in the mirror before climbing out. Dude was hot. He was tall and muscular, and wearing a uniform that almost clung to his body. From the way of things, he looked like a Marine.

"Are you OK?" the man asked as Nick climbed out of the car.

"Yea, dude. You?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I was reaching for my cell phone and didn't notice that you'd applied the breaks. I'll make sure that I pay to have your car fixed and all," he offered as he called 9-1-1 to report the accident. In just a moment, the police arrived. They wrote up their report and gave cards to each of the guys. After they left, after having determined that both of their cars were still OK to drive, the guy walked up to Nick. "If there's anything you need from me, please let me know," he said as he handed Nick a card. Nick looked at the card.

"Mario Daniels?"

"Yes sir," the man answered with a smile to Nick as they shook hands. Nick climbed back into his car a moment later and took off as soon as traffic was clear. When he got home, he looked at the card as he took it from his pocket. It wasn't just a casual glance, though. This guy wasn't just a Marine, he was a recruiter with a local office. After his shower, he walked back into the room that had become his since moving to Mississippi. As he pulled a pair of boxers onto his body, he noticed the logo on the card. The globe and anchor, with the eagle on top.

The next day, he called into work and went into the office to talk to Mario. He left a couple of hours later, firm in the decision that he was going to join up, that he was going to be one of the few and the proud. He passionately told his aunt about it that night. She forbade him; he explained that it was the first thing that felt right in a long time.

"Maybe," she said. "Maybe it's just me, but I'm not ready to lose your mother AND you to those people!" She looked at him. "Nick. I have always loved you more than life, but I can't bury both of you."

"I will be fine..."

"You don't know that!" she said. "What if they invade Afghanistan? What if you're sent?"

"Janelle. For months, I've been going around, wondering about my life, and this is the closest thing to right that I've experienced in a long time. I need to do this for me, and I promise you that I will do everything in my power to come home if I do go overseas."

She looked in his eyes. "I will support you, with whatever decision you make, but I want you to think...and I mean really, really think about it... for a week... before you do anything." She started to cry. "And I swear to you that if you do let yourself get hurt, I will channel all the energy I have in my body. I will get a ouija board, and I will summon your spirit and give you five hundred kinds of hell!"

"I love you, Janelle," he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

He complied with her request and waited a week, but his passion was just as strong, strong enough to call the recruiter and see what he had to do to sign up. Mario was eager to get him in, so he took papers to his house. Janelle didn't like it, one bit, but she recognized that it was something that he had to do for him, and he was more important, in that moment, than what she thought of the situation. By March of 2002, he was leaving Jackson for Parris Island. A few weeks later, he was graduating from basic training.

He was a different person, filled to the brim with confidence. His smile was wide and full, just like his uniform. The physical training he'd endured had made sure that his uniform fit him perfectly. After a couple of weeks at home, Nick went to Camp Pendleton for additional training and, as assumed, was sent to Afghanistan.

He got home in the early part of 2004, after having been in Afghanistan for nearly a year and a half. He was stationed in San Diego for a while, mostly doing the work of grunts until, in 2006, he was transferred to a different unit that was to be deployed in Iraq during the troop surge of 2007. It was while in that unit that he met Corey O'Neil, a man that, for whatever reason, could force him to lose all concentration on anything and everything else.

Corey was average height and average build, but he had this tongue and this confidence that oozed from every pore on his body. He was from Rhode Island, but he didn't sound like it. The whole 'pahk the cah' mode of speech had, for some reason, passed write over him. There was no indication in Nick's mind that he was anything other than straight as a bored. Come to find out, though, there was a side of Corey that no one really knew. He could easily swing both ways, and on the night before they left for Iraq, Nick found out just what it was like to have another Marine in the Biblical sense.

When they got to Iraq, there were assigned to the same convertible housing unit, and, on many a night, they quietly, carnally enjoyed each other at the same time as they got to know each other as friends. On the night of the 11th of March, 2008, a Sunday night that, like so many others, was hot as fuck, the two got back to the base after patrols and took a quick shower. They returned to their unit, and Nick, feeling especially in a way, for the first time exerted control of this guy who had become more than just a fuck buddy but rather a friend, a man in whom he had the most respect as a person. It was, by far, the most passionate night between them, and after things were over, they both slept better than peacefully.

The next morning, they went to breakfast and then out on their regular patrol of a neighborhood in central Baghdad. As usual, there were some kids playing soccer in an empty lot and an old man sitting in a decrepit old chair in front of his house, reading from a worn Koran. A few women of varying ages averted their eyes as the men walked past them. It was just after they passed that Nick noticed something. It was just a sparkle, but it wasn't right. There was something in the air that confirmed his suspicion.

From a third story window, there was a sniper who'd lined Nick into his sights, but as the first sound of his shot came, Nick and Corey both jumped toward safety. The bullet hit Nick's thigh, and he screamed out in pain as Corey stood and figured out where the shot had come from. He fired repeatedly, and the sniper fired back at the two of them. Other Marines joined them in a second, most of them firing as two of them dragged Nick to safety. As they called for more support, including a corpsman, Nick watched as the sniper hit Corey. The man, who'd he'd determined could have otherwise existed in his dreams, fell to the ground.

Everything around him slowed to a snail's pace. In something similar to what one might see in the Matrix or something, all as he could see was Corey slowly falling to the ground. A second later, another Marine shot the sniper from the window, and all Nick could think about was getting to Corey. He pulled himself onto his good leg and, for lack of better phrasing, hobbled over to Corey.

"Come on, man," Nick said as he fell onto the dusty street beside him. "Be strong. Pull through." Corey looked at him, the sign of death in his eyes as he tried to smile. "Remember. When we get home, we're going to Giovanni's in Brooklyn for a slice. That way, you'll never brag about that shit y'all got in Provi," Nick told him.

Corey, fading faster and faster with each passing second, was unable to speak. His lips slowly moved, though, as Corey mouthed 'I love you'.

"Corey!" Nick screamed as Corey's eyes slowly closed. "NO!!!" he shouted loudly, and Corey's pulse was gone a second later.

Nick was numb. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't. There were two people that he'd felt such emotion for, the other was his mother. Medics arrived a moment later, moving Nick out of the way to get his patched up enough to transport. Corey's body was prepared for transport as well, all as Nick watched them zip the bag in which he'd be carried home.

Nick didn't remember much after that for a couple of days, though. The shock from being shot cause him to black out on the way back to the base hospital. Pain meds were administered on the scene, and stitches were used to fix the holes that two bullets had left in him. He came to once, but he was so out of it that he quickly fell asleep. He was transferred to a hospital in Kuwait for a day, where he came to just long enough to call Janelle, who was more than happy to hear his voice. Two more days passed, and he found himself arriving at Fort Baur Naval Station in Paradise, Alabama. He went through examination after examination, and at the end of the day, Janelle, who'd been driven down that morning, was waiting on him.

"I promised I'd come home!" he tried to smile through the pain medication-induced haze as she walked to the side of his bed, crying as she took his right hand and squeezed.

Several weeks passed as he got out of the hospital, went home, and started seeing a counselor at the VA hospital in Jackson. By the end of April, the stitches had come out, and he was able to move around a little bit on his own. Through his physical recovery, though, the emotional toll that that Monday morning had taken on him was put on the back burner, and despite her best efforts, it took her powers of persuasion, namely guilt, to convince him on the first Saturday in May to put on a pair of jeans and a nice shirt and go out with her for a night on the town. He didn't agree until the morning they were to go, though, and it was only because, as they walked around the mall, as had become their thing three or four times a week to help Nick get his strength up, she wouldn't let it go.

To be continued...

Posted: 07/22/11