Duty And Honor (closed)

[icu1978]

~~~~~~~~~~CLOSED FOR MYSELF AND SLOWANDEASY~~~~~~~~~~~~



Anna James sat at her kitchen table reading and re-reading the add she was going to put in the paper .

Wanted
Handy man to help with work around a large family farm.
Room and Board proveded.
Small sallery every other saturday.
Contact
Mrs.James at 555-4433



She could think of nothing more to add so she sat her pen aside and called the newpaper to have it posted in next weeks paper.
After she was done she sat back down at the table and drank the coffee she had nearly forgotten. The passed coming back to haunt her. the day she was married to her husband ronald. the imtament moments they had shared in the short 3 years of marraige before he had been drafted by the war commision.

She still had the yellow tellegram in her jewlery box. The one that said her husband had died a hero four monthes ago. how her heart still aches for him. her dreams are filled with her longing for him. sighing she wipes the tears from her cheeks and pours her coffee in the sink. it was friday night and at only 8 o clock at night she was already tired. She had been getting up at dawn and doing back breaking work until the sun went down. most days she would forget to eat lunch and was just to tired to make supper for her self.

going up to the second floor of the two story ranch house she striped her clothes off and steped into a hot shower. standing beneath the water and letting the heat loosen her cramped muscles. when she finally steps out the bathroom is filled with steam. Wiping away the mist from the mirror she looks at herself. she looks tired she decides. there where small dark bags under her green eyes. they used to sparkle with the happiness she felt inside.

her once slinder body was a little to thin now. her breasts where small and firm as she cuped them in her palms. closing her eyes when her nipples tighten she grabs her robe and pulls it on covering her naked image. brushing out her long black hair until it lay smooth against her back.

going back down stairs she turns out all the lights and lays on the sofa and covers up with the soft blue blanket that was her husbands favorite. tomarrow was another day.

 

[slowandeasy]

Coming Home

“Hey buddy, ya for the war or against it?

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and lowered his gaze to the greasy hamburger the waitress had shoved unceremoniously in front of him. He had given her a smile and a friendly hello when he had walked in fifteen minutes ago and wondered why she had given him the once over frowning as her eyes swept down and then back up to his face, and then going blank as if she was looking right through him at the door behind him where he heard it close as someone else came in to the restaurant.

He had shrugged his shoulders then realizing that folks seemed kind of different in his home town since he left four years ago. Now as he heard footsteps behind him coming from the place where he had heard the slurred accusing voice he turned to face a stocky middle aged man who stumbled in his direction shaking his index finger in his direction.

“So what are ya.” the man demanded again. “Cant tell seeing how you ain’t exactly wearing the uniform of the day, those fatigues is meant to be worn in battle not out on the streets of Baltimore. By the looks of your whiskered face I’d say you might be one of those draft dodgers, got those clothes you’re wearing from the salvation army store and are wearing them just to demean the Genuine American soldier. That’s what it looks like to me.”

Ethan turned back to the waitress who was pretending not to hear this one sided conversation and handed her a five dollar bill. "Keep the change." he said softly and turned to get up and walk to the door.

"I aint through talking to you mister and you never answered my question. I bet you aint even been near Nam. the man taunted. Ethan got up, his six foot two frame towering over his assailant.

“Just got home sir.” he said slowly. And I’d be wearing my dress uniform if it hadn’t gotten blown up with my other belongings in my dufflebag when the chopper flying a bunch of us out of Chung Hoy went down. Or I’d be wearing civies like you if some creep hadn’t rolled me and taken almost every cent I had last night at the greyhound station.”

His mouth open and his face slack Ethan’s accuser backed away into a corner with no apology or even a look of compassion or empathy in his eyes. Ethan slowly walked out leaving behind him the deafening silence of indifference.

Maybe he should have gotten cleaned up a bit, he admitted as he passed the barber shop. The tweny he had stuck in his shoe wouldn't last long and he needed to eat more than he needed to look pretty.He hadn’t had a haircut in more than a month and his brown hair hung below his ears His sandy beard had grown considerable too in the last month and he hadn’t made an attempt to shave it thinking of maybe just trimming it up a bit now that he was in the States again. He saw his reflection in the window of the corner grocery and caught himself staring at a man he wasn’t sure he even knew, his normally active soft brown eyes had a hollow dull look about them, his mouth seemed to droop where normally it would be impishly smiling. His shoulder sagged and belied the normal pound 190 lbs of muscle that lay beneath his frame. Three days away from Viet Nam and he felt like he was still carrying the weight of the whole damn country on his back.

 

[icu1978]

The alarm next to the sofa went off entirely to soon for Anna as she sat up and stretching she rubs the sleep from her eyes. Going to the kitchen she makes a pot of coffee and grabs an apple to munch on. going to her room she pulls on a flowing blue skirt and a loose white blouse she brushes her hair until it lays flat and shinning against her back.

going down stairs she drinks a cup of coffee and mently goes over the list of things she had to do today. After her second cup of coffee she unplugs the machine and puts her empty cup in the sink. Grabing her keys she gets in her car and heads to town. stoping at the hardware store, the bank, and finally the coffee shop for a bite to eat.

sitting in a booth alone she orders a plate of flap jacks, her food was just arriving when the bell over the door chimed. looking up she watched as a man she had never seen before walks in and sits in the booth across from hers so that they where facing each other.
He was a good looking man but it was obviouse that he had fallen on hard times. The empty look in his eyes as he glanced at her made her look down at ehr plate.

 

[slowandeasy]

complications

"Just check into the nearest recruiting station if your going to be on the road that's all I can offer you . maybe by the time you get to California the money will catch up to you." the Sargent said.

Ethan felt like jumping over the mans desk and demanding his money now but he knew it was pointless. he'd explained as best he could his situation hoping they could cut through the red tape and he could get his back pay or at least a dress uniform. If that wasn't possible he'd have to figure it out on his own. How to get to the west coast from Baltimore on the ten dollar bill he had in his pocket. He knew when he got there he'd have a job, some money up front in fact, but he had to make California in less than a week or the job would be given to someone else.

He'd rode his thumb across the country before, and it wouldn't be the first time he'd gone without eating for a couple of days or settled for a park or a wayside to sleep in.

He got lucky with his first ride, a trucker who got him as far as Nebraska. He even got a free lunch at a diner in Ohio, so he still had his ten spot and something in his stomach. He decided to celebrate his success with a cup of coffee at a coffee shop in a little town just east of Lincoln.

He nodded when the waitress asked if he wanted coffee and took a sip of the bitter morning brew. It was almost noon and there wasn't much of a crowd he looked around, mostly farmers a couple of men in business suits In the booth across from him a young woman briefly looked his way and then glanced down at her plate. Couldn't blame her, he thought he must look like shit in his dirty wrinkled fatigues and ragged beard, his eyes sunken in from lack of a decent nights sleep. She was pretty he thought but looked away He didn't have time to think about pretty women. He picked up the morning paper someone had left at his table and absentmindely paged through it. Not much new just talk about how hot it was and how the crops were hurting from lack of rain. he skipped the comics, not in the mood for humor, he was just about to put it down when he spotted the want adds. why he bothered to look he didn't really know except the first add just kind of caught his eye.

Wanted
Handy man to help with work around a large family farm.
Room and Board provided.
Small salary every other saturday.
Contact
Mrs.James at 555-4433

He thought about the ten in his pocket the coffee he'd have to pay for, the prospect of sleeping on the road and the realization that it might be two or three more days to San Diego and he decided. If this handy man thing worked out he could hole up in this town for a while, get some decent clothes, it would probably be just work for the summer helping to get the crops in. In the fall he could head out again, winter in California, that sounded like the sensible thing to do.

First off he had to make that telephone call. he circled the add with a pencil he found on the table and nodded to the waitress to ask where the phone was.
She smiled and came over.

"s this number local." he asked showing her the add he had circled. She grinned "Sure is mister but I can save you a quarter. Mrs. James is sitting in the booth just across from you."

Ethan looked up to where she was pointing at the young woman who he had noticed earlier. "Cant be," he thought his mind had been set on an older woman. he hesitated looked down at his paper again, "must be some mistake."

"Go ahead she won't bite." the waitress said, seeing his indecision, chuckling to herself and pouring him another cup of coffee. By the way the coffee's on me O.K.

"Thanks mam." Ethan said and taking the paper moved over to the next booth.

"Pardon me Miss er Mrs. James I saw this add says your looking for a handyman I could be that if you would consider it." He knew he had to look directly at her, in her eyes if he could manage. make a good impression in spite of his appearance. But it was hard he wasn't used to dealing with a situation like this.