Authors: Everett Peacock
Sergeant
Johannson hated it as much as any enemy sniper, perhaps more so. At
least she could make an enemy sniper go away. AWOL,
A
bsent
W
ith
O
ut
L
eave,
was bad enough, but going AWOL to miss a deployment was far worse.
Yet, you could still top that by going AWOL to miss deployment to an
active war zone. Old timers called that desertion in the face of the
enemy, garnering a death penalty.
Modern
America didn't pursue that but the Sergeant could see the point. If
one man fled and made it more difficult for the others to survive, an
argument could be made for manslaughter. She would be one head short
on this deployment because of the absence of Private James Madison
Turner. She wrote his name out with disgust and a rapidly fading
spark of compassion.
One
man short meant everyone had to pull a little extra weight until a
replacement could show up, if one even did.
“
Turner,”
she spoke softly to herself. “You better be dead.”
~~~
Still
I followed Janet.
Still
I didn't quite know why. It made me think for a moment whether I had
become what we had always called ghosts. Maybe. Maybe I was in that
Catholic thing called purgatory, but not having ever set foot inside
a Catholic church, I wasn't sure. My Catholic friends had talked
about it once or twice, just enough for me to understand it meant
something like being stuck.
The
light above me had moved a bit closer, so I had that feeling that
whatever it was I was in, it wasn't going to last that much longer.
Funny though, I didn't care a bit about the delay, nor did I dread
the inevitable whatever it was coming my way. I simply went with the
flow of things, and honestly I wished I had enjoyed that freedom when
I had been alive.
Janet
and her new friend Starshine Aloha had made it to the small grouping
of very modest dwellings she called home. They were haphazardly
placed between towering coconut palms and rested on a thin layer of
sand just above the hard lava. Papaya trees decorated the space
beneath the canopy with brightly colored fruit.
“
Look
Jimmie,” Star said pointing them out. “Breakfast in the
morning.” Janet, I could tell, was in better shape now. The
static from her mind was missing now, her muscles seemed less taunt.
“
Everyone
must already be at the tidal pools. We're going to a heated one just
off the Champagne pools.”
Janet
tried to figure out how a tidal pool could be heated, but finally
gave up and asked, “Heated?”
“
Oh
yeah. We're pretty close to the volcano, as you know. And, all that
mountain rain has to go somewhere, much of it underground into lava
tubes, where the rock is perpetually molten or almost so.
Eventually, it exits to the sea still hot. This little place we're
going has a perfect mix of cool seawater and heated rainwater.”
Janet
was quiet for a few minutes, standing there in a strange, but
wonderful place, unsure of her luck. She clutched Star's beach towel
tightly to her chest.
“
What's
wrong, honey?” Star whispered. “Here, take this new
towel. Do you need a swimsuit?”
That
question broke the spell but released a fair amount of embarrassment.
She took the fresh towel and admitted something she had never
thought she would ever be ashamed of. Star had to get her to repeat
it, and she did, this time slightly higher than a whisper.
“
I've
never been in the ocean.”
Star
looked at her for a long time, amazed to have met someone who had
never been to that part of heaven. She felt an upwelling of
compassion for this messed up young person.
“
Ah,
then this will be very special.” She turned to hang her car
keys on a hook and grab a towel herself. “Full moon tonight
too, how fortunate you are indeed.”
Star
reached into a trunk just inside the porch of her place and pulled
out a long oversized t-shirt. “You might not have a swimsuit,
or you might not need one. Either way, here you go.”
Some
moment or two later she and Star were walking toward the sea, just
before dark and I found myself moving above the trees.
To
the east the horizon shimmered under the weight of the approaching
moon, ready to burst forth any instant.
Suddenly,
in the dark air ahead of me came a shock, a rush of blackness.
Seemingly
just ahead of the moon's light, racing ahead, was something from the
mainland, to the northeast. Something I could feel as much now as I
might have when I was alive - a warm wind. A sudden burst of grief
from across the sea just before the moon crested the horizon.
Instantly
I was there. Trying to comfort her, impossible as that was. I had
to close my eyes, as it were, when I saw that it was my Mom reading
my Facebook posts.
~~~
Agatha
thought that she might never breathe another breath. She had gone
onto Facebook to pull up some pictures of Janet and I, to show Adam.
The
little bar on Lake Tahoe Boulevard had two computers with Internet
access for the price of two Coors Lights. Adam liked that. He could
use two cold brewskis while Agatha went hunting around for pictures.
As
the second beer washed away the day's dust he noticed Agatha crying
at the computer. Walking up behind her he saw Facebook was open.
“
Honey,
what's wrong?”
Agatha
couldn't talk, having just now only caught her breath. She dragged
her finger across the screen to point out something. Finally, Adam
saw it.
Jimmy
Turner:
“
I
just wanted to let you all know that I am dead.”
~~~
Alex
had spent the better part of his day telling various law enforcement
types the same story. He wondered if it would have been easier to
Xerox something and hand it out. Park Rangers, County Police and
finally four Military Policemen had driven down from the Pohakuloa
Training grounds near Mauna Kea.
Everyone
wanted to see Cabin #94. Everyone wanted to interview the nurse.
And finally they had all visited the Lava Lounge and the booth in the
corner.
Alex
remained at the Lava Lounge as the last MPs left and his presence was
required no other place. Larry soon showed up with plate lunches
from the Lava Rock Cafe, having missed the free lunch he had been
promised.
“
Did
you have enough money?” Alex asked.
“
Yeah,
but I gave the change to the Salvation Army guy outside.” He
sat the boxes down, pulled up his stool to the bar and nodded to the
bartender as she slid a cold frosty one his way. “Besides,
Alex, I figured it would do us both good to balance our karma a bit.”
Alex
shook his head. “I guess so. But, we didn't do anything wrong
ourselves.”
“
True,
true,” Larry conceded. “But, we were in the presence of
evil or lunacy or some other bad mojo.” He put a good dent in
his fresh drink. “Besides it was only a dollar fifty.”
Alex
laughed out loud. “Good, as long as we were only near a dollar
fifty worth of evil, we're cool!”
Nodding,
Larry laughed lightly. “No worries. I've got an emergency
twenty in my pocket if we need it.”
~~~
Adam
was horrified. What kind of thing was this Facebook? He had heard
of it, never gave it a second thought and now was seriously doubting
it could possibly be a good idea. What would people now consider
proper etiquette? Announcing suicides? What else could it be? He
had heard of kids getting in trouble with nude pictures or bullying
or proving their indiscretion any number of ways. But this! This
was a measure of poor taste unlike anything he had ever seen.
Agatha
was simply sobbing quietly to herself. Adam didn't quite know what
to do, mostly because there wasn't much he could do. He delicately
leaned over her shoulder and looked at the Facebook post again. No
clues, except it was posted over a week ago. Agatha had mentioned
that Jimmy had been calling almost every day while on leave between
Afghan tours, but hadn't called in a while.
“
Look
Agatha, let me get you in the car and we'll go back to the lodge.”
Agatha
nodded, trying to keep her sniffles from attracting more attention
than they already had. Once to the car, Adam helped her in and
returned to the bar to pick up their food. The computer was still
displaying Agatha's Facebook page, so he quickly sat down to read the
post again.
Scrolling
down a bit he saw another post by Jimmy.
Jimmy
Turner:
“
Sorry.
Only part of me died. The rotten part.”
Adam
stared at that for a moment. He noted the time stamp was a few days
after the first one. From what he had heard of Jimmy he would never
invite his Mom to Facebook and then pull a stunt like this.
Something
was fishy. Adam felt he was on to an explanation that might comfort
Agatha. Obviously Jimmy's Facebook account had been hacked. Some
bozo, an evil bozo, no less, was posting hurtful things.
He
would call Jimmy first thing in the morning and have him change his
password.
Walking
back to the car he found Agatha sobbing again.
“
His
phone...his phone is not answering,” she finally managed to
say.
Adam
shook his head at that, privately. “Well, they do have poor
cellular coverage out in the boonies there. Maybe?”
Agatha
was not comforted.
“
I'll
try and track him down in the morning. It's must be midnight there
now. He might even have his phone turned off.”
That
did seem to help.
An
hour later they pulled into the lodge parking lot. The old pines
beams and thick oak doors offered Agatha the privacy and quiet she
needed now, and the majestic view of the lake that might absorb all
the pain. Adam settled her in and watched her gently drift off to
the protection of sleep.