As the Eagle Flies. J. D. Oliver
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for the night. Faith said, “You know, you haven’t told me much about yourself?”
“I haven’t? What do you want to know? You know my Dad and Brother, you know my mother died from a drunk driver. You know we have a ranch in the Big Horn Basin. I told you I was in the Navy, so what else is there?”
“You personally, what makes you tick? Oh, I know what turns you on. And that you’re a caring and gentle person. You said that you were in Iraq, tell me about that?”
“Are you sure you want to hear about that? I guess you are or you wouldn’t of asked. Okay, here goes. Like I said, I was a Navy Combat Pilot, our Carrier was in the Persian Gulf. I flew both daylight and night missions, pretty routine stuff, they gave you a target, you went in and dumped your load and headed back. That was all except this one time, I was on a night mission, but before I could unload I was hit with a SAM missile; you know a Surface to Air Missile. It took off one wing, I ejected. Have you ever parachuted to earth at night? No, I suppose you haven’t. Anyway it sure is different at night, sort of pretty though.
I came down on the outskirts of this little town. The first thing I did was bury my chute. I made sure my locater beacon was on. You know so they could find me. Are you bored yet?” I said, as I did a few navel maneuvers around her navel…
“Stop that, I’m not bored, I want to hear all of it.”
“Alright, well this town was controlled by Al Qaeda, I went toward some buildings, just on the edge of town, like I said it was night and I was always pretty good at playing hide and seek at night; I enjoyed flitting from shadow to shadow. I heard and seen a bunch of guys talking in Arabic in the courtyard of this one house. Now I could understand Arabic, but can’t speak it too good.
Now these guys weren’t locals, they were Al Qaeda, for sure. I got up real close, when I buried my chute, I also buried my flight suit and helmet, all I kept was my .45. With my complexion and hair color, you couldn’t tell me from one of them. Anyway, they were getting this young guy ready for a suicide mission, they were strapping the C4 to him.
There must have been about thirty of them, with more in the house. In fact I was sure this house was supposed to be my intended target. They were talking that young fellow up pretty good; telling him how he was to get all of these virgins when he got to his Valhalla or some such.
Anyway they got him all cinched up and were telling him how to set it off; turns out they had a remote control; it was nothing but a cheap cell phone that they were showing him how to use it, I was also paying attention. But to make a long story short, this young fellow put the remote in his pocket. Then they all trooped in the house, for a last drink or something. But lo and behold that remote fell through a hole in his pocket, no one noticed it but me. So after they went in the house, I picked it up and ran.
It was an hour or two before dawn. I suppose that bomber was to go to marketplace or something, anyway I got myself at least a block away, then I pushed the proper button on that phone.
All hell broke loose, there must have been more munitions in that house than you could shake a stick at. Like I said, I was at least a block away, I was knocked flat, I must of passed out for a few minutes. When I came to, the whole block was on fire. I had roofing nails sticking out of me like a pin cushion. I got up and headed away from that town.
Funny thing, as I was waiting for rescue, I got to thinking, you know about all of those innocent lives those suicide bombers were taking. Then I thought about how I dropped bombs, not knowing who was really down there. Could I be guilty of taking some innocent lives myself?
That’s when I decided to call it quits. Of course, it turned out that all of those nails in me sort of put me on the ineligibility list anyway. I couldn’t fly combat anymore.”
“Is that where all of those little scars came from?” Faith said, as she traced all of the scars with her finger, till she found the proper spot. She wasn’t the only one who could play that game, I found her proper spot too!
As we were enjoying the afterglow, I asked Faith, “So, what about you? Tell me some things from your background.”
“Well, as I already told you, I’m from the Napa Valley. My folks own a winery. I played high school basketball, in fact I got a scholarship for Arizona State. I played ball for them too. I’m pretty good, I would of went Pro, except I met Teddy. There’s not really too much more; I was about six months pregnant when their plane went down. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that I had this little person growing in me. And of course those dreams that I kept having about you.”
“You know, I played basketball in High School too. We’ll have to play sometime.
Of course, I bet you’re better than me.” I said.
“I don’t know about that, you’re pretty good in getting the ball in the basket, yourself.” Faith said.
“Yeah, you could be right, I was always pretty good at the slam dunk.” I said, Faith countered with, “Good, you want to do some ‘one on one’?” One thing for sure she was an expert on the ‘full court press’.
When we got back to the Hacienda, Dad and Felicia still weren’t home. That was okay; they both deserved their happiness. Miguel and Ester had everything under control. Of course they had been running the ranch, more or less, since the Patron had died. One thing for sure; they sure didn’t need my input. The everyday running of the ranch was none of my business.
But I was a little interested in how everything worked. I asked Alona about it. She said that Felicia kept the books, but that she let Miguel and Ester handle the everyday things.
She said, “But Mom keeps a close eye on everything, she does it without being ‘bossy’ though. I guess she has what they call ‘tact’. I try to learn from her, but sometimes I’m so impulsive.”
“Don’t feel bad about that, it’s only normal, you’re only sixteen.” I said. We were setting on the front veranda swing, the two of us. She turned and looked at me, “Can I be honest with you?” She said, as she twisted a ring on her right hand.
“Sure, why not? What’s on your mind?”
“Do you think Jake likes me? I mean, I’m having all sorts of feelings for him. But I don’t know how to react. Like you said, I’m only sixteen, but you know, I want. Is that wrong?”
“Uh, you want? Want what?” I said. Knowing full well what she was talking about; stalling for time till my brain could get around it.
“You know what I’m talking about. I can’t talk to Mom about it, or Faith either, but you seem like a big brother to me, what should I do?”
“I’ll tell you what my mother told me when I was sixteen. ‘slow down’, I know you’re hormones are racing each other to see who wins. You have to ask yourself; what do you want out of life? That is do you want a life, or do you want a baby tucked under each arm? Now I’m not saying that is what will happen to you, but it could. You see, I was ready to settle down when I met Faith, she was what I was looking for. But I’m ten years older than you are…. Now Jake, he’s a man, right now at seventeen, his brains ain’t in his head, there a little lower in his jeans. In time he’s going to be a fine young man, that’s when he will make you a good husband.”
“Yes, in my mind, I know you’re right. Thanks for being honest with me. Jake did tell me he wants to go to college, I do too. And if we mess around and have a kid, that will mess things up for sure. I guess that’s where self control comes in.”
“Yes, it helps if you have a goal and work toward it, but life is a series of goals, it takes a bunch of small ones, to get to the big one. Just remember one step at a time, Alona, one step at a time.” I said, as Faith came out of the house with Alita, she motioned for Alona to get up and move, then she handed the baby to me and sat down.
As Alona went in the house, Faith asked me, “What were you talking to her about?”
“Life. Just life. Like all