The Love That Remains

The Love That Remain

Written By

W. C. (Bill) Chamberlain

This book is lovingly dedicated to........

My Dearest Annie,

Without your love, without your dedication and determination, this story would have never been written. You have inspired me. You have loved me, and I have always loved you. I want you to know that you will always be with me. No matter where we are or who we are with, we will be together in spirit. I will pray for you to be happy. I will always love and need you.

Our love has bound us together now and forever.

Billy

Chapter One

The Meeting

The 50th year reunion for the Franklin High school class of 1965 was well under way when she walked into the hall. At 68 she was still a beautiful woman. Blondish hair with just a touch of gray and a little less than the girlish figure he had once known. When he saw her, his mind immediately went back to the night of March 28th, 1968. The night before he was to leave for Vietnam.

That night was indelibly etched on his mind. That night his world came crumbling down around him and yet, he knew that if he were to survive the war, he would have to forget that night and her.

Forgetting was easy. The war made sure of that. Memories of the world could get you killed. Thoughts of what you left behind could take your mind off what was important, staying focused and staying alive, and even then it didn't guarantee it.

He watched as she walked across the floor saying hello to old friends. She sat down at a table near the middle of the hall. His mind went back to that fateful day in the drug store when he was looking for snacks, and she was working the evening shift.

It was going to be a great night. The final episode of "The Fugitive" was on, and he was almost ready to sit down, relax and watch Richard Kimble finally catch the one-armed man. The only thing missing was snacks, and that was about to be fixed. He was on his way out of the local Sav-On drugs with an arm full of goodies, when he heard someone shout our his name.

He stopped dead in his tracks. His arms went up over his head, goodies flying everywhere. He turned slowly to the voice and standing there was a young lady that was dressed in a white blouse. Blue skirt, a Sav-On drugs apron, and smiling.

"Good Grief Rick! Once a class clown always a class clown," she said as she walked up to him.

He smiled as he suddenly recognized her. Annie had been a cheerleader in high school. She was five foot four with brown hair and blue eyes that sparkled when she smiled.

"Good grief," he said to himself. "She's as cute as ever."

Thinking back he couldn't remember everything that was said that night, but he did remember asking when she got off work telling her that he needed to get home.

"Family waiting for you?" she asked.

"No, the final episode of The Fugitive;" he told her as he picked up the pile of snacks.

"The Fugitive?" she asked.

He went on to explain and again asked when she got off work. She smiled at him and told him she was off at ten. He smiled back and told her he would see her then, and turned to walk away.

"Okay." she said as he disappeared down the aisle.

As he drove back to the Sav-On drug store that night, he wondered what he was doing. This was Annie West. She was a cheerleader in high school, very popular and way out of his league. In fact, he wasn't sure if he ever said anything to her during school, what the hell was he going to say to her now?

As he parked, he watched the front doors of the drug store and waited for her to walk out.

Just then, there she was walking out the door and headed his way. She was beautiful. His mind flashbacked to the highs school football game and the cheerleading outfit she so proudly wore along with the other cheerleaders. Of course, it was only two years ago, and she hadn't changed a bit. As she got close, he opened his car door, stepped out and called her name.

Annie looked up and saw him standing there and walked over to him.

"Hi. I see you came back!" she said.

"Of course I did. I said I was and here I am," he said with a great deal of confidence on the outside, but deep down inside he was all too unsure of what the hell he was doing there.

"Wanta get something to drink?" he asked.

"It's a bit late for a beer." she joked.

"I was thinking along the lines of coffee. I don't drink coffee, but it thought you might and what the heck it's the only thing I could think of," he told her.

She smiled, kissed his cheek and walked around the passenger side of the car. He followed and opened the door for her. As he walked back to his side of the car, his mind was whirling around in circles with the idea that she had kissed his cheek.

"Cool," he thought to himself.

That evening was spent at a local Bob's Big Boy in Pasadena, about 15 minutes from Eagle Rock where Rick lived, and Annie worked. They talked about school and where each had been for the last two years.

"Up until tonight my life was pretty boring," she explained to him.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed that. I mean, I would have thought you might have been married by now with kids and a dog," he said.

She told him no, that life wasn't as exciting as one might think when you work at Sav-on drugs. Annie then asked what he'd been doing.

"Wow, life has been okay. I went to LA City College for a while," he told her.

She told him that had gone to Los Angeles City College too. He said it was funny how they hadn't seen each other, she and then went on to tell her about life after high school. He explained that college just wasn't any fun.

"Oh I was on the swim team and did pretty good, and I was a lifeguard for beginning swimmers." he told her.

He also told her of the day when he was on the tower and a swimmer taking lessons pushed off of the wall and was suppose to turn around and swim back to the wall.

"But this guy just started to sink. I stood up amazed at the fact that he was just sitting there on the bottom of the pool and I watched as he sat there. The other guards watched too. Bubbles coming up every once in a while," he told her.

He explained that just about the time he was going to jump in and bring him up the coach screamed for someone to get him before he drowned. So Rick and the other guards dove in and bought him up.

"That must have been exciting." she said to him.

"Not really. School was just school, and I wasn't all that thrilled, so after swim season was over, I left. I did meet a girl there. Her name was Linda. Really pretty and why she wanted to go out with me, I'll never know," he told her.

He went on to and told her that he and Linda dated for a while and one day while on his way home he stopped at a liquor store to get a candy bar and a cola. On his way, he glanced down at the girly magazines.

"I mean, what guy doesn't right?" he said.

"Of course!" she agreed.

"I kept on going, but suddenly something hit me, and I stopped, wondering if I had seen what I thought I had seen," he explained.

"What did you see?" she asked.

"What I saw was Linda's face on a magazine. There she was on the cover looking beautiful, but she wasn't naked. It was just a head and shoulders shot and around her shoulders was a white Stole." he told her.

Rick told her that he went back picked up the magazine and looked again.

"I decided to buy the magazine and then went to see her."

When he arrived at Linda's and asked her to come out to his car. When she asked why he explained that she would see when she got to the car.

"Well?" she said as she got to the car.

"Look inside!" he told her.

Linda looked on the seat and almost fell over. She grabbed the magazine and held it to her breast and quietly asked where he had gotten the magazine. He told her and she explained that she had the pictures taken several months ago, but never posed naked and didn't realize that the photographer was going to sell the picture.

Then she started to walk off.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To throw it away." she almost screamed.

"Wait a minute; I paid good money for that," he almost shouted.

"Not on your life, buster," she told him as she walked away. "And don't you dare buy another."

Annie was laughing and asked if he went and bought another one. Rick said to her that he did.

"Your life certainly is more exciting than mine." she told him.

"Not that exciting, I spent half of that time working at Jack In The Box, and the other half riding my motorcycle," he said to her as they sat in his car.

Annie asked if he still rode and he told her that he injured a while back and wasn't able to ride because of a bad knee.

"That's too bad, I like bikes." she told him.

"Yeah me too. Someday soon I will get a ride again."

She asked how he had injured his leg and he explained that about a three months before he was playing baseball with his brother when he injured his knee and hadn't been able to ride since. She smiled and told him that she hoped he would be fine.

Becoming more and more confident he decided that he would ask her out on a real date.

"A real date?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know. Like, dinner, a movie or something," he explained.

"I'd love to," she said, surprising both of them.

The two made plans for Friday night and agreed that a movie would be a good idea and that Rick would pick her up at seven.

It felt like it took forever for Friday to finally arrive, and as he drove to her house, he was a little surprised that Annie had so quickly agreed to go out with him. After all, she was a very popular girl in school, and he was nothing more than the class clown. He had always thought of himself as not much more than an average kind of guy, and at six feet tall and a hundred and seventy-five pounds he wasn't much of anything special and yet there were hints that he wasn't as average as he might have thought.

He found out that several girls from high school found him very attractive. But it wasn't until after high school that he found out. Fact was that he was very shy in high school and that could make for a very long and lonely three years. Still, Rick had his friends, and he had joined the drama club, which led to several parts in school plays. All of which made him pretty well known around campus. He always seems to be the funny guy. He played Dopey in the modern dance production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." He played the crazy uncle in "Poor Dear Aunt Maria." And "The Wall", in the wood cutter scene from Shakespeare's "Mid-Summer Night's Dream." So, while never feeling extremely popular, in fact, he was well known around school. Well known enough to be voted class clown.

As he drove over to her house that night, he found himself growing a bit anxious, after all, she was a very pretty girl, and he wasn't the high school football star. As he walked up to her door, he thought of the many ways the evening could go wrong. He could start sweating like a stuck pig. He could fart in the middle of a passion-filled kiss. Yes, everything could go in the dumper at the drop of a hat.

"Thankfully, I don't wear hats," he joked with himself to lighten his mood.

When she came to the door, he could tell by the big smile that she was happy to see him, and as they walked to his car, she took his hand and then stood back as he opened to door for her.

"Thank you," she said as she got it.

You're welcome." he told her as he was about to shut the door.

They talked about things on the way to the movie. He told her hadn't been to a drive-in in some time and hoped that she liked the movie he had picked out.

"What are we going to see." she asked.

"You Only Live Twice. It's a James Bond movie," he explained.

"I know. I love James Bond," she told him with a bit of excitement.

Before the movie started, Rick went and got some treats popcorn, a box of Milk Duds and a couple of colas. But as he opened the door to the car, he stumbled and spilled the popcorn all over her. He apologized to her, and she laughed, saying it was fine.

"Might be a different story had you spilled the drinks," she told him.

Just about then the cartoons started, and Rick settled in next to her by sliding over from the driver's seat to the middle of the car, telling her it was more comfortable to sit there.

"That and you can sit closer to me, right?" she asked.

He nodded his head, knowing he was busted.

"Not my first trip to a drive-in," she said as she smiled.

Annie and Rick actually watched the movie that night. There was no mad passionate making out. No trying to get in the back seat. They did cuddle up close, and he put his arm around her, but that was it. When the movie was over, and he had moved back behind the steering wheel and waited for the crowd to move out, they continued to talk. They talked on the way home from the movie. They were still talking when he stopped in front of her house.

As he walked her to the door, he took her hand and squeezed it gently. At her door, he looked her in the eyes and smiled, leaned forward took her in his arms and kissed her good night. There were no fears as he kissed her. It was all very natural.

As the kiss ended, he asked if he could see her again the following night.

"My goodness, you don't waste time do you?" she asked as she smiled at him.

"To be honest, I don't think I can wait until next weekend to see you again," he told her as he kissed her again.

Annie told him that she would be happy to see him again and turned to open the door. As she did, she turned back to him and told him that she was very happy that he had come by the store and was looking forward to it.

She turned to go in when he suddenly realized he had no idea what they would do.

"Annie! What would you like to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Think about it and call me, OK" she asked.

He told her that he would, said good night and turned to walk back to his car.

All the way home he thought about her. He thought about how lucky he was to have run into her. He thought about their date and what fun they had without making out during the movie. Being honest with himself, making out was the biggest reason for going to the drive inn.

As he drove home, it suddenly seemed so easy. Almost too easy. The way they talked, was easy. What he wanted to say, came easily. She laughed at his jokes. It was like a movie, where everything goes right and then suddenly there's a guy in a white horror mask standing in front of you with a huge knife. He was hoping their masked guy never showed up because this was nice and he liked it.

Rick hadn't dated during high school, but he did have a few girlfriends over the past few years. In fact, he had dated a girl from the same Sav-On drugs as Annie. But when he brought her home and went to kiss her good night she opened her mouth so wide he was afraid she was going to swallow him. Sometimes he found it difficult to relate to girls. They were just plain strange. There were no two ways about it; girls were weird. They argued with you over stupid stuff. Talked about everything and sometimes not knowing anything, and yet thinking they knew it all. Weird was all he could come up with. He knew he wasn't the perfect guy, but girls, wow, girls were just plain stupid at times. That may have been the reason he liked Annie as much as he did, she didn't seem all that weird.

As he drove into his garage, it hit him that Annie was warm and easy to talk to and that in itself was strange, but it was the kind of weird he liked. He also decided that he wanted to take her to the beach. He had spent a great deal of his summers at the beach. He was on the swim team in high school, college and during the summer he surfed most every day. Walking into his bedroom, he knew that she would love the beach too. He also knew that his feelings were getting much deeper, much quicker than they had ever done before and yet they had just met. It was their first date, and it just seemed right.

The following morning. He called her and told her his plans for the beach and that he would pick her up around two and they would spend the afternoon and evening at Huntington Beach. She was excited. Explaining that she loved the beach and would see him soon.

He spent the morning and part of the afternoon wondering why the clock was moving so slowly. Then, suddenly it was time to pick her up. So he hopped into his car, drove the short distance to her house and walked up to her door hoping that she was feeling the same way about him.

It took an hour and a half to get to the beach but the time passed quickly. They talked and laughed and listened to the radio, switching the station back and forth between KHJ and KFWB, with a side trip to KRLA for the Rock 'N' Roll music that defined their lives.

Once they arrived at the beach, they walked down onto the sand and started to spread out a blanket. Getting the beach blanket spread out took a bit more effort than he had planned on. Every time he tried to get it straight the wind would kick up and make it difficult to get it even. But finally, with Annie's help, it was done and there they were, changing into the bathing suits they had worn under their street clothes.

Soon they were laying in the sand and watching seagulls fly overhead and listening to the sound of the surf rolling in and out and the rock 'n' roll sounds of the Beach Boys and so many more on a transistor radio Rick had brought along.

After a playing in the surf and a short swim out beyond the waves, they found themselves again laying next to each other on the beach blanket.

Rick leaned back on his elbows and looked out over the ocean and told her that he was reminded of the day he and an old friend from high school, Clyde, went surfing for the very first time.

"It was a day much like today. Sunny and warm and as we paddled out it struck me that I had no idea what the hell I was doing," she told her.

Rick explained that he and Clyde had just bought brand new, used surfboards and could not wait to get out in the surf. So, as they paddled out and turned around, they waited for the right wave. That wave that would send them hurling toward the beach at breakneck speed. That first wave, however, was nowhere to be found. The surf that day was flat.

"You would have thought that we might have given up, but nope. We sat there on our boards and pounded away and prayed to the Big Kahuna to send us some waves," he told her.

"Did it work?" she asked.

"Oh my God yes! I stopped for a moment and turned to look around and right there behind us was the biggest damn wave I'd ever seen. It picked us up and tossed around like leaves in a storm. When we finally stopped I found myself on the shore, and I saw Clyde pulling himself up and out of the ocean, looking like a drowned rat." he told her as he stared out over the ocean.

"Did you give up and go home after almost being killed?" she asked him.

He looked at her, smiled and told her that they both picked up their boards and paddled back out and once again waited for the perfect wave.

"The perfect wave never came, but we did ride a lot of smaller ones and learned a lot about surfing that day, the first thing was never ever to pray to the Big Kahuna again." he told her as he smiled.

"What made you think of that day?" she asked.

He looked at her and told her wasn't sure, except that it was a memorable day and he felt like this was going to be memorable too.

As they talked and she was feeling very comfortable being next to him. It was so comfortable in fact that she rolled over to her and kissed him.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked knowing immediately that it was a stupid question.

"Because I wanted to. I liked the way you kissed me last night, and I was tired of waiting for another," she told him and kissed him again.

Rick smiled and leaned over and kissed her back. It was a long, slow, deep, passionate kiss and as they made out someone walking by shouted out "Get a room!" Of course, that interrupted the kiss, and they both started to laugh, and whatever emotions that began to rise up were quickly killed by the beach Joker and his suggestion. A suggestion that didn't seem like a bad idea. However, Rick did not want to rush things, so he just laughed.

To change the subject he asked if she would like to take a walk along the beach. She agreed, and they got up, and as he took her hand, they began to walk and talk about most anything. The waves. The sun is setting. But nothing was said about the ease with which things were progressing. By the time they got back to their blanket, it was getting dark, and Rick suggested they hit the nearest Jack in the Box and get something to eat. Annie agreed, and they picked up the blanket and headed to the car. Near the car were a bathroom and shower. They both showered and changed.

Back at the car, Rick took her in his arms and kissed her again. She asked if he wanted to get something to eat hinting at the fact that she was open to a little more than just making out.

"I think that we really should get something to eat before things get a little out of hand." he told her and opened the door to his tan 1965 Ford Fairlane.

When she was in, he shut her door and hurried to his side, got in and closed the door. He started up the motor and headed out to the local Jack in the Box. As he did, he turned on the radio and the song, "You Are My Everything," by The Four Tops came on. He started to sing along with it, and she just chuckled at his attempt to mimic the singers.

A short time later they were pulling out of the Jack with dinner and heading back to the beach, where he spread out the blanket and started a fire in a concrete ring in the sand. They sat and enjoyed their hamburger, fries and cola, and each other's company. They talked, laughed and held hands.

"Ya know, it's perfect weather for a swim. Not too cold, not too hot," he suggested as they sat there.

"But my swimsuit is in the car and wet and cold." she explained to him.

"You don't need one." he told her.

"I am not getting naked and going swimming with you.....yet!" she explained.

"Annie, let's face it, your bra and panties cover way more than your bikini would." he told her calmly.

She thought for a moment and then again told him no. It seemed that of all the times he had tried to convince a girl that this bra and panties covered more than a bikini, he just couldn't get her to see his point of view.

"But a late night swim would cool us down and....."

"I don't think so. I'd rather stay hot. I mean, ah...I'd rather....never mind. It's not going to happen." she assured him.

Disappointed he gave up the fight and pulled her close and laid back down in the sand. Her head was on his shoulder, and she felt secure in his arms. She too had the feeling that things were going very well. He was funny, and she liked that. She felt that this was the kind of guy she had been looking for and never been able to find. And so they laid there in each other's arms and let the night drift away.

All too soon the night air began to cool off, and he suggested that they head back home. The drive seemed shorter on the way home for some reason, and it was as if suddenly they were at her doorstep.

"I had a wonderful time." she told him.

"Me too. What are we doing anything tomorrow?" he asked.

"We? I'm not sure. Why don't you call me in the morning and maybe we can plan something." she told him.

He nodded his head and leaned in to kiss her good night. Only this time it wasn't just a tender little kiss like the night before. There was passion and a great deal of wonderment in the kiss and they both realized they wanted more.

He walked away knowing that this was more the just a summertime romance. He felt this could be love, but he wasn't sure. He had never really experienced love before and had nothing to compared it to. But if this was love this was wonderful, this was what he wanted, and he wanted more.

He called her next day, and they agreed to see each other again the following Tuesday. Annie had to work Sunday and Monday, and Rick had things to do, too.

Chapter Two

Time Seems To fly

By the end of the week, Annie and Rick were now spending every spare minute they had with each other. Movies, dinner and a lot of making out, a lot of touching and holding. By the end of the week, Rick knew he wanted to make love to her. He also knew he had never done anything like that before and was frightened at the thought of making a move towards sex and being rebuffed. He wasn't sure of what to do or how to start doing it, and so, he held back.

Annie, on the other hand, was ready and willing to dive in and get on with it. She knew she wanted this boy in bed, she wanted a sexual relationship with him and was getting tired of waiting for Rick to get it started.

So it was as they drove back from dinner that night she suggested they go to their favorite place to make out and park for a while. Rick drove down a long darkened street and parked at the end of the dead-end road. There were no street lights, and there were alone at last.

The front seat of a 1965 Ford Fairlane was big, but the steering wheel was in the way, so he moved over to her and took her in his arms and started kissing her. Long, deep, passionate kisses that started things going in both of them but this time there was no stopping them. Soon Annie suggested that they get in the back and they found themselves climbing into the back seat of the Fairlane and pieces of clothing were coming off. First, her blouse and bra came off, and then her skirt came up and her panties down. He fumbled with hooks and zippers as he attempted to get her clothes off. She helped him with his pants and shirt. It seemed that no matter how they tried they never found themselves completely naked in the back seat of the Ford.

"Wait a minute! Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"Yes!!" she said urgently. "Right now!"

"There's something I have to tell you." he said as he sat up.

"Right now?" she asked.

"You're going to figure it out sooner or later. I've never had sex before," he told her shyly.

"Don't worry, I have. It'll all come natural," she told his as she pulled him down on her.

The first time was, to say the least, less than magical. It was clumsy and not quite the way you see love scenes in the movie. Of course, they could not stretch out in the back seat, and so compromises were made and finally, almost before it had started it was over. The sex, because you can't call it making love in the backseat of a car, wasn't everything he had expected and nothing like she had hoped for. However, there would be plenty of times to perfect the process of lovemaking in the back seat. Perfection was achieved time and time again and Rick and Annie spent endless nights at the end of that street in the back seat of the Ford in Eagle Rock.

Things with Annie and Rick went along wonderfully. It was as if nothing could spoil their time together. At least nothing they could think of.

It was a quiet day, and Rick was sitting in his bedroom listening to music, and Annie was at work when it came. The letter that Rick had all but forgotten about. The letter that would send him away for two years, to lands far from where he was brought up. Far away from his love, his Annie.

It arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and seemed innocent enough in its brown envelope. But when he opened it, Rick's world suddenly started to fall down around him. It started, "Greetings."

It was his draft notice. He was to report for induction the following month, September 1967. He sat down trying to taking the enormity of it all. He thought to himself that it was his duty to serve his country. After all, his father fought in World War II, but this was suddenly very real. Two years in the Army. His mother wanted him to enlist in the Navy. She explained that in the Navy he would at least have clean sheets. Somehow that didn't seem to make any sense. Clean sheets or not he was going in the service.

After he injured his knee playing baseball, the board gave him a three-month extension while he healed up, but Rick completely forgot about the draft when he met Annie.

That night shortly after he picked up Annie he told her about the draft notice and assured her that everything would be fine, and so they, as usual, were off to their darkened little corner of the Eagle Rock to have sex. What better way to forget the idea of going in the Army than to make love to the woman that you were in love with?

The United States was at war or a police action if you'd rather. Anyway, you said it was still WAR, and that meant every able-bodied man was being drafted, even some that weren't so able-bodied.

It had been two years since he had registered for the draft. Two years since that rain-soaked day he signed up for the draft. Two years and no word and then suddenly, out of the blue, bam, they wanted him.

The days seem to fly by quickly and although they spent each and every hour together before they realized it his induction date was there. They spent that last day at the beach and the last night in their secret spot in Eagle Rock.

The drive home was short that night, and when he walked her to her door, he tried to assure her that he would be alright and that he would see her soon, and then he kissed her good night. He assured her that with his bad knee they would never take him. That she had nothing to be worried about.

The next morning his mother dropped him off at the Los Angeles Induction Center. He told his mother that he would call when he found out what was happening.

He waved as she drove away and then turned and walked through the double doors of the induction center, inside were hundreds of guys all around the same age. Eighteen or nineteen years old. Black, white, yellow. All races. All standing in lines that went from room to room.

Rick got his instructions and joined the others in a line. He went from one test to another. He had his eyes checked. He had his tongue depressed. His lungs were checked. His heart, feet, back and liver. All were good. Every test he went through, everything was good. He stood in line to see a doctor about his knee and once inside the doctor looked him and told him to do a deep knee bend. The going down part was easy. Getting back up wasn't as simple. He struggled a bit, but the doctor signed a few pieces of paper and told him he was good to go. Rick walked out of the office a bit shocked. Stunned by the fact that he the doctor had OK'd him.

A short time later Rick was standing in line with about thirty other young men. Pants and underpants down around their ankles and as one doctor walked in front and grabbed his groin and told him to cough, another walked behind and told him to bend over. And then without any warning, the doctor behind him stuck his finger up his rectum and then moved on to the next guy. It was sudden, unexpected, and unwelcome.

After being told to put his pants back on; Rick and then others were told to go into the adjoining hall and have a seat.

After what seemed like forever and yet was no more than 20 minutes, a man walked in and asked them all to stand. He then had that all repeat after him as he recited the oath inducting them in the United States military.

Rick was now a G.I.!

He called his mother and told her the news. His mother took it well, but he knew she was frightened. He told her he would write as soon as he found out where he was going. He then called Annie and told her the same. Annie started crying. She couldn't contain herself and did not want him to go. He told her too that he would write as soon as he got to his station.

A short time later he was, along with about one hundred other young men sitting in a hallway waiting. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for when suddenly the door opened, and a sergeant in his dress greens walked and welcomed them to the United States Army.

The sergeant walked out, and they sat there wondering what was next. Again, it seemed to take forever and just when they figured they had been forgotten, a soldier walked in and ushered them into another room and then on to a bus. As they took their seats, he explained they were on their way the Los Angeles International Airport and then a short flight to Texas.

While waiting for their flight, Rick thought about Annie and hoped that she was doing okay. She was pretty broken up on the phone. He was upset over the fact that he didn't get the chance to say goodbye in person. They had said goodbye the night before, but Rick somehow thought he'd never be taken.

The flight to El Paso, Texas was short and uneventful. The only problem was the fact that it had been sunny and warm in California but it was dark and cold in Texas, and most every one of the new recruits was not dressed for the change in weather. After piling into trucks, they were shipped off to Fort Bliss and herded into a building where Rick signed his name to hundreds of papers. He traded in his street clothes for olive drab uniforms for most every occasion and the following morning he was fed and then was put through a ton of tests.

That was the start of basic training. Basic training included a lot of running, a lot of crawling, a lot of marching, and whole lot of screaming, "Yes, Drill Sergeant." As well as being called by his new name, trainee.

Rick as well as his fellow trainees ran everywhere. They ran to chow; they ran to barracks, and at the end of the day they ran to their beds. Only to be awakened at 5:00 AM and start all over again.

Oh, yes, indeed, he was one of 52 confused little trainees. He was assigned to the third platoon, Charlie Company. There were forty-eight confused trainees from Los Angeles and four confused trainees from Alabama. The guys from Alabama were even more confused. It seems they didn't understand how they got in a platoon with all the guys from LA. Plus, being with that many guys from LA would confuse most anyone. Hell, it confused Rick, and he was one of them. These guys would sit back in their cubical, keeping to themselves, not wanting to bother anyone. Every once in a while, they would stick a head out to see if they were still there.

At night you could hear them talking.

"Are they still here?" one would ask.

"Yep. I can see 'em walking back and forth."

"Hell, I figured they'd be gone by now, kind of like that surfer dude. Damn."

That surfer dude was a guy that had spent the better part of his life on a surfboard. He has surfer knots the size of oranges on his knees and feet. The Army in its all mighty wisdom had cut off his long flowing blonde hair before they had realized that his feet would not fit in Army boots and sent him home.

Better to lose a little hair then your life!

Rick spent the next eight weeks learning how to be a soldier. He marched, he shot weapons, he cleaned his weapons, and he got hit upside the head every time we forgot and called it a gun.

"This is my weapon. (Pointing to his rifle.)

This is my gun. (Grabbing his dick.)

This is for killing. (The rifle again)

This is for fun."

The training went on, from sun up to sunset. With stops for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The rest of the time he did pushups and the duck walk. He crawled in the hot Texas sand; he did sit-ups in the hot Texas sand. He ran everywhere he went. All to get his platoon into shape, to perform as a fighting unit.

One of the very first training exercises he went through was the obstacle course. The sergeant that ran the course was from the South. As they took their seats in front of the course, the instructor walked out in front.

"All right trainees, I understand that some yall are from Los Angeles. Could I see the hands of those from LA?" he asked.

Being proud of where they grew up, the men of the third platoon, except for the four from Alabama, put their hands in the air.

"Thank you, trainees. You are no doubt wondering why I asked you to raise your hands. Well, trainees, I am from Alabama, and I hate you fucking LA faggots. You faggots are going to run this course until you drop. Do you understand me trainees?" he screamed.

Rick sat there thinking to himself that the four guys from Alabama must be thinking that there is a God after all.

"Now you boys from LA go over to the first part of the course and wait for me. Oh yeah, once you get there to get into three single-file lines and try not to touch each other," he shouted.

As they got up and walked over to the course, Rick overheard the sergeant ask the DI

"What the hell did they do, draft the whole fuckin' town?"

"Nope, just the good ones!" Rick told him as he walked by.

"We'll see about that, trainee! Now drop and give me fifteen," he shouted.

Well, Rick made it through the course. Oh, sure, it took him and the platoon ten to fifteen tries, but they did it. It was tough, but they did what they had to do.

Basic was no picnic, but there were a few highlights. For every time a DI yelled at Rick he flipped him off behind his back. Rick's two DI's were O.K. Sergeant Jones was pretty cool and Sergeant Hockenberry, although tough on them, was OK too. Of course with Hockenberry, there was a whole other course to take.

"The greatest clown around is Hockenberry hound."

It was a little song that they would sing while marching. Just a little something to keep their spirits up. Of course, the Sarge wasn't real thrilled about it and made them pay for it, but hey that's life.

Of course, the DI's weren't the only thing he had to worry about. No, indeed. There was always the every present Second Louies. Baby-faced ninety-day wonders that didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. The little fart faces who thought they were God's gift to the world. The gung-ho little pimply faced sons of bitches that couldn't wait to get to the Nam and kill gooks. Rick don't have the numbers handy, but he would bet a great number of those little shits died in battle while leading their platoons into some deep shit, more than likely getting a great number of their platoon killed, too. They died! Either killed by the gooks or by their own men.

It took eight weeks of intense training to turn the sorry-ass group of trainees into real live soldiers, but they did it. He was sure that at times it wasn't going to work, but it did. By the time Rick and his platoon graduated, they were SOLDIERS. The best the U.S. Army had to offer.

Basic training was just that, basic. Still, very focused and if nothing else the Army did turn them into well-trained soldiers. Training that included hand-to-hand combat, weapons and the idea that a well-trained trooper would do as told when told to do it. Without thinking, without pausing, he would obey the command. The thought behind this was it would save his life in a situation where he needed to act instead of react.

One day during their rifle training at the range. Rick was firing his M-14 and doing very well. One of his platoon buddies was not doing so well, and although the Drill Instructor tried, again and again, Pete just didn't or couldn't hit the target.

That afternoon a messenger from headquarters came with a message for the DI. It seemed that Pete was blind in one eye and could hardly see out of the other and yet he had made it through five weeks of basic training. Talk about dragging the bottom of the barrel. Pete was sent home that afternoon.

There were less than two weeks left in basic when the men were taken into a large hall and sat down. As they settled in, three soldiers in very sharp dress greens marched into the hall and went up on stage.

A staff sergeant took center stage and started talking about going Airborne Ranger and Special Forces. Only the best troops could make it through the training. Only the best were good enough to be a Green Beret.

Rick sat there and said to himself that's what he wanted. He wanted to go Special Forces. So after the talk, he walked up to the stage and signed up.

A few weeks later, these well-trained soldiers were graduating from basic and being sent on to Advanced Individual Training. Where they would be schooled in any number of different Army jobs.

When Rick checked the list posted on the billboard, he found he was being sent to train as an 11Bravo. Infantry. There was no surprise, after all, he had volunteered to go airborne and Special Forces.

Like all soldiers, Rick and the Special Forces candidates begin their career with eight weeks of basic training. Upon completion, he would attend Advanced Individual Training. For Special Forces, Rick would go to Infantry School to learn to use small arms, anti-armor, and weapons like howitzers and heavy mortars. Basic Combat Training lasted eight weeks; AIT lasts four, and Airborne last three. All would take place at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then Special Operations Preparation Course and four weeks at Ft Bragg North Carolina. Then a Special Forces Assessment and Selection, three weeks in Ft. Bragg. Then off to Special Forces Qualification Course, and depending upon MOS Specialty, your training could last up to 18 months.

The following day he was shipped out to Fort Benning, and started his AIT and then airborne training, weeks of intense training in techniques involved in parachuting from airplanes. The first week was ground week, where Rick started an intense training to build individual airborne skills. Skills needed to prepare him to make a jump and land safely. The second week was tower week where he learned to master the mass exit procedures from a 34-foot tower and then from a 250-foot tower, where he was taught to manipulate the parachute. All the while he needed to pass all physical training requirements. The third week was jumped week. During this week Rick needed to successfully meet course requirements and successfully complete five jumps from 1,250 feet out of a C-130 or C-17 aircraft,

Upon successfully completing the training, Rick was awarded his silver wings and was an airborne soldier. The pride he felt in himself and in his accomplishment proved to be a driving force as he went off to Special Forces training.

He arrived at Fort Bragg with a week and a half before Christmas. After an introduction to what was expected of them and what was ahead of them, Rick and the others men were sent home with two weeks leave for the holidays.

Chapter Three

Home For The Holidays

The Army, in its infinite wisdom, allowed troopers to go home for the Christmas holidays. On a rainy Monday morning, Rick hopped a ride with friends to the airport and headed back to Los Angeles. After spending a day with his parents, he showed up on Annie's front porch the following day.

Rick stood in front of her house and looked up at her door. He thought of the many times he brought her home and kissed her goodnight in front of that door.

As he started to walk up to her door, it suddenly hit him.

"Holy crap!" He shouted out, and then realized what he had done and looked around to see if anyone had heard him shout.

There was no one on the sidewalk, so Rick calmed down a bit. What he had suddenly realized was that he and Annie had been dating less than a month when he was drafted and that was thirteen weeks ago. That realization made him wonder if she would still love him. Her letters had always told him how much she loved him and missed him. But that was the mail, now she was going to be standing in front of him, and he was worried.

As he walked up to her door, the thought continued to run through his mind. He reached the door, raised his hand and knocked. When the door opened and stood there before was a beautiful brunette with a huge smile on her face.

" Hello?" she said, not recognizing him.

"Annie! It's me!" he almost shouted.

"Ricky, Ricky, you're home from the war!" she screamed and jumped into his arms and kissed him

"I guessed that answered that question," he said when the kiss ended.

"What?" she wondered out loud.

"I was wondering if you would still love me?" he told her.

"Ya big silly guy," she said and then kissed him again.

As they held on to each other, Rick started to smile. He was home. It was only for two weeks, but he was home.

The next two weeks were filled with Annie, a movie or two and a lot of parking at the end of the darken street in Eagle Rock.

As New Year's grew closer, Rick and Annie made plans to have a last night together. They told their parents that they were going to spend the night in Pasadena at the Rose Parade. Instead, Rick had found a small motel in Glendale.

The day leading up to their night was filled with thoughts about their future. Rick knew he was in love and he was sure that Annie was in love with him, too. But looming in his very near future was Vietnam. A guy he knew while working at a Jack In The Box had gotten married just before he shipped out to Vietnam. He was killed while on patrol out of a small village just north of Da Nang. Rick wasn't sure if he would want Annie to go through the pain of him being killed and leaving her a widow. So, he put his thoughts of the future on hold.

The drive to Glendale was filled with the thrill of the thought of the two of them being together all night without having to go home. The idea of making love on a bed instead of the back of the Ford. Being able to hold on to each other and feel their totally bare bodies rub against each other for the first time was wonderful.

That night they held on to each other as if there no tomorrow. They loved each other like never before. Long before it should have, the night ended. With the sun coming over the city, Rick and Annie drove back home and kissed goodbye.

When he went inside. His mother and father were up and eating breakfast.

"Home so early? I thought you were going to watch the parade?" his mother asked as he walked in.

"Naw, we got tired. Decided to come home and get some sleep before I ship out tonight," he told her and headed off to bed.

A few hours later Rick's mom woke him up and told him that Annie was on the phone. He picked it up and said hi. She told him that she and her nieces went out and the car suddenly just stopped.

Rick was wondering why she wasn't sleeping but told her that he would come take a look at the car to see if he could get it started. After all, he did take three years of auto shop in high school.

As he drove over to help her, he thought about the first day in auto shop. How he sat there with a certain amount of pride in the fact that his big brother had taken this very same class with the very same teacher while he was in school. Unlike football, there would be no reason to be compared to his brother. As he sat there, he saw friends from Junior high and talked with them until the bell rang.

The teacher, a short, rotund man with dark balding hair, stood up and addressed the class. He introduced himself and gave a brief description of what they could expect over the year. Then he started taking the roll. Without lifting his head, he called out names and students answered "Here." When he got to Rick, Rick shouted out that he was there. The teacher stopped, looked up, and repeated the name. Rick answered here again. This time, the teacher looked him straight in the eyes and asked if he was Jim Williams brother. With a smile on his face, Rick said yes.

"GET OUT!!! Get out of my classroom!" he screamed at him.

Rick was up and out of his seat like a shot. He was almost out the door when the teacher told him to stop that he was only kidding.

Rick found out later that his brother had pulled a prank on another student. He had poured battery acid down the back of a student walking by the auto shop. The poor kid was half naked by the time he got to the electric shop

"Damn, this is gonna be a hell of a class," Rick said to himself as he went back to his seat.

The rest of the year went by without incident.

Thirty minutes later Rick pulled up and parked behind Annie's car. He got out and walked to her car, kissed her and then looked under the hood. He took the radiator cap off and saw that it was bone dry.

"Well, what happened?" he asked.

"I don't know. It just stopped," she told him.

"Have you checked the water?" he asked her.

Annie looked at him and told him that no, she hadn't. He looked around and saw a hose sitting in the front yard of the house Annie was parked in front of. He took the hose over to the car and had Annie turn on the water. He filled the empty radiator and then told her to get in and start the car.

Annie sat behind the wheel and turned the key. The engine which by now had the time to cool off started right up and Annie smiled and got out to give Rick a kiss and thanked him for the help.

He stood there a moment still wondering why she was out so early after the late night they had shared. He wanted to ask but figured she had her reasons and kissed her goodbye and went home to go back to sleep.

Several hours later Rick woke and called her to make sure she was going with him and his parents to LAX to see him off that evening. She assured him that she was and he said he would see her in a while.

That night he picked her up and took her to his home. As his parents were getting ready to go, he again thought about asking her to marry him, and again thought, no! It wasn't a good idea. He would wait and see if he came home from Vietnam.

Later that evening at Los Angeles International Airport, as he was about to board a plane back to Fort Bragg, he kissed his mom goodbye. He shook his dad's hand and told him he would see him soon.

"I'm proud of you son," his dad told him and stepped back.

Rick turned to Annie and took her in his arms and kissed her. It was a long, deep, passionate kiss. Then he broke the kiss and stepped back for a second and said good-bye. With that, he turned and walked toward the boarding area. On the steps, he turned, waved to everyone, said goodbye again, and then walked away and down the tunnel to the plane.

When he sat down, he could see Annie and his parents and waved. Just then the plane started to pull away for the terminal and Rick watched as they slowly disappear from sight.

Several hours later, Rick walked back on base and went directly to his barracks and his bunk. As he sat there his mind drifted back to Annie and the last two weeks. The amazing fact that they were together less than thirty days and even with the Army interrupting their lives, they were still in love and still together.

Rick spent the next several months completing his Special Forces training. And after graduation, Rick received his orders for Vietnam and a thirty-day leave.

Rick hitched a ride to the airport and boarded a plane to LA. Landing at three in the morning, Rick took a cab from the airport to his home in Eagle Rock, arriving at four thirty A.M. After paying the cab, he stood on the sidewalk realizing that he didn't have a key to the house and that if he woke his father up at this hour, he might find dad a bit ticked off. So, he stood there for a few minutes wondering if he should tempt fate and ring the bell or just sit out in front until his dad woke up. Deciding to tempt fate, he walked to the door and rang the bell.

Almost as soon as he rang the bell, there was huge ruckus from inside the house. He could hear his father screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Who the hell is ringing my bell at four in the morning. This damn well better be very important to wake me out of sound sleep," he screamed.

Rick's head dropped, and he whispered, "Oh crap."

The door opened with a vengeance. Rick smiled as his father turned on the porch light and looked at out his son.

"Well, I guess this is pretty damn important. Good morning son," his dad said as he opened the door.

Rick walked in as his dad shouted to his wife that her baby boy was home from the war.

"Dad, I haven't been to war. I haven't even been out of the country. But I will be soon." he said as his mother walked into the living room.

"What does that mean?" his mother asked as she walked up and hugged her son.

"I'm shipping out for Vietnam is 28 days," he told them.

"What? Vietnam? Why?" She said as she stood there stunned by the news.

Rick explained that he trained for combat he was being sent where he would do the most good, Vietnam.

Even though she knew that with his Special Forces training her son would be going to Vietnam, she had done her best to bury those thoughts. She didn't want her son going off to war. She did not want to lose him. She had seen the news every night. She had seen the reports of all the men dying and wounded.

Rick and his family spent the rest of the morning talking about most anything but the fact that he was going to war. His mother was having the hardest time keeping herself together and hiding her feelings. His dad told him several times that he was proud that his son was serving his country when so many young men these days were running off to Canada.

Rick told his dad that he felt that it was his duty. He was proud to serve and live in a country that allowed him to do and be anything he wanted to if he worked hard and obeyed the laws. If all his country was asking of him was two years of his life to serve in the military it was the least he could do.

Rick went over to Annie's later that day and as he walked to her door once again thoughts of asking her to marry were running through his head. The more he thought about it, the more he was leaning toward asking her.

Annie was very happy to see Rick, and they decided to spend the day together at the beach and not talk about where he was headed. Annie was incredibly upset at the idea that her Rick was going off to fight in a war.

As the day wore on he could see her getting more and more upset. He did his best to cheer her up, but it was not working very well. She just couldn't get past the idea that Rick could be killed. He explained that his training had prepared him to survive.

As the days wore on, she was drawing farther and farther away from him. Rick could feel her withdrawing and soon knew that asking her to marry was out of the question. He did not want to risk it. He didn't want her to say no, so they spent his 28 days together holding and loving each other, but he knew she was pulling back.

With one last night together at hand, Rick wanted to make it a loving goodbye. He wanted to spend the time holding her and telling her that he loved her. So, as he walked up to her door, he made plans in his mind to make sure that their last night would be a night to remember.

Annie answered the doorbell and opened the door and then the screen and stepped out and hugged Rick. Rick kissed her, and they turned and started towards his car.

As Rick opened the car door, Annie just stood there.

Rick looked back at her and asked what was wrong.

"I'm sorry, but I can't see you anymore!" she told him.

"Well yeah. I'm leaving for Vietnam in the morning." he joked.

"No, I mean I can't see you anymore. I'm breaking up with you," she said as she turned to walk away.

Rick just stood there and watched as she walked up the steps and into her house.

As she walked away Annie, started to cry and she made her way to her bedroom. She went inside and straight to her bed where she collapsed on her bed.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she cried. "This can't be happening. Ugly war. Why him? Why? We are so young. Why? He is going to go through so much. What if he doesn't make it home? I will die, too. I cannot take this. I have already lost so much and now the idea of losing him too. I cannot stand the thought of never seeing him again. But, at least this way I have the memories of our time together, our love," she said to herself as she lay there sobbing.

A few years earlier, Annie was forced by her family to give up her baby girl from an unplanned pregnancy. The loss of her child was almost more than she could handle and then Rick came along and made her feel whole and happy again. Made her feel loved again and now he was going off to fight in a war that very possibly could cost him his life. The fact that she might lose him and the fact that she had lost her baby girl was overwhelming. She just couldn't face losing Rick and felt it better to end it this way. Maybe they would meet again in the future and possibly find their love again. That possibility gave her hope, but there was no hope if he died.

Rick sat behind the wheel of his car and with his head lowered, and started to cry. He couldn't understand what was happening. Why would she do that, why would she dump him on the night before he was leaving for Vietnam?

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but finally, he sat up and started the engine and drove off. From Eagle Rock down to the streets of Hollywood. There he was just another lonely figure wandering around in a crowd of lonely figures. Lost in his thoughts and misery. He was just another lost soul in a town of lost souls.

It was shortly after midnight that he found himself on the doorstep of an old girlfriend. When Linda came to the door, he looked up, and she smiled.

"Good morning! I haven't seen you in a while," she said as she smiled.

Linda opened the door and invited him in. She asked why he was there and he told her the story. Linda took him in her arms and led him upstairs to her bed. They laid down, and she held on to him. She comforted him and told him that things would turn out alright.

It was four in the morning when Rick decided that he needed to go home. He kissed her softly and said goodbye. He left her house and headed home. It was on that trip home that Rick made up him mind to leave the memory of Annie at home. If there was anything he had learned in the Army, it was that memories from home could get you killed.

Chapter Four

Off To War

With his Special Forces training completed, Rick was headed to Vietnam. The flight and first few days in Nam were nothing more than a blur. However, the realization that he was in a war zone suddenly became very apparent while riding in a two and a half ton truck, better known as a deuce and a half, on its way to the Fifth Special Forces headquarters, where he would be assigned. The convoy came under fire by several Viet Cong. The fact that he could be killed at any moment in time because a reality when the man sitting next to him was suddenly lying the floor of the truck, dead.

Rick took less than a second to turn and start firing into the wood. He wasn't sure what he was shooting at but continued to fire. In what seemed like a lifetime, but in reality wasn't any longer than a few minutes, the firefight was over, and the dead man dusted off. The convoy was on its way again.

By day's end, Rick had been in his first firefight, had been splattered with his buddy's blood, had eaten his first meal of C rations, and had been given orders to report to The Fifth Special Forces Group and assigned to a platoon mixed with indigenous Montagnard soldiers and Special Forces soldiers.

By July 1970, Rick had made Sergeant and was with Task Force 1 Advisory Element, USARV Training Advisory Group. As part of the A-Camp Special Forces group, Rick would find himself not only training, advising and fighting with the indigenous population but also providing medical care, education, agricultural and construction assistance to the Vietnamese troops, their families and the local villagers. They were self-sufficient and able to support the camp's population over a sustained period or during a prolonged siege. And regardless of rank, they would work side-by-side with everyone to ensure the success of the mission.

The ability to make initial assessments of campsites and staging areas would be something that the Special Forces teams would be experts in due to this personal intimacy with the local people. This would lead to more camps being built in “hot” areas where the Viet Cong were dominant, and the ARVN and US military presence was minimal to non-existenced.

Strike force missions from these camps resulted in significant amounts of enemy contact. Most, if not all, the camps were attacked on multiple occasions. Attacks ranged from simple harassment to major assaults. Of all the camps, only seven were overrun and fell to the enemy. Many came close to being overrun, however, once counterattacks began and reinforcements arrived the camps ultimately prevailed and drove out the enemy forces.

There were times when Rick found himself sleeping the on top of old gook graves because of their design they afford protection on all sides. Friends had been wounded by friendly fire. He knew that he could be alive one minute and dead the next, and there were more of those moments than he liked. He was proud of his service with the Special Forces and his first four months went by quickly.

On Sept. 12 the platoon Rick was a part of came under intense enemy attack. The enemy force so great that an evacuation was ordered from the small base and choppers were sent in to get the troopers out. While the unit's staff sergeant and several Montagnards defended the base by providing suppressive fire to cover their retreat. Rick and the rest of the platoon jumped on the choppers and got out safely. At the very last moment, the staff sergeant and the Yards hopped on board a Huey and were also out safely.

A month later Rick and his team had been moved to another Strikeforce camp and were once again tasked with sweeping through the jungle around the camp looking for intel on the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Regular Army.

Going unnoticed during their missions was critical for the Green Berets. It was important for them to be organized in small, highly trained groups. This way they could get things done in a quick and effective manner.

Rick and his six-man team were sweeping the area around Strike Force Camp Oran. There was intel that the NVA was moving men through the area and his team were out to see if they could confirm and obtain more the Intelligence.

His team consisted of a six hardcore Green Berets. As Rick and his team left the base camp, he led them out into the jungle surrounding the area. As the sun was going down, he made sure the men were spread out and alert.

The team slowly made its way through the jungle. As they came to a clearing and neared the other side, they stopped. Suddenly they heard the unmistakable sound of mortars coming in.

"INCOMING!" Rick shouted.

The men scattered and took cover as best they could. But there wasn't much cover.

The first two mortar shells took out Miller and Harper. Rick was slightly wounded in the upper torso. The mortars continued for what seemed like forever, and when they did stop the last four men readied themselves for a ground attack. The radio man was already in contact with the base, who was contacting the nearest Army fire support base and calling for gunship support. The four men locked and loaded their weapons and looked at the tree line in front of them and waited. They didn't have to wait long.

Out of the tree line came twenty to twenty-five NVA soldiers. They charged across the open field as if they were invincible. As they reached the middle of the clearing, Rick opened up on them and continued to fire until the first man went down. The other man did the same, taking out one NVA soldier after another.

Before the last NVA soldier went down, the radio man was, again calling for the artillery support into the tree line in front of them, as well as a gunship and a dust-off chopper. Within minutes the tree line was being pelted by a barrage of artillery shells. Rick and his men sat and watched as the jungle in front of them exploded.

The radio man called for the artillery to cease fire, and when the shelling stopped the four men watched and waited. If there was anyone left, they were ready for them.

Suddenly, the remaining NVA soldiers, what looked to be more than a hundred of them, were charging out of the tree line towards Rick and his men. Screaming and yelling, the NVA soldiers ran across the opening and were being picked off by the Green Beret team. Just as the soldiers reached half way across the opening, the Huey gunship opened up and cut them down before they could get close to Rick and his men.

A few minutes later the last of the NVA was either dead or had run off. With the gunship still on station, Rick and his men were directing the dust-off chopper in to pick up the bodies of their comrades.

Rick and the others headed back to the camp. From the firefight, it was pretty clear that the NVA were moving into the area.

Five months into his tour and after several firefights with the enemy, Rick was sent to the U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Recondo School in Nha Trang. The LRRP (long range reconnaissance patrol) training was notoriously rigorous. Rick graduated from the school, was promoted to Staff Sergeant and assigned to lead an LRRP team of his own. The following months were spent deep within enemy-held territory carrying out long range patrols where they would sneak in and spy on the enemy. They were too far from support to initiate action, so instead they sent back intel on enemy troop positions, and then called for artillery fire missions to rain hell down on the enemy.

Rick's team, like all LRRP teams, was hardcore. The team wasn’t run at all like the regular army. There was basically only one rule; Do whatever you had to do to survive. Most of the time there was nobody looking over his shoulder, nobody telling him and his team what to do or how to do it, and no one giving them any bullshit about uniforms or military procedure. It was the mission they lived for, and when and if they lived through that one, they geared up for the next.

There were six guys on a team, but at times Rick went out with as few as three people, and other times missions were “heavy,” meaning that more than one team was assigned to them. The recon team was made up of a team leader, the assistant team leader, a radio telephone operator (RTO/radio man), the assistant RTO, a scout, and slack, or rear security. The team would be out for weeks at a time.

Each team member operated off of Rick. If he stopped and turned his weapon to his right, the individual behind him would immediately swing his weapon to cover the left, and so on down the line. The team was better trained to work together than anything Rick had ever seen.

His time as a LRRP came to a sudden and deadly end when his six-man team found themselves discovered by a gook patrol when one of the enemies tripped over his RTO. The firefight was intense; guys were screaming and yelling at the gooks as they found themselves in hand-to-hand combat fighting for their lives. Finally, after what seemed like forever, what was left of the VC ran off. The team had killed most of them, but two members of Rick's team were killed, and Rick was wounded. He was shot in the thigh, left arm, shoulder, and calf. The wound in the thigh was very serious, the other, bad, but not life threatening.

The remaining members of the team carried out their teammates and got those who were wounded back to an Army NDP (Night Defensive Position.)

Rick survived and was dusted off (MedEvac) out to the nearest hospital and then off to Japan and after several months of rehab at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, MD, he found himself a plane home.

Chapter Five

Life after The Night

Her heart had been breaking since before the night she broke up with Rick. From the day she realized that he was going to Vietnam, Annie knew she wouldn't be able to hold up under the strain of having the one she loved in a war zone and the possibility that he would never come back. Guys were dying over there every day. Families were being destroyed; lives were being altered dramatically.

With every news report, more and more young men had been reported killed in action. The fact that Rick could be one of them was more than she could bear. She had already lost one of the most important people in her life, and she couldn't stand it if she lost Rick, too. So that night she said goodbye.

Her heart was broken. Her soul was lost, but she did her best to hide her pain for the longest time. The fact is that she never completely recovered from her decision to say goodbye.

Her life reflected her choice that night. She never found another true love. She did, however, find men that were cruel and abusive. She married twice and found that both men were cheating on her, draining her bank account, doing drugs and causing more problems than any one man was worth.

A short time after her second marriage ended and she dropped out of college, Annie moved out of the Los Angeles area. Following a suggestion from Mary Jo, an old high school friend, that she should take her skills learned on the high school paper, she searched for and found a job writing for the local newspaper in Cloverdale, California. She started by writing for the ladies' advice column, answering letters from the lovelorn on how to get past bad relationships and how to put up rhubarb for the winter, among many other subjects. They were subjects she knew very little about, but with the help of research and her own experience, she made her letters to the ladies ring with honesty and sincerity.

A few months after starting her job Annie made friends with an older woman she met through a mutual friend at a staff birthday party.

The two woman talked and hit it off right away. They got to know each other better and realized that they had more in common than they had first thought. Both were forced to give up a child at birth, and both had very strict Italian parents.

Marcela was a writer of some note, and after several conversations over lunch and dinners, she learned that Annie was in a lot of pain. She encouraged Annie to start writing. She told her that she needed to find a way to unburden her heart and that writing just might be the way to do it. She suggested that telling stories could be the outlet Annie had been looking for.

At first, Annie didn't think that she would be able to put her life, her thoughts into words that anyone would be interested in. However, Marcela continued to encourage her and soon Annie did sit down to put her words and thoughts on paper.

Her first attempts were crude but emotional, and with Marcela's help, she learned how to smooth out her thoughts. Soon her writing took on the look of a professional writer and got better and better.

Annie submitted several manuscripts to publishers and got as many rejections as she submitted. She did not let that stop her, and with Marcela's continue encouragement, she kept plugging away at both her job and on what she thought could be her best work: a story of love lost and redemption.

"The Love of My life" was the title and it told the story of a woman who during World War II who had to give up her child because of family pressure and the loss of the father of her child, a man whom she loved more than life itself.

Judith was a nurse in the English Army and had met Daniel when the American Army's first Infantry Division set up a base near her little hometown. They had met and fell in love in a small pub in her village, but before they could get permission from their commanding officers to marry he was shipped out on D-Day. He was among the first wave of soldiers with the First Infantry Division to attack German Army defenses on Omaha Beach. Some of the division's units suffered 30 percent casualties in the first hour of the assault. Daniel was among those who hit the beach first and was first to die. Judith found out she was pregnant two months later and after the child was born, her family forced her to give up the child.

For Annie, this was a labor of love. As she wrote, she cried and remembered what she had done to Rick the night before he left for Vietnam. With her writing, she hoped that someday Rick might understand and forgive her. Annie wrote the story of her life.

Annie was sitting at her desk, working on a letter from a woman who had lost contact with her family and was hoping that Annie might be able to help, when she got a letter from a publisher, telling her that they had accepted her manuscript and were going to publish her book.

Within the year her book, "The Love of My Life" was on the shelves and selling very well. So good in fact that she was becoming well known. As the publisher had her attend more and more book signings, her book became a bestselling novel.

The publisher was pushing her for another boo, so Annie tried and tried to come with a good story line, but nothing came to her. She started several plots, but all of them went nowhere. Annie wasn't sure she had another story in her like her first that one, so she took a different tack and started writing romance novels.

She wrote every spare moment she had at work, but mostly she wrote in the evenings. She had no real life beyond her writing. There was no dating, no love life at all. She spent her time working on her romance novels.

Annie sent her publisher a few of her romance manuscripts, but he was not interested and finally dropped her. Still, she had her job at the paper and was happy working there. Then one day she got a lucky break when one of the editors at the paper introduced her to an agent who liked what she wrote and signed Annie to her agency. She started Annie's manuscripts to Harlequin and a few other well-known romance novel publishers. At first, the agent got rejection letter after rejection letter. They say you aren't any good unless you have received at least 100 rejection letters, and she was well on her way to the 100 mark. But Annie continued working on her craft, and the agent kept sending her manuscripts in because she believed in her.

After two years of rejection letters, Annie finally got her second big break with a major publishing house. Her book was called "True Love's Wicked Ways." The book hit the New York Times top 20 best-selling paperback romance novels list, and once again Annie's writing career was on the rise.

Annie was invited to New York after the book became a hit for a second meeting with the publishers. They wanted her to bring them her next manuscript. Instead, she brought with her five that were already written and two more than were in the works. The publisher looked over the five and glanced at the two others. He told her and her agent that he thought she was on her way to a very successful career as a writer.

When Annie came back to California, she decided to quit her job in Cloverdale and get on with her life. She moved back to the Los Angeles area where she bought a small house in Newport Beach, only a few yards from the ocean. She could sit on her patio and watch the sunset, drink some wine and think about what she wanted to do next.

With five new novels on the horizon, Annie took some time for herself. She traveled, going to Hawaii for two weeks. She flew to Europe for another two weeks and toured many English and Scottish castles. She visited Venice and decided to stay for a month. She was living a life she could never have imagined and was enjoying herself. The thought of what had happened that night with Rick was far behind her now.

After a year of travel, Annie returned home to stay and start writing again, this time including the sites that she had traveled to in her stories. Tales of Venice and love along its channels ran through her stories

She continued to produce manuscripts, and the publisher continued to publish them. After she had fifteen successful romance novels, Annie felt it was time to once again to write another historical style novel.

Her problem was she had no idea what to write. No inspiration. As so she sat on her patio and watched the ocean waves crashing on the shore and the seagulls soaring overhead. There she sat watching, day after day. Any number of people walked by, and none of them noticed Annie sitting there by herself looking off into the distance. None. Until Steve walked by on a Friday afternoon. Steve was six-foot-three with long brown hair and a devilish look in his brown eyes. He smiled at her and wave as he walked up.

"Excuse me. I am sorry to bother you, but I have walked by here over the last few days and have seen you sitting here time after time. Never moving, never....doing anything. Is there something wrong? Can I help?" he asked,

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" she asked, wondering who he was and why he was standing there.

"I am sorry. My name is Steve, and I was wondering if you were okay?" he asked again.

"What makes you think anything is wrong?" she asked from her porch.

"Well, for the last several days I have walked by, and all I ever see is you sitting there watching the waves roll in and out," he told her.

Annie stood up and walked to the wall and said hello. She told him that she was perfectly fine, that she was a writer and was waiting for inspiration

Steve laughed and asked if she thought that inspiration was going to walk up and say hello?

Annie laughed and told him that, no, but she was hoping something would come to her.

"I've come to you. What say I take you to for a late lunch, and maybe you'll find some inspiration while eating a burger and fries?" he asked her.

"My, you're a big spender, aren't you?" she laughed.

Steve turned and started to walk away, but she called to him to come back. Steve turned and told her that he didn't need to be belittled by some lady who doesn't know inspiration when she saw it and turned to walk away again.

"No, wait. Please. I am sorry. I am bored, and I'm sorry," she said as he stopped and turned back again.

Steve looked at her and started to walk back to her. He smiled and decided that she sounded sincere.

"Listen, I don't need to be insulted by you or anyone else. I offered to take your mind off of your situation and to get you off your ass for a while and maybe laugh a bit," he said as he walked back to her.

She smiled and told him that she was sorry again and accepted his invitation for lunch.

On the way to a local bar and grill, they talked, and when she asked what did for a living, Steve told her that he was a college student who was studying archeology.

"Really? How interesting. Off in search of old bones and treasures." she joked with him.

Steve smiled and opened the door for her as they walked into the bar and grill. On the way in he told her that he was also a photography student and would love the opportunity to take some photographs of her.

She just laughed and told him that wasn't going to happen. She wasn't, at her age, going to sit for a student photographer while he did all he could to get her clothes off for some nude shots.

"Who said anything about nudes? I am talking about pictures outdoors at the beach or maybe up in the mountains," he explained.

"I am not going to sit at the beach or the mountains so you can try and convince me to talk my clothes off," she once again asserted.

Steve dropped the subject and started talking about archeology.

"Steve, as much as I love the idea that you're going to be an archeologist. I'm sorry, but the thought of talking about it is completely boring," she told him

"Okay, I could keep trying to talk you into sitting for me," he told her.

"So, have you been on many digs?" she asked.

Steve smiled and told her that yes, he had and he had found them to be anything but boring.

Lunch was enjoyable, and both Annie and Steve talked and found out about each other. Annie was beginning to enjoy his company until she found out that he was almost sixteen years younger than her. She felt like lunch was fine but anything more than that was out of the question.

So, she kept her feelings to herself and enjoyed the moment. She wasn't going to worry about things like a younger man and where it might go. After lunch, Steve walked her home and told her how nice it was to talk with her.

"Ya know, I had a really good time. We should do this again," he told her as he leaned in for a kiss goodbye.

"Excuse me. This was not a date. It wasn't anything more than two people eating and talking," she told him. Backing up.

Steve looked at her and smiled. He asked her what she would consider a date.

"A date would be when you pick me up, in a car, and drive me to a restaurant for a nice dinner and then a movie," she explained.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow around seven, in my car. For our first date," he said as he turned to walk away.

Annie shouted at him to come back. He kept walking and told her he'd see her tomorrow. She shouted that she wouldn't be home.

"Somehow I doubt that," he yelled back to her.

As he reached to open the gate, he turned to her, smiled and walked down the sidewalk.

Annie stood there stunned at the boldness of the young man. She closed the door and went to her bedroom. As she sat on the bed and wondered what had just happened.

She met a smart young man, who was easy to talk to and very handsome. But hell he was nearly sixteen years younger than she was. What in the world was she doing with a 22-year-old? She was 38, and he was a child, and yet, he was very handsome and fun to be with, and for now he fit several of the criteria she had set for men entering her life. He was honest, didn't smoke, drink or use drugs. He seemed as if he would true to her if perchance they stayed together. He was, so far, non-violent and it would seem that he was on a course to financial independence. All very important to her in a man that she wanted to be with. So, for now, the age difference didn't seem like that big of a hurdle.

As she sat there, she suddenly got an idea for her next book. A historical novel about a woman during the Civil War searching for her son. She got up and walked to her office. She turned on her computer and started to write.

The story went along very well, and before she knew it, it was well past midnight. As she saved her work, she stood up, turned off the computer and went to bed thinking that Steve was awfully good looking and her reasons for not seeing a young man started to melt away.

When she woke the next morning it was close to eleven After she had breakfast, she went for a walk on the beach and then back to her computer to continue working on her story.

When she finally looked up, it was five P.M. She thought about Steve coming to pick her up and decided to stop writing and get ready for her date.

"Date! I have a date with a younger man," she mused and then thought that perhaps the woman in her story could fall for a young, wounded soldier.

She went back upstairs and started writing again. The wounded soldier gave her story the romantic twist she had been looking for.

A short time later she was dressed and waiting for Steve to show up. She sat listening to the radio while waiting. As she looked out through her window, the song, "You Are My Everything" came on. She suddenly started thinking about Rick and how he used to sing this song to her and she smiled. Just as her antique grandfather clock struck seven, her door bell rung and the thoughts of Rick faded away.

Annie opened the door to find Steve standing there smiling. He was dressed in a nice light blue dress shirt with a dark blue tie. He wore jeans with his shirt and was looking rather dapper.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked him.

"Well, first of all, you look beautiful and secondly, I didn't think you were going to be home," he said with a slight chuckle.

Annie smirked at him and started out the door.

The dinner was wonderful and delicious; the movie was a romantic comedy, and overall it was a very pleasurable evening. As he walked her to the door, she knew that she wanted to see him again.

"Thank you. I had a great time. I hope you did too," he said as she opened the door.

"I did. Thank you," she replied.

Steve smiled and turned to walk away. Annie stood there a little surprised that he didn't want a kiss good night.

"Steve!" she called out.

"Yes!" he said as he stopped and turned around.

Annie walked out to where he had stopped looked him in the eyes and then kissed him.

When she broke the kiss, she turned around and walked back towards her door. Steve stood there for a second or two and then told her good night.

"Good night," she said as she opened the door and walked in.

Steve turned to walk away, surprised at the turn of events. He stopped at the gate, turned around and then walked back to her door and knocked.

"Yes?" she asked after she opened the door.

"Oh nothing." he said as he took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

When Steve broke the kiss, he looked her in the eyes, took her by the arms, walked through the door and started upstairs. Annie did not resist. It had been a long time since had been in bed with a man and she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

From that day forward, the relationship between Annie and Steve, their love affair, continued to grow. The two of them spent more and more time together, and Annie spent less and less time on her novel. Annie, knowing that Steve was a college student who didn't have much money, was happy to pay for their journeys up and down California and wherever they went, including Hawaii and Colorado.

Annie was falling in love and found that she no longer cared about the difference in their ages. She was becoming more and more open to sitting for him.

Annie now thought that it was a great idea and suggested that they go to the mountains to take some photographs.

"What? Is that iron will crumbling? Are you now going to allow me to take some pictures?" he asked.

"I am, and they better pretty damn good."

The next day they set out for the mountains north of Los Angeles. The Angeles National Forest would have great spots for the pictures. As they drove up, he would stop from time to time and get her to pose with the mountains behind her.

The deeper they got into the mountains, the fewer and fewer cars they saw. When Steve found a perfect setting, he stopped, got out his equipment again and set up to take pictures.

He took several pictures. He kissed her between sets and about thirty minutes after the first shot she asked him when he was going to ask her to take her clothes off.

"I didn't bring you up here to shoot nudes. I brought you up here to shoot pictures," he told her.

"Yeah and I am as horny as hell. Now take your clothes off and make love to me," she said as she started to undo her blouse.

"Well, I'll be damned. this is so unexpected."

While she had made it clear that she wanted him. She also made it clear there would be no sex on the ground without a blanket. Steve looked in the trunk of his car, but there was no blanket to be found. So he told her that they could always make love in the backseat.

She frowned at him and told him to strip. Images and thoughts of Rick and the back seat of his Ford flooded back as she watched him get undressed. Still, she took her clothes off and got in the back seat with him and made love.

A while later he was standing over her, posing her. She was beautiful, and so were the pictures.

"These are for you and you alone. If I hear of anybody seeing these beside you, there won't be a safe place to hide. I will hunt you down and rip you to shreds," she said as she smiled for the camera.

He told her not to worry. That no one would see them. She smiled and again assured him that would be no safe place to hide.

The day ended with the drive back to her house. He kissed her good night and went back to campus to develop the film. After printing several, he admired his work and her body.

"Damn, she is beautiful," he said under his breath.

The following Saturday they took off for Baja for a short vacation in the warm sun spending the days sailing and the nights in each other's arms. The day after they returned, Steve told her that he needed a couple of weeks to get caught up on school.

"I have spent way too much time away from school. I need to catch up and start paying attention to my school work," he told her that evening.

In the morning he kissed her goodbye and went back to his apartment near the campus of USC.

Annie knew this was important to him and went back to her writing. She spent the next two weeks working on the novel about the Civil War period and the woman who fell in love with the young wounded soldier while looking for her son.

They had talked on the phone while he was at school, but Annie was beginning to miss him, so, at the end of two weeks, she decided to make a surprise visit to Steve to see how things had been going with his studies and take him to dinner. As she walked to his front door, she saw the lights on and knocked.

When the door opened, and she saw a young blond standing there, welcoming her. Annie asked who she was.

The blond was cute and had the most beautiful blue eyes that Annie had ever seen. The woman smiled and told Annie that she was Jackie, Steve's girlfriend.

"Oh really. Is Steve here?" Annie asked politely.

Jackie told her that he has stepped out to get some pizza and that he should be back in a few minutes. She invited Annie in to wait for him.

"Are you his mother?" she asked.

"Mother? No! No, I am not his mother. Just a friend," Annie replied, remaining calm.

She took a seat, and the two continued to talk about Steve. Jackie told her that she had hooked up with Steve about a year ago and that they had been living together for most of that time.

"Were you not a little curious when he as gone for such long periods?" Annie asked.

"Oh no, of course. His studies take him on digs all over."

"Archeology, yes of course. That would explain the long periods of time he was gone." Annie told her.

Jackie wondered how she knew about the long periods away and knew what he was studying. Annie told her that she would explain that when Steve got back.

The two woman sat and talked about other things and were getting along rather well when the front door opened and in walked Steve.

"I hope you're hungry, cause I got a large double meat and pineapple pizza," he said as he closed the door and then turned around to see both women sitting there. "Oh, damn!"

"Yes, oh damn. It's good to see you. Your girlfriend and I have been talking," Annie told him.

"Damn!" he said again."

Annie stood up and assured him that she hadn't said anything too damning, but she was wondering.

"If she's your girlfriend, what the hell am I?" she almost shouted.

"Yes, Steve, who the hell is she?" Jackie asked as she stood up.

"Anybody want pizza?" he asked.

Annie walked over to him and told him he could shove pizza where the sun don't shine and walked out.

From inside the house, she could hear Jackie screaming at him. Wondering who the old lady was. Screaming for an explanation. Annie just kept on walking.

Later that evening while sitting on her patio and looking out to the ocean, Annie realized what a fool she had been. Right then and there she made herself a promise that she would stick to her writing and leave the romance for the pages.

Over the next several years she wrote and enjoyed her solitude on the beach. She went on book signing tours and enjoyed a great deal of success with her novels.

Annie's life was uneventful until the day she received the noticed for her 50-year high school reunion. She would love to see old friends and never once thought seriously that Rick would be there. Still, if he were there, it would be difficult. She wasn't sure she wanted to see him. Deep down in her soul she knew she needed to explain her actions that night, 48 years ago.

Chapter Six

Rick's Life

His flight home from Walter Reed was uneventful. The wounds that had threatened to end his life were healed. The Army doctors not only saved his life but his leg as well. The other wounds to his arm, shoulder and ankle were serious but not life-threatening, and after several months of rehabilitation, Rick was sent home with a cane and his Veteran's benefits. Not a lot of money but enough to get by on.

While at Walter Reed, the Army awarded him several decorations: The Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star, and an Air Medal. He also got the Purple Heart and all of the standard medals for being in Vietnam. After being given the medals, he smiled and thanked the Colonel who had given him the decorations but told him that medals were nice, but they wouldn't bring back his friends.

His life after the war was uneventful, to the point of almost being wasted. He wondered why so many had not come home. Why did he live and so many didn't? The guilt of having survived when death was an everyday occurrence weighed heavy on his mind day after day. He moved from Los Angeles to a small cabin at Bass Lake, near Yosemite National Park where he had spent so many summers of his youth. He spent most days at Ducey's or The Pines Resort bar, drinking to forget the horrors that he had witnessed and taken part of.

Day after day he walked through life drunk, all the time thinking he was doing fine, that life was normal and good. He knew the first name of the bartenders in town, and they all knew him and what he drank. But no one knew why he drank. No one knew the nightly dreams that took him back to the jungles of Vietnam. Over and over again he would relive the horror that played itself out in his nightmare's.

He drank to deaden the pain, and wash away the memories, but all it did was cause him to pass out in hopes that would make the night pass without the dreams. But it didn't. All it did was make him a drunk. He spent years drinking. The days lasted longer than he would have liked and the nights were one huge, continuous flashback.

He saw friends killed, time and time again. Cut down by machine gun fire, and gook booby traps. Blown up by VC mines. Body parts ripped to shreds by an unseen and at times unknown enemy. Yet there were times in the jungle that he felt a calm, serene feeling come over him. At night while he laid looking up at the sky and saw a billion stars twinkling overhead, he thought of how those same stars were overhead back in the world, and he allowed himself a brief moment to wonder how Annie was doing. Each and every night he relived the horror that was Vietnam. Each morning he would awake and pray that his pain would be washed away by the liquor.

The only problem with that theory was that it never worked, and although he knew it didn't work, he kept on drinking, hoping that one day it would. Hoping that one day, his dreams would fade, and his soul would return to him. The soul he had lost with his first kill.

Evenings were spent sitting on a bar stool watching his life waste away and not caring. All that mattered was that he came home and far too many didn't.

Rick spent 1972 through 1980 drunk and hoping that his drinking would end his flashbacks. He spent 1980 through 1987 drunk and not caring what happened to him as long as he drowned out his memories.

In 1988 Rick found himself sitting on the curb watching life pass him by He was wondering where his next drink was coming from when someone sat down next to him.

"Hey, dude. Whassup'?" asked the young man.

"I'm sitting here. Whassup with you! Dude!" Rick told him as he looked over to see a young man sitting next to him.

Just then and another two young men sat down. All three guys looked like thugs. Pants down around their asses, ball, caps worn backward, and under the ball caps red and white bandanas wrapped around their heads

"Hey, old dude. You don't look so good," one of them said.

"No shit? I don't feel that good either," he told them.

"Ya want a drink?" the other one asked.

Rick looked at him and then his friends and told them that he could use a drink.

The three young punks got up and helped Rick to his feet and helped him to walk off toward the bar.

As they got close to the bar, the three young men turned down an alley and before Rick realized what was going on he was on the ground being beaten by the three young punks. Punches came out of nowhere. Kicks to his side and punches to his face dropped Rick to the ground, and he was rolling over in pain, the three men went through his pockets and looked for whatever might be of some value. Finding nothing each of the three men kicked him one last time and walked away.

Rick woke up two weeks later in a hospital room. His eyes slowly opened, and as his vision came into focus, he is looking around and wondered where he was. Just then Rick saw a young red-headed nurse standing next to his bed.

"Excuse me, but where am I?" he asked her.

"Well, good morning sunshine. I see we are back with the living again. Hold on a second; I'll be right back," she said as smiled at him.

The redhead, with a smile that would melt a snowman, stood five foot four and to call her cute might have been an insult to the word. Betty called the doctor, and then she sat down next to him and talked with him as they waited.

As the doctor walked into the room, Nurse Betty stood up next to the bed. The doctor was an older gentleman in his mid-fifties with graying hair and a stern look in his eyes. He checked Rick out and found that although he was still in serious condition, he was getting better and had shown a great deal of improvement since the day he had been brought in two weeks earlier.

"You are doing fine. You should be able to go home in a few weeks," the doctor told him.

"What happened to me?" he asked as the doctor turned to walk out.

"I'll let Betty tell you the story of how you got here, and I'll be back a little later to check in again and see how you're doing. Just relax, you're in good hands," he told him as he walked out.

"I'm guessing you're Betty?" Rick said as he looked up to the nurse.

"I am." she said and smiled.

Betty told him that he was brought in two weeks ago after being found in an alley beaten to a pulp. She explained that he had several broken ribs, one of which had punctured his lung. He also had a concussion and a broken arm.

"Damn, what the hell happened to me?" he asked her.

Betty explained that the man who found him saw three guys run out of the alley, but didn't get a good enough look to describe them to the police.

"So the lowlifes are still out there?" he asked her.

"I am afraid they are," she told him.

"I am thinking I may need to do something about that."

Betty told him to relax that he was in no shape to do much of anything except getting better.

Over the next four weeks, Rick continued to heal. Betty was by his side whenever she had time off. They took walks around the hospital. She talked with him after hours and told him that if he needed any help after he got out, to let her know and that she would be happy to offer it.

The four weeks seemed to fly by, and on the day of his discharge, Betty pushed him out in the wheelchair and at the door asked him if he had a home to go to. He told her that he did have an apartment, but wasn't sure if it were still his since he'd been gone for almost two months. Betty smiled and offered to let him stay with her.

"Oh Betty, I am not so sure I would make good company. I haven't been good company for years," he explained.

"Rick, you need to find a way to get back into society. You need to find a way to deal with whatever it is that is weighing you down. I can help. I want to help." she told him as he got out of the wheelchair and stood up.

Rick smiled and agreed that he would let her know. Betty hugged him and watched as he walked off, thinking she would never see him again.

Rick walked away from the hospital and Betty beginning to wonder where the hell it was he was going to go if he had lost his apartment. He had very little money, and he wanted more than anything else to find the men that put him in the hospital. So he turned back and walked into the hospital lobby to find Betty talking with a doctor.

"Excuse me, Betty,"

She turned and smiled as she saw him standing there.

"If you were serious, I would very much like... I need the help," he told her and smiled back.

Betty gave him a key and directions to her apartment.

"I'll be home around five. Let yourself in and just relax until I get home and we'll talk about how and what we need to do to get you healthy again," she told him.

Later that evening Betty walked into her apartment to find Rick sound asleep on the couch. She sat down next to him and gently woke him up.

"Are you ready for dinner?" she asked as his eyes opened.

He smiled and told her that he was, and how thankful he was that she was trusting him enough to allow him into her life.

Over the months not only did Rick get his health back, but he also stopped drinking, and he started working out. Within a few months, he had lost his belly fat and had added several pounds of muscle.

He had found that some advice that Betty had given him about his nightmares, actually helped stop the dreams. The advice was simple and effective; She told him that as he went to bed to simply tell himself several times, that he would have peaceful, restful dreams. Peaceful and restful dreams. The nightmares subsided, and he was able to sleep through the night.

Within five months Rick was not only feeling better about himself and his possibilities, but he also found he was falling in love with Betty, and Betty was in love with him.

The two shared the small one-room apartment outside of Oakhurst near Bass Lake. They loved the snow in the winter and the warm summer sun on the lake. Summer Weekends were spent swimming or boating on the lake and relaxing on the shore. Winter Nights were spent in front of the fireplace bathed in the warmth of the fire.

Then one night in late 1987 Rick heard about the construction of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Sacramento.

He talked to Betty about the memorial and how he wanted to go see the dedication and wanted her to come with him. Betty agreed, but as the date grew closer, she questioned his desire to go, wondering if it would bring up bad memories and open old wounds long since closed. But Rick assured her that it was important that he go and she agreed to go with him.

So it was on December. 10th. 1988, Rick and Betty journeyed to Sacramento for the dedication.

When they first saw the Memorial they were awestruck by its circular shape, and the 5,800 names graved in black granite. Names of Californians killed or missing in action. The bronze statues and relief sculptures that depict scenes of daily life during the war brought Rick to tears.

As they stood in the large crowd and listened to the dedication speeches, Rick remembered friends lost in the war. He vowed then and there to turn his life around and do whatever he could to make his friends proud of him and their service to their country.

He and Betty left that evening and drove back to Oakhurst, arriving home late after having eaten dinner in Modesto.

As they got ready for bed that night, Rick turned to Betty and wondered if the police had ever found the punks that beat him up.

"I don't know. I have paid much attention to that since you got out of the hospital," she said as she covered up.

"I think I'm gonna find out tomorrow," he told her.

Betty asked him what he meant, and he told her he was going to check with the police and see if they've made any headway on the case.

The following morning after talking to the police and finding they had no leads whatsoever, Rick made up his mind to find the boys and teach them a lesson.

When Betty went to work in the morning, he would get dressed in some ratty old clothes and sit on the same corner he was sitting at when they attacked him. It took a few weeks but finally the boys came by and started hassling him again.

From the start Rick let them play. He let them think he was just another drunk they could roll. But by the time they pulled him back into the alley again, Rick stood up straight and looked them in the eye.

"It's time for payback boys." he told them calmly.

He stood in front of the three of them and told them that if they apologized, he might let them off with a warning and not call the cops.

"And if we don't?" one of the boys asked defiantly.

"I'm gonna have to kick your ass," he told them, once again being very calm in his manner.

"You stupid old man. In case you can't count anymore, there are three of us and only one of you," the second one shouted at him.

"I'll wait if you want to call a friend?"

With that, the first of the three stated toward Rick and suddenly found himself on the ground after a swift roundhouse kick to the head. He was out. The next two came at him together, hoping to grab him and take him down.

Rick side-stepped the first and put a fist into the boy's solar plexus, dropping him like a rock. The third was hit with a foot to his side as he went by, and he too was on the ground. Both unable to catch their breath.

As Rick stood over them, he asked them not to move and that he would be right back.

"Army training comes in handy at times," he said to himself as he walked away.

The first boy was out cold and didn't move, the other two tried but couldn't.

A few minutes later Rick was back.

"I want to thank you boys for not going anywhere. The police are on their way. I told them you are the three that beat me up, so, I'll see you in court. Oh, by the way, if you mention the fact that I was the one who kicked your ass, well, I'll just have to agree with you. But I wonder what it would do to your rep if your buddies knew you got your ass kicked by an old man," he said and turned to walk away.

The court found all three young men of them guilty, and they were sent off to prison for assault. Rick and Betty continued their quiet life in the mountains surrounding Bass Lake making plans for the future. Rick was introduced to a friend of Betty's who worked in advertising and he invited Rick to work as a freelance copywriter and voiceover artist doing commercials for an advertising agency in Fresno. Advertising was something he had wanted to do, and the agency let him work out kinks and added helpful suggestions along the way.

Within seven months he was writing highly creative and humorous radio and TV commercials as well as some copy for newsprint ads.

From the day he returned home from Vietnam, his mind rarely went back to the night Annie broke up with him. He didn't think much about Annie. He was content with his life without her. He and Betty were happy. They didn't have a lot, but they didn't need a lot.

It wasn't until that rainy night in early November two years later that Rick thought about anything more than being with Betty. It wasn't until that night that he worried about much more than where they might want to go for vacation.

It was close to midnight, and Betty was a little late getting home, but Rick wasn't worried. She sometimes was late due to an emergency at the hospital. So, as he sat and listened to a radio station out of Fresno was playing oldies from the sixties when he got a phone call. It was the hospital. Jeannie, a nurse and a friend of Betty's was calling.

"Rick, you need to get down here right now!" she told him frantically.

"Why? What's going on?" he asked. "Betty's been shot." she told him and urged him again to hurry.

Rick hung up the phone and made the short ten-minute drive to the hospital in no time. He ran in the through the emergency rooms door's and stopped as he rounded the corner to what was Betty's nurse's station. There he saw Jeannie with her head lowered and crying.

"Jeannie, what the hell is going on. How the hell did she get shot?"

"She's dead, Rick. She's dead," Jeannie told her between sobs.

Rick collapsed on the floor unable to comprehend what had just happened. How could she be dead? Who had shot her? And why?

He cried until he became so mad he stood up and walked up to Jeannie and demanded she tell him what had happened.

Jeannie had one of the other nurses call the doctor out to talk to Rick. Dr. Medford had been at the hospital for seven years. He was the chief of surgery and had just came from the operating room where He worked on Betty for the last fifteen minutes.

"She was killed by gunshot wound to the head when a thug that came in off the street looking for Betty shot her." The doctor told him.

He went on to say that after Betty had come out from the restroom, she was told that the young man wanted to see her. As she walked up auto him, he asked if she was Betty and pulled out a gun and shot her.

As the body hit the floor, the young man brandished the gun around and then ran out of the hospital and down the street.

Almost before she hit the floor, several nurses were running to her, but she was unresponsive. They did all they could, but there was nothing they could do.

The nurses carried her into the OR and Dr. Medford pronounced her dead within minutes of getting there.

"I am sorry, there was nothing we could do. She never knew what hit her," Doctor Medford told him.

As soon as they told her what happened, Rick knew who it was. One of the guys he had sent to prison was out, and it had to be him. He was out for revenge and knew he couldn't take on Rick, and so he went after his woman.

After the funeral, Rick spent his time planning how he would get even, but he needed to make sure it was self-defense. There was no way he was going away for killing this guy and his friends.

Months went by before the opportunity presented itself. He saw one of the guys on the street. He pulled over and started following him. As the guy went into an alley, Rick followed him.

"Hey stupid," Rick shouted as he pulled out his Colt .45 and aimed it at the boy.

The guy turned around and saw Rick standing there. Rick could see the fear in his eyes as he walked up to him.

"Don't run or I will kill you before you can get three steps away," Rick told him as the guy stood, frozen with fear.

"I don't want to kill you but I will unless you get me to the guy that killed the nurse," Rick said as he stopped just a step in front of him.

"I'm good with that. I'll take you to him," The young man told him.

The two of them walked back out to Rick's car and drove to the ballpark where the guys hung out. They got out of the car and started walking toward the young man's friends.

As they walked up, Rick again pulled out his .45 from and put it to the kid's head.

"If you want him to live, tell me which one of you killed the nurse." he told them.

"I killed the bitch, why?"

Rick pointed the .45 and fired a round into his head. The kid dropped to the ground dead. He turned to the kid next to him and pulled the trigger again. He was dead, and by the time the kid hit the ground he fired on and killed the third punk.

Rick pulled out his cell phone and called the police, telling them he had just killed three young men.

Rick was arrested and but then released because the police found the gun that killed Betty on the ground in front of one of the dead boys and realized that Rick had defended himself against them.

For the next two years, Rick sat around the small apartment in Oakhurst. Except for the assignments from the agency in Fresno, he pretty much spent his time sitting lakeside and remembering Betty.

Then, on a bright sunny day in mid-July, Rick received a phone call from a man that had heard his commercials and wanted to talk with him about a project.

Rick invited the man up to his apartment to discuss his ideas and found out as they talked that there was more to the project than he had initially indicated.

It was close to noon when Don Sinclair arrived and knocked on Rick's door. After introductions had been made and coffee poured, the two started talking about the project.

Don Sinclair was a tall, husky man with short blond hair and a quick sarcastic wit that made Rick smile something he hadn't done in a long time.

Rick took an instant liking to Don, and as Don told him of his plan, Rick got more and more interested.

"I would like to sit down with you in a studio and write and record some spots. I get the feeling that you and I have the same type of sense of humor and would make a great team," Don told him

He went on to explain that he had always wanted to open his own production company that specialized in radio and TV commercials. Don told him that he had worked in radio many years and had never come across a talent such as Rick's.

Rick listened and told him that he would love to give it a try.

So, the two men set a date for the following week to meet in Fresno and write and record some spots for a client Don had just picked up.

The meeting went well, and it seemed to Rick that he was smiling a lot more than normal. The fact that his mind was concentrating on something he loved doing as opposed to someone he loved that was no longer in his life.

Sinclair and Rick worked well together. It was as if they could read each other's mind and that made the writing and recording a joy.

With continuing success, Rick and Don decided to form a production company and move their operation closer to Los Angeles.

The Stage Three Productions studio was set up, and equipment was bought and put together in a small office space in Oxnard, Calif. The two of them put into action a plan that would make them a living for several years to come.

The partnership lasted up until 2012 when Rick turned sixty-five, and Don turned 68, and they both decided it was time to retire.

After twenty years and 37 creative advertising awards, it was time to relax and enjoy life.

Rick had dated some but never really found anyone he could get close to. Memories of Betty kept him on edge, fearing that he might once again fall in love and lose that love. Twice in one lifetime was more than enough for him.

Chapter Seven

What if?

When Rick got the reunion notice, he was reluctant to send in an RSVP. It was the first time in almost fifty years that he had thought about Annie and the night she broke his heart. At first, he hadn't because thinking of her could have cost him his life in Vietnam. Not focusing on what as in front of him could have kept him from doing his duty, noticing things right in front of him. After he got home, he did everything he could just to get through the day without falling down. After he got sober, he paid attention to work. There was no time for thoughts of what might have been.

He had been retired from the advertising business for about three years when the notice of the reunion came. He thought it would be fun to see how his old friends were doing, to see how the girls he thought were pretty back in school looked now.

It was the Friday afternoon the day before the reunion. He sat in his living room on a big comfy couch when he started to think once again about Annie. He turned on the radio to a local AM oldies station. As the music played, he drifted off to sleep and dreamed of the night before he shipped out in 1967.

As he walked up to Annie house, he had made up his mind. He was going to ask her to marry him. He didn't care about the possibilities; he only cared about calling her his wife. If only for one night.

Annie opened the door and smiled at him. It was a strained smile, and she was thinking about the fact that she was going to break up with him on the night before he left for Vietnam.

Rick took her hand and as they walked down the flight of stairs to his car. He stopped her, turned her towards him and kissed her. After the kiss, he looked deep into her eyes and did it.

"Annie. I know this is crazy. I know it's short notice but, will you marry me?" he asked.

She stood there stunned. Things were running through her mind and after a few seconds she screamed, "YES!!"

"Holy crap. Yes. Of course, I will!" she told him as she jumped into his arms.

She held on to him tight and then it suddenly hit her. He was leaving for Vietnam in the morning.

"Do we have time to do it tonight?" she asked her.

It was only seven and Las Vegas was only four hours away. They had more than enough time to get there, get married and get back in time for him to get to the airport.

"Do we tell anyone?" he asked.

"No! Let's just go."

The two do them almost ran to his car and got in. After getting gas, and a quick stop at a Jack in the Box, they were off.

The drive was long, but they were excited about their decision. They talked about most anything but the fact that Rick was on his way to Vietnam. He was a Green Beret and would be sent to the field upon his arrival, and they both knew that he would be beating the bush, searching for the enemy. He life could end at any minute in Vietnam, and yet, neither of them cared.

They talked about where they might live when he got home. She told him that she had thought about being a teacher and that while he was away, she was going to go back to college.

"But you told me that you dropped out of college because it didn't challenge you," he said as he drove.

"That's true. It didn't, but if I go with a plan, about what I want to do. I think it'll be fine. I'll challenge myself."

"That's my girl," he said as he smiled at her.

As they drove into Vegas Rick filled up the gas tank and asked directions to "The Little White Wedding Chapel." With directions in hand, Rick drove down the Strip found the chapel and parked.

"Well, here we are. Are you ready?" he asked.

"I am. Let's get married," she said as she took his hand.

Annie and Rick walked into the chapel and told the tall, balding, older gentleman out front that they wanted to get married.

"Really? Because so many people come here for the cheesecake," he joked as he stood there and smiled.

Rick smiled back and told him that he would be very happy to get the cheesecake after they got married.

"Oh my God, I don't have a ring. I never thought about getting a ring because I didn't think I was going to do this," Rick told her.

"You didn't think you were going to do this?" she asked in disbelief.

"No! It was a spur of the moment thought. It just came to me as we started out to the car. You looked so sad, and all I wanted to do was cheer you up," he told her as he took her other hand.

"Well, you cheered me up. Now what are we going to do about the ring?" she asked.

"I have a nice selection of rings that you can buy," the gentleman told them.

"Great. But I don't have that kind of money." Rick told him as he dropped his head.

"What a great way to start a marriage," Annie laughed. "He's leaving for Vietnam in the morning, and we don't have a ring." She almost cried. "Is there anything you can do? Anywhere we can find an inexpensive ring?" she asked the old man.

"So you're in the service?" he asked as he turned towards the showcase behind him.

"Yes, He's in the Army. A Green Beret," she proudly told him.

"I believe we can provide one of our servicemen with a ring," he told her.

With that, he pulled a drawer full of rings and showed it to them.

Annie picked out a ring and tried it on. The ring fit perfectly and as she smiled, Rick took her hand.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

Annie turned to him and jumped into his arms. She buried her head in his shoulder and started crying.

"I love you," she whispered softly.

A few minutes later they were walking down the aisle and standing before the preacher and saying I do. After the kiss, they both looked at each other and smiled.

"And to think I was about to break up with you," Annie told him.

"What?"

"I was going to break up with you."

"But why?"

Annie looked at him and explained that she was afraid that he would be killed in Vietnam.

Rick stood there a little stunned and then told her that he could still be killed. Just because they were married, it didn't mean that he couldn't be killed.

"I know, but now I am Mrs. Rick Williams. I am your wife, and our love will survive anything," she told him.

Rick smiled and agreed that yes, she was now Mrs. Williams. He kissed her again, took her hand, and together they walked out of the chapel.

As they drove out of town, the weight of what they had just done started to set in. It wasn't that they were upset at what they had done, it was the fact that they went to Vegas and did it.

"Oh, my God, we're married!" Annie screamed.

"Really? Is that what we just did, because I'm in somewhat of a fog since we left Eagle Rock. We are married! But I don't think you need to shout it out at the top of your lungs for the world to hear," he calmly told her.

"Yes! Yes, I need the world to know!" she shouted at him.

He smiled and agreed with her that the world should know but that no one could hear her from the car in the middle of the desert.

"Oh, yeah. I'll wait until we get home. Oh, who do we tell first?" she asked as it suddenly became apparent that they had two families to surprise.

Rick pulled off the side of the road as it dawned on him that they had run off to get married and never said a word to anyone.

"Holy crap, my parents, are going to shit!" he said.

"Yours. My father will kill me," Annie told him. " Do we have to tell my parents?"

"Well, I want to tell mine, or....do I?" he wondered as he pulled back onto the highway.

Annie looked over at him and suggested that they keep the marriage a secret until he got home from Vietnam. No one needed to know except them.

On the way home they decided that it would be their secret until he came home from the war. Annie was more comfortable keeping the secret than she was, telling her father she was married.

"Oh damn!" she softly said.

"What? he asked.

Annie looked at him and told him that she didn't want to start their marriage with any secrets. She asked him to pull over again. Rick did as he was asked and turned toward her. He asked what she was talking about.

"I need to tell you something," she said to him.

Rick took her hand and told her that whatever it was they would face it together.

"About a year and a half before we met, I had a baby," she said as she looked into his eyes.

"Okay, so how come I've never seen this child of yours?" he asked.

Annie explained that she had spent seven months in a home for unwed mothers and when the baby was born her father forced her to put it up for adoption. Her father didn't want anyone to know that his daughter had a baby without being married. She told him that it was the most heartbreaking thing she ever had to do and that it was the reason she had been pulling back from him in the last few weeks. She couldn't stand to lose her baby and the love of her life, too.

"Okay. So....now I know. Is there anything else? Because this is not a problem and now if you want we can stand up to your father and tell him to go screw himself if he doesn't like the fact that we got married," he told her as they got back on the highway.

"Thank you for understanding. I love you, and, no, there is nothing else," she said as she leaned over and kissed him.

A few miles down the road Rick suddenly pulled off the road again.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"We haven't consummated our marriage."

Annie started to laugh and suggested that they had consummated their relationship several times. He agreed, but he told her that they needed to make love before he left in the morning.

"Well, we are real close to the place where we have consummated our love so many times. Shall we jump in back and make it legal?" she asked.

"I think we have to." He motioned for her to climb over the seat.

An hour later they were back on the road home. As they got close to Eagle Rock and Rick's home, he told her that he was going to tell his mom and dad and have her come to the airport with them.

Annie thanked him for including her in his departure that morning and leaned over and kissed him.

"You are so sweet. Now I feel married," she said as she smiled.

A short time later they pulled up to his house and parked. They sat there for a few minutes and then Rick got out and went around to open her door. As they walked up to his door, he took her hand and smiled at her.

Rick and Annie walked into his house and saw his mom and dad at the kitchen table eating breakfast.

"You do remember that you are due at the airport at ten this morning?" his dad asked as they walked in.

"Yes, I do recall something about flying this morning, but before we do that, I would like to introduce you to Mrs. Williams."

"I have already met Mrs. Williams. In fact, she is sitting next to me," his dad said to him.

Suddenly his mother cried out and jumped up from the table and ran to Annie's side hugging her. His dad sat there for a few seconds and then stood up.

"Are you crazy? You do know you're on your way to Vietnam don't you?" he said as he walked up to his son.

Rick assured him that he knew, but that last night he and Annie ran off to Las Vegas and got married.

"Like I said, are you crazy?"

Rick's mom turned and slapped her husband's shoulder and told him to leave her son alone and welcome his new daughter into the family.

Rick's father smiled, hugged Annie and welcomed her to the family, just as his wife had told him.

The four of them went back to the table and sat down. Rick told his mom and dad the events to the night and why they had decided to get married and then asked for some breakfast.

His mother got up and made them both some eggs and told them that she was very happy for them, then asked if Annie had told her mom and dad.

Annie told her that she and Rick had decided not to tell them until after Rick got back from Vietnam.

"What? How can you not tell them?" Rick's mother asked.

Annie asked them to forgive her but that it was for the best if her mother and father didn't know. They would never understand and would be incredibly mad at her. Telling her how stupid she was for getting married. Annie explained about her parents and hoped that Rick's mom and dad would understand.

"Well, dear, if that's what you want, then that's the way it'll be," Rick's mother said.

The rest of the morning was spent talking to Annie, assuring her that she was always welcome at their house while Rick was gone. She told them she would be over often to say hi and visit, and that she felt very welcomed by them.

All too soon it was time to leave for the airport. As they all walked to the car, Rick reassured everyone all that he was very well trained and that he would be back in no time at all.

Once at the airport the four of them walked to the terminal and said their goodbyes. He shook his dad's hand and kissed his mom. Then he took Annie in his arms, looked into her eyes and told her that he loved her and that he would be back before she knew it. Then he kissed her

Rick's mom and Annie held on to each other, while his dad stood next to them as Rick walked to the door, turned around and waved goodbye.

They stayed and watched as his flight took off and then walked out to the car and drove home.

The year for Annie went by slowly. During that time she registered for classes at a local college and started taking courses to become a teacher. In the meantime, Rick was doing his best to stay alive.

The letters came about once a week. He wrote about most everything except the war or what he was doing. What he was doing as a Green Beret was killing the enemy and helping the locals with medical and agricultural problems.

It was when Rick was with an A team strike force sweeping the bush around the camp when he was first almost killed. It was his second Long range reconnaissance patrol mission, and he had come under attack from a gook patrol. He was seriously wounded and dusted off to an Army hospital and then Japan. Finally, he was shipped out to Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland. Rick had been hit in the thigh, left arm, shoulder, and calf.

Annie and his parents were contacted, and the three of them flew to Bethesda, Maryland to see him. His rehabilitation would take months, and although his parents couldn't stay, Annie did, putting her education on hold until he came home.

When he was allowed to leave, the Army flew him back to home to California. He was walking with a cane and needed very little help with everyday things. The doctors at the in-country hospital had saved his life and his leg. The doctors at the hospital in Japan got him healed enough to fly home, and the doctors at Bethesda got him in shape to go home.

The problems with Rick wounds and their status as newlyweds were enough to keep them busy. Annie would go back to college part time because she wanted to stay with Rick as much as possible. They told her family about the marriage when Rick got home, and her parents blew up. Screaming and yelling at her about how stupid she was and what an idiot she married. Rick and Annie stood side by side. Listening to her father rant and rave at them. Then they looked him in the eye and told him to fuck off and walked out. That was the last time they heard from her family.

Rick's mom and dad welcomed her in with open arms and made room for the two of them in their house. As rough as it was for them in the beginning, they stuck it out and held on to each other.

Over the next two years, they fought and made up, and fought and made up again. Still, the love they shared kept them together. As soon as Rick was fully healed, he went out and got a job with his father at his office's mail room while Annie went back to school full time.

Life for the two of them started to smooth out. Things started to come together. Annie finally got her teaching credential and her Masters in Psychology with a minor in math and then got a job at a Junior high school in Bakersfield.

While Annie was getting her credential and Masters, Rick worked hard and got several promotions. He was not happy about working in the mail room, or any kind office for that matter.

He had spent close to a year in the jungles of Vietnam and didn't like the idea of wearing suits and ties. He didn't want to get hot and sweaty either, and being cooped up in a tiny little room was not his idea of anything he wanted to do. He had gotten used to wearing comfortable clothes and shaving when he wanted to. He liked being on his own and doing things his way. Still, he buckled under and did the job so that his wife could finish school.

Eight years and a Master's degree later Annie graduated. Rick quit his job and they moved to a small apartment in Bakersfield.

Rick wanted to find a different job. What kind of a job, he wasn't sure, but he did know he didn't want to be stuck in an office anymore. He wanted to have fun.

Annie and Rick sat down and talked about what it was he might like to do although he had no idea what it was.

"Rick, let's go back to high school! What did you like doing in high school?" she asked as they sat together on the sofa.

He thought about it and then told her that he loved being in the drama class. The acting was fun. He told her that he had written a few plays. He also told her that he went to the Mickey Rooney School of acting shortly after he left Los Angeles City College.

"You want to be an actor?"

Rick told her he didn't think that was a wise move on his part since there wasn't a lot of acting job in Bakersfield. She told him that maybe they could find something that included acting and writing.

"What would that be?" he asked.

She had no idea but told him that they could do some research. A few weeks went by, and they still had no idea what he could do. In the meantime, Rick had met and made friends with his neighbor, Bob. He was younger than Rick, and within a few minutes, they discovered they both had the same type of sense of humor. Bob worked for a local advertising agency as an advertising salesman. When he asked Rick what he did for a living, he was surprised to find that he had worked in the mail room of a major corporation for nine years.

"You are kidding me. You don't seem like the nine to five office type," Bob told him.

"I agree, but I don't know what else to do," Rick said as he walked back toward the house.

Bob asked him what he did before he worked in the mail room and Rick told him that he had been a Green Beret in Vietnam.

"Somehow I don't think that'll work in Bakersfield. Oildale maybe, but not in Bakersfield," Bob joked with him.

Bob stood there for a minute and then suggested that Rick come down the agency and see if he could write as funny as Bob thought he could.

That was the start of Rick's new career. He started as a copywriter and then moved on to doing voiceovers for commercials. Within a year Rick was made the production director and given a raise. Within his first five years, he had helped the agency win several ad club awards.

Annie was happy with her career choice, and while working as a teacher, she started writing short stories and sending them off to publishers. Rick was producing commercials and their life at home was becoming more and more comfortable.

When Rick woke up from his nap and dream of what might have been, he realizes it was time to get dinner ready. He had been single since Betty's murder and liked living by himself.

Chapter Eight

What if, Part Two

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Annie was relaxing in front of her fireplace thinking about the upcoming reunion. She thought about all of the old friends she hadn't seen in so many years and was looking forward to reconnecting with them.

As she laid back on her sofa, her mind began to drift back to that night. The night she said goodbye to Rick and life took an unexpected turn.

Annie put her head back and rested on an overstuffed pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep, to dream. It was the same dream that she had dreamed many times since moving to Newport Beach.

As they walked down to Rick's car that final night before he left for Nam, she stopped and turned to him.

"Rick! We should get married," she said as she stood there.

He stopped and turned back to her. His head was cocked to the left, and there was a slight look of shock on his face.

"What?"

"I think we should run off to Vegas and get married." she told him again.

"Really?"

Annie stepped up and kissed him and told him again that they should run off and get married.

"Okay! Yes, okay. Let's do it."

Rick took her in his arms, held her tight and kissed her.

"Yes? Are you sure?" she asked.

Rick looked at her and told her that he had thought about asking her to marry him before he left but decided against it because of the way she was acting. She told him that she was sorry but that she was feeling that she was going to lose him forever and couldn't take that possibility.

"What made you change your mind, and who cares, let's go!" he said as he took her hand and walked to the car.

They got home the next morning as Mr. and Mrs. Williams. His plane for Oakland was leaving soon, and there wasn't much time to celebrate with family.

She waved goodbye as his plane took off and stood there with tears in her eyes, praying that he came home to her alive and well.

Annie's life continued to be a slow day-after-day existence. Her mind was, of course, on Rick and what he was having to endure. Because she was constantly worried about him, her school work suffered, so much so that she decided to quit school and do what she could to help her husband. She worked along with her mother-in-law, to pack up and send him and his friends care packages and letters. They would send him the Sunday comics along with cans of soup and snacks. Anything that might make his day better. She didn't tell Rick she had quit school because she didn't want him to know the extent to which she was worried. Her letters, much like his, were very uplifting and spoke of how she was doing fine although she wasn't.

It was difficult for her fully comprehend the reality that her husband was in a war zone fighting the enemy. Each day she would think of him and write a letter. Sometimes the letters were short, and other times she would write about everything that was going on in her life. Her letters would never mention the conditions back in the States. She never told him how the soldiers coming home were treated. She kept the letters lighthearted and talked with him about how they would be together soon and the life they would have together. She wanted him to know that she was waiting for him and thought of him every day.

Annie continued to work at the drug store. It helped her keep her mind off the war and whatever Rick might be going through. She was able to smile for a while and get away from life at home because life there was miserable. It was something that she had never told Rick about. She never wanted anyone to know that her home life was horrible. It took her awhile, but she finally saved enough money to move out and find her own little apartment. Getting away from her father was the best thing she could have done for herself. The stress from home combined with Rick being in Vietnam was overwhelming. The day she was able to move out, her stress level decreased, and life became easier. Still, Rick was a long way from home, and she missed him more than she could have ever imagined.

Time passed slowly. It was almost unbearable, but with each passing day, with each letter from Rick, she felt better. His letters brought a smile to her face. They were always telling her how much he missed her and how much he loved her. He never told her what he was going through. Never a mention of the war or horrors he witnessed or what he had had to do.

Annie was spending a very quiet Sunday afternoons when there was a knock on her door. She was surprised at the knock and as she walked to the door and wondered who could be knocking on a Sunday afternoon.

When she opened the door, she saw an Army officer dressed in Army dress greens standing before her. She wanted to talk, to ask what he wanted but the shock of seeing him standing there made her unable to speak. The realization of why he was there hit her.

"Excuse me, but are you Mrs. Rick Williams?" he asked.

She was afraid to say anything, almost knowing what he was going to tell her.

"Yes," she told him softly.

He explained who he was and why he had come to see her:

"Your husband has been wounded in action and......"

"What?" she asked.

"Your husband was wounded......"

Annie dropped to her knees and started to cry. The officer told her that it was alright, he was only wounded, not killed.

"Yes, I heard you. But I was expecting you to tell me that he was dead," she explained.

He offered to help her up and as he did he asked if she would like to step inside and have a seat. She agreed, and they walked in. Once on the couch, she thanked him and explained again that when she saw him standing there, she expected him to tell her that Rick had died.

"You have no idea what it's like to open the door and see you standing there. I just knew Rick had been killed," she told him as she wiped away her tears.

He looked at her and explained that he had been doing this longer than he cared to recall, and all too many times he had to deliver the news that someone's husband or son had died. He did understand how she must have felt and he was sorry.

He went on to explain that Rick and his team had been in a firefight and he was wounded. That he had been airlifted to a hospital in Japan and would be coming to Walter Reed Hospital within a month or two.

"The army will send you information as to when you can come and see him." he told her as he stood up to leave.

"Wait a minute. Have you told his parents yet?" she almost shouted at him.

"No, I was on my way over there after I came to see you," he explained.

"Please let me tell them," she begged.

He explained that he had his orders and had to see them through. He did tell her that she might call them and explain that he was on the way, that it might soften the blow. Annie thanked him and said that she would.

As soon as she said goodbye to the officer, she was on the phone calling her mother-in-law to tell her that Rick was alright and that an Army officer was on the way.

The next month was hell waiting for the information on when she could go see Rick. She wanted to go now. She wanted to be sure he was alright and hold him and tell him that she loved him. Just when she figured she would have to call the Army hospital to find out if he was there yet, a telegram came informing her that Rick had been at Walter Reed for a week and that she could come anytime.

Annie told his parents, and the three of them took a flight back to Maryland. It was a long and boring flight, and yet they were excited knowing they were on their way to see Rick. All Annie wanted to do was to see him and to tell him it was going to be okay. By the time they got to the hospital, Annie was about ready to bust.

Before they got to see him, the doctor took them aside and told them what to expect. Rick had been badly wounded in the leg, but after surgery, they were able to save the leg. It would not be a pretty sight when they got in the room. He told them that he had three other wounds that weren't not as bad, but still, he was in good condition for the wounds he had.

"Rick will be here for a few more months, and he'll need physical therapy to get his leg back to normal. He'll walk with a cane for a while, but with time he'll be fine." The doctor told them.

The doctor then led them into Rick's room. His leg was raised up in a full sling. He looked beaten up, but Annie didn't see anyone but the man she loved.

She walked to his side and sat softly on the edge of the bed, stroked his arm and gently called his name. Slowly his eyes opened, and she came into focus. When he saw her sitting there, he smiled and told her he loved her. Annie leaned forward and took him in her arms.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear and then kissed him.

His mom and dad walked over to the bed, and he said hi.

"I'd get up, but they kind of got me tied down here," he joked with them.

His mother was in tears. To see her baby laying there all bandaged up and helpless was ripping her apart on the inside. She did her best, but she couldn't stop the tears.

"Mom, I'm okay. it looks worse than it is," he tried to comfort her.

Still, she cried and took his hand.

"I'm guessing the other guy looks worse," his father said to him.

His son smiled and told him the other guy was dead and told them all what had happened that night in the jungle. How they had humped through the boonies all day and found what they felt was a secure place to gather intel on the gooks.

"We had settled in for the night. It was about two a.m. when a gook patrol walked by and would have missed us completely, but the last guy tripped over the RTO's leg and started yelling," he told them.

He explained that the firefight had lasted only a few minutes and when it was over they had killed the bad guys, and he was shot up pretty good. His team picked him up and carried him to an evacuation point. They were all out and on their way to a hospital within an hour.

"To be honest, I don't know how I got here," he told them.

Annie squeezed his hand and told him that it didn't matter how he got there. The only thing that matter was that he did get there.

The three of them stayed with him the rest of the day and talked about most anything but Vietnam. The doctor came in at the end of the day and checked on him, telling everyone that things looked really good. The nurses were in and out every hour or so taking care of his every need.

Annie and his parents left around seven to get some dinner and told him that they would be back in the morning.

"Thank you!" he told them as they turned to walk out.

"No, thank you son!" his father said and saluted him.

His mother and Annie kissed him, and they were gone for the night. Rick drifted off to sleep, that night thinking of his Annie and their life together.

The following morning Rick's parents and Annie returned and talked with him about the next few months. His parents told him that because of their work they would not be able to stay with him, but that Annie was staying and would keep them up to date on his recovery.

Rick's recovery went well, and within a month and a half he was on his feet, walking and getting along without the cane. It wasn't long after that Annie brought him home.

On the flight home, Annie told Rick that their home was a small one-bedroom apartment in Eagle Rock. She also told him that she had quit college while in was in Vietnam because she was under so much stress. Rick told her that he understood but that he felt she should go back and get her degree.

She agreed that she would as soon as Rick was able to make his way back into society. She told him that he had plenty of time to relax and once again get accustomed to civilian life.

For the first time in more than a year, they made love. This time, they lay side by side in her bed. Her body felt softer and smoother than he remembered and as he loved her, he melted back into those nights they spent together before he left. It was something he wouldn't allow himself to do while in Vietnam. He could not afford to take his mind off of his mission.

Now Rick was home, and they were ready to start life over again. The first several months home, Rick stayed around the apartment not wanting to venture out. He had heard how several of his fellow soldiers had come home only to have people ridicule them for their service. He let his hair grow out; he found his old jeans, but they were too loose and didn't fit, so Annie bought him new jeans, and T-shirts, and tennis shoes.

Soon he found a job at a gas station pumping gas and working on cars, doing oil changes. Although he wasn't making a lot, he was working and helping support the family and with Annie's evening job, they were making their way. The job gave him little contact with the public and he liked that. The less contact, the better as far as he was concerned. There were just too many stupid people out there.

Annie was now in college full time. While he worked hard, she worked hard on getting her degree. It took her while but she finally got her Master's and teaching credential. A short time after that she found a job in San Luis Obispo and she and Rick were on their way.

She held on to him fearing that it was nothing more than a dream and she did not want it to come to an end. She wanted to make up for all the lost time. She knew that it must have been horrible over there, but she never forced him to talk about. If he wanted to, she would listen, but it would be up to him.

The only times he and Annie went anywhere it was down to Eagle Rock to see his mom and dad or her parents' house. Her parents were still not very happy with the marriage, so their trips over there were short. His parents were just happy to have him home, and they loved Annie. They were happy to have her in the family and have her there to care for their son.

His mother could see the difference in him immediately. He was somehow older. She saw that he was much more serious about many things, even if there was still that old "hand caught in the cookie jar" look on his face. There was also a look of fear, a look that reflected what he had been through.

When Rick finally felt like he was ready to join society again, Annie helped him by slowly taking him out to see his old friends and make new ones, and she takes him out to eat, or they'd go out to the movies. Although he was always friendly and outgoing with them, deep within him it was all he could do to control his fears. He didn't fear them; he feared he would explode. That he would fall apart.

He had horrible dreams from the very first day home, and although Annie was concerned, she had no idea what to do to help. She held him and did her best to be there for him. Anything more than that she just wasn't sure what to do.

Their home life was fine, and she learned how to sidestep things that prove to be explosive. She learned how to recognize situations that could turn Rick on a dime from a calm and cool guy next door to a raving crazy man. The war had turned him into a minefield. The war had kept him on edge, alert, and focused 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 250 days until the night he was wounded. Coming home after being that focused and that on edge was not easy to deal with for him or Annie. Still, she learned, after all, she was a psychology major in college and got her Master's in Psychology. It helped her to understand and to cope with Rick's sudden outbursts of anger.

It took a long time for Rick to come to grips with what he had happened to him in Vietnam, several years and with Annie's help. Help he wasn't all that excited about when she first suggested that he go see a psychologist. It wasn't until she found him a guy who was also a veteran that he agreed to go and talk.

Jim Page was a combat veteran who had served in Vietnam. He was there in the very beginning as a Green Beret advisor. He knew what Rick was going through. He understood the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He was able to talk with Rick on the same level. He was able to find common ground and the fact that he had been in Vietnam allowed Rick to be able to trust him.

It took a while, but Rick finally was able to see that what had happened. What he had done in Vietnam was not who he was. He finally came to grips with his PTSD and found some peace of mind.

Annie found that Rick was finally able to find a good job and keep it. Before his anger and his inability to trust had gotten him in a lot of trouble and fired from several jobs. Thankfully, with Annie's and Jim's help, he became a much calmer, much more understanding person.

Once he was able to understand, things at home became more loving and calmer. Annie once again had the man she had married. They had suffered together through years of his anger and horrifying nightmares, clinging to the hope that one day she would once again have the man she had fallen in love with.

Their years together were filled with good and bad times, but they faced them together, and no matter what obstacles came their way, they faced them side by side. They had finally found that feeling they had once shared so many years ago. They held hands whenever and wherever they walked. They rediscovered the love that brought them together.

As Annie lay there on her sofa sound asleep and deep within her dream of how it might have been, she heard her phone ringing and woke up.

As she tossed the lightweight blanket off, she stood and walked to her phone and answered.

"Hello." she said.

It was Robert, an old classmate she had dated during high school and had recently reconnected with, wondering if she were going to the reunion. She told him she wasn't sure.

"Oh come on. It'll be great. You'll get to see a lot of old friends that you haven't seen in years," he told her in hopes that she would agree.

She told him that she would think it over and let him know in a day or two. He told her not to wait too long that the reunion was only a month away.

"Okay, okay, I'll think it over," she told him again and said good-bye.

She went back to her sofa and sat back down wondering if Rick would be there and whether or not she wanted to see him again. Whether or not he hated her for what she had done.

It took her a while, but she decided to go. She hoped that maybe if Rick was there, he would let her explain. She so desperately wanted to explain her actions that night.

So she sent in her RSVP and informed Robert that she was going. He offered to pick her up and take her, but she declined. She said there was something she needed to do before the reunion and that she might be a little late. He told her that it was fine with him, that he didn't care if they were late.

"Robert, I didn't go the prom with you, and I am not going to the reunion with you. I am sorry, but I'm not," she told him in no uncertain terms.

Robert laughed and told her that he was fine with that and that he would see her there if she promised to save him a dance.

She promised and said goodbye. The only thing on her mind about the reunion was to let Rick know how badly she felt about dumping him that night so many years ago and giving him a reason why.

Chapter Nine

How they got to this point

Rick was the second son of a hard working couple who were in the middle of the middle class. They were never well off enough to relax but never really wanted for the basics of life. Vacations, Christmas, and birthdays were something his parents planned and saved for. But there were no extremely expensive presents.

His father worked for a major corporation that supplied them with the ability to live comfortably along with some financial help from his grandmother who moved in with them after his grandfather died. When she did life became easier for the family. His mother drove a catering truck for years and then decided she wanted something different, so she went to beauty college. Upon finishing night school, she got a job in a beauty shop. Night school meant that the boys were taken care of by their dad, a strict and yet fair man that would either take them out to eat or fix them his special of hamburger and beans for dinner. Either way, the boys were happy.

Rick went to elementary school, a Junior High, and high school four years after his big brother. Every time he entered a school, the original school buildings were being replaced by new ones Basically he went to school in bungalows. Rick got the feeling that his brother and his friends were so hard on the schools they had to rebuild after they graduated. In Junior High, he was not much more than his big brother's little brother. In high school, however, he was living in the shadow of his brother, who was a gifted football and baseball player. Rick was not as talented as his brother, and when coaches found out who his big brother was, he always heard the comment, "I hoped he is as good as his brother." It got to a point where he stopped telling anyone who his brother was.

Because of the comparisons, Rick decided in his second semester he would forgo football and baseball. Instead, he took drama classes and joined the drama club. Athletically he turned to a sport his brother had never competed in swimming. The swim team was started in his second year and gave him an opportunity to compete in something where he wouldn't be compared to his brother.

Rick was a pretty good swimmer. Among the rest of the team, he was the fourth fastest freestyle swimmer. Workouts started with a rag-tag collection of guys that had never competed on a team before. It took hard work, and if there was a bright light on the team, it was Buddy. He was a damned good swimmer. He had competed before, not only was he the best swimmer on the team but the best in the Northern League.

The team was well on its way to losing its fourth meet when the backstroker went down and was out for the rest of the season. When the coach asked for someone to swim backstroke, Rick stood up and volunteered. He had never done the backstroke, but he figured how much harder it could be than the freestyle. As it turned out, it was harder. Much harder. The flip turns were made on the swimmer's back. Looking for the wall was done by looking over a shoulder once the swimmer saw a maker hanging overhead.

As it turns out, Rick was very good. By the end of the year during the city finals, where Buddy took top honors, Rick finished fifth in the backstroke. Fifth in the entire city of Los Angeles. Not bad for a kid who had never done backstroke before. Finally, he wasn't being compared to his brother.

His school years were darkened by the shadow of shyness. It wasn't until he started his drama classes that Rick started to come out of his shell. The very first time he took the stage in drama class, did a simple pantomime of a doctor pulling out an organ from a make-believe body through the mouth. He made the class laugh hard, and he realized that he had a gift. He wanted to hear the laughter again.

He had made people laugh throughout his school years but didn't realize or cultivate it until that day in that first drama class.

The fact was even though he was an outgoing, funny kind of guy with a crowd; he was painfully shy around girls. So shy in fact that Rick didn't date in the normal since during high school. He would go to dances and dance with the girls once there, but it was very rare if he asked a girl out. He had a lot of girlfriends, but few girlfriends. When he did date, he would double date; he just felt more comfortable in a group. It wasn't until after high school that he came out of his shell and started to feel more relaxed around girls really.

As the school years went by he became more and more comfortable and less and less shy. Still, when it came to finding a date for the prom, he struggled. There were so many girls that were so pretty. So many that he would have liked to have asked to the prom. So many that he knew would chuckle and politely say, "No, thank you," if he asked them.

One day during a visit to the school library he saw Sammie. She was a very cute redhead with a sweet smile and beautiful blue eyes that would melt any teenage boys heart. The problem was working up the courage to ask her to the prom.

What to do? How to approach her? What would he say? Those questions were answered when he walked up to the counter, and she said, "Hi."

"Aren't you the guy that played the Wall?" she asked.

"From Shakespeare's A Mid-Summer Nights Dream. Yes That was me,"

She told him that she thought it was so funny and that she loved the Shakespeare festival he had been in.

"I laughed when you walked out as the town crier, and that guy wolf whistled at you," she told him.

"Yeah, I loved that, too," he joked with her.

They laughed and started to talk. Rick found himself in the library day after day talking with her, and then one day he did it.

"I was wondering if you would like to go to the prom with me?" he asked, surprising himself.

Even more surprising was that she said yes. He stood there for a few seconds without saying a word when he suddenly realized that he should say something he smiled and told her that he was happy. She said yes, and that they would have a great time.

His only problem now was how to get her and himself to the prom. So Rick talked to friends and finally got Mike to agree that they could double with him and his date. Rick and Sammie were on their way and looking forward to a great time together at the prom.

After going to see his mom at work to take a few pictures, they were off to the prom. They had a great time dancing and being together. It was a fun night, but as it ended and they drove to her house, he realized that she might want a kiss good night. Fear of that kiss grew and grew the closer he got to her house.

As Mike pulled over and stopped, Rick jumped out of the car, walked around and opened her door and helped her out. He took her hand and walked her up to the door, and after she opened the door, she turned back to him. He gently took her into his arms and kissed her. A kiss that can only be described as "The World's Worst Kiss."

He and Sammie are never dated after that. It could have been the kiss or the fact that he was totally and completely embarrassed by it and never asked her out again.

March 29, 1965. Rick woke that morning to the sounds of rain on his window. He stumbled around his room in a valiant effort to get dressed.

He had one leg in his jeans, and the other was somewhere between the floor and the opening in his pants.

"Hang in there Rick; you can do it. Just a few more seconds and you'll be there. Another inch or two and you've got it made. Hold on, you've got it, you've got it........oops!"

He sat there on the floor, one leg in, the other caught in the top of the pants.

"Nice try kid." he said to himself.

Rick wondered if this was going to be one of "Those" days. He got up and hoped that it wouldn't be. He didn't need another of "Those" days.

Just then he heard his mother yell from the kitchen that breakfast was ready.

"Are you all right?" she asked as Rick walked into the kitchen.

"Oh yeah, fine, well, except for this large bruise on my butt!" He told her as he sat down to eat.

"OUCH!"

Rick shouted as he satThere on the table, waiting for him, was his favorite breakfast. French toast, with powdered sugar, bacon, and a large glass of milk. Mom had told friends that he drank enough milk to feed a small pride of lions. He picked up the glass and found an envelope under it. "Rick" was written across the front. Having completed close to twelve years of schooling, it only took him a minute or two to figure out that it was for him. He opened up the envelope and pulled out a card with Snoopy on the cover. Snoopy was sitting in his Sopwith Camel smiling from ear to ear. Rick smiled back and opened up the card. On the inside, Snoopy's doghouse was stuck nose-first in the ground. Flames were shooting up from the sides. Across the top it read:

"WELL, ANOTHER YEAR SHOT TO HELL!"

It was Rick's birthday. He was eighteen years old. It was a great time to eighteen. 1965 was the age of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'N' Roll. Surf, Sand, and Sex. It was going on all over the place. Everybody knew it was going on. Rick lived close to where the sand and surf was. He regularly drove through the areas of drugs and Rock 'N' Roll. But where the hell was the sex?

The only thing on his mind that day was the fact that he had to register for the draft. The army! The war in Vietnam! None of this meant anything to him. Rick was eighteen years old; he didn't watch the news. His interests rested in the beach, girls, Rock 'N' Roll music and getting out of school with a diploma in his hand. There were times he wasn't so sure that that was going to happen, but after hours of study, after having his mother beg the teachers not fail, him and after several friends talking with the teachers on his behalf, he made it out.

Rick spent most of the day trying to find a friend to give him a ride to Pasadena, where the draft board waited for him. Most of the guys didn't want to get near the place, and the girls were all busy. He considered walking but knew that was out of the question. Yes, he did have a driver's license, but no car around to drive, so he searched out someone who would drive him because only a fool would walk that far in the rain that had continued throughout the day. Finally, after searching the school over and being rejected by most everyone, Carol, a girl that Rick had known for most of the senior year, offered him a ride. Carol had been dating his best friend, Dave since they first met earlier in the year.

"I can get you there, but I've got to get right home. Will it take long?" she asked.

"I'm not sure!" Rick told her truthfully.

"Why don't you know?"

"Cause I've never done this before."

"Why?" she questioned again.

"Because, you only do this once in your life."

"Why?" she wondered.

Rick started to answer and then decided that it would be safer if he just stayed away from the whole thing.

"Just get me there. I'll get back somehow. Okay?" he asked her.

"Okay! See you after school," she said and walked away.

Rick shook his head in disbelief. Carol was one stupid girl. This was the girl who told him, when they first met, that she was going to die by the time she was 25 because she was a witch. Then she took him out behind a bungalow and kissed him. Hell if it hadn't been on the school grounds she probably would have ripped his clothes off and taken him right there and then. Of course, Rick wouldn't have been the first for her. That was his best friend, Dave. He still doesn't understand the girl or any girl for that matter.

On his way to class, he thought about how he might get home. There had to be away to get home. He could hitch a ride and risk getting kidnapped by some crazed killer from Pasadena. He could walk! No! Rick already figured out that was stupid. Too far, plus it was still raining. Walking was out of the question.

The day went by in no time at all and before he knew it Carol was dropping him off in front of the building where he was to register. She stopped the car. He got out, she said goodbye and drove away. Rick stood there for a second or two then started across the street. The rain had stopped, but the way it looked it could start up again any minute. Halfway across he started to feel very much alone. He stopped in front of the building thinking to himself.

"God, it would be great to be turning seventeen, rather than eighteen."

Rick looked in the door and figured that he might as well get it over with. He opened the door and walked in. He went up the two flights of stairs and stood waiting while the man behind the counter finished some other business. Just as he was about to say the heck with it and walk out, the man turned around.

"Hello, may I help you?" he asked very politely.

"I'm here for the draft," Rick told him.

"Don't you mean you're here to register for the draft?" he questioned Rick.

"Whatever!"

He pulled out a small card and told him to fill it out. Rick just stood there looking at the man in disbelief.

"Is that all there is to it?" Rick asked him.

"Yep!" he said as he turned to walk away. "Just leave it on the counter when you're done."

"Holy shit, I could have had Carol wait for me. This took all of three minutes. Here I am signing my life over to the United States Government, and she's halfway home by now. Damn!"

Rick filled out the card and walked back outside. It was raining again, heavily, by the time he stepped out the door.

"Great, I have to walk home, and it's raining like Noah should be building another ark." he said as he looked up into the rain.

Rick made his way to a phone booth on the corner and called a few friends. Nobody was home. His mother was busy, his father was at work, and God only knows where his brother was. Rick looked up at the clouds again and figured that it was going to rain for the rest of the day.

"Shit! I may as well start walking. It's only twenty, thirty miles or so. I'll be walking twice that once I get in the army. May as well get used to it." he said to himself as started on his way home.

As he walked, he could see cars drive by. He knew the people inside them were commenting on the boy walking in the rain. He could almost hear what they were saying. The wife would start:

"Oh, sweetheart, look at that poor boy walking in the rain. Why don't we give him a ride?" she would say.

"The damn hippie needs a bath, let him walk." the husband would say as he stepped on the gas and would speed off as Rick waved and smiled at them.

Mile after mile he walked. The rain continued to fall. It didn't matter, after the first few minutes he was soaked to the bone. His shoes made funny little sloshing sounds as he walked. If the army was going to be anything this, he didn't want anything to do with it.

What seemed like hours later, he was almost home. Just another few more blocks and he would be there. He was even closer to school, and so he decided to go by there first. There just might be someone left at school that could give him a ride the last few blocks home. As he drew closer, he heard what he thought was music coming from the girls' gym. The closer he got the more certain he was that there was music coming from the gym. When Rick got to the doors of the gym, he stood there in the rain for a moment or two and then walked in. The sound of the Rock 'N' Roll music flooded out the door as he opened it. Inside the gym were fifteen to twenty of his friends getting the gym ready for the dance later that night.

"Oh great, here I am giving my life up to the government and these guys are getting ready for a dance. No wonder nobody was home when I called."

He walked home, dried off and got ready for the dance.

High school ended with a graduation day that so many of his classmates were happy to see come. Rick was happy to see it come, too, because he was just happy to be graduating. Surprised might have been a better description of his feelings. But there he was walking across the stage. He auto shop teacher smiled at him as he shook his hand and congratulated him.

"Good luck out there, Rick." he told him as he handed him his diploma.

With his certificate in hand, he walked off stage and into the big, bad world

His father took pictures, and his mother was smiling. After all the hugs, handshakes, and promises to stay in touch, Rick's school life was over.

The following years were filled with surfing with Clyde, a friend from high school. Rick and Clyde worked at Jack in the Box and Rick dated a few girls he met from time to time. One was a young lady that he knew from high school. Mary was a cute blond that he saw for the first time since school while working at "Jack in the Box" She recognized him right away and after some prompting, he remembered her, too.

"I had the biggest crush on you in school," she informed him.

"Really?" he said.

He was about to ask her out when he noticed a baby in the back seat and thought better of it.

Life was good and he never once thought about the draft. However, the draft board had thought about him and finally notified him that he had a week before he was to report.

The Friday night before he was to report, Rick went to play baseball with his brother. During his first at-bat, his brother encouraged him by telling he had better do good. After all, this would be his last game before going in the army.

Rick stood in the batter's box and watched as the pitcher threw in the first pitch. He swung and made contact. It felt to Rick that he had clobbered the ball over the fence. Without looking, he trotted off to first all the while thinking it was a homerun.

As he turned toward second base, Rick looked up and saw the shortstop standing there with the ball in his hands.

"Crap! How did he get the ball?" Rick wondered.

While thought after thought ran through his head, he could hear his brother screaming at him to slide. Rick decide to slide high and scare the hell out of the guy so that he'll drop the ball. So, that's what he did, and that's what happened.

Rick sat there on the base surprised at the fact that he was safe. Then it hit him that he was facing first base and logic was telling him he should have been facing the outfield. Then it dawned him that he felt a little pain in his knee. So, he sat up to see what he had done to his knee and saw that his jeans were ripped a little.

"Oh, damn, I skinned my knee," he said to himself. "I hate it when that happens."

As he pulled the jeans back to see how badly he might have skinned his knee, he saw the bone and fell back on his back wondering he has seen what he thought he had seen. Not wanting to take the chance on proving it to himself by looking again, he just laid there without moving.

The team just stood there and watched for a minute or two before realizing that he wasn't kidding around. He was if nothing else a big joker, so no one took him seriously when he didn't move. It was his brother who finally came running out to him to see if he was alright. When he saw the knee, he called the team out, and they carried him off the field.

Within a few minutes, he was being laid down on a ping pong table. His sister-in-law was trying to calm him doom, but Rick wasn't upset. He just lay there while his brother told him it was going to be fine. For whatever reason, everyone seemed to be rather concerned about him. Then it came to him that he had seen the bone and the realization that he had sliced his leg open hit him.

A cop on a motorcycle rode up and hopped off his bike. He pulled out his first-aid kit, thinking that he would wrap up this kid's knee and he would be fine. Once he looked down at the knee, he wrapped up the roll of gauze he had started to unwrap.

"Damn kid, you screwed that puppy up, didn't you?" he said as he walked back to his bike.

While Rick laid there, it seemed strange to him that he didn't feel any pain. He was happy there was no pain but didn't understand why. As he wondered, an ambulance pulled up and the technicians wrapped up his leg, loaded him into the ambulance, and rushed him off to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, he was taken in for X-rays to see if he had broken his leg. While waiting for the results, the pain that was absent for so long decided to show up. Rick was suddenly screaming for the nurses and shouting that he was in a great deal of pain. He was rushed into the OR and got a shot in one arm and another in his leg. A few minutes later the pain that had engulfed his leg was gone and he started talking to the nurse a mile a minute.

"I believe the Demerol has taken effect Doctor," the nurse said matter-of- factly.

The injury to Rick's knee was reported to the draft board by his mother, and he was given a three-month extension on his report date.

After a month on crutches and another several weeks limping around Rick's leg was healing nicely. The draft was the last thing on his mind when he ran into Annie.

Annie's childhood compared to Rick's was less Ozzie and Harriet and more Ozzie Osborne. To call it Chaotic would be an understatement. She was an only child and was born into a strict Italian Catholic family. Her mother, as well as Annie, was under the thumb of Annie's father. He was a mean-spirited, angry man whose alcohol-fueled rage was the cause of Annie's fear of failure. Expectations were high for her to succeed. She didn't care about much of anything except making sure she was away as much as possible. She spent a great deal of her childhood in her bedroom hiding from her father.

She had a cousin, Gina, that lived nearby and the two of them were very close. They both dreamt of the day they could move out and live on their own, away from their families.

Annie felt the tragic sting of the loss of her mother who lost her fight against liver cancer. She was only eleven years old when her mother passed away. The event left her alone in the house with her father who at the loss of his wife began to drink even more.

Annie took the loss of her mother hard. She found it difficult to continue with life much less school, but her father forced her out the door every morning. She did her school work but never really gave it her all. The only thing she wanted to do was close her eyes and hide. Her only consolation was Gina. She took refuge in their time together.

So, If an effort to stay away from her father and his rage, Annie spent more and more time with Gina. Gina was about the same height as Annie with the same brown eyes and cute smile. The girls did everything together. Throughout Junior high school they were hardly ever apart. It wasn't until the night that Annie's dad refused to let her join Gina and her family on a weekend trip to Big Bear Lake that the two were apart. They said goodbye that evening and told each other they would see each other Sunday evening. However, Sunday evening would come and go without the return of the family. It wasn't until the following Wednesday that Gina's family and their car were found down the side of a cliff. The skid marks on the highway showed how the car took a corner too fast and went over the embankment killing everyone as it rolled down the five-hundred-foot cliffs.

Annie was devastated at the loss of her cousin. Saddened by another loss of someone close to her, she drew further within herself. If not for her other best friend, Roberta, she may have never made it through the loss of her mother and Gina.

Roberta and Annie had met in Junior High school. Annie, Gina, and Roberta became the best of friends almost as soon at the three met. They had everything in common. Roberta was the reason that Annie was able to get through Junior high school. She helped her with her homework and kept her from falling apart after Gina's death. Roberta was a lovely five-foot-seven girl with blond hair and a sarcastic sense of humor. The three girls found themselves having fun wherever they were together. After Gina's death Roberta and Annie both realized that life was short and that they never knew what might happen. So they decided to live life as it were their last day. It was as if they didn't care what the next day brought. They were here to have fun. Their school work suffered, but Their social life flourished. Although they did date a lot of boys, Annie decided it wasn't worth her father's wrath to be bold enough to let any boy have his way with her. She knew that if she got pregnant, her father would kill her, and so she never wanted to take the chance. Roberta, on the other hand, was not so virtuous about her virginity.

When the girls got to high school Annie realized that there wasn't anything she wanted more than to be a cheerleader. She wanted the friendships, and she wanted to be a part of something that everyone talked about. Cheerleading was the social place to be. Her only problem was her grades were not good enough to let her try out and so she determined that if she was going to be a cheerleader, she would have to study and bring her grades up.

At the end of her freshmen year, her grades were up. When school started again after the summer, she tried out and was selected to be on the cheerleading squad.

It was shortly after the end of summer that Roberta's family moved away and Annie once again had the loss of a very good friend to deal with. But she forged ahead and did the best she could to deal with it. Being a cheerleader helped a great deal. She made friends with the other girls on the squad, and this helped her through Roberta's move. Still, she had a hard time.

By her senior year, she was a varsity squad member and loving every minute of it. Her father left her alone because her grades were good. She was enjoying high school life to the fullest. The pain of the past was just that, in the past. The pain and loss were buried as best as they could be and life continued for Annie.

About a year and a half, before she met Rick, life took another tragic twist. Although Annie dated during high school, there wasn't any one guy she got stuck on. She was happy dating and not being tied to any one guy.

She was well into the first semester of college when Terry walked into her life. He was a tall, handsome young man with short-cropped blond hair and steel blue eyes. They met one night at a party after a football game. He was the quarterback and the hero of the game.

Annie wasn't normally taken with football players, but this guy was far beyond what the term hunk implied. The fact that he seemed to be nice was just that much more to admire. Annie was lost. She was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was falling hard. It was as if this was the guy she had waited for all her life and she as more than willing to give in to whatever he wanted and he wanted her.

Their relationship was hot and heavy. It lasted a whole nine months until the day she told him she was pregnant. Up until that time he was just the sweetest guy on the planet. However, at the news that she was having a baby Terry, was quickly gone and she was left with a broken heart and a baby on the way.

When she told her father, he demanded that she give up the baby. She begged him to allow her to keep her baby, but he said there was no way she was going to embarrass him and the family name by having a baby out of wedlock.

Her father sent her off to St, Anne's Home for Unwed Mothers in Los Angeles, where she would stay until the baby was born. Although the people at St. Anne's were nice enough, it was the worst seven months of her life.

The loss of Terry and her baby was just two more in a long line of tragedies in her life, and another turn towards pulling away from reality and into herself.

When Rick came along, she was neither looking for nor wanting another relationship. But there was something about him that turned her life around and made her want to be a part of the world again. Never knowing of course, where it would all lead her.

Chapter Ten

The Reunion

The music was playing in the background and classmates were busy catching up, dancing, and having fun. Rick was sitting with Jackie, Barbara, and Dale talking about the good times they had back in school.

Ah, yes, the good old days at Franklin High School. Back when his now white hair was brown and the now 220-pound 68-year old was a slim 175. The days when he was voted class clown and was so damn shy, it took him forever to ask a girl out. Usually opting to meet girls at the Pasadena Civic and dance with them as opposed to asking any of them out. His friends would find him outgoing and funny, but inside he was as unsure about the thing they called being a teenager as most anyone.

He glanced over at Annie from time to time but didn't want to talk with her, and yet he did. The feelings running through him were awash in confusion.

So, he continued to talk with old friends. He caught up with them and their life over the past fifty years. Their stories were interesting, and he found that many of them had also gone to Vietnam.

He was about to get up and go see Mike, a friend whom he had not seen since they had double dated with Cathie and Sammie back at the senior prom when Cathie walked to him and told him that Annie wanted to see him.

"I'll bet she does." he sarcastically remarked as he stood up.

The walk across the hall was slow and meaningful. He wanted her to wait. He had not seen her since the night she dumped him. There had been other reunions before this one but the two he did get to, she did not, and the one he wasn't able to go to, she did.

It had been forty-eight years and the memory of the night still burned in the pit of his stomach. He had no idea what he was going to say when they finally met, but he knew he wanted her to hurt as much as he did.

As he walked up, she glanced at him and then toward the floor, and then back at him again.

"Hi," she shyly said.

"I only have one question," he told her.

"Yes?"

"Why?" he asked her.

"Just stupid, I guess," she suggested.

"Yeah, I guess!" he said to her and then walked away.

Annie stood there and started to cry, not only because she had hurt him so badly, but because she couldn't tell him why.

Rick walked back to his table and sat down.

"What was that all about?" Mike asked as Rick sat down.

Rick told him it was nothing and changed the subject.

As he sat there listening to Bob drone on and on about something Rick had no interest in, he wondered if he had been too hard on Annie. It was then he realized he did wanted to talk to her. He wanted to find out what had happened, but he was angry. At that moment in time, all he wanted to was hurt her.

The more he sat there, the worse he felt for being nasty to her. He was about to get up and go find her when she tapped him on his shoulder.

"Can we please talk for a minute?" she asked as he looked back at her.

"Yeah! I guess," he said with a certain amount of anger.

He got up and followed her across the hall. He was feeling sorry for being mean to her again. When she got to a table off to the side of the hall, she sat down and invited him to join her.

"Listen, I'm sorry about that," he told her as they sat down.

"It's okay, I understand. I had it coming," she told him.

Rick apologized again and told her that it was a long time ago. That a lot had happened since that night!

He asked how she was and what she'd been doing.

Annie told him that she had been okay. That she had been doing fine and was just trying cope and get on with life.

She asked what he'd been doing over the years, and he told that he'd gone into advertising after the war, and about twenty years ago had started his own production company doing radio, TV commercials, and some newsprint ads.

"I'm so glad you came home alive. I always wondered what happened," she said to him.

The two of them spent the next few minutes exchanging stories about their lives when Rick decided, to tell the truth about his life. That for a long period he was drunk and that when he did get sober and found a woman to love, she was killed by street punks.

"Ricky, I am so sorry," she told him.

"Ricky? You've haven't called me Ricky since the day I came from training!"

"I don't know. It just came out. Is it okay?"

"Of course," he told her and smiled.

"Are you okay? When did she die?"

"Betty was killed over twenty years ago, and after she died, I went off and decided that I needed to start life over again."

Annie started feeling even worse about what she had done so long ago on that night. Saying goodbye with no explanation whatsoever, and then to have another love killed. Annie started to cry, and when Rick noticed it, he pulled her to him and just held her.

A few minutes later after she dried her eyes, she asked him about the war.

He told her that he had gone against his father's orders never to volunteer and signed up for the Special Forces.

"Oh my God, I remember you telling me. I could not understand what the hell you were thinking!" she said.

He told her that wasn't thinking. He explained that during basic he saw these sharp looking soldiers and wanted to be one of them. And that after that night when she dumped him, he didn't care if he lived or died. But if he was going to war he was going to do what he could to make a difference.

"Did you? Make a difference?"

"I think I did. Special Forces wasn't just going out and killing bad guys; it was helping locals survive and make their lives better. I think we did that.

Of course, when I joined the LRRP team it was different. We did kill bad guys, lots of them."

He added that he had lost friends.

As the two sat talking about their life experiences, the thrill of their time together started to make its way back into their minds.

Just then the DJ started playing their song, "You Are My Everything," He took her hand and asked if she would like to dance.

She said yes and stood. He escorted her to the dance floor and held her close as they danced. More memories flooded back and they smiled at each other.

As they danced, she told him more about her life and then as the song ended she asked him to go outside with her. He nodded, and they walked out to the front of the hall. When they were a short distance from the entrance, she stopped him, took him into her arms and then looked into his eyes.

"I have to tell you the way I did what I did to you that night," she said as she took his hand.

Annie went on to tell him things that he didn't know when they were dating. About the child she had to give away and how that loss, in combination with the loss of her mother and Gina and possible loss of his life would have been more she could handle.

Rick started to understand why she had done it. He wished that she had told him that back then, that he would have understood. Not really knowing what he might have said, but he was sure he would have understood.

Annie told him about how life had treated her over the years and the sadness she had gone through.

"I get the feeling that it's all a result of what I did to you that night," she told him.

"Don't be silly. Karma only works if you believe in it," he explained. "Do you believe in karma?"

She told him that she didn't, but that with all the crap she'd been through she wasn't so sure.

As they sat and talked and reminisced about their time together. And the more than talk, the more it became apparent that the time they were together was filled with sex. In fact, mostly sex.

"We must have done other things besides just having sex!" Annie said.

"Let's face it. I was a nineteen-year-old boy. What was more important than sex?" he told her as he tried to smile.

"But we must have gone to the movies....."

"And had sex," he said, interrupting her. "And if you remember we spent a lot of time at the end of that dark street in Eagle Rock, in the back seat of my Ford."

"We did do that, didn't we?" she agreed.

"And don't forget New Year's Eve," he reminded her.

"That was a great night. I can't tell you how much I wanted to feel your naked body next to mine. Stretched out on a bed and holding on to each other. There wasn't much stretching out in the back seat of your car."

"No, there wasn't, and yes, that was a great night. Honestly, I have never had a night like that since" he admitted.

The more they talked, the more they agreed that those few short months they had were sensational. They were like nothing they experienced before or since.

"It was as if we were meant to be together," she said to him.

"And yet, you dumped me." he said.

Annie's head dropped, and tears began to flow again. It took her a minute or two, but she got it together she reminded him of the child she had to give up and that if he had died she just couldn't have taken it.

"But I didn't die. I came home. You have no idea how good it would have felt to have you waiting for me. Welcoming me home, holding me and loving me," he explained.

Again she started to cry and again he held her tight.

About that time Rich, an old friend of Rick's, walked up to them and asked if everything was okay.

Rick looked up and told him things were fine, that they were just talking about old times in school.

"Damn, I know school sucked but really, crying over it. You must have had it bad," he said as he turned and walked away.

Rick flipped him off as he walked away and turned back to Annie, telling her it was alright, that Rich was an ass.

Annie told him she was fine and kissed him. It was a soft, gentle kiss that brought back more memories than it should have. There was a tingling from deep within her. My God, she thought he still makes me tingle. She realized that now might not be the right time to tell him, and so she asked him about Vietnam.

"Was it horrible over there?" she asked.

Rick took a breath and told her that he spent about year in the jungles wondering if he was going to die if he was going step on a booby trap and get blown all to hell. He told her that he had some friends die in his arms' crying for their mothers as he watched their blood run through his fingers and into the dirt around him and made an eerie red mud.

"Vietnam was moments of hell followed by moments of more hell," he told her.

He told her about a guy on his team, named Snake.

"I can't tell you how bad it was. I can't explain what went on over there, but I can tell you the story of a friend that I worked with." He said.

Snake was a team member that was assigned to his strike force just before they had been evacuated from their first A-camp. They were set up in a small village outside of Lai Khe, north of Saigon. They had been there for close to two months when the team came back into the village after making a sweep of the area south of it. As they walked back to the village, things seemed tense. The village kids who would usually run up and greet them stayed away. Snake and Rick both commented on the fact and warned the team to stay alerted. Suddenly one little boy ran up to Snake and hugged him, saying he was sorry.

Snake looked at the boy and then at Rick, wondering what the boys was talking about.

Snake had become very close friends with a little orphan girl named Tia, a cute skinny little nine-year-old. Snake care of her. She was like his daughter and the village knew it. The Catholic priest and the two nuns who were in the village were supposed to take care of her and the other orphans, but they let Snake take care of her while he was in camp and while he was away they looked out for her.

The boy looked up at Snake and told him that Tia was dying. He pointed to where Tia was. Both Rick and Snake ran to her. She was laying in the shade of a tree where they found her bleeding. Her gut was sliced open, and she was horribly bloody and beaten, with bruises on her arms, legs, and head. Blood was running from her wounds. Her once pretty little face was swollen and covered with blood. She was dying. It would be a slow agonizing death, and as Snake sat down and pulled her into his arms, she begged him to make the pain go away.

Snake told her that he loved her and then ended her misery and made the pain go away. He sat there for a few minutes holding her. By the time he laid her down he was soaked with her blood, and there was a look of anger in his eyes that Rick had never seen before. Of all the hell they had been through together, he had never seen Snake this angry.

"Snake, are you okay?" he asked, knowing that he wasn't.

Rick wanted to calm him down, but what could he say?

"They were supposed to protect her. They were supposed to keep her safe when we were gone," he shouted as he got up.

"Snake what could they do? The priest could......"

"The priest should have protected her." he shouted again.

Snake looked in the direction of the small thatched hut that was the village church. He picked up his shotgun and started toward it. As he crossed a small bridge the lead to the church, the two nuns came running up to him, begging for mercy. Snake blew the first away with a blast to her head, and as the other turned to run, Snake shot her in the back killing her, too.

"Snake, you got to calm down. You can't kill these people." Rick shouted at him.

Snake stopped turned to Rick and looked him in the eye.

"Back the fuck off!" he told him.

Rick backed off, and Snake continued to the church. He blew the door off its weak hinges and walked in searching for the priest. He found him hiding in the back room, cowering behind a small table.

"Stand up you sorry son of a bitch. Stand up!" he screamed in Vietnamese.

The priest stood up begging for his life.

Snake looked at him and raised his shotgun.

"You beg for your life, but what did you do when Tia needed your help. You ran away and hid. What did you do when they were beating the living shit out of her?" he screamed.

The priest tried to explain that the Viet Cong had come into the village and took her because she was friends with the American soldier. That it was not his fault that she was beaten.

"My sweet ass. you were supposed to protect her, you were......"

Before he finished his sentence, Snake blew the priest's head off with one shot to the face.

"It was your fault, you sorry son of a bitch!" he said calmly as he lowered his weapon.

"Snake, it's okay now. You can stand down. Give me the weapon and stand down. It's over," Rick told him.

Snake turned to him, smiled and gave Rick the shotgun and walked out like nothing had happened. Just another day in the bush, he said.

"Just another day in the bush," Rick repeated.

Annie sat there horrified at what Rick had told her. She found it hard to believe that it could be real and yet, why would Rick lie to her. After all, she did ask.

"I am so sorry, that I let you down. That you had to go, though that war alone," she told him as she moved closer and took his hand.

Annie took his hand and squeezed it.

"I wonder what might have happened if I were brave enough to wait for you?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I do know that it would have been worthwhile waiting to see," he said as he squeezed back as he leaned in and kissed her again.

Suddenly there was a female voice shouting out his name.

"Ricky, Ricky. Oh, my god, it's you. I was hoping you were going to be here. Come on, baby, dance with me!" she almost shouted.

Rick looked up to find Susie running up to him.

"Susie, wow. It's been a long time, and as much as I would love to dance with you, right now I am talking with Annie."

"Hi, Annie. Nice to see you, but I have to steal Ricky away for a few minutes," she said as she took his hand.

Rick again told her that he was talking with Annie, but Susie did not give up, and finally Annie told him that it was okay, that she would see him after their dance.

"Okay! I have waited a long time to dance with my sweetie again. After all, I did walk out on you at the Civic didn't I?" she reminded him

Rick looked puzzled and asked her what she meant, and she reminded him about the civic he took her too, and how he told her that he thought she had a cute crooked little nose. And how she stormed out on him, pissed that he would tell everyone that she had a crooked nose.

"It took me awhile I realized that you did think it was cute, but I never heard from you again." she told him.

"Well, you did storm out on me," he told her.

"No more storming out. Let's dance," she said as she took his hand and led him out on the floor.

He looked back at Annie and shrugged his shoulders. Annie just smiled.

After the dance Susie wanted to talk some more but Rick insisted that he needed to get back to Annie.

"Listen, I appreciate you wanting to make up for storming out, but honestly, I'm over it. I am good, really," he told her.

"Well, If that what's you want, fine!" she said and stormed away again.

Rick walked back over to Annie and sat down with her and apologized for the interruption, but he and Susie had a little history.

"So I gathered. It would seem that she is still a little upset. What'd you do this time?" she joked with him.

"Nothing, I told her that you and I had things to talk about. I think she was a little jealous over the fact that I didn't want to stay with her, that I wanted to talk to you," Rick explained.

Rick and Annie sat and started talking about their time together. Again amazed by the fact that most of their time together was spent making love in the back seat of his Ford.

"I'll be honest, when we kissed I felt a little something stirring things that haven't stirred in years," she told him.

He looked at her and told her that he had the same feelings.

"After all these years they we still having stirring, feelings for each other."

"Wow, that is just strange. After all these years," she said.

"Wait a minute; this can't be happening. I haven't felt anything like this.....no, no. This is just way too weird," he repeated.

They sat there unable to believe what was happening when Rick decided to tell her that he was just this close to asking her to marry him before he went off to Vietnam.

"Damn!" she shouted out.

"What?"

Looking away she just sat there for a few seconds and then she looked up at him and told him that she thought that they should just run off that night and get married.

"Oh damn!" he shouted.

Annie looked at him and suddenly realized that they both were thinking that they should get married before he went to Vietnam.

"No, wait. What you're saying is that you were thinking that we should go to Vegas and get married," he asked.

"And you were going to ask me to marry you?" she asked.

"Damn!!" they echoed together.

"Why didn't you ask me?" she wondered.

"During the time that I was back before going to Nam, I just got the feeling that you were upset about something. Your mood was different than before. Plus I knew a guy that got married before he went and he got killed, and I didn't want to do that you, so I decided against it," he explained.

"I was so afraid of losing you over there, that I couldn't go through a loss like that and pulled back. But I couldn't help but think we should run off that night and get married," she told him.

The two of them sat there thinking that it was incredibly strange that they both had had the same idea, and yet couldn't bring themselves to say anything.

"I'm sorry, I have to, to..ah. I have to step outside for a minute. I'll be right back," she said as she got up to walk away.

"Yeah, ok," he told her as he watched her walk away.

As Annie walked outside, the realization that she was just that close to marrying the man she was so much in love with, she couldn't have taken it if he had died. And that after all these years there was still a tingle when they kissed.

The whole idea was just too far-fetched to be true, and yet he told her that he was going to ask her to marry him. And that he still tingled when they kissed.

"What the hell is going on here?" she said to herself softly.

Back inside the hall Rick was wandering around thinking that he had made a huge mistake those many years ago. He should have asked her. Then he thought to himself that he wasn't the same boy she knew after he came home. He had changed. He didn't notice it at first, but his mother did. She didn't say anything to him until many years later, but she had seen that the boy who went off to war came back a changed man.

Still, the two of them had feelings for one another; it was very obvious. Although he had forgotten about her after he left for Vietnam, although he hadn't thought about her in all those years, it was obvious.

He stood there looking out of the crowded dance floor and saw the friends from 50 years ago dancing, laughing, and having fun remembering the good times they'd had in high school, and all he could think about was Annie.

As he walked around the dance floor, he questioned himself over and over again. It was such a long time ago. It was such a short time. How could he feel this way about someone from such a long time ago?

Outside on the balcony, Annie looked out over the lawn and the parking lot. She questioned herself. It was such a long time ago. It was such a short time. Intense, but short.

Just as she was about to turn and walk back in the reunion hall, Rick showed up and took her in his arms and kissed her. It was a long, slow, deep, wet, passionate kiss.

He broke the kiss and stood back and looked at her.

"Honestly, what are you feeling? Did that do anything for you? Did it turn you on, because honestly, I was well on my way to a place I haven't thought about for years," he told her?

"Yes, it did. Yes, it did turn me on. Why?" she asked.

Rick looked at her, took her hand and started to walk off with her. They went to his car, and he told her that he wanted to make love to her.

"What? Right here? Right now?"

"I know it's not the Ford, but it'll do. Make love to me."

With that, he opened the car door, and they crawled in the back seat. Memories of how many times they had done this in the past were flying around their minds as they undressed, Annie smiled and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm yours. Always have been, always will be. If you had found me when you came back, I would have married you then," she said as he lowered his head and kissed her.

Thirty minutes or so later, Rick was pulling his pants up, and she was putting her dress back on.

"Just like old times huh?" he said, chuckling.

"It was, but you've learned a few new tricks." she smiled.

"Hey, I was nineteen. I didn't know any tricks back then," he joked with her.

As she straightened out her dress and he pulled his tie tight, they walked back to the reunion.

"Hey guys, you almost missed it," Dale shouted out.

"Missed what?" Rick asked.

"We're about to announce the King and Queen of the reunion," he told them.

"I would have hated to miss that," Annie joked as they walked toward the stage.

Suddenly, Rick took off to the stage and jumped up as Jack, who as in homeroom with Rick, was about to grab the microphone and announce the king and queen.

Rick got to the microphone and apologized to Jack for taking over the stage.

"I am sorry to interrupt the proceedings, but I have a something to say. Some 48 years ago on the night before I was to ship out to Vietnam, I should have asked a certain young lady to marry me," he told them.

As Annie stood there in shock, she wondered what he was going to do.

"I had met the love of my life just months before that night and fear prevented us from doing what we should have done. So, I would like to take this opportunity to ask Annie West to come up on stage."

The crowd started to applaud as Annie stood there stunned. A moment later one of her friends, Lois, one of Annie's old friends, took her by the arm and took her up on stage.

Soon she was standing next to Rick and as he turned to her and got down on one knee.

"I don't have a ring, but I do love you. Always have. Will you marry me?" he asked as he took her hand.

Annie stood there for a few seconds and then Lois leaned and told her that this when she is supposed to say yes.

"Yes! Yes, I will!!" she cried out.

Rick stood up, handed the microphone back to Jack, thanked him and then took Annie in his arms and kissed her as the crowd erupted with applause.

"I guess that kind of trumps the king and queen thing, doesn't it?" Jack said as he clapped along with everyone else.

The two of them walked off stage and towards the door.

"Leaving already?" Mike asked. "You just shocked the hell out of the whole class. You should hang out and have some fun."

"Don't have time lose. We're on our way to Vegas!"

THE END