Our Summer of 1969

one

(Mid December 1968; Vietnam War)

It was the middle of the night, Clay heard his telephone ringing. He threw his legs over to the side of the bed and stumbled to the kitchen where the phone was hanging on the wall. He answered the phone in a sleepy, raspy voice.

"H-hello?" he asked in the phone receiver while using his free hand to rub his eyes. "Yes, hello. Is this Clay?" the man on the other end of the phone asked. "Yes this is he." but the way is stated it sounded a bit shaky. "Yes, young man, you have been drawn to be drafted to war. We'll expect you in no more than 18 hours. Pack your bags, soldier."

As the phone call ended, Clay gripped the back of his neck which was now sweating. As he stared at the floor he wasn't able to tell whether this was actually real or not. He took a moment to himself and sat down at the kitchen table still in shock about what he has just heard.

"Finally, I'm going to be getting out of this fucking house." he spoke in such a quiet voice to himself as he now knew he was going to be leaving his home. Clay didn't like his home life. Since he was only 18, he was legally an adult but because of the war, his parents wouldn't let him move out.

He smiled to himself as he stood up and ran quietly back to his room. Trying not to make any noise, he looked around his room so he could grab a bag to pack his clothes and shoes in. He wasted absolutely no time packing his bags and made sure to bring the things he would need most.

After he made sure that everything of necessity was packed, he woke his mother and father telling them what had happened. He let them know that he would be going out to war, as he had no choice, and would 'hopefully' be back soon. His mother burst into tears when she heard the news, her oldest child would be going to war. 

He let them know that he already was packed and ready to go so that he could sleep the through the rest of the night and not have to worry about rushing around in the morning. While walking back to his room, Clay thought to himself and wasn't sure if he'd be able to sleep until morning.

As he lay in his bed looking at the cracking, off-white ceiling, his mind raced with so many new thoughts. 'What is going on in this world? Why do I feel excited to leave but at the same time, I want to stay?' Questions raced through his mind until he was finally able to get his brain to calm down and he ended up drifting off to sleep.

---

George lay in his bed, restless. Ever since he was given a visa and sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Australia, he couldn't help but stare at the ceiling all night. He loved working for the post office and delivering mail to the local people's houses but he felt as though he was missing something; someone even.

He rolled over to check the time, 4:23 am his clock read. It was almost time to get up for work anyways as he was always up by sunrise, which was around five in the morning, and headed out the door ready to start delivering the daily mail.

Wishing he was able to at least get more than four hours of sleep a night, George sat up in his bed and switched on the lamp sitting atop his bedside table. He winced at the bright light that had suddenly been switched on but soon was able to adjust his eyes.

As he got out of bed, he knew he was missing something in his life. He knew he needed someone, anyone. George didn't mean just anyone, he felt shunned and pushed away for it but after all, he did have his left ear pierced. He felt different for how he was but he knew that if he expressed it and showed it, then he would be different.

George pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and started picking an outfit from his wardrobe. The same outfit he wore everyday: a white tee with khaki pants and, because it was winter, his baby blue jacket. Since George is colorblind, blue is one of the few colors he can see and also happens to be his favorite color.

After dressing in his attire, that was worn everyday,  George made his way to the kitchen to find something to eat. Today seemed like a cereal kind of day to him so he grabbed out his favorite cereal, Froot Loops. Although George wasn't able to tell that the loops were red, orange, and yellow, he still enjoyed looking at the colors even if he didn't see them how others did.

Getting up this early seemed to be worth it if he was able to eat his favorite cereal that didn't make him particularly full but his stomach wasn't empty at the same time. After he downed all of his milk and put his spoon and bowl in the sink, George headed out the door and made sure that he shut the door quietly as to not wake his Aunt and Uncle.

-------

(a/n)

i'm not really sure how they would call him and tell him he's been drafted so just bear with me here hahah.

hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, hopefully i'll be updating more frequently but school is starting soon so i have to work around that.

thank you all for being patient with me <3