G.I. Joe: Agent Blue Jaye and the Beasts of Lakeside

Chapter 18

Lakeside Waterfront Park was a large recreational area that ran west along the shoreline. Long cement walkways big enough to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists zig zagged across the expansive and open field. In the summer, the Waterfront would host the Lakeside Chew Chew Fest, a festival highlighting Vermont's local restaurants, as well as the famed Maple Valley Jazz Festival. A long pier jetted out onto the lake with boats docked to the left, and a large boathouse situated on the right.

The Lakeside Boathouse was a two-story wooden structure with a café and bar on the first floor, and an open space on the second floor that was reserved for public and private events. Today, the Lakeside Global Alliance Program had rented the space to introduce their new director, Deborah Minh.

The top floor of the boathouse was decorated with round tables, chairs, and a small stage, with a podium for the presenters to speak. Deborah Minh sat in a chair behind the podium reviewing her notes. As the youngest Director in the history of the Global Alliance Program, Deborah didn't want to sound unprepared. There would be members of the press in the audience along with her peers, and she wanted to convey that she was ready to take charge.

A graduate student at Lakeside University, Deborah came to Vermont with her grandfather twelve years ago. Her grandparents had immigrated to the US from Vietnam and first settled on the southeastern coast of Florida. Using the money he brought over, her grandfather purchased a fishing boat and began a chartering business, eventually earning enough money to buy a home and start a family. Deborah's father was set to take over the business but was caught in a storm and washed out to sea when she was only eight years old.

Deborah's mother and grandfather had raised her until her mother passed away eleven years later from lung cancer. Unlike her father's sudden death, her mother had fought for years, and in the end, Deborah comforted herself in the fact that her mom was no longer in pain. Shortly after her mother's death, Deborah's grandfather decided to sell the charter and the two moved up to Lakeside.

After coming to Vermont, Deborah thought that she would feel out of place with her Vietnamese heritage, but was surprised to find multiple Vietnamese families had resettled in the area. Deborah made it her mission to help these families and with her background, found she was in a unique position to do so. After high school, she enrolled at Lakeside University and got a degree in social work.

After completing her bachelors, Deborah continued at the University and got her Masters. It was then that she began working for the Global Alliance Program. Some of the programs that Deborah spearheaded included a literacy program, a parent education program, and a work study program. It wasn't long after joining the Global Alliance that she was promoted, and found herself as its newest Director.

Deciding to review her notes one last time, Deborah frowned as she looked down at the first line of her speech. It had been crossed out. To open, Deborah had planned to thank her grandfather and she desperately wanted him to be there. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it. He was getting older and fragile, and was always a little paranoid around large crowds.

Guests started to enter the room sitting down in their chairs. Deborah's assistant ran up and started helping her with her microphone. Within a few minutes, the room was packed with familiar and unfamiliar faces. Deborah took it all in and then slowly walked up to the podium and began her speech.

"Thank you everyone for coming today. It is truly a humble honor to accept the role as Director of the Lakeside Global Alliance Program. I am not sure if many of you know, but my grandfather immigrated to the US from Vietnam and worked tirelessly to make a new life here in the states. In Vietnam, my grandfather was a Captain in the Navy. Captain Minh was his title. However, due to circumstances that many others have faced, he had to start over, and decided to do so in the US.