Pages Between Us

New Adventures

James

The day had finally come. I grabbed my dufflebag filled with nothing but come scarce clothes, my passport, and the letters from Cher. It was bittersweet as we all loaded into the chopper. Some men would be back in two weeks and some of us would never set foot in this bunker again. I had decided to take some time before settling down someplace.

As we all went our separate ways I felt an overwhelming bittersweet feeling. Some of these men I'd known for years and some I'd known for months. Yet as time would have it they had become my family. Now we were all heading our separate ways. Some to a woman, some to multiple women, and some were temporarily home before heading back to the bunker. Yet even though the 'see you later' s and 'stay safe out there' s were harder than I thought, picking a plane ticket was even harder.

"Have you made up your mind soldier?" The rosy cheeked blue eyed woman behind the ticket desk said with a blush.

"Say what exotic, sunny and beautiful place has a plane heading there within the next few hours with an empty seat?"

-

Cher

While I sat on my deck sipping from my glass of red wine and looking over the lights of Chicago I thought about James. I pictured him somewhere with clear blue skies, an ocean breeze and a lot more estrogen then he'd been around in a long time. Even though if he was anywhere exotic it was probably night time, I still pictured him soaking up the sun and getting a golden tan. Or maybe he'd gone back to visit his sisters old home.

Sara and I had tried to stay in touch as much as possible and she told me the new owners of the house had two little kids and a St.Bernard that slobbered all over her sundress she'd worn to greet the neighbors. Whoever it was they sounded happy there and that gave me a little bit of joy. Sara had visited me awhile back and kept in touch with one of my single male neighbors and to me it sounded like it wouldn't be long before she ended up here too. I'd met a few more friends since coming here and I couldn't have been more grateful to the friends I'd made for keeping me busy on my Friday nights. Life felt good and I felt even better. The landscaping design turned out to be much more intriguing then I'd imagined and I'd fallen straight into it head first and haven't looked back since. I'd gone on a few dates here and there but nothing had made it too much farther then the second date but that was fine to me. I liked the fancy dinners and meeting new people. I could do without the bad dates but they made for great stories.

The friend I'd made my first week on the job, Alanna, was the sweetest woman bless her soul but she should not be allowed to set anyone up on a blind date EVER. Her latest escapade was double blind dates. She'd dragged me into another double blind date this Saturday night and I was still brainstorming an excuse I hadn't used yet to get out of it. I'd left her hanging on the last two dates and I wondered if I should just put up with this one and pray her date sweeps her off her feet and I'd never have to accompany her again.

Filled with wine I dug through my closet looking for a dress when I came across the ivory box I'd stuffed all of James letters in. Sitting down on the edge of my bed I pulled out each letter and read over the handwritten script. It was coming up on two years since I received his last letter. If I thought of everything that had happened since I received the last letter it felt like a lifetime ago. As I read the words however it brought me back to the porch swing and I could feel my bare feet grazing the wooden boards that lined the deck as if I was still there. 

Sometimes I wonder what would of happened if we had stayed in touch. Every now and then I liked to picture what he was doing. Was he hiking in the amazon or maybe he was on a safari.

I placed the letters back in the ivory box and set it on the chair in the corner of my room. You could only reminisce for so long.