Fortunate Sons

Chapter 3: Where the River Flows

At sunrise the very next morning, the unit was shipped out to Than Ahn; a town on the Mekong River that lay neck and neck with the Cambodian border, just like its sister city of Chau Doc. It was risky business being in a place like this, a place where attacks were commonplace and danger lurked around every corner. 

Stepping into Than Ahn was like stepping on a giant hornet's nest. One wrong move and a man would be sent to meet his maker or would lose a limb. But for Taylor and his platoon buddies, it was just another day at the office. Another day of patrolling the city, watching for danger and making sure both soldiers and civilians were safe from the enemy. 

"So let me get this straight," Mitch said as they drove along the busy streets. "Swyft wants us directly on top of the enemy in an area that's neck and neck with another country and on top of that we have to do pest control? Man this blows."

"I know, I know," Taylor sighed as he guided Mitch along some of the crowded streets. "Look at it this way though, just a few more months of sluggin' it out here and we can go home again."

"Yeah but you realize who you'd be leaving behind if you go home right?" Dix said to him.

"Not if I marry her," Taylor replied.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Mitch questioned with a laugh. "The other nurses in her unit watch you like a wake of vultures."

"Simple," said Taylor as Mitch waited for a group of civilians to move aside. "The two of us make like we're Romeo and Juliet, run away to the American Embassy and get married there."

Mitch and Dix laughed at their friend's ridiculous joke of a plan. As they drove on through the streets, many of them could see street vendors selling clothes, food, and other wares to get through the coming days. The traffic was unbearable as ever with the sea of pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorists constantly crossing paths with the cars and army vehicles on the roads. Even the street stalls and hole-in-the-wall shops seemed busier than usual with lines going out the doors and around the block. Men and women who lived in nearby houses were busy sweeping out their homes, scrubbing windows or fixing the rooves as though the provincial governor were paying them a personal visit.

"The hell's going on here?" Mitch asked. "Spring cleaning?"

"Nope," Taylor replied. "Looks like it's almost Tet."

"Lunar New Year?"

"Yep."

They turned down a secluded road and finally came to a house with glassless windows and a yellow door. A small window box brimming over with deep blood red hibiscus sat just below the window next to the front door while on the rail of the upper balcony above the street, hung several white bath towels.

The door opened and out rushed the familiar figure of Rosemary Brennan, an old friend who often came to visit  Taylor's family in Louisiana with her husband. "Oh you're here!" she shouted excitedly as she bolted down the front steps in her bare feet. "You're here! Good God Almighty you're here!"

Taylor and Rosemary laughed as she flung her arms around his neck. Rosemary, or Rosie as her fellow nurses called her, was an absolute delight to the others. She was the spitting image of a young Rosemary Kennedy, dark haired with a full and slender figure and a smile that could be seen from halfway across town. She herself had been the daughter of a wealthy New York Irish family and had taught school back at her and her husband's home in Cape May before answering the call of duty and becoming a nurse.

"Is she here?" Taylor asked.

"She's upstairs," Rosemary said excitedly. "Want me to go and get her?"