Fortunate Sons

Chapter 46: The Longest Road: Bangkok, Thailand

Taylor was astounded at how short the flight had been from Than An to Bangkok. After time spent aboard the plane he was relieved to finally be getting on a flight to get him halfway home, but the thought of leaving his loved ones behind still dug deep into his mind like sharp barbed wire.

Out of one of the pockets in his suitcase, he dug a small red leather-bound pocket bible that had begun to see better days. The only part that had remained in-tact was the gold French cross emblazoned on the front and the pages inside. Taylor cracked a smile when he saw Miss Etta's neat handwriting on the inside, still legible after all these years.

To Taylor Scott Boisfontaine on his First Communion, May, 15th, 1949.

Taylor flipped through the thin, grey pages until he came across one in particular that had snagged his interest. Matthew 2:13 was one that Taylor had come across when he and the other children of the coven had attended Sunday school at St. Charles. He had heard it from Miss Etta and others, Maman Louise included, who made sure he never forgot it.

"And when they were departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said 'Arise and take the young child and his mother into Egypt and stay there until I tell you to, for Herod will seek the child to destroy him. And so Joseph obeyed the word of the Lord and took the infant Jesus and his mother, Mary, into Egypt and there they remained until Herod had passed. Thus it made clear the full meaning of what the Lord had said through the prophets.... 'I called my son out of Egypt.'"

Taylor wished with all his heart that he could have taken Sue and Tri out of Vietnam just as Joseph had taken Mary and Jesus into Egypt. He tried to keep a positive mindset about the matter, but no matter how hard he tried he was always frightened by the thought of something happening. All he hoped was that they hadn't gone anywhere near Laos. One of Ma Ahn's good friends, a Hmong soldier, had told him that his homeland was just as bad as Vietnam and Cambodia if not worse.

"Land that is torn by war may always have a chance at remaining at war," he had once told Taylor and other Green Berets. "Just as it was in the beginning, freedom will always have a blood price to pay."

Taylor re-read the bible passage over and over again, trying to stamp out the thoughts of Sue and Tri being in danger when a woman's voice was heard loud and clear on the loudspeakers. "May I have your attention please," she announced in slightly broken English. "Korea Airlines Flight Two-Seven-Six will now be boarding groups eighteen through thirty three."

Taylor gathered up his suitcase and headed for the designated area where people were waiting in line to board the flight. Many of them were Thai, some probably Korean or Hong Kong natives who had come down for a while and were getting ready to go back. Others were ex-pats who were homebound either for Hawaii or Guam to visit family in the territories but from what Taylor had seen with his second sight, many of them were soldiers who were homeward bound like him.

"Passports please," the flight attendant said politely when she had gotten to Taylor.

Taylor pulled out his passport booklet and his military i.d just in case and showed it to the young lady. "Go right ahead sir," she said, handing them back to Taylor.

"Thank you ma'am," Taylor replied before he headed along with the others and stowed away his passport and i.d in his suitcase.

He and several other passengers were herded onto a small bus that brought them from the jetway across the tarmac to the awaiting flight. The plane was huge, just as big as the military carriers he had been used to seeing at the base with a large red, white and blue yin-yang symbol on the tailfin.