The Long Roll Home

by Anderson, Diana E.

  “What kind of work do you do?”

  “My sister and I have a cattle ranch. She and her husband raise the cattle, and I take care of the smaller animals and horses.” Andy’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

  “Wow! That sounds like a lot of work.”

  “It is, but I really enjoy it. It’s peaceful out there, and I enjoy working with the animals.”

  “Do you grow stuff on your ranch?” Andy asked, then stuttered, “I mean, I don’t know anything about ranching. Is a ranch like a farm?”

  Cassie started laughing. “OK, now I know you’re a city boy. We have a good-sized garden, but our ranch grows cattle. We do have a few hay fields. When my father was alive, he grew hay as a cash crop. Now, though, we just grow enough to feed the animals. Where are you from, anyway?”

  “I grew up on Long Island in New York. Once I was older, though, I lived a lot of places.”

  “So,” Cassie said, “I am guessing you are either active duty Army, or else you just got out not too long ago. Am I right?”

  “Is it that obvious?” Andy answered. “I just got out a few days ago. I spent twelve years in, but I just didn’t like the direction things were taking, so I decided to try the civilian world for a while. How did you know I was army?”

  Cassie laughed. “It takes one to know one,” she answered. “I spent nine years in. What did you do?”

  “I was an MP, that is, a military policeman,” he replied.

  “Really? I was too! I was a dog handler in Kabul.”

  Andy smiled. “It really is a small world. Ruby and I were in Kandahar – Ruby is still there.”

  Cassie nodded. “Were you part of the Afghan police training program?”

  “Yeah, I helped teach the Afghan dog handlers,” Andy answered. “Was Petra your partner in the military?”

  Cassie looked sad. “No, I got Petra when I was in rehab. My dog over there was a Belgian Malinois named King. He was killed in action.”

  Andy paused and a look of pain crossed his face. “I’m so sorry. I know it must have hurt something fierce to lose him. I know Ruby is in good hands now, but I still worry about her.” Andy pointed to her wheelchair, and asked, “What happened? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I don’t mind. I was on patrol when our Humvee hit an IED. We were in a supposedly secure area, which is why King and I were in the Humvee. We were not expecting any IEDs in that area – famous last words, right? There were four of us in the Humvee plus King, but I was the only survivor. My right leg was crushed, and I wound up losing most of it. The left one was broken in a few places, but at least they were able to save it. My right arm was broken in several places and they had to replace my left hip. I also got some nasty burns and a concussion, but I made it. I was medically discharged almost two years ago after spending about a year-and-a-half in the hospital and rehab.”

  “Man, that must have been rough. I really admire you though, that you didn’t just give up. It sounds like you stay really busy and active.”

  Cassie looked down at the floor for a couple of minutes. Andy was just about to say something when Cassie looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. “It would be way too easy to give up. I know too many others who did give up, and either died, or decided to vegetate in a chair and let the world go by. Not me, though. There are too many things I want to do in my life. I’m not ready to just give up.” She looked at Andy and smiled. “I’m too tough to just sit around all day, and besides, I’d drive everyone crazy. I need to be outdoors and moving. This chair is just a tool for me to help me get where I want to go. I can’t walk very far yet while my left leg is still healing from my last surgery, but I can ride a horse. Lots of things I can do back at the ranch and being there makes me happy.” She paused and changed the subject. “So, City Boy, what brings you out here to the wild west? Got a job out here or something, or is this just a vacation?”

  “No, actually, I’ve never been here before, but I always wanted to live out west, so when I got out, I decided to come here and see what it’s like. Kind of risky, since I don’t know anyone, have no job, and no place to live yet, but I figured it was as good a place as any.”

  “Do you have family out here?”

  “I don’t have any family anywhere. I was an only child and my parents were older when I was born. Mom died of cancer my first year in the Army, and Dad died last year from a heart attack. No cousins, grandparents, spouse, kids, not even a dog, although I hope to fix that soon. It just doesn’t seem right to not have a dog with me.”

  Cassie nodded. “I know what you mean. Petra and I are almost always together, even when I am working, she’s along to help. But tell me, out of the entire west, how did you pick here?”

  Andy turned red. “I know it might sound really silly, but I picked a couple of places I always wanted to see – Yellowstone, the Rocky Mountains, Mount Rushmore, Little Bighorn – and put them all on a map. Then, I found towns near at least one of those things. I tossed a coin and, well, here I am! I’m not sure what I want to do with my life, but I figured I have time and some money to get by until I can decide.”

  “So, are you planning to stay here in town or do you plan on checking out some of the small towns around here?”

  Andy laughed. “I have no idea what towns are around here. I’m not really sure what I want to do. I sold almost everything I had to give me enough money to just wander around until I found something or somewhere to get excited about. I figured I’d start out here, get a car and then start looking around.”

  “Do you plan on maybe civilian law enforcement?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I don’t think so. I love being outdoors, though, so I will probably look for something that will let me enjoy being outdoors- maybe like a park ranger or something like that. It’s just a thought, though, because it’s not something I’ve ever done before. I might find out I hate it and wind up back in the city somewhere.”

  Cassie shuddered. “I could never live in a city. Even just coming down here gives me the willies. I have to come down once a month to see my doctors at the VA, and I’m on edge the whole time I’m here – and this isn’t even really much of a city! It just feels so closed in and people all live so close to each other.”

  “Don’t you have neighbors where you live?” Andy asked.

  “Sure- but the nearest neighbors are about four miles away. Our ranch is really in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Wow! Doesn’t it get lonely with no close neighbors?”

  Cassie started to laugh. “It’s not like we are sitting around all day long hoping for someone to come keep us company. We work hard on the ranch, from sun-up until long after sundown. Most evenings we are so tired, entertainment is the last thing on our mind. We do get to socialize with friends on Sundays, though, when we go to the nearest little village to church. Sometimes, we’ll visit afterwards or else there might be some activities sponsored by the church. Mostly we all go because it is really important to my mother, but also so my sister’s kids can visit with other kids.”

  After about an hour and a half, the restaurant hostess let them know she needed their table for waiting customers, so Cassie and Andy moved over to a seating area near the baggage claim to continue their conversation. Andy kept his eye on the arriving baggage and eventually saw his backpack, duffle bag, and a trunk emerge onto the luggage ramp. He quickly moved towards the carousel and grabbed his gear, loading it onto a luggage cart. He sauntered back over to Cassie, and in his best movie star western voice asked, “It’s getting close to lunch time. Can I interest a cowgirl in a burger or something?”

  Cassie started to laugh. “Oh, City Boy, don’t try to act like John Wayne, it just doesn’t suit your image.” Andy was laughing, too.

  “Okay, so who suits my image?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure, but it sure isn’t the cowboy type – at least, not unless you find a hat, cowboy boots, and a pair of pearl-handled revolvers,” she giggled.

  “Okay, so may
be I’m more like Barney from Mayberry,” he said, making a silly face at her. “Will you still have lunch with me?”

  Cassie was laughing hard. “You are a goof. Yes, I would love some lunch. After all, it’s been a while since breakfast and I still have a while to go before Jen gets here.”

  The two went over to the other restaurant in the terminal. Although it was a chain restaurant, it advertised great burgers, and free salted peanuts on every table. It was still early, so they had their choice of tables. Cassie chose a table near the fire exit door. “I’m always afraid these restaurants with the big grills inside are going to catch on fire. I know it’s silly, but I’m afraid if it happened, I would be too slow to get out. My sister laughs at me because of it, but I don’t care. Better safe than sorry, right?”

  Andy, who was by now thoroughly charmed by Cassie, said, “If you said you wanted to sit in the middle of the freeway to eat, I’d sit there with you. Nothing wrong with staying safe in my opinion.”

  Suddenly, Cassie’s phone chirped. She pulled it out and saw another text from Jen. She read it out loud: “This flight cancelled, too. Something strange, no flights till tomorrow. Go home. I’ll call you tonight. So sorry. Love ya, Jen.” Cassie texted back her disappointment to not see Jen today and put her phone away. “Well, that really stinks. We were looking forward to getting together. I’ve not seen her in over a year.”

  Andy asked, “Were you in service together?”

  Cassie grinned. “Sort of. She was one of the nurses who took care of me right after I got hurt. We became friends, and I credit her with giving me the will to get better. Right after, I was so depressed. I lost my friends, my dog, my leg, and I didn’t understand why I was spared and they weren’t. Survivor’s guilt, you know? The staff had a hard time getting me to participate in my therapy and treatments because I just kind of withdrew into myself. Jen, though, didn’t let me have time to be depressed. She’d come bouncing in every day with stories about places she had gone or things she had done, stuff like that. At first, I was really annoyed by her and would tell her to go away. Her attitude never changed, though. She just kept it up, and after a while, she kind of grew on me. I stopped being annoyed and began to look forward to the days she worked. She would not only tell me where she went, but she would add something like I could go too if I could manage to stay sitting up for two hours. That would make me work harder in therapy so I could stay sitting up or whatever she said I needed to be able to do. Eventually, she would sign me out of the hospital on pass and we would go to all sorts of neat places. She is also the one who helped me find Petra.”

  “Sounds like a really good friend.”

  “She is. I wonder what she meant by something strange?” Just then, the waitress came with their drinks and took their orders. After ordering, they sat for a few moments in silence, shelling peanuts and sipping on their drinks. After a minute or two, though, they started chatting again like old friends, sharing tall tales from their military days. The conversation went on through lunch, with both feeling very comfortable with each other. After lunch, they went back out into the terminal. Neither one seemed ready to leave.

  Andy was the first to speak. “Could we stay in touch? I mean, maybe you could give me your cell phone number?”

  “That would be nice. I want to hear about what you decide to do out here in the Wild West. Let me grab a piece of paper and I’ll give you my cell and my address, too, just in case you ever wind up north near my ranch.” She reached into her purse to find a pen and her little notebook. Before she found it, though, the terminal suddenly went dark.

  Chapter 2

  All of the mechanical noise faded away and the terminal became very quiet. Even people became quiet, speaking in hushed voices as everyone wondered what was going on. Although there was some light at the front of the terminal filtering in through the windows, the rest of the terminal seemed very dark. Cassie pushed the button on the hand control for her chair, but the little power light did not come on. She checked the wire from the controller to the back of the chair, and everything seemed to be intact. She tried the button again, but to no avail. The light still did not come on. “I wonder what’s going on?” she asked. “This chair had a full charge this morning.”

  Andy was looking around the terminal. “I wonder why the back-up generators haven’t kicked in yet. That’s pretty weird.”

  “I don’t know,” Cassie replied, “but whatever it is, it’s got this whole place in the dark. Kind of creepy if you ask me.” Andy pulled out his cell phone.

  “I must have forgotten to charge it. It won’t come on. Cassie pulled out her own phone. It, too, remained dark. Cassie looked at Andy with a puzzled frown.

  “I know my phone was fully charged, but it won’t work either. That’s really odd.” Suddenly, they heard a whistling sound that was getting louder.

  “Incoming,” Cassie cried, leaning over Petra and covering her head with her arms. Andy leaned over Cassie, trying to shelter her with his body. A huge explosion rocked the terminal. In the dark, with people screaming and dust everywhere, Cassie thought she smelled smoke. She reached out to Andy and said, “We need to get out of here now!”

  “Can you disconnect the drive on your chair so I can push you?” Andy asked. Cassie reached down to the base of the chair to shift the lever. She quickly pulled her hand back.

  “Something is wrong, the base is really hot.”

  Andy looked down at the base and saw the small flames starting to creep along the edge of the battery cover. “Get up, your chair is on fire!” He reached down and pulled Cassie from her wheelchair, placing her on one of the nearby seats. “Wait there,” he shouted, as he ran to grab his luggage cart. He quickly helped Cassie sit on top of the duffle. Cassie was still holding Petra’s leash, and in all of the noise and confusion, did not even realize Petra was trying to pull her out of the burning terminal.

  “Where are we going?” Andy asked as soon as they were out of the building.

  “My van is right over there in the handicapped parking area,” she answered. “We can figure out where we’re going once we get to the van.” It took about ten minutes to get through the panicking crowds rushing out of the terminal and reach the minivan. Cassie pulled out her key fob and pressed the button to deploy her ramp. Nothing happened. She pressed it again, and when the ramp continued to malfunction, she looked at Andy and said very seriously, “I think I know what is going on. I think this is the result of an EMP.”

  “I think you are right,” agreed Andy as he turned to look back at the terminal. “Oh, my God. The terminal was hit with an airplane. Can you see the tail sticking out of the roof? That’s what caused the explosion, and look, there is another column of smoke out there at the end of the runway.”

  Cassie’s gaze followed where Andy was pointing. “We need to get into the van, even though I doubt it works. I’ve got stuff in there we will need to stay safe and get home. That is, if you are willing to come with me to my ranch. I mean, I know you have nowhere to go, and I could use the company to get home.” Cassie turned a bright red. “I know we just met, but I have a feeling I can trust you. Being by myself in a wheelchair, I’m not sure I can make it home by myself. I understand, though, if you don’t want to. In that case, I will manage, but what will you do?”

  Andy smiled at her. “I would be happy to accompany you home. You are correct. I have nowhere else to go, and you may need some help getting home, especially since your wheelchair is now toast – literally. Where exactly is home?”

  “My ranch is about 150 miles north of here. We are about 18 miles northeast of the small town of Newcastle – basically in the middle of nowhere. The roads we’ll need to take go between most of the mountains, so it is fairly flat and shouldn’t be too bad of a journey. Let’s get the van open so we can get in, away from all these people.”

  Luckily, the van had a key and a hand crank for the ramp, so Andy and Cassie were able to get themselves, the luggage cart, and Andy’s luggage
into the van and away from the throngs of people swarming through the parking lot.

  Once in the van, Cassie used the manual crank to retract the ramp so the doors could be closed. Andy looked around the interior of the van and was impressed to see shelves along one side of the vehicle with various items neatly stowed in plastic bins and held in place with bungee cords. Meanwhile, Cassie was removing Petra’s leash. Andy noted Petra had her own little bed in the back, and as soon as she was free of the leash, she went to her bed to lay down. Cassie turned to Andy and handed him her car key. “Will you go up front and try to start the engine?”

  Andy scooted to the front of the van, turned the key and…nothing. He looked back at Cassie, rubbing his hand across his face.

  “Well, things just got real around here,” he said. “I thought that maybe it was a fluke that the plane crashed and the power went out, but I guess that was just wishful thinking.”

  “I know what you mean. I was really hoping the van would start and we could just drive out of here and be at the ranch in a few hours. We need to take inventory of what we have and what we can take with us.”

  “How are you going to get home without your wheelchair?” he asked.

  Cassie’s eyes got wide with a look of surprise on her face. “Oh my gosh, I don’t know. Maybe there is an extra wheelchair in the terminal? I know it won’t be electric, but I can use a manual chair, too. But that will mean me asking you to go back to the terminal to see if you can find a chair. Otherwise, we’ll have to figure something out with the luggage cart.”

  “Can you walk at all? I mean, how far can you walk?”

  “I can go a couple of miles if I have something to lean on like my walker or crutches before I get too tired or hurt too much and have to rest. I would not be able to walk all the way home, though.”

  “How about, um, personal stuff? Can you take care of that by yourself?” Andy was stuttering with embarrassment, asking such personal questions. Cassie, though, did not seem at all bothered and answered very matter-of-factly.