The Grey Man: -Vignettes-

by JL Curtis

  Applause and a standing ovation happened as the two Brits walked to the stage. One of the Brits leaned over a whispered in Kyle’s ear, and Kyle started laughing.

  Still chuckling, Kyle stepped back to the mic. “Um, Mr. ‘Jones’ and Mr. ‘Smith’ wanted to remind me they are the original owners of those names, going back well before this upstart country ever got started, and they are proud to be the ‘Artists’ from Albany. Their scores were 462 and forty minutes, and yes, they ran the entire course!”

  Kyle presented them with the first place plaque as more applause and laughter ensued. “Okay folks, that’s it for the presentations, we’ll do the drawings in a bit.”

  Matt and Aaron got up and walked over to congratulate the other military shooters along with the law enforcement winners, and received the good-natured ribbing from the other military shooters in the room. The old man and Jesse stayed at the table and waved down a waitress for more coffee, as they watched the folks circulate.

  Matt wandered over to the whiteboard and checked out the scoring, and was amazed to see that the old man and Jesse had matched the best shooters with a score of 462 points! Merle walked up and Matt turned to her, “Thanks for all the work you did on the scoring ma’am, and we do appreciate it!” Pointing to the scores, Matt said, “Did you see the scores for the deputies?”

  Merle laughed. “Yep, all you young bucks might be faster, but that old man can shoot, and the girl is pretty damn good, too! Comes down to it, I wouldn’t want him on my bad side, cause I don’t think he’d hesitate to shoot. I watched them on the dots, and they didn’t miss but a single shot; and that girl got right back on it, no muss, no fuss. Oh, and I noticed your buddy has been sniffing around the girl pretty heavy,” she said with a grin.

  Matt smiled. “Yeah, but I doubt that will go anywhere, because she’s smarter than both of us, and I’m pretty sure the old man isn’t going to let any of us get close to Jesse. He knows better.”

  Matt headed back to the table when Kyle announced they were about to start the drawings for the prizes.

  9 The Challenge Coin

  Throwing the last of the tickets on the table in disgust, Aaron looked at Matt and the rest of the table and said, “Well, I guess we got snookered again. Sometimes I think that is my typical luck, and it seems like it’s rubbed off on everybody else tonight.”

  Matt laughed. “Well, we’re not going home empty handed, Aaron, and I think the colonel will be pretty happy with this, considering our competition this weekend. I don’t think we could legally have won anything anyway.”

  The old man, Jesse, Matt and Aaron sat in a companionable silence, sipping coffee and nibbling on the deserts and cookies. Watching the other shooters, wives and girlfriends circulating between tables and admiring the various plaques the different teams had won and the winners of the raffles admiring their prizes.

  A small crowd gathered looking at the scores, and more than a few glances came their way. The SAS and the SEAL team were off in a corner by themselves and raucous laughter was heard every few minutes. Jesse looked at the plaque Matt and Aaron had won as the third place military team and decided to eat one more cookie.

  “Oh damn, here comes the grunt again,” Matt moaned.

  The old man looked across the table with a quizzical expression. “What’s the problem?”

  “This damn Army sergeant keeps trying to catch us without our coins, sir. Aaron you’ve got yours right?” Matt shook his head and started digging in his wallet for his as Aaron went for his breast pocket.

  Jesse, not understanding what was happening looked over and asked, “What coins are y’all talking about?”

  The old man reached into his shirt and pulling out a pouch that was around his neck on a leather thong. He pulled an old silver coin from it and palmed it in his right hand. “Just wait and see, Jesse,” he said, an evil grin on his face.

  The Army Sergeant weaved up to the table and slapped his hand down on the table, calling out, “Coin check you misguided children! 101st, put up or buy up boys!” Removing his hand, he revealed a coin lying on the table.

  Matt and Aaron both slapped their hands down on the table, saying in unison, “Two MEF.” And showed their coins.

  The Army Sergeant looked over at the Cronin. “Do you even know what we’re talking about, old man?”

  He raised his hand to the table top, gently laid it on the table and said, “DOL, Fifth Group. You know what we drink.” And showed the old silver coin in his palm.

  The Army sergeant turned pale and quickly put his coin back in his pocket, saying, “Yes, sir. Be right back, sir,” as he turned away and headed for the bar.

  Jesse, now totally confused, looked at Matt and Aaron, who were also uncertain at this point. The old man smiled, if it could be called that. “Papa, what in the hell is going on?”

  “Well, he stepped on his dick is what just happened, Jesse; he didn’t think there would be any chance of running across one of us here, and he got caught out. I hope y’all like brandy.”

  Jesse asked, “What do you mean one of ‘us,’ Papa, and what’s DOL?”

  Matt chimed in then. “I’ve never seen him do that either, what did you show him sir or was it what you said?”

  Grinning, the old man spun the coin in his hand and passed it to Jesse, reaching under his shirt and taking off the pouch that had held the coin. “There are a few of us old farts around that go back to the early days when Fifth Group was the main Special Forces group in Vietnam.” Pointing at the coin he added, “All of the old farts like me got silver coins presented by the General in country, and we all had these elephant hide pouches made for them.

  We all wore them around our necks, and vowed never to be without them. DOL is De Oppresso Liber, Latin for to free from oppression and the motto of Special Forces.”

  As Jesse looked at both sides of the coin and passed it to Matt, she shook her head and just looked at the old man. “Why is this the first time I’m finding this out Papa? And what’s this about drinking? I’ve never seen you take a drink in my life at least that I can remember.”

  “Honey, there are a lot of things you don’t know, and I hope to God you never find out. That was a different life and a different time from today.”

  At that point, a very subdued Army Sergeant returned to the table with four shots and quietly asked, “Sir if there is nothing else, may I be excused?”

  The old man just nodded. He gestured to the others and each picked up the shots, and he toasted, “De oppresso liber” as they downed their shots. Jesse shivered and wondered what she had gotten into, and realized she didn’t really like brandy.

  Matt realized the old man they were sitting with was one of the real warriors, and at least for him, things began to fall into place. The attitude, the old but well-cared for rifle, the shooting ability, and his watchfulness all snapped into place and he decided he truly did not want to get on the wrong side of this man. And he decided that this old man had put more than a few in the ground over the years.

  He also wondered if Aaron had picked up on it, or was too enthralled by Jesse to be aware of the bigger picture.

  The old man turned to Jesse. “You about ready girl? We got miles to go tomorrow and I ain’t gettin' any younger.”

  Jesse just shook her head. “Well, Papa, I guess since ‘you’ need your sleep I guess we better get you to bed.”

  Aaron looked like he was going to say something, but stopped when Matt gave him the quiet hand signal. Matt noticed the old man smiling, and he guessed he caught it. The old man got up and so did Matt, Aaron and Jesse.

  Fishing in his wallet, the old man passed Matt and Aaron cards. “Matt, Aaron, it was a pleasure to meet y’all, and I wish you the best in your careers; and if you ever get to West Texas, give me a call. I’ll treat y’all to some good barbecue on me.”

  Aaron reached across and shook the old man’s hand, and Jesse walked around the table to give both Matt and Aaron hugs, and a peck on the cheek for Aaron, w
ho promptly started turning red again.

  Matt took the card and shook hands with the old man. “Mr. Cronin, if I ever get out that way I will, and thanks for letting us join you. I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve never even checked your scores. Do you know how well y’all did?”

  “Nope, and I really don’t care. This trip was just for fun and to get outta Texas for a bit, and let Jesse see a different part of the country,” the old man replied.

  Jesse looked at Matt asking, “Did you go look? And if you did, how’d we shoot? Papa never tells me anything.”

  Matt, looking at both Jesse and the old man responded, “Well sir, y’all out shot everybody but the SAS and you tied them at 462 of a possible 470 points. AND you did that without really modern guns, or scopes or spotting scopes. If y’all had been a bit faster, you would have won the law enforcement side hands down, and probably beaten most of the military folks.”

  Jesse and Aaron both looked at Matt in incredulity, but the old man just smiled. Jesse hit the old man on the shoulder. “Dammit Papa, why didn’t you tell me we did that good?”

  “Cause I don’t care, hon. This is all for fun, so it don’t make a damn how good we did. And I knew coming in I was too old to run that far that fast. But I wanted you to see that you can compete with the boys, and you don’t have a damn thing to be apologetic for. Now let’s go.”

  The old man and Jesse slipped out the back door, as quietly as they’d come.

  10 Guess Who

  Six months later, back in Texas…

  The old man came in the house and let the screen door bang shut, as he did, Jesse called from the kitchen, “Is that you, Papa?”

  Walking into the kitchen, he responded, “Who else would it be at five thirty in the morning? And if you took your damn dog out yourself, I wouldn’t have to do it!”

  Juanita and Francisco laughed as Rex padded in behind the old man and came over and laid his head on Francisco’s lap for a scratching.

  Jesse reached for the coffee pot and poured a cup of black coffee and sat it on the table next to the orange juice. “Thank you, Papa, and I’ve got some news,” Jesse said with a grin.

  “Yeah, Aaron got orders and he’s going to be here Friday, right? Umm, Juanita could I have some of your delicious Huevos Rancheros please?” the old man grinned as he sat down at the table.

  Juanita smiled and asked, “Anybody want anything different? Francisco, Jesse? Rex, out of the kitchen!”

  As the dog slunk out of the kitchen, Jesse shook her head and looked over at the old man with a stunned expression, “How did you know? He only emailed me an hour ago! Is it alright if he stays here?”

  The old man rocked back in his chair, “Well, you are not the only one that has friends in low places and I’m guessing it’ll be okay. We can ask Juanita to open up the mother-in-law suite for him.” He leaned back sipping his coffee, ostensibly ignoring Jesse with a little grin on his face.

  “Papa?”

  Grinning, he turned to Jesse. “Matt called last night, he’s on orders too, he’s going to Pendleton to take charge of the range out there and be the senior enlisted instructor. He said Aaron is now a staff sergeant and will be going to MARSOC[13] at Pendleton, and then to the Marine First Special Operations Battalion after he completes training. They are driving out at the same time, and he’d asked if he could visit too.”

  “This Friday, John?” Juanita asked as she finished preparing four plates of eggs done Huevos Ranchero style.

  “Do I need to get more food?”

  “Well, they are Marines, Juanita, and at least one of them has already landed on somebody at the table, so yeah, we’re probably going to need more food. Speaking of which, Francisco are the Ramos brothers still doing the rolling BBQ setup?”

  As Jesse blushed and opened her mouth to retort, Francisco laughingly replied, “Sure I think so, you want me to check? Do you want them to get a beef and do the prep?”

  The old man laughed. “Nah, I think it’s about time that old brindle steer meets his maker, and I’ll check with Grissom today to see if he’s still got that half hog in the freezer. I figure we can do a little barbecue for a few folks, and maybe a little Tex-Mex if Juanita and the ladies are willing to do the fixins. You think you and Toby can wrangle the steer outta the Mesquite?”

  Juanita served the plates and took a seat at the far end of the table as Francisco thought out what would be needed. “Sure, I think he’s still up on the North 40. If we can’t get him out with the horses, I’ll go in there and drop him. Then we can go get him with the truck and trailer or take the tractor up there and just drag his ass outta there.”

  “That should work okay, Francisco, and you know Juanita, the more I think about it, I think we’ll just throw the Marines in the bunk house, it’s not like they don’t know how to live in cramped quarters!” The old man snuck a look at Jesse as he said it, and watched her trying to figure out how to respond.

  Jesse just kept her head down and kept eating, so the old man decided to have a little fun. “At least this time, he’s coming here rather than you inventing reasons you had to fly to the East coast Jesse, and I figure feeding them is the cheaper alternative.”

  Jesse wailed, “Papa that’s not nice, and I did have good reasons to go, they sent me to that…”

  All the others were laughing and the old man answered, “Sure you did, hon. But all of a sudden you’re awful damn sensitive about it, and I haven’t seen that idiot Frank sniffing around lately.”

  Francisco snorted into his coffee and Juanita had a coughing spell trying to cover her laughter; as Jesse, injured pride and all snipped, “Well, I decided Frank was not what I wanted to spend, ah hell, I give up. I’m going to work, which sector are you in today, Papa?” She picked up her plate, rinsed it in the sink and dropped it in the dishwasher, filling a to-go cup with coffee as she headed toward the door.

  The old man replied, “I’m in sector three, so don’t get in any trouble today, cause I would hate to haul your butt to jail, and tell that speed demon Rick that if I catch him screwing around I will put his ass in jail.”

  Kissing the old man on the cheek Jesse smirked. “Yes, Papa, I’ll tell him.” Dodging his attempt to swat her on the butt as she went by, she patted Rex as he snuck back into the kitchen and took his accustomed place at side of the old man’s chair.

  The old man got up and took his dishes to the sink, rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher, picked up the coffee pot and tipped it toward Francisco, who nodded and held out his cup, as Juanita waved it off. The old man poured him a cup, then one for himself as the screen door slammed, and they heard Jesse start her car and pull out of the driveway.

  Juanita turned to face the old man as he leaned back against the sink. “Okay, John, what is going on?” asked Juanita. “Marines? Where is this coming from?”

  Taking a sip of coffee, the old man thought for a second. “Well, you remember when we went back East to that sniper shoot?

  “We drove back and shot against a bunch of military and LEOs in West Virginia. We met a couple of pretty sharp Marines from Quantico and the young one took a shine to Jesse. That’s why she’s made a couple of trips to the East Coast. Granted some of it was business, but mostly to see Aaron. I didn’t think much about it till Frank stopped coming around.”

  “Okay, John, where do you really want to put them?” Juanita asked grabbing a pad and pencil. “You’ve got one bedroom here, and two in the old house, and then there is the bunkhouse. But I wouldn’t want to put them in there with Toby, he’s such a slob.”

  “The window units both work in the old house, so that’s where I’d put them,” Francisco said. “But if Jesse and this Aaron are ‘friendly,’ well that is going to complicate things.”

  The old man grinned. “Yeah, you’re probably right, why don’t we put Matt in here and Aaron in the old house, that way I don’t have to listen to a bunch of noise, or react to a situation that I really ain’t worrying about if you know what
I mean. Hell, Jesse is of age, and knows her own business.”

  Francisco laughed and Juanita just shook her head saying, “You are a dirty old man John, but if that is what you want? So how many people do you want to invite?”

  “Oh, I guess the usual suspects, and I’m assuming you’ll invite your usual suspects so we’ll be feeding what, fifty? Plus kids? And do you feel up to doing the Tex-Mex?” the old man asked.

  Poking Francisco, Juanita replied, “Well, since this old man never takes me anywhere, I’ll get the girls together and we’ll put on a good feed for them and I’ll get to have a girls day too!”

  Mumbling under his breath, Francisco got up and rinsed his dishes and headed to the door. “I never take you because you never want to go, and unlike the rest of y’all, I have work to do. This ranch doesn’t run itself. Stay safe today, John.”

  The old man nodded and then turned to Juanita. “Take whatever you need out of the operating account and I’ll leave the menu in your capable hands. I gotta get to work too, since I’m down south today.”

  Juanita nodded as the old man went into the living room, picked up his gun belt and slung it around his hips, grabbed the radio out of the charger and put on his cowboy hat. Rex looked up hopefully and whined, but the old man gave him the stay command, and walked out the door.

  At lunch, the old man gave Grissom a call and determined there was a half a hog available, and passed that along to Francisco. He also talked to the sheriff and switched his Friday patrol to sector four, figuring he’d have to go meet Matt and Aaron in Pecos and lead them back in rather than trying to give them directions on the back roads and farm roads in West Texas.

  Back at the ranch, Francisco and Toby saddled up a couple of horses and rode up to the North 40, which was really a 160-acre section. They didn’t see the old brindle steer, and split up to try to bust him out of the mesquite and creek bottom. Francisco, knowing steers and this particular one was a nasty one, decided to keep Toby out of trouble if he could. Toby was twenty, and becoming a pretty good hand, but he had a lot to learn about Longhorns and especially the cranky ones. He also loved to charge into things, sometimes getting himself in binds that took a bit to get out of, but this time that ‘bind’ could get him dead before Francisco could get there. After about three hours, Francisco called on the personal radio, “Toby, you seen anything yet?”