“She was one amazing girl.”
“What about the other kids, your roommates?”
We had a really mixed bag. I remember that first introduction in our barracks.”
Oh, man, we all gonna fit in heah?
“Denzil, Denzil Johnson, was from D.C. He later told us it was the norm for him to share a room with at least four younger brothers. He and I roomed together later and we both joined the Air Force. He’s still in. I got an email from him just before you found the friend on my neck. He’s getting his star at his next pro board. He’ll be flying a desk at the Pentagon pretty soon.”
“Pro board?”
“Promotion in rank. He was my best man when your mom and I got hitched. Remember the wedding photos we showed you?”
“That’s Uncle Denny? Wow! What else did he say? I haven’t seen him since we moved here to Virginia.”
“He asked about you. I emailed him a picture. He also wanted to know if I planned on going to our twenty-fifth class reunion.”
I won’t tell her it’s this week. I don’t want them to see me like this.
“What about the others?”
“Our room was Spartan bare, just an old-fashioned radiator along the wall.
Where’s our beds?
“When Abe Saltzman asked that question, our Cadre gave an evil grin and said, ‘Your hays are rolled up against the wall.’”
“We didn’t say anything until he had left.”
Holy shit, we’re sleeping on the floor!
“Abe was our New Yorker. We never quite understood why he was at VMI. He was super smart, had been accepted to every Ivy-league school in existence and his family had money up the yin-yang. Not to say that the rest of us were morons or destitute. Our high school GPAs and SAT scores were top notch, too. But, somehow, I always saw Abe as a constitutional lawyer or a Harvard professor.
“We asked him why VMI. He smiled and said it was a damned good school and he wanted a total challenge—the same reason we were all there.
“That pretty much said it for all of us.”
“What happened to him?”
“After graduation, Abe did go to Harvard, got his law degree and clerked for the Supreme Court. He’s an appellate court judge now. He was also the judge for Donny Ashburn’s Honor Court trial.”
“Did he have any doubts about the verdict?”
“No, Kris. None of us did.”
Except Lauren
Did we make a mistake?
“Who were the other two in your room?”
“Ah, good old Toby Bessel was the tallest at six feet, two inches, a beanpole-thin, one-hundred-forty pounder who hailed from Richmond.”
Guess this is what we signed on for, too, guys.
“He was friendly but shy.”
“What fabulous things did he do later?”
“The greatest thing any cadet can do. He was killed in Afghanistan, trying to rescue one of the men in the unit he commanded. His name is forever engraved on the honor roll of VMI cadets who gave their all for their country.”
“Oh … I’m sorry, Dad.”
“So am I. He was one helluva guy, a true southern gentleman.
“Let’s see, Denzil, Abe, Toby. Our fifth at the Mad Hatter’s tea party was Monty, Montgomery Passelman the third. You could almost hear a bugle blow when you said his name. Sounds kinda like a Civil War general’s name, doesn’t it?”
“Was he rich like Abe?”
“No, but he was just as smart. Came from Georgia, if I remember correctly.”
Hey, look at it as a never-ending campout, guys.
“Monty, well, no one ever quite knew if he was serious or not. He smiled a lot. He turned toward me, still smiling after making that introductory statement.”
You’re a farm boy, aren’t you, Gus?
Yeah, Sherlock Holmes, how’d you know?
Your hands and your skin: you got sun spots on your neck and calluses that none of us have.
Uh … Monty, how do you know it ain’t from him bein’ friendly with his hand, if you get my drift.
“Even I laughed as the ebony-skinned Denzil’s deep bass voice echoed in the room. Of course, I had to answer. It’s a guy thing.”
Hey, if you want to be good … no, great … at something you gotta practice a lot, right?
Yeah, Gus, just don’t practice on me .
I don’t think we need to worry about him. Did you see old Belmont here staring at that tall chick? If he coulda stepped outta formation, I think he woulda done some partner pushups with her .
“Toby was shy but had an observing eye.”
Yeah, just call me Zeus .
“I told you it was a guy thing, daughter. But we did have partner pushups and sit-ups in calisthenics. Needless to say, that’s not what the other guys meant. At that point we hit the showers and waited for our first sweat party. That night’s soiree, compliments of our upper classmen cadre, left us too exhausted for anything except the sleep of the just.”
“What happened to Monty?”
“He joined the Army and wound up in Army Intelligence. He and Denzil are the only two in our little group to make star rank.
“Guess your old man didn’t do much with his life, eh, Kris?”
“You had me. Wasn’t that enough?”
“Yeah, you were one handful, kiddo. Not only did I have to worry about you bringing home poisonous snakes and other critters, I had to worry about all those boys at our front door. But, somehow, by some miracle, I think you turned out pretty damned good.”
She was smiling, but I could still see the innocence in her eyes. She had never been hurt, except when Sandy and I divorced.
“Remember what I asked you just before you graduated from high school, Kristin?”
“You said a lot of things, even as you were leaving me at the dorm my first day at William and Mary, but…”
“Oh, yeah, you said that college wasn’t high school and I said ‘duh!’ But I know what you mean now, Dad.”
Do you really?
“Well, that’s what it was like at VMI, too. I had professors I couldn’t get enough of and others I prayed would stand in front of the artillery as it went off. And I learned that it was all up to me. If I did something stupid, I would suffer the consequences.
You wouldn’t understand punishment marches and guard duty, Kristin, and I know you wouldn’t have tolerated being confined to barracks on weekends as punishment.”
“What did you do that was stupid?”
“My junior year, three of us guys were off-post, legitimately, but the car we were in broke down and we didn’t make it back before taps at 11:30 pm on Sunday. By school rules, we were officially AWOL, absent without leave.
We were summoned to the Commandant’s office and he grilled us on the rules and then asked why we were late. I told him our car broke down and he said that was no excuse. Then I said a cadet was never to leave another cadet in distress and we had to stay with our friend until we could get the car fixed.”
“Did he buy that?”
“In a way. He confined us to barracks for the next weekend and had to write an explanatory paper. It worked. We didn’t get rolled out—expelled.”
“What about the rest of your Brother Rats?”
“It really wasn’t until Breakout that I finally had a feel for who my classmates were, the ones you could rely on in a pinch and those you kept at a distance. We called them ‘loose cannons.’ I also learned that human nature is what it is, even in the highly disciplined atmosphere of a military school.”
“Did you fight with any of your roommates?”
“Hell, yes! When you jam five human rats into a small maze and subject them to military and academic stress, it’s natural for tempers to flare.”
Damn it, Monty, quit snapping that elastic on your underwear. I’ve got an exam tomorrow!
“Snap, snap, snap. Monty got a kick out of pulling Saltzman’s chain.”
I said stop it or I’ll…
> Get those two apart before they kill each other!
“It took the three of us, Denzil, Toby and me, to pull Abe and Monty apart. They were like two stags locking horns all the time. I think Monty felt Abe was looking down on him because he was from Georgia, although the rest of us never felt that way.”
“Did you guys stay together after that first year?”
“Remember what you did with your first roommate, Kristin?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t wait to get to another room. Thank God, you and mom let me get an apartment off-campus for the last three years. And Renee has been a great roommate.”
“Think about it, girl. We didn’t have that option. It was barracks or nothing. But, we could change each year, and as we became upper classmen, we had the option of just one roommate. Denzil and I stayed together our second year Abe and Monty were at each other’s throats so much that it was a relief to see them both switch off.
“Toby hooked up with one of the guys in the next room and Abe and Monty both found other roommates for second year. By senior year, one of the big privileges was having a single room for yourself.”
I saw the look in her eyes.
“No, fraternization in your room with women cadets was not allowed. Lauren had her own room senior year, too.”
“Okay, but what about camping out?”
“Lauren knew this area backwards and forwards. She grew up here. One weekend we both had off from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. It was springtime and she said she wanted to show me some neat sites around Lexington.
“Next thing I know, I’m driving her friend’s motorcycle with her on the back playing human GPS. Her mom had packed us a picnic basket and her dad, the sheriff, gave me the evil eye while smilingly telling me to keep his daughter safe.”
Cadet Belmont.
Yes, sir, Sheriff Fletcher?
I expect you to be a gentleman at all times. Understand?
Uh, yes sir.
Daddy?
Yes, Laurie?
What if I don’t want him to be a gentleman?
Leave the young ones alone, Fletcher.
Yes, mother.
“The sheriff always called his wife by that name. Lauren’s mother and father were so much in love. I like to think she and I would have…”
Oh, crap! I’m doing it again .
“Come on, Dad, you haven’t finished the story.”
“There were other times our first two years when the 3:30 a.m. knock on the door and the call of ‘Your Honor Court requires your presence’ sent us scurrying to the stoops of our rooms, wrapped in our blankets to keep us warm.
“The Honor Code is sacrosanct. A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal nor tolerate those who do. Those first two years I heard the names of eight cadets whose names would never be spoken again in barracks.”
The snare drums roared in my ears. I had to stop.
“Dad…?”
“Yes…yes. Where was I?
“Okay, our second year was notable for the start of our ‘camping’ excursions. But there were a few sour notes. Other cadets tried to get friendly with Lauren, and some never took the hint, even when Lauren became blunt.”
Fletcher?
Yes?
I … uh … wanted to know if you would like to accompany me to the Ring Figure?
“I was not more than five feet away when the other guy saw me. Lauren smiled politely.”
I appreciate your offer, but I have other plans .
“His face turned the color of his guard sash.”
You getting stuffed by Belmont, here, or are the guys at Washington and Lee more your type?
Don’t answer him, Lauren .
What’s the matter, Belmont? I’m asking you both a direct question. Are you two an item?
“We stood there. We didn’t take the bait. Even though it would have been a stretch, the other guy might have tried to file an Honor Code violation against us both for lying.”
“Dad, that’s ridiculous!”
“Yes, but remember, human nature is what it is and some cadets, fortunately just a few, tried to pervert the system for their own gain and petty control needs. Thank God the Honor Court doesn’t fall for that stuff.
“Anyway, the guy was a loner at the Ring Figure.”
“What’s a Ring Figure?”
“It’s a coming of age ceremony followed by a formal dance ball. Halfway through your third year, junior year, usually in November, the second classmen are formally presented with their class rings. We call them nuggets, because they’re large, gold, and heavy. Then a formal dance is held. It’s a gateway to your last year at VMI.”
“Where’s your nugget?”
“Funny you should ask.”
I reached into my pocket. I hadn’t worn it in ages. The class ring I usually wore was the stainless steel one, the practical second ring that cadets could wear without fear of losing while on hikes and such. The gold one, the nugget, was usually for ceremonial and festive occasions. Now the demon within me had made my fingers too thin to wear it properly.
I had planned to exchange rings with Lauren at our wedding.
“Here, Kris, it’s yours now.”
I stood up and pretended to stretch. My legs felt shaky. I had to sit down again but I faked it by sliding back on my rump.
“Daughter, you are looking at a full-fledged member of the Honor Court!”
“You mentioned the Ashburn thing, Dad. What was he like?”
“Don was one of the quiet ones; friendly, but not really a joiner or a self-starter. I got the impression that he could be swayed by the opinions of others. He did well in school, though, and that’s what made the whole thing, the cheating episode, so strange.”
“How did you and Lauren get to be on his jury? Did every cadet have to serve, like civil juries?”
“No, in our third year, the entire class elects representatives to the Court. It’s a great honor because your peers select you. Both Lauren and I were nominated and both of us served through our last year and … and…”
The nausea overwhelmed me. I couldn’t remain upright.
“Dad!”
I marched in darkness to the beat of the snare drum.
Predator
So many to choose from.
He was a first classman now, a senior. He had his own room. It was the first time he had slept alone.
“I could have had my own room, Pa. Our house was big enough.”
He made sure that his fourth-class student, a freshman, kept it clean.
It was nice having the perks of senior year.
Move your ass, boy. Clean this place up.
“Yes, Pa.”
He looked in the mirror.
“You are definitely first class, old man.”
He scowled, as the mirror reflected an image from his past: a short, thin boy child. It stared back at him.
“We weren’t always so first class, were we?”
A voice erupted from the silvered glass.
You are one pathetic piece of shit.
“But, Pa, why did you hit me? You said you wanted me to clean the house.”
You never do anything right, that’s why.
“Why do you always hit me, Pa?”
Because I can, boy, because I can.
The image of his father’s scornful face was forever burned in his memory.
“Nothing was ever good enough for you, Pa. How did it feel when I beat the shit out of you when I turned fifteen? Did I do that right?”
He smiled back at the mirror.
“They never did find your body. Yeah, Pa, you were right about one thing: it is fun to play with people’s minds. But I won’t make your mistake. They won’t know I’m doing it.”
He looked down from his stoop and saw the underclassmen.
Sheep—all sheep.
He was a planner, very thorough with assignments, very meticulous at drill and anything else military. He also loved to play chess—with human pawns.
&n
bsp; He had that planned out, too: first a military career, then politics.
Just like you, Pa.
He shivered in orgasmic delight at the thought of all those human sheep under his future control. He laughed out loud as a new chess gambit came to mind.
Recipe: take one or two easily malleable sheep personalities. Add a convoluted scheme to convince them that they are doing something important for the school. Then watch, as they self-destruct.
Maybe even get rolled out.
He loved those 3:30 a.m. ceremonies.
His feral eyes scanned the student body in flux; a computer mind spotted its prey: E pluribus one sucker.
He’d intercept that one in barracks. The sheep was a senior, too.
As he turned, his eye caught sight of something less pleasing.
You’re still hanging around Belmont, aren’t you, Fletcher? I’m not good enough for you, eh?
He rubbed his jaw. Three years later, her sucker punch still stung.
He adjusted his uniform and stepped into the hallway.
“Hey, Ashburn, can I have a word with you?”
Prey
The saber glistened in the afternoon sunlight.
“This was mine, Donnie.”
“Wow, Dad, your VMI saber!”
“You’ve got four hard years ahead of you. If you make the cut, it will be yours.”
Matilda Ashburn smiled at the unlimited enthusiasm of the eighteen-year-old boy.
He’s smart and strong, but…
“Donnie, are you sure this is what you want? You’ve been accepted at UVA and all those other schools. And …”
“Mattie, it’s the boy’s decision.”
Thaddeus Ashburn had done well in both military and business. He was a self-starter, focused at all times. His only regret was not making it into the green berets like his twin brother Lon. But Lon was gone, killed in ‘Nam, so he had to carry on.
“Mom, Dad, I’m sure. I want to be a Brother Rat like you, Dad.”
The older man smiled but held the same thought his wife hadn’t verbalized: Donnie was so trusting, so innocent.
“Hey, I’m gonna go into Lexington and tell Aunt Abby. Okay?”
They watched as the lean, blond-haired, hazel-eyed high-school track star ran out the door.
“How did he grow up so fast, Mattie?”
Shoes: Tails from the post Page 4
