Through All the Years

by Rod Carstens

  She landed in Los Angeles. There she found the streets filled with kids just like her. She made friends quickly. Soon another girl offered her a place to crash. They had a house and she was welcome to stay until she could find a job. Gretchen, a very pretty blonde girl from Iowa living in the house, had a job as a waitress. One day Gretchen told her they had an opening at the diner where she worked. Kate applied and got the job. It was not long before she and Gretchen moved into their own place. She was independent and making her own way, which is more than she could say about her mother.

  One ordinary day an older man walked into the diner. He was in his forties, with graying hair in a crew cut, still handsome, in shape and tanned. He was dressed in expensive slacks and dress shirt. He was reading the paper, when she came to take his order.

  "What can I get you?"

  "I'll have my usual," He said without looking up from his paper.

  "What's your usual?"

  He looked up. "Where's Gretchen?"

  "She's off today. I'm Kate."

  "Well, Kate, I'll have eggs over easy, bacon, toast, coffee and orange juice when you bring my food."

  "You got it."

  Kate knew Jack was watching her as she turned to place his order, but then he turned back to his paper. Kate brought him his coffee, then his food. He ate silently, never engaging in a conversation. But Kate could feel him watching her the whole time he was at the counter. She thought he was just another older man on the make, like the ones that her mother always brought home, lusting after the pretty teenage waitress. He paid for his meal and left a hefty tip. At least he paid for the privilege, Kate thought and stuffed the five in her pocket.

  When she got off at five thirty that afternoon, she found the man and another man waiting for her outside the rear entrance to the diner. The man from breakfast was now dressed in an expensive suit, and he stepped out of a Jaguar convertible. She was wary when he approached.

  "My name is Jack Reynolds." He told her. "You remember me from breakfast. This is my friend Paul. He's one of the better photographers in the city. I want him to take a couple of pictures of you."

  "Now, wait a minute, there cowboy." Kate said backing up a couple of steps. "I don't do that kind of thing."

  "I don't mean that. I want a couple headshots, just pictures of your face. If I'm right I can find you some modeling jobs. I think you have something. Something special."

  "I don't know." Kate said.

  "You were right Jack. She is something," Paul said.

  "Look I'll give you fifty bucks. Paul will take a couple of pictures, and we leave. No hassle. No problems. Here’s the fifty."

  Kate hesitated. What was the catch? She couldn't think of any and she desperately needed the money. Fifty dollars was more than she made in a normal week. Tips had been lousy the whole week.

  "Ok. But only my face and that's all. Understand?"

  "Understood. Paul." Jack said to the photographer.

  "Honey, I need you to move over here; where the light is better."

  Kate moved so the setting sun bathed her face.

  "Great, right there. Give me a nice smile."

  Kate smiled.

  "Now one without a smile. Chin down just a little with your eyes up. Perfect."

  He took a number of pictures. "Great, thank you." Paul said.

  Jack handed Kate the fifty-dollar bill and said. "Here is my card. I will let you know if anything comes of this."

  The card only had his name and phone number on it. Kate took it, and the fifty, and stuffed them in her purse.

  "I've got to go, here is my bus."

  Kate ran to catch her bus, thinking that L.A. was a very strange place. Kate did not see Jack again for a week. Then one morning he showed up again for breakfast. This time, he was dressed in an expensive suit.

  "Morning." Kate said. She was a little nervous at seeing him again. What would be his come on this time?

  "Good morning." Jack said with a smile. He slid a stack of papers toward her.

  "What's this?"

  "This is a contract with largest modeling agency in L.A. They loved your pictures and want to represent you. They've a bunch of go-sees already lined up."

  "Now wait a minute. What are you talking about? I didn't ask you to do that. What do you get out of it?'

  "Nothing, honey. Just helping someone."

  "Bullshit," Kate said. There was no way she was going to trust this stranger. She had more than her share of stories of girls falling for the modeling contract trick and ending up in very bad places.

  Gretchen walked up.

  "Jack!" She screamed and leaned over the counter to give him a huge hug.

  "Thank you so much for getting me the audition."

  "This is the guy who got you the audition?" Kate said surprised. Gretchen had never mentioned the name of the man who had arranged her audition. Gretchen was trying to be an actress and until the unnamed man had made a few phone calls for her she had gotten nowhere.

  "Yes, this is the guy."

  "Did you get the part?" Jack said.

  "No, but they want me to come back to audition for another part."

  "Wonderful. Would you tell your friend here that I'm not the boogie man."

  "What's going on?" Gretchen said.

  "I had Paul take a few pictures and the Neville Agency is interested in representing her. They already have some go sees arranged."

  Gretchen's eyes grew huge.

  "Are you kidding?" Gretchen turned to Kate.

  "So do you have any idea who they are?"

  "No." Kate said starting to become excited.

  "They're the biggest modeling agency in town. That's all."

  "Are you kidding? I'm no model." Kate said.

  "You are now." The man said with a smile.

  "Who's this guy?" Kate asked.

  "Honey, Jack Reynolds in one of the biggest writers in Hollywood, and the only nice guy in this damn town. If he says it's all right, then it is."

  Kate could only stare at them before she finally said. "What in the hell are you doing in a diner?"

  "I like diners."

  They all broke out in laughter. Gretchen and Kate hugged one another.

  "Well?" Jack said, when they finally calmed down.

  "Where do I sign?" Kate said.

  Kate began to get work almost immediately and Gretchen began to get acting parts so it wasn't long before she and Gretchen were able to move to a much nicer apartment. As her success grew she and Jack became close. He became her mentor and protector in the harsh world of the Los Angles entertainment industry. Jack recommended her for a part in the picture he had just worked on called The Big Waves. He had based the girl on her and thought she should try acting. And that is how she ended up riding to the airport in Hawaii in a limousine. It was like a bad Hollywood script of about a waitress discovered in diner becoming a star but Kate was living this Hollywood script.

  Chapter 5

  Honolulu Airport

  1968

  Tom stood at the window of the airport looking out at the plane as they loaded the luggage. Then he saw the little tug pulling Mac's coffin. It pulled up next to the plane. Several baggage men and a man who looked to be a pilot stood waiting to load it. The pilot took off his uniform hat and all the others followed suit. They all stood with their heads bowed for a moment. The pilot nodded and then crew began to load the coffin. Carefully they took it off the cart and placed it on a conveyer belt. It slowly moved toward the hold of the plane. The Gunny had pulled off a miracle and gotten him an emergency leave to escort Mac's body home. He could almost hear Mac "since when does the Gunny give anyone a break?". Now he would have gotten a kick out of everyone being respectful and careful with some corner boy from Watts.

  He stood alone because no one else would come near him. He first noticed it when got off the plane from Vietnam. People moved out of his way. They frowned as they saw him coming and looked away. Others appeared angry just at the sight of him. Mix
that with the cornucopia of colors, smells and the unbelievable normalness of being back in the world and Tom was in shock. It had not been forty-eight hours ago he had been in Hue. Hue was grey, black and white in Tom's memory. They only color was the red of the blood that seemed to be everywhere. Now he stood in an entirely different world where no one seemed aware of a place called Hue existed. A placed that had so changed Tom's life. A place of death and suffering that was his world. No, these people came from another world, one that you did not have worry if you were going to live until tomorrow, one where your friends did not die in your arms. Instead they lived in a colorful bright world of peace and quite. They seemed angry with him for reminding him that his world existed.

  A pretty girl with long straight blonde hair came up to him.

  "Your in the service aren't you?" she said with a smile.

  "Yes, I'm a Marine."

  "You fucking baby killer."

  Then she spit in his face. Tom was too dumbfounded to react. He just stood there. Then slowly wiped the spit off his face too stunned to say anything. Encouraged by Tom's inaction two of her male friends came up and were about to say something when they suddenly stopped. Tom became aware of someone behind him. A young man his own age stood next to him. He wore an Army uniform with a green beret. He had jump wings and a Combat Infantry badge a chest full of Nam medals. He had been to the shit the same as Tom.

  "He might not have killed any babies but I have. So why don't you boys and girls just go away before I add you to my list."

  Before they could say anything another Green Beret bumped into them from behind. When they turned around he said.

  "Boo. Scoot you little fucks."

  Tom finally came out of his shock enough to say.

  "Thanks guys."

  "First time back in the World?" the first Green Beret said.

  "Yeah."

  "Welcome to the club. You going home."

  "No, escorting by best friends body home."

  "Fuck man."

  "Sorry." The other Green Beret said. "Where were you guys?"

  "Hue."

  Both of the Green Berets looked impressed.

  "Man was that as bad as what we saw on TV?"

  "Yeah, these NVA had new uniforms, weapons and web gear. They were trained and hardcore mothers."

  "Shit sounds like the pros' have come to the game."

  "Yeah. They are here to stay." Tom said

  "How did you get to escort the body? They never let us."

  "No idea. Maybe because I was the only surviving member of the platoon that went into Hue. They figured I deserved it. It would the first time Corp ever did me a favor, so I figured someone fucked up."

  "I'm glad you could do it. It would have made a difference if I could have gone home with a couple of guys I lost."

  "We said we would do it for each other and I got lucky. You guys headed home?" Tom said.

  The two Green Berets exchanged a glance.

  "Naw, man we volunteered for another tour."

  "Are you fucking crazy?"

  "Naw, just wait till you get back stateside and you run into what you just did and the petty bullshit on base. We don't belong there anymore. We're going back where we belong."

  "Look man I really appreciate what you two guys did. I was too shocked to say anything."

  "No sweat man. Keep your ass down there jarhead."

  "You too green beanie."

  He shook hands with the two and headed toward the boarding gate for his plane. As he did it suddenly struck him how much he was going through for someone he did not even know six months ago. It was amazing how quickly you could come to think of someone as your brother. He and Mac had met in the mud and blood of Con Thein. They were replacements for men that had been killed or wounded. They had been thrown onto a helicopter with several other replacements just before it took off. They had not even been given web gear or their rifles; they both were still carrying their sea bags. They others on the copter had all of their equipment. Leave to the Crotch to send them to a combat base with only their sea bags.

  The flight was a harrowing ride through a series of mountains that seemed so close that Tom felt he could reach out and touch them. The copter banked as it made its approach to the landing zone. The door gunner was firing at something Tom could not see. He suddenly heard what sounded like somebody banging on the side of the helicopter. He had no idea what could make that noise until he saw daylight through small holes that were appearing in the side of the aircraft. They were taking fire. The crew chief looked very nervous. As soon as the ramp was down he was pushing them off the back of the helicopter.

  "Move, Marines, move. Get the fuck off this bird. I don't want to see anything but assholes and elbows," he screamed over the roar of the engines. "We are sitting in the middle of a bulls-eye and I don't want to get my ass killed delivering a bunch of FNG's"

  Tom was scared, more scared than any time in his life, as he ran down the ramp of the helicopter. He wondered if the other men were as scared as he was as he struggled with his gear as he ran. Tom had only been in Vietnam a day. If someone was already shooting at them he wanted his helmet, rifle and flack jacket. They had been told they would get the rest of their gear and weapons at their unit. Tom thought this was not the best plan given the circumstances. His legs were shaking with fear as he ran out the back helicopter and down the ramp. Almost before the last man was off the helicopter it was already lifting off in a hurricane of dust and debris kicked up by its rotors.

  A Gunnery Sergeant was waiting for them as the dust cleared.

  "Welcome to Con Thien, or as we like to call it, 'The Meatgrinder'. You have just landed in the middle of the shit. We're surrounded by Viet Cong and NVA. We're here on a thirty-day rotation. This is our seventh day. So we have twenty three more fun filled days left before we get out of the shit."

  Before the Gunny could say another word, Tom heard a sound different than anything he had heard before.

  "Incoming!" The Gunnery Sergeant screamed. "Take cover!"

  Tom grabbed his sea bag, and ran for the nearest hole. He dove in sea bag and all. Explosions erupted around him as NVA artillery and rockets found their targets. He curled into the fetal position his hands on top of his helmet. A huge weight smashed into his back. I've been hit, was all he could think, and then he realized that the weight that had smashed into his back was another Marine. It was the black replacement that had been on the chopper with him. They both curled up into balls, crawling under their sea bags for added protection. Round after round exploded nearby, throwing dirt and debris on them.

  "Goddamnit. You mother--"

  An even closer explosion cut off what the black Marine was going to say. When Tom opened his eyes, he could see the other Marine's face. His teeth were gritted not in fear, but anger. He was more angry than scared.

  "If those little fucks are going to blow my ass away at least give me a goddamn weapon."

  More explosions. This time further away.

  "You fucks! Would you stop it," he screamed. He reached down and grabbed a rock that had just been blown into their hole threw it as far as he could. Another explosion, this time closer than the last splattered dirt on top of them.

  "I think you made them mad," Tom said. He had no idea where those words came from; he'd thought he was too scared to utter a sound. His mouth felt like it was filled with cotton balls and his stomach was tightened into a knot. He looked over at the black Marine, and they started to laugh. The more they laughed, the harder they laughed.

  "Wouldn't want to make the little fuckers mad, now would we." The black Marine said.

  "Yeah, you better watch out or we'll hit you with a rock," Tom yelled from the bottom of the hole.

  The absurdity of their predicament had them laughing harder and harder. Finally, the bombardment stopped, and the Gunnery Sergeant stood over them looking down into the hole.

  "You can come up. It's over for now."

  As Tom and the black Mar
ine emerged from their hole, one of the other replacements that had been on the helicopter with them was being carried away on a stretcher, his chest covered with blood.

  "Follow me." The grizzled old Gunny said as he turned to lead them to their unit.

  Tom turned to the black Marine as the followed the Gunny and said. "I'm Ballard."

  "They call me Mac. Looks like we are good luck for each other," Mac said as the wounded replacement was hurried off.

  "Yeah it does. Maybe we should stick together."

  "Sounds good."

  From that day forward they were inseparable. They were more than brothers. They were comrades in arms whose lives depended on the other. This was never said, you never said those kinds of things to one another. You did not have to, it was understood. It was not discussed, but it manifested itself in the sharing of the simplest and the most important things in their lives. They shared foxholes together, one sleeping while the other stood guard. They shared rations. When one got stuck with C-rations worst, ham and mothers, the other gave him his beans and weenies. They shared water. They were scared, happy, sad, and afraid as one. They felt as if they were each other's good luck charm. As long as they stayed together, they could survive anything.

  They had, they survived everything except Hue. Hue had turned into this monstrous black hole that devoured guys like Mac. It killed them and only left memories of half open eyes with blood matted eyelashes staring into nothing, before ending up in the cargo hold of an airliner. Tom remembered what Mac had always said when something bad happened to someone else. Better thee than me. Tom wasn't sure who got the worst of this one. Tom turned and went to the gate to board the aircraft.