It was fun stacking all my money on the counter. Made me feel like a big shot. Soon it was all counted and in the vault. Great, one less thing to worry about it. I returned to Alexandra’s place.
“OK, my money’s in the vault. Next?”
“I can’t believe you’re still wearing that jacket.”
“Meh, it has sentimental value.”
“I’ll bet. When was the last time you drove a car?”
“About three years ago, I guess. I guess you want me to get a car next.”
“Ding, ding, ding! You must be psychic or something.”
“You learn to think fast in the jungle. Trust me.”
“You must have been the valedictorian of your charm school.”
At this, I pretended to move the tassel on an imaginary mortarboard and threw it into the air.
“I really want to visit Delmar in Amity, Washington. It’s a long way to hitchhike though.”
“There’s this thing called a bus. Just buy a ticket to Portland and take a cab to Amity.”
I honestly had not even thought of that.
“That’s actually a very good idea.”
“Want to hear another one? Take off that jacket so you don’t get accosted by a bunch of smelly, know-nothing hippies.”
“I see your point. I have free speech and I’ll use it the way I want. Others may do likewise. It’s a free country. Do you mind telling me where I can buy a bus ticket?”
“You need to go to Hagerstown for that. It’s not too far from here. Want a ride?”
“Yes, please and thank you.”
“Just promise me you won’t do anything crazy in Hope.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“You might want to call Barry first.”
“I would but all I have is his family’s address.”
“Side question. Do you have any guns?”
“No, just this knife. It’s called a Ka-Bar.”
I whipped out that bad boy and watched her eyes grow the size of dinner plates.
“Holy shit. I don’t even want to know where that thing’s been. Don’t take it out again or you might end up being forced to use it.”
“Roger, good copy, as they say in the Army.”
So it was off to buy the bus ticket. Civilian life was going pretty well. My mood lightened. I was really looking forward to seeing Delmar again. I bought a backpack and packed enough for the trip and what I figured would be a short stay. When it was time to leave, Alexandra gave a ride to the bus station. We hugged and kissed goodbye.
The bus was pretty quiet. Being a stubborn man, I persisted in wearing my Army jacket. Got a few dirty looks. At one stop, a guy spat at my feet and called me a baby killer. I ignored him, because I promised Alexandra I’d be on my best behavior. Other than that one stop, it was a pleasant trip. I got to Portland and took a cab to Hope. I decided to explore on foot for a while instead letting the cab driver take me straight there. After so much sitting, I needed to stretch my legs. It took a while to find Delmar’s address, but I did.
I saw an older woman hanging laundry. I figured it was Barry’s mom.
“Hello, ma’am. I went to Officer Candidate School with a man named Barry Delmar. Uh, he gave me this address. Here’s a picture of the two of us.”
“Barry’s not here.”
“Oh. But this is right address, right? Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“He died of cancer two months ago. All the orange shit they sprayed over there, I bet that’s what did it.”
You could have knocked me over with a feather at that moment. I was absolutely shocked. Barry was about the healthiest guy I ever met. The idea of him just dropping dead was unthinkable.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Sorry to trouble you.”
As I turned to leave, she told me to wait and invited me to stay for dinner. I thanked her, but even though I was hungry, I could sense she didn’t really want me there. I thanked her kindly and left.
Big. Mistake.
I was definitely hungry, and I had plenty of money. I figured there was a good diner downtown. I hadn’t been walking for more than five minutes before a cop pulled alongside me and asked me if I needed a ride. I said I was looking for a place to eat. He said hop in, so I did.
“We have a nice, quiet, clean town here and we like to keep it that way. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t look so good. I’m taking you just outside city limits. There’s a diner about 40 miles up the road on the way to Portland. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. Sorry.”
Well, at least he’s honest and direct, I thought as I stepped out of the car. As I saw him turn around and drive off, I got this weird feeling. I felt compelled to walk back into town. All I wanted was something to eat. It would have taken ten minutes, max. And this shitstain can’t leave me alone long enough to eat a fucking cheeseburger? After I spent three years risking my life in Vietnam?! Fuck it, I’m going back.
I turned around and started walking back to Hope. He immediately, turned around, pulled up beside me, and started yelling at me. I ignored him. Finally, he stopped, got out of the car and said I was under arrest. OK, tough guy, you win this round. He gave me a pat down and found my knife.
“Ah ha! Why the hell are you carrying this?”
“I was in Army in Vietnam. That’s where I got the knife and the jacket I’m wearing now. The knife is called a Ka-Bar.”
“I know what Ka-Bar is, you fucking moron. Well, it’s mine now.”
And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to say.
I guess most people think it’s scary to be handcuffs and hauled off to jail in such. It didn’t faze me because I had been through much worse. There’s not much left to be afraid of once you’ve a spent a night hanging upside down in a Vietnamese prison and enduring a scopolamine nightmare.
I must have missed something.
Was/Is your fictional guy an officer?
I heard reports of uniformed GIs being harassed at airports, etc but I traveled a lot in uniform during the VN era and was never accosted/insulted or other wise offended. The closest I came to that was sitting at a bar with a couple other GIs in Saratoga Springs when a guy at the bar started a little shit. Another guy jumped on his ass verbally, threatened the harasser a bit. The mouthy guy then bought the 2 or 3 of us a drink and we got back on the bus for NYC.
It was almost like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F3HhyKpVgk
I was expecting you to do a spinning jump kick before laying him out.
Did I miss the “fiction” tag until this?
As I understand it, Derpy is writing two series, this one, which is a fanfic* prequel to David Morrel’s “Frist Blood”, and a nother one called “I have a Story” which his autobiographical. I too was confused early on because they were both about the travails of a young soldier.
*I don’t know if this is considered derogatory but I do not intend it in that way, I simply don’t know a better word for it, because I am semiliterate.
Semiliterate, but fully cunty.
Maybe?
First Blood is a great movie, so of course I see Brian Denehy as the cop and Derpy as a smart alecky Rambo.
OT commies at play. Gosh I miss NYC.
This is the outfit that had been leading many similar rallies I have occasionally remarked upon, on the block around the corner from where I lived in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for 12 years. Over that.
It’s hard to understand why you left it behind.
…protesters unfurled a banner that stated “Long live October 7th,”
Classy.
Don’t be a racist and not blame HAMAS for the evil they cause.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/06/10/the-racism-of-never-blaming-hamas-for-anything/
Spiked-online has been really, really good for years.
Yeah, they one of my handful of sites I will occasionally visit without actually being linked there from here first.
I’ll make an extra big bowl of 🍿 if George Clooney’s wife gets targeted with sanctions.
Good morning Glibbiez!
😋🌄☕
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyZQenE4y_I
🎶🎶
Happy Remote Work day
Good morning, Sean, U, Stinky, and rhy!
“Top cancer charity apologizes for using word ‘cervix’ instead of trans-friendly ‘front hole’”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13510709/cervical-canadian-cancer-society-cervix-hole.html
🎶O Canada, my home and retarded land.🎶
🤦♀️
So do they have “trans-friendly” terms for male genitalia, or does “penis” get a pass?
Only if it’s prefixed with “Her”
I thought ‘Shenis’ was the preferred nomenclature.
Whatever it may be it can’t be as demeaning as front hole which just sounds terrible and reduces womanhood to what’s between their legs in the basest of ways. It’s hard to believe that so many women (not you of course) are so open to being friendly to this stuff.
Well, the loudest/activisty part of the T movement is pretty freaking misogynistic.
JFC.
People are terrified of getting “cancelled” so they go along to get along. Hard to blame them, really.
That is the power this nonsense has.
Catering to insanity isn’t good for either the caterer or the cateree.
I believe this is especially true of those women to whom I refer as “pathologically nice.”
Happily, I don’t have that problem.
Is that why you hang out with us?
One of many reasons.
I am going to say they got punk’d.
The most demanding/entitled folx who care about misnaming body parts don’t actually care about anything not involved in making porn.
Bingo. They are weirdly fixated on sexuality. It is pathological.
Saw a discussion recently where it was pointed out that save a small niche of weirdos bigfoot aficionados rarely talk about the sexuality of the Sasquatch because ‘that is not the purpose of the imaginary monster’.
*Looks around* Oh, excuse me.
*quietly slinks out of room*
Is there a cervix behind that front-hole? No? Then fuck off.
I was going to disparage the Canadians but I can see this happening here too.
A) Does this link work for people: https://uspsa.org/matchbooks/2024-CO/#page=53
B) I assume the stage names are lines from a movie, but I’ve never seen it. Anybody know the title?
The link works for me, but I want to bludgeon whoever thought that it was a good idea to try to replicate a pamphlet in behavior on a web page rather than translate to the interface.
No, I don’t know the references either.
I think those are from He’ll Divers 2
He’ll/Hell
Turns out my autocorrect is Baptist.
I guess I know what the MD has been playing then.
Works for me
I didn’t know if going through the uspsa.org website put it behind a password.
Tell me that Gun Dancing(tm) isn’t the correct term for things like this:
https://youtu.be/9Fum2mIm6jI?t=2111
That guy came in second btw. Jacob Heatherington, part of the Army Marksmanship Unit. That must be one of the best assignments possible.
suh’ fam
whats goody