ROBBED BLIND

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Note: This story is just one of seventeen taken from a novel by JAlexander called “SHIPWRECK”  

Somewhere in Vietnam 1969

After about three hours of grueling maneuvers, I got back to base camp around eleven hundred hours. The first person I saw was Ken Park our supply officer. As I walked past him, I asked; “have you seen Buzz?” Not since breakfast! Come to think of it, that was the last time I saw him as well. I remember he was acting a little strange and then he said, he wasn’t feeling very good “which was really unusual for him” because, I’ve never seen him sick before.

I went to his tent, but he wasn’t there, so I started asking everyone I met if they had seen Buzz this morning? Most just shook their heads or just said no without looking at me. I finally found one young soldier who said he had overheard that Captain John Boyle had received a call from headquarters; saying that they needed five men to go on a special mission, and of course your friend Buzz, even though he was sick, was first to volunteer.

My Buddy liked living on the edge, he said it kept his adrenaline flowing. I remember as teenagers, he was always hyperactive, he could never sit still and relax. and it was even worse as we got older. He was overly aggressive when playing kids games like: “Red Rover, Red Rover” or “Kick the Can.” Most of the time, he would just intimidate everybody to the point no one wanted to play with him, so the two of us would do things together. We would say stuff like, who needs those sissies anyway.

My thoughts were broken by someone shouting about something happening over by the hospital tent. We all ran to see what was going on. When the soldier started talking, my heart skipped a beat and as my blood ran cold and I got this bad feeling that something terrible had happened. As the Private told his story about the ambush, a strange feeling came over me. I looked down and my body was disappearing. I could hear the private talking, but it felt like I was floating in the air. I had heard about people having an out-of-body experience, but I never thought it would happen to me.

All I could think of was that Buzz was in trouble and I had to get to him. He was always there for me and I wasn’t going to let him down, not today; not ever. 

I was floating over the trees, following a small stream, stopping to look around whenever there was a clearing. I was just about to move on when something caught my eye, there by the edge of the water were three lifeless bodies. I knew it was our patrol because of the uniforms. My heart was pounding as I got closer and then I went numb because I could see that Buzz was not one of them. I knew that Private “Bib” Cormier was being patched up back at the camp and that made four, so where was my “best friend”?

While I was checking to see if any of my comrades were still alive, I heard voices coming from the bushes and they weren’t speaking “English.” Fear started to build inside of me and I was just about to panic when I realized I was invisible. All of a sudden thing went deathly quiet; I couldn’t hear the birds singing, or the sound of the trees rustling in the wind. Time was running out, but I wasn’t leaving without Buzz. He had to be around here somewhere, so I hovered in the air for a while and that’s when I saw the top half of him covered with mud. His legs were in the water and this gave him a perfect camouflage. He wasn’t moving, so I knew something was seriously wrong, but I was hoping and praying that he was still alive. I lowered myself and knelt down beside his lifeless body, but when I tried to turn him over my hands went right through him. I needed to get help and fast. The enemy was still in the area so I didn’t want to leave him alone, but I had no choice.

I floated back up into the air, looked around; then I started back to my battalion, all the while trying to make a mental map of the area.

When I got back to camp, I headed for my physical body which was still standing next to my tent. I must have been gone only a few minutes, because Cormier was still telling his story.

Before I realized what was happening, I had grabbed my pack and rifle, let out a scream, then started running into the woods. Two friends of mine tried to stop me, but when they saw the look in my eyes, they just moved out of the way. As I ran through the woods, I felt like a kid again, running down that old country road by the drive-in theatre, next to Mel Miller’s farm. It was like the trees were moving out of my way; my heart was pounding, and my body shook as I got closer to the riverbank.

I could see Buzz about twenty yards away and I prayed to God that he was still alive. When I rolled him over and saw the blood, I knew he had been shot, so I put my finger on his neck and when I got a pulse, I looked up to Heaven and said, “Thank you Lord.”

Although he outweighed me by a good forty pounds, I was surprised at how easily I could pick him up and put him over my shoulder. I just kept on running, and before I knew it I was back at camp. Everyone was clapping and cheering, but I didn’t really hear them; I just laid my friend on the ground and then I passed out.

A few weeks later I went to visit Buzz at the hospital and as I walked down the hall, I could hear his familiar voice telling someone a silly joke. When I entered the room and walked toward him and he didn’t turn his head or look up at me; I knew my best friend was blind.

My tour of duty would be up in a few months, but Buzz was still in the hospital, so I went to the Captain to see if I could co-ordinate our going home together. He agreed that we had gone through a lot, so he signed our discharge papers and that made us two very happy civilians. It didn’t take us long to pack and within hours we were off into the wild blue yonder. The trip home took us about five days; what with trying to get connecting flights and all! 

Nobody knew we were coming home and that was fine with us. All we wanted was to get our lives back to normal and forget all about the war.

We didn’t talk much on the trip from the airport, but when we got into town, I asked Buzz if he wanted to go over to Susan’s house. He said, No, let’s just go down to the club to see if we can find Ray and little Moe. When we got there, we realized that neither of us had our keys, so we had to ring the doorbell. The familiar voice of Old Matt Henagar the bartender could be heard through the intercom, “Who the heck lost their keys this time?” Buzz cried out, “It’s Ray Charles; now will you please open the door.” 

When we walked in, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone just stopped and stared as if they were seeing two ghosts. This went on for a while until Billy the young kid who helped out behind the bar, banged his big stick (actually it was a broom handle) three times on the floor to announce that members of the Royal Family (just as they did in the old days when there was a big fancy ball), were making their appearance), and important people were making their appearance. Billy’s actions broke the trance and everyone jumped up trying to be the first to welcome us back. Everyone took turns giving us a big bear hug.

Someone sat Buzz down in a chair by the pool table and I was swept away to the other side of the room. It didn’t take long for the drinks to start flowing, but it did take a few minutes before anyone realized that Buzz was blind. A few guys got funny looks on their faces, but Buzz put everyone at ease when he started telling his dumb jokes; soon they were all laughing and slapping him on the back.

As I stood at the bar, Tiny came over to me and put out his hand, but at the last second, he decided to give me a big hug. He was almost in tears, as he whispered in my ear; “It must have been pretty rough over there, but you’re both back now, and that’s all that counts.”

I think it was around three in the morning when I finally got home. I knew Mom was a light sleeper and would hear our old dog Max barking as soon as I got through the gate, so I tried to stop him but he was so excited to see me, he couldn’t control himself. I saw a light come on in the house and I could hear Mom saying, “Who’s out there?” As I came out of the shadows, she just said, “Oh my God” and then came to the edge of the stairs to meet me. She was wearing her old faded robe, the one I bought her for Christmas many years ago. She said it was so comfortable that she just couldn’t part with it.

As I held her tightly, I could feel the age in her bones. Life had not been easy for her, but she was never one to complain; always saying; “there’s a lot of folks worse off than me.”

We stood there for a long time not saying anything and when I pulled away and started to talk, she put her finger to my lips telling me we had to be quiet because Dad was sleeping. He’ll be getting up in an hour to go to his new job down at the mill. “What new job Mom?” “Carl, there’s been a lot of changes around here, especially at the mill. Your Dad is a very proud man and he was devastated when his boss told him they were laying a lot of the older guys off and that his job of over thirty years would be eliminated. They did however, “because of his service to the company,” offer him the night watchman’s job., He took it pretty hard Son. Just the other day, I heard him on the phone talking to Mr. Jenkins his old boss, telling him how they made him feel so small, especially in front of the other guys he had supervised for so many years. I guess to them it was like throwing a bone to an old dog; I suppose we’ll never know the real reason, but that’s life.

When I got downstairs in the morning, Dad had already left for work and Mom was in the kitchen. She asked me if I would like some breakfast but I said; “No thanks!” I’ll just have a coffee.
She started telling me all the gossip, stuff like who had passed away and who’d had babies and then she said, oh, by the way “Susan Young’s baby is the most beautiful child I have ever…,” then she stopped in mid-sentence when she realized I didn’t know Susan was married. I’m sorry Son; I forgot you and Buzz were gone for a long time. I’m sure the news will hit him hard because she was his girl since junior high.
After talking to Mom for a while, I called Buzz to see how he was feeling; I knew he would be hurting, because when I dropped him off last night, he was so drunk I had to help him into the house. I had been to his house a million times over the years and it was always the same; I’d carry Buzz into the house as far as the kitchen and there lying on the floor would be his old man, hammered out of his mind with his big fat gut blocking the doorway. If I hadn’t been hanging on to Buzz, he would have tripped over his unconscious Father and that’s where he would have stayed because I was in no shape to pick him up.

With A lot of effort, I finally managed to get Buzz to his bed; actually, it was just a mattress on the floor in a room that was once used as a storage closet. The only bedroom in their small house belonged to his Father, but it had been a long time since he had slept in it.

When I didn’t get an answer, I decided to go to his house. I arrived around eleven o’clock, and there was Buzz sitting on the porch. He jumped up when he heard my Chevy pulling into the driveway; he knew the sound of that old engine like the back of his hand. We had spent many long days and even longer nights just trying to keep it purring, even though there weren’t many places to go in a one-horse-town like Brockville with a population of about eleven hundred. Of course, that was the population in the winter time; you could add a few more in summer, but they would be tourists who wanted to get off the big freeway for a while.
I got out of the car to help Buzz down the steps, but by the time I got around to the other side, he was at the bottom of the stairs and talking about how good the old engine sounded. He came toward me with his hand outstretched saying, “I’ll drive.” I just laughed, realizing that apart from Buzz not being able to see, nothing had changed.

It was a nice day so we decided to take the “Old Miller” road to Rice Lake. As we got closer to the water, a thousand memories kept running through my mind. Buzz and I had spent many a summer out here, just the two of us, talking about what we would do when we got older and moved to the “Big City” … any “Big City.”

“Find me some good skipping rocks Carl,” and “I’ll show you how to skip a twenty-circle string.” He let one fly and you could hear the whip of the stone as it grazed the top of the water. “How many rings my friend?” Buzz asked. I said “two” and when I looked at him, he was smiling and shaking his head. Even blind he knew he could beat me. I put my arm around him and told him that we were going to best friends forever.

Without changing his expression Buzz said; “I know she’s married Carl.” “Who,” I asked? “You know, Susan.” “I guess I should have known when her letters stopped coming; but what really makes me mad is that I never got a “Dear John” or is that a “Dear Buzz letter.” Anyway, I guess she’s better off with someone else; I know I could never give her the life she deserved.

The years passed by slowly and not much happened in our little town. Buzz and I got a small apartment over Mr. Murdock’s General Store. I worked a few hours during the day pumping gas, but things were slow because there were three gas stations in our small town. Buzz couldn’t do a whole lot, but he did get a small portable radio where he would get most of his “dumb jokes.” His other activities were buying lottery tickets; “he always managed to scrape up the ten bucks from somewhere,” but most of the time he would sit by himself playing all the old crying and hurting songs on his guitar.

One day I was walking by the store and I saw a woman getting some gas, so I asked Tiny “Who’s that?” “You don’t want to know my friend, she’s a mystery woman.” “She just showed up in town one day and decided to stay. I think her name is Doreen, but if you want my advice you should stay as far away from her as you can, she’s nothing but bad news.” A few weeks later, I saw her again at a dance. She was no raving beauty, but there was something about her I liked. I walked over and asked her if she wanted to dance. She just looked up at me and then took a long drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke in my face and then she said; “no, I don’t want to dance, but you can buy me a drink.”

I don’t know if it was because there weren’t a lot of choices in our small town, or if I was just lonely, but one night with her and I was head over heels in love.
One day I was sitting in the kitchen talking to Mom and she said, “Son you know your new lady’s bad news, don’t you?” “I know, that’s what everyone keeps telling me, but I think she’ll change once we’re married” and she did change, but for the worst.
The wedding reception was going okay until I overheard Billy Stewart saying to little Johnny; I don’t think Carl’s bride should be wearing white; I’m sure she’s not a virgin. He didn’t know I was standing behind him and when he turned around, his face got red and he tried to apologize. I just gave him a dirty look and walked away.

After we got the money from the bank to buy out Mr. Murdock, things went from bad to worse. I could tell Buzz was not happy being around my demanding wife. She would laugh and make fun of him when he held his radio up to his ear while walking with his white cane, but what made me really mad was when she would interrupt his Wednesday night jam sessions.

He loved having his musician buddies over to sing some of the old songs and tell their funny stories. Doreen would constantly interrupt them by banging on pots and pans, or singing off key in her stupid opera voice. I should have said something to her, but I thought Buzz could take care of himself and besides, she would use whatever I said to start an argument and then she would go to the cash register, take what little money there was, then she would smile at me and say “See you later alligator” and with a flick of her head, she’d be gone.

In a couple of days, she would come back home and act like nothing had happened. Of course, we lived in a very small town, so I didn’t need to ask her who she was with or where she had been.

One day Buzz said to me, I just know I’m going to win the “big one” and then we’re out of here. He was always talking about going to Ireland where his father was born. I don’t remember the name of the place, although I should; he told me a thousand times. He kept saying; “I’m going to see my relatives, the whole McFarland clan.” Then he would say Carl, did I tell you that my Dad’s name was Sean McFarland and they called me Junior, well I didn’t like that name very much so I was happy when someone nicknamed me Buzz. I think they got the name because I was always flying around and could never stand still.

Doreen and I looked after Buzz’s Lottery tickets and every Friday morning after the weekly draw, he would want us to check his numbers, so he would get us out of bed by making enough noise to wake the dead.

One morning, Doreen got up first and when I came into the dining room, I could tell something was wrong. She was standing in the doorway avoiding Buzz’s plea for his ticket numbers. She wouldn’t even look at me and that’s when I got mad at her and said; “give me the darn tickets and stop being so cruel to him,” but when I tried to take them from her, she ran into the bedroom and closed the door. I was really getting ticked off, so I kicked the door open and there she was sitting on the bed with a big smile on her face. When I asked her what on earth was going on, she slowly opened her hand and with the voice of a little child said, honey, come here and look at this ticket… “It’s a winner!”

My throat got very dry and my knees got weak. She gave me a serious look and then said, “Carl, we need to talk, this is our big chance to make it.” I looked at her and said; “no way; it’s not ours, it belongs to Buzz.” She put the ticket in her pocket and with a mean look said; “What’s he going to do with all this money, he’s blind?”

She had it all figured out; we would tell Buzz that some other numbers came up; then in a week or so, we’d say her Aunt May died and left her some money. Then we’ll put Buzz in a nice home and once we get settled, we can send for him.

We were gone about 5 months when I said to Doreen; We’ve got to stop spending so much money, we only have about half of it left and we will be broke, very soon. We don’t need a four-bedroom house, two cars, and the gambling… the gambling is the worse.

Doreen got really mad and then just glared at me. She shook her finger and shouted you can go back to that hick town if you want to, but she wouldn’t be caught dead in a hell hole like “the little town that time forgot.”

There was nothing left to say to her, so I packed my bags that very same day and I found out from the guys at the legion that Buzz was in a nursing home called “Shady Acres.” As I walked into the home, a shiver went down my spine and I had an ache in the pit of my stomach; it was the same feeling I had when I went to see him in the hospital during the war.

It was as if he knew I was in the room. He looked right at me and the biggest smile I ever saw came across his face. I gave him a big hug and then I started to cry. It was very hard to talk with a big lump in my throat but Buzz made it easy for me saying; “It’s okay Carl, I should have told you that money can’t buy happiness and besides, my lucky numbers came up once and you’ll see; “they’ll come up again.”

I put an envelope in his right hand and said, check this out “my little friend.” He tore it open and pretended he was reading it and then he stopped, so I reached over and grabbed it and said, no wonder you can’t read it, it’s upside down. He laughed and said, you know I have trouble with big words, so you go ahead and read it. I cleared my throat and wiped my eyes and as I put my arm around him, I started to read; “Please find enclosed your two return tickets to Great Britain aboard the cruise ship “Princess of Ireland.” We wish you a safe and happy voyage.”

The tears flowed from Buzz’s blind eyes as he hollered out loud; “I’m going home; “Thank you Lord for making my dream come true!”

Bon Voyage!!!!!!

By JAlexander