Military
Robert and Alice are on their way to ‘Fort Barlow.’ Their pickup truck’s lights bounce off a wall of solid fog. The only evidence is proving the vehicle was moving on the odometer.
The vehicle and its occupants appeared to be in a movie projector, with the film looping the same scene.
Since the odometer pointed to the number sixty, the young man knew they still moved forward.
He had driven this vehicle with its attached ‘Air Stream,’ from the Country of ‘Brooklyn,’ to the middle of the ‘Allegheny Mountains, West Virginia.’ They entered the United States at the ‘Staten Island’ border after getting off the Carl Furillo bridge (A/K/A Verrazano). Their passports (Embossed Brooklyn ‘Dodgers’ baseball cards) with some cash passed to border agents they entered the United States.
The couple was on their way to an obscure Military Base, named ‘Fort Barlow.’ According to the Soldiers, they were a few hundred miles from their destination. They said the ‘Fort’ was in a valley surrounded by a chain of Mountains. This mysterious Base had no Plane, train or bus service. The only entrance and exit were an ancient dirt road.
The United States Defense Department drafted Robert and Alice to the ‘Special Defense Force.’
It would have been stupid for ‘The Country of Brooklyn’ to have their own Armed Forces. This small new nation only has 300,000 thousand residents. Its military force consists of one tank, which is cemented in place across from a library.
Instead under the leadership of their President ‘Jackie Robinson,’ they found a solution. Both nations approved the Harold ‘Pee Wee’ Reese Treaty and signed it in 1952. Under these accords, all Brooklyn citizens, men, and women must register for ‘Selected Service,’ with the United States of America, before the age of nineteen, in exchange for the latter’s Armed Forces protection.
The two young people had a month to report to Training. The news was no surprise they have already been training and living off and on with the Soldiers. Their mind-reading abilities have made them significant assets for any army.
“At a lunch stop, the young woman reviewed the long list of requirements for graduation from the Soldier’s basic training course. When Alice got to the section where one must jump out of a plane and glide to the ground, without a paratrooper; she told her boyfriend they would have to throw my ass out of the aircraft. She then punched (Fake) him in the head, knocking him to the ground, as Alice demanded that she not only have her bathroom and sleeping quarters but also, she has a higher rank than him.”
“Robert said she would have to shower with the other trainees and that everyone slept in the same room. Hearing this, the girl bent down and knocked him down with one punch, again.”
Back on the road, he turned on the radio, because the girl had stopped talking to him which meant she either was sleeping or fell out of the pickup truck. But she had to be close because she still had two of her fingers wrapped around one of his belt loops. It was a habit she picked up when she was a baby.
The young woman started this trip sitting as far away from him as possible. She was leaning against the right-side door, but he knew after she fell asleep, she would move towards him. He would wait until she was next to him and then he would put his arm around her, pull her as close as he could while trying to squeeze a sight out of her.
The girl was wearing a bright scarf over her head. The wrap was trying to hold back a pitch-black horde of hair, but it lost its battle, and the hair spilled out over her shoulders and down her back. She was sleeping with a face full of dreams; it now covered with her long black hair. She didn’t care because she was lying next to and on her man. When she was out of sleep, she would wake, look at him and whisper, you’re a pig, Robert.
The fog machine left as the truck drove up an over a short steep hill and around a rising bend. At the top of the foothill, there was a scenic parking area off to the right of the road. Robert pulled over and stopped. He told her they would fill-up at a ‘Service Station’ located right below. Also, if she wanted, they could stay over.
The boy and the girl got out to look around. In front of them stood a broad pastoral valley packed full of small homes and a few churches. It was getting dark, some of the windows in the houses were flickered light or were they sending a signal to their loved ones to get home? Smoke was bullying its way out of a few chimneys, also, shouting it’s time to come back for dinner.
The dirt road ran around the basin and out back into the incoming mountains, it looked like an endless trail with no beginning and no end, going back centuries.
The couple got back into the pickup and drove around the hill dragging the airstream. They stopped at a new looking petrol depot which stood by itself on the side of the road, with Schaefer beer and Lucky Strike signs decorated the station. Rows of similar stoned homes stood behind it.
A middle-aged woman followed by two young children ran out of the small station to greet them. The pickup truck, with its odd-looking trailer, made a hell of a lot of noise as it pulled in.
‘Nit and Wit’ were the first ones out of the trailer, they kissed the ground and thank ‘God’ for their safe landing. Lily Kemble (Dog) jumped out and went over to where a group of rabbits was chasing each other. With all the noise and excitement, a small group of people, made up of women, children, and pets came running to see what was going on.
The pickup truck’s door made a sharp piercing sound as it was being torn open. Alice Marie Devan Lover stepped out of the vehicle lifted her arms to the sky in a stretch, inhaled and breathe in the fresh air. She looked down and found around twenty people on their knees, and their heads bowed.
Alice turned and said ‘Honey Jerk’ we have visitors.
Robert walked around the pickup and said, please stand up. She, not a queen, she only a Princess and my ex-girlfriend, and ducked to get away from her swing.
He ran away, Alice was right behind him, hearing laughter behind her. She stopped, turned around and a bunched of kids, and all sort of pets knocked her to the ground, she laughed. Alice sat up and threw the children, with a shout of glee to Robert who held them up, one at a time, as high as he could (Robert was about seven feet tall) then handed the child to one of the many waiting teenagers.
They left Alice with a baby goat on her lap and a small girl attached to her leg. She stood up gave the goat to “Nit,” and pulled the remaining child off one of her long legs and gather it into her arms. She left the child there because she could feel the heat coming out of its body.
She carried the child next to her chest because Alice knew the baby had a fever. Alice asked the woman who was running the service station “if she would take her to the child’s mother?”
The lady said my name is “Trudy, this my daughter Isabell.” It is our turn to run the station. Most of the business come from the town for snacks, cigarettes, and beer. There is little traffic here just trucks carrying supplies to the Fort.
Alice and Trudy took the sick child home. While Robert played with the children acting like he was “Frankenstein taking big steps with his arms straight out while saying “I’m going to get you.” Nit and Wit were so scared they hid under ‘The Reporter’s and Sally’s bed. The Reporter pulled them out and threw them into Robert’s arms.”
Alice could hear the screaming a mile away, while she examines the sick child’s mother. It was concluded that the mother and her daughter had the flu. Alice had both patients removed to the Airstream to be checked out again. Sally will take care of the Mother and child, and as soon as they stop screaming, Nit and Wit will help.
The mother was waiting for her husband to come home and take them to the doctor. She said, “I talked to him last night he should be in by tomorrow, and we all can go to Fort Barlow.”
Alice said, you are coming with me Dear we will be at the Fort tomorrow afternoon. Your husband can meet you there. We have medication for you and your daughter, which you need right now.
Everybody moved on to the trailer where Sally and the ‘Reporter’ greeted them as if they were Queens. Alice examined the two ladies. She said, ‘Yes’ they do have the flu, but it is not contagious. The Princess gave them each a flu shot. She said Jeannie could walk around with us, and she turned the baby over to her two maids. The child laughed all night with the two nut cases as nurses.
The little village was lovely. It looked like Ireland in the Spring. There were homes as far as you could see. Each one had a truck farm, a few apple trees, farm animals, everything was clean. There were about fifty log cabins of different sizes and shapes where they were. Three or four church structures were stuck in various places.
A large Meeting Hall located in the center of the town, with a gin mill attached, seemed to hold the place together. It contained the water and utility department. And a post office. There was an empty room with the name ‘Queen Elizabeth’ on the door. There was no hospital, doctors, drug stores or police department in the in this large colony. There was no one in charge. A small committee was working on developing a school system, but the upcoming war was holding things off.
These homes were built for the Soldiers and their families. Each family took turns covering the station. All the active Soldiers, men, and women were on duty; some even were traveling with Alice and Robert (About 100) during their trip to Fort Barlow.
The town was overwhelmed with small baby animals; it looks like a large open aired ‘Petting Zoo.’
Alice wanted to meet the Soldiers’ families, so the group from Brooklyn settled in the Meeting Hall. ‘Nit and Wit’ and some teenagers carried and or dragged their stuff from the pickup truck and ‘Air Stream’ trailer into the hall.
They instructed Robert (By Alice) to prepare spaghetti for all. They placed a couple of bottles of red wine along with a keg of ‘Schafer’ beer on a table near the door, along with wine glasses and chilled beer mugs.
The townsfolk brought the making for an outstanding salad, with fresh ingredients: Roman lettuce and the firm bite of celery, minced sweet onions, covered with bright thin sliced tomatoes, hot radishes, and new green olives.
The salad was given the breath of life by a dressing of garlic, parsley, olive oil, and aged vinegar. Shakers of salt and black pepper were waiting on the tables. Plates of thinly sliced Prosciutto, along with Parmigiana and Pecorino cheese were protecting the massive salad bowl. Loaves of homemade bread were placed in large baskets. An Irish made butter seemed to be the hit of the night. A couple of ladies decided that theirs’s were better and approached the Princess in one in authority to make a decision. During this event, the communications between the Robert and Alice was terrific, it was controlled by the Princess, and there was no debate since she was under her dad and mom Sandra the 4th was the one in charge, her husband King, John was second and my ar the most admired Princess was Alice. They decided to take over this long now, and during their speech, they plan to straighten things out. Alice was in shock this was the first time
Simple pasta made with crushed fresh tomatoes cooked in a red meat gravy, with various Italian spices were served at each table by the Reporter and Sally. The pasta used was a thin ‘Paramount’ noodle made and brought from Brooklyn. They cooked the ‘Pasta’ ‘Ala Dente’ and brought it out steaming hot.
During dinner and after, Alice sat in an armchair, taking and listening to the village women, who sat in chairs around her. It surprised her to hear a few local families are moving to a country named ‘Brooklyn’ to join their husbands.
At first, the village women thought Alice was just a big, gorgeous, female goofball. But, after being with her, listening to her, and talking to her they knew she was a real Princess, and Robert was her knight.
The women with a child or two in their hands asked Alice a million questions. She answered as many as she could. But Alice also, talked to the women about girl stuff like do you think Robert is hot? Or did the ladies here ever wear lipstick or makeup or go out dancing? The answer was yes.
They said Robert was lucky. Alice told them she would put on a new shorty nightgown for him tonight. Everyone gasps and then laughed.
The women, without realizing it could not stop talking to Alice. They told her everything about their lives. The good things, their dreams, and wishes, and wants and their needs.
Some women and children in attendance were, Soldiers themselves being reborn from the past for a second chance. They had no idea what the future would bring to them? That is until Alice and Robert appeared. Now they could see a chance of a healthy future for their families, and now they understood why the Soldiers loved these two Gods.
The second chance people didn’t have to say anything, about their past to Alice because she knew.
They passed all relevant information to Robert. Meanwhile, he was getting drunk with the men from the town in a packed ‘pub.’ He spent the night answering questions concerning his battles in the ring. After a while, they demanded to see him in his very tiny fighting shorts. Robert thought was an excellent idea, he ran off to the ‘Air Stream,’ found them, put them on and was off to show Alice before returning to the ‘Pub.’ As he approached the ladies with Alice’s back to him, the surrounding ladies looked shocked turned the heads and put their hands over their children’s eyes, not all the ladies looked away.
Alice asked as she was turning red what is he wearing?
One woman said, “He naked.”
Another said no that’s his fighting pants. I saw them on television. My husband got me a pair for Christmas.
Someone interrupted the women, with a ‘Hi Honey,’ Hi ladies, baby look what I found I forgot I had them and kissed her.
Alice said, “you’re a pig,” and turned to the group of women, see what I must put up with him?
“It amazed the women how Alice could act so nonchalant when a seven-foot man wearing a tiny pair of swimming trunks walked up to her and kissed her.”
“A few women, with smiles on their faces, said things like “Poor Princess” and “Is he coming back?”
Alice laughed and told. ‘Nit’ and ‘Wit’ to get clothes for Robert and make sure he puts them on or he’s not allowed back into the meeting hall. Alice knew the two maids would love their assignment.
They held a general assembly were Robert and Alice addressed the town’s residents. Alice said “I called Queen Elizabeth about an hour ago. She asked me to pass on to a few changes she wants to make. The Queen will be visiting you in a few weeks, to meet with you and talk about your problems,
Robert addressed the group, Alice, has asked me to make the following changes: take fifty soldiers off our guarding assignment and establishing twenty-four-hour police in this colony. We have already contacted the hospital at Fort Barlow, and they will be sending a mobile medical core here right away. Monday you will be receiving an ambassador, from Queen Elizabeth.
To build a hospital here and staff it with Soldier’s Doctors and Nurses.
Plus, Alice said they were taking a child and her mother with them for medical treatment at the Fort. Her husband will meet us there.
A baby goat and a tiny rabbit which were left by their parents will also go with us.
The Soldiers believed every man, women, and child and even every animal should have a chance at some life. It protects all the animal’s babies if they are in a Soldier’s Society. No longer are the young animals hunted and killed. Animal traps are illegal. This law is enforced. When the animal is ready to migrate to the thick woods, they will have a reasonable chance of surviving. The Soldier’s children do not go off to battle until they are at least 30 years old, giving them an opportunity to enjoy and or experience life.
About three in the morning a ‘Royal Family Vehicle’ pulled up in front of the Meeting Hall. A few local women were waiting around the front of the ‘Hall.’ A Beautiful woman stepped out of the massive mobile bus. She looked around and said nothing to the small group of women waiting for her in front of the ‘Hall.’ The tall, thin woman in a ‘Royal Red’ gown was wearing a long white apron covering everything except the tip of her black pointed boots.
The locals unloaded a few trunks and clothing racks. Everything was stamped with a plain Royal Emblem. It was a strange looking emblem because it was blank, no coat of arms on it. Without notice, the tall hatless woman just marched into the ‘Hall’ followed by her helpers expecting to wake the travelers. The local women couldn’t wait to see how close the travelers were from each other. They made a few wagers between the women on this question. It turned out everyone was wrong. The Princess’ bed was empty.
The woman with no name looked around and kicked a sleeping baby goat. The baby cried as she jumped off the small pillow she was lying on and landed on an empty bed. She stood there for a few seconds and still crying, ran up the wooden steps leading to the second floor and a broad wooden beam that ran across the middle of the ‘Meeting Hall.’ Instead of running left on the second floor into a hallway the tiny goat ran out onto the beam.
Everyone followed the baby goat actions until it ended up in Alice’s arms, where it closed its eyes, stopped crying and went to sleep.
Alice wearing a blue ‘Baby Doll’ nightie and Robert just in his pajama bottoms were sitting on the beam with their legs swinging over it. On seeing the people down below, Alice whispered something into Robert’s ear, and they both jumped down to meet their visitors, with Robert landing just in time to catch Alice.
All the women including the strange visitor curtsy upon seeing Alice standing after Robert put her down. She told Robert to stop staring at the curious visitor. Alice turned to the local women, her friends, and with a smile on her face said, as she was handing the goat to Edna stop staring at Robert, you’re a married woman with children.
Edna said in return well you better put something on before the men come in and see your ‘Baby Dolls’ and I will be the one to deal will Bill tonight.
Alice laughing accepted a robe given to her by the visitor from one of the clothing racks and said, ‘You wish Edna’ and thank you Ms. Jennie Smart for the gowns.
The ‘Hall’ was silent as everyone took in just what happened.
Questions in people minds started to ‘Pop’ up: How did Alice know this woman name? How did they get to the beam so fast? Ms. Smart knew this woman was the Queen’s daughter. In secrecy, the Queen told her that her daughter Alice would be the next ‘Queen of All.’ Which was the second shock? Now Ms. Smart wondered. Did the Monarchy know the Princess has a boyfriend? And she was running around half naked with ordinary people? The child had a giant lover who looks like he escaped from a circus.
Alice walked over to Ms. Smart and asked what up?
Ms. Smart curtsy and said the Queen wants me to help you two with some clothes for tomorrow event.
What event asked Alice?
You must walk about a mile to meet the people who show up to greet you in the next county.
The woman from the Royal Court asked herself a few questions. How did they know she was coming, who was that giant with her, how could her mother let her sleep with an ordinary person? He didn’t act like a typical person. Ms. Smart said to herself; she will tell the Queen everything that happens.
Alice took Ms. Smith aside,” she asked did my mother tell you we can read minds?”
Ms. Smith fell to her knees, said “no, and trembled.”
Alice said, fine” you’re forgiven, now give my maids what you want us to wear for Tomorrow. Also, find something to wear for the Reporter and Sally who are in the RV.”
In the Morning when the Princess and Prince left their lodging, they found the square packed with people yelling and throwing flowers, the Soldiers had to open a pathway. The Royal Couple for the next five miles found a thousand cheering people and millions of flowers raining over them.
The Soldiers’ families tossed flowers at them, at first, Alice who was carrying the little goat trying not to step on them, then the World turned into flowers, and she gave up.