Chapter 40

My leg was getting to the point that I could go all out again during my morning jog. As I came in the door, Mom shouted out to me as she was leaving.

“Barnim.”

“Yes, mother.”

“Seeing as you are an adult now, there’s another thing that will be fully your responsibility to take care off, your laundry. So please don’t leave your laundry laying by the washing machine unless you’re in the process of doing it.”

She then pointed to a laundry bag on the floor.

“No problem.”

I carried the laundry bag back up to my room. I’d need to get started on it in-between summer school and kick boxing.

Making the trek to summer school, I was in the same classroom, but now there was a new Nun standing behind the desk. Sister Coulomb seemed like she wasn’t as much of a taskmaster as Sister Vermote, though this was only an initial impression.

We started this class out the same way, going over what would be expected of us and what would be covered. There were a bunch of small creative writing projects that we’d be doing with the big project being a book to be read and then a report to turn in that would be our view of the commentary on society that we saw in the book.

I’d never heard of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair before, but the fact we were told to get the unedited version had me intrigued. I wondered what was in it that was so controversial that it was taken out.

We spent the time left in class discussing the types and different structure of poems. This class had a lot more discussion and student participation than I was used to at Henry County high school.

That was one of the good things about Catholic schools, smaller classes and more individual instruction. I ended up having the same conversation with Sister Coulomb about being a public-school student.

Stopping at Barnes & Noble on the way home, I got a copy of the book I needed for class. Driving home from the store, I started thinking about school work, and the Plan. I realized there was something for the Plan I needed to do when I got home. Thankfully, the drive home was smooth, no stop and go traffic, which helped with my thinking.

Putting the book on the desk, I unlocked and pulled a business card out of the Plan drawer. After making a couple of sandwiches, I dialed the phone and was on hold for about 10 minutes before CSM Okorie came on the line.

We talked for a good while about what I was looking for exactly. I reiterated the info from when we initially met, where I wanted a guaranteed job and to be stationed on Oahu.

He told me that normally you could get a guaranteed MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) and would be stationed wherever the service wanted you, or you could sign an open contract. The open contract wouldn’t give you a guaranteed MOS, rather they would put you where they needed you and then you gave them a “wish list” of where you wanted to be stationed. You weren’t guaranteed to be stationed at a place on your list, so more than likely you would go where they needed you.

I asked if there was a work around for this and he wasn’t very optimistic, but said he’d get some information from Marine Corps Recruiting Command. I was to call tomorrow about noon to follow up.

A nap before kick boxing was in order again. And after getting ready, I left a bit early so that I could grab some food on the way.

Practice was basically a repeat of Tuesday. Mr. Singh and I sat discussing what was my mental state and thought process during my injured walk to the truck during the hunt in Hawaii.

The conversation made me realize that I’d kept moving in spite of the injury due to not wanting to seem weak or be a burden on the other guys. I’d never thought about it, but he made me realize that when I’d fallen in the road, I was worried that I’d become that burden I didn’t’ want to become. He assured me that was far from the case, if anything it showed me that I’d been able to push my body further than my mind would have normally allowed. That was something he was sure I’d need and would be valuable when I joined the Marines. He then went on to describe in loose terms about the limitations the mind would set and how to push past that.

Going to that “happy place” that I’d gone to when getting tattooed was part of it. This was something I’d always heard of but never really experienced or believed. That I’d unintentionally done it and knowing it was possible, would probably be something that would come in handy down the road. After a short break, we went into the office for another film session.

“So, have you gotten the contract signed yet?”

“No Master Boripat. I’ll have it with me on Tuesday.”

“I’ll be expecting it.” Fuck, I knew there was something I’d forgotten, I’d have to head over to Bob’s office before work tomorrow.

We watched two more of Laguerre’s fights. I’d seen the same thing in these fights as I’d seen during Tuesday’s practice. I still couldn’t put my finger on it. Laguerre didn’t seem to have the power or the volume of punches to do the amount of damage he was doing later in the fights. Both opponents had several cuts, and their faces resemble bloody ground beef.

It was disconcerting that I couldn’t figure out what was nagging me about it, I had no clue if I’d ever figure it out. Master Boripat called an end to the evening. As I was walking to the door, I heard my name called out.

“Barnim.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get ready, because you’re going be dropped in the deep end on Tuesday. There’s a payment due for not doing any real training this week. Good night.”

He turned and went back into the office. Well, it looked like there was going to be a lot of work and pain coming, I’d just have to deal with it.

The trip home took a lot longer than normal, as I had to find an alternate route due to a pretty bad accident that had the road shut down.

Having a snack when I got home, I settled in and got some work done for summer school. I ended up reading about 5 or 6 chapters before doing my nightly routine and then going to bed.

My run was almost back to normal. There was a little soreness, but it went away fairly quickly.

Getting my chores done, I read a couple of chapters of The Jungle, it was an interesting book to say the least. If I’d read this when it was written, I’d have thought twice about eating meat.

Work started at noon on Friday, so I left at 9:45 so I could head over to Bob’s office on the way. Traffic was light, so I made really good time. I had to wait a few minutes as he was on a conference call.

We had a good conversation about a bunch of topics, and he was very interested in my vacation. Bob took a look at the contract and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. We spent a fair amount of time talking about school and enlisting. Getting someone to help me that was familiar with recruiting had been a great idea from his point of view. He chuckled when I told him what I was looking for in an enlistment contract. He wished me luck in trying to get what I wanted, and as I left, Bob told me he’d inform Mom that the contract was OK to sign.

Making it to work a bit earlier than normal, Mr. Pope allowed me to give CSM Okorie a call from his office before I clocked in. It seemed that I had an appointment on the 5th of July to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test in the Conyers Army Recruiting office. Luckily, it was set for 2PM, so I could head there straight from summer school and then on to kick boxing afterwards.

Work went as it usually did: stocking shelves, helping customers load their purchases, with plans for a truck to be there to unload in the morning.

Tomorrow would be the meeting with 1st SGT Gibbs, so I’d get off at noon. My boots and pack were always in the truck so I didn’t have to worry about that but I needed to get some wool socks. I’d read a couple of hiking magazines and they said wool was better than white tube socks.

The one good thing about work was Charlotte no longer worked the same days that I did. The new girl looked to be about 14, though, was probably 15. I didn’t talk to her unless necessary, her name was Lacey.

At closing, Mr. Pope told me that my meeting with 1st SGT Gibbs had changed and that he would meet me at the Feed & Seed. I was told to bring a change of clothes, jeans and T-shirt would be best. This whole thing had me curious as to what was going on.

Tip wise, I’d had a decent day, it was a good start to replenish the coffers drained by being a responsible adult again.

Dinner and a shower rounded out my day when I got home. I packed a gym bag with clothes before going to bed.

Knowing that unloading a truck was coming up, I passed on running in the morning. Plus, there was the mysterious meeting with 1st SGT Gibbs later.

Pulling into the Feed & Seed, Mr. Pope had actually beaten me into work this morning.

“Why are you late Barnim?” He chuckled as he said it.

“What are you talking about, I’m actually 15 minutes early?”

“You’re no fun, I’m only giving you a hard time.”

“And you give up to easily.” Walking towards the dock area, I could hear him chuckling as he went into the office.

The truck showed up a bit later, it was a mixed load of stuff, mostly bags of dog food and fertilizer. It took a lot longer than I figured due to having to pick and load a couple of large orders into customer cars. The good thing was that these netted me some pretty good tips.

I was finally finished with the truck about an hour before quitting time. Going in to change just before noon I could hear 1st SGT Gibbs in Mr. Pope’s office as I walked by. When I came out of the bathroom it started.

“It’s about time you were ready to go.”

“I would never cheat Mr. Pope out of my time.”

“Well, that’s all well and good, but get moving, you’ll follow me to where we’re going.’

I could see a slight grin on his face. We pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards unincorporated Ola. It was a couple turns on dirt roads before we ended up on a dirt drive blocked by a locked gate. He unlocked the gate, then locked it after we passed through.

We drove about another 1/3 of a mile before coming to a dirt parking area next to a shooting range. This was a total shock, though there was one thing I enjoyed in both lives, it was guns and shooting.