Edited by Barney R. Final edit and spelling and grammar checked by Grammarly

Tweaked by me all errors are on me.

Author’s Note; All military training and action references are totally made up I have no sniper experience, and I was not a supply clerk. I was a maintenance man in a hospital unit. This is fiction after all.

This is a longer than normal story for me.

She showed me the home pregnancy kit it had turned blue. I was not happy.

Dramatis personae

Sidney Greenleaf (Me)

John Greenleaf (Dad)

Susan Greenleaf (Mom)

George Callagan (Mom’s brother, my uncle)

Roger Graystone (Sally’s Dad)

Jane Graystone (Sally’s mom)

Sally Greenleaf (nee Graystone, my wife)

Sandy Graystone (Sally’s younger sister)

(gang of four bullies.)

Robert (Boo) Carpenter

Gerald (Jerry) Davis

Garry Evans

Frank Thomas

My name is Sidney Greenleaf, I was 32 when the world I know was changed for the worse. I finally came out the other side with a wonderful life.

Sally Graystone was 14 when I first met her. I was 17, full of myself and a real pain in the ass. I also was a pretty big guy. At the time I was 6’ 1” and 215 lbs of farm work muscle. My uppers arms were as big around as my thighs from moving bales of alfalfa and timothy hay. My hands were and still are callused and rock hard from the same things. I could run for three miles without tiring, and I was trained by my Uncle George in the Krav Maga style of unarmed fighting.

Our town and the surrounding country are mostly a farming community. It has a small, consolidated high school (meaning that grades 7 through 12 all are in the same building) that has about 400 students. As with all schools, there are social groups that the kids separate into. I did not align with any of the groups but seemed to get along with all but the bullies and the few druggies we had. Even the ‘social outcasts’, nerds, and the ‘townies’ found out that I would talk to them and help if needed.

I was in the habit of riding my bike to and from school for more exercise; it was only three miles. On a Wednesday, shortly after my senior year started, I was riding my bicycle back from school toward home when I heard a scream of pain coming from a little copse of trees. I dropped the bike in the dirt and went toward the scream.

As I came up to where the scream came from, I found four bullies from my senior class surrounding two younger girls. One of the girls had a torn blouse and a red handprint on her cheek. The other girl was OK but obviously scared. They were side by side with their backs to a big tree.

I gave a yell and the guys turned around. The apparent leader, Boo (Robert) Carpenter, moved toward me shouting; “Stay out of this needle dick; this is none of your business.” Then he did an incredibly stupid but scary thing; he pulled a switchblade from his pocket.

Well, that knife made me even angrier, so after closing with him, I gave him a ‘knife-hand strike’ (similar to a karate chop) to the forearm of his knife hand and then a ‘palm strike’ to his breast bone. The strike to the forearm broke it, causing him to drop the knife, and the palm strike made him search for oxygen for about 90 seconds.

Two of the other three, Jerry (Gerald) Davis and Garry Evans, decided that I needed to be taught a lesson for injuring their leader, and for interrupting their planned ‘fun.’ They both tried to charge me. Jerry went down with a simple trip, and the other took a ‘forearm clothesline tackle’ to put down. After those two got up that the entire group left with great haste. All I saw was elbows and shoe soles.

When I turned to the girls. They ran up to me and grabbed my arms and started crying. I finally got them calmed down enough to get their names. They were Sally and Sandy Graystone. Sally said she was 14, and Sandy said she was 12. They told me that they had just started at their new school today, and missed there assigned bus so they were trying to walk home. The four boys were from their school, and chased them into the woods saying they were going to take turns fucking them as a ‘welcome to the neighborhood present.’

As I was on my bike, there was no way I could ride them both to their home so I walked with them. None of us had a cell phone with us, so I could not call for a ride.

Luckily, their house was only about 1/2 mile down the road from the trees they ran into. When I was sure they were safe, and on the porch of their house, I hopped my bike and rode home. I caught a little hell for being 45 minutes late, but not too much. Mom was angry because she was worried, so I let it slide. I didn’t mention the events of the day. I just wanted it to all disappear.

No such luck; about 6:30, the phone rang and my father answered. I didn’t pay any attention to him talking until I heard; “How many were there?” Then I knew the jig was up.

Dad got off the phone and came into the living looked at me and said; “Do you want to explain to me what happened in the woods today?”

Being the smart ass that I always had been since I was old enough to know what it meant. With a smirk, I said; “No.”

Mom looked at Dad, and then at me; “Did I miss something, or is one of you going to explain?”

Dad, being just as much as a smart ass as I am, and I answered at the same time; “Nope.”

That got me a couch pillow to the face, and dad got an elbow to the stomach (granted a very light one). Finally, after the laughing stopped, dad got serious. “If what I was told in that call is true, I am proud of you.” He then said; “Please tell your mother and me how you saw this incident.”

I thought about it for a few seconds. “I guess I should. I was riding home from school today near the woods by the old Dawkins farm when I heard a scream. I knew that there should not have been anyone in the woods. I just went to investigate. When I got there, I saw four of the class bullies my age had cornered two girls about 14 or so. One had a torn blouse and a handprint on her cheek and was shielding the other.

“I hollered to get the guys’ attention. When they turned toward me the ‘leader’ tried to warn me off and then pulled a knife. I disarmed him and took him out of the fight. Two of the other assholes ... sorry ... guys started to come after me. I tripped one and clotheslined the other. That ended the fight, the fourth guy never got into anything with me. I then walked with the girls to their house and made sure they were safe.”

Then I added, “Mom that’s why I was so late coming home. Sorry, I didn’t tell you, but I just did not think it was a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? I would say it was a big deal. I know we taught you to care about others, but that was very brave, and I am very, very proud of you.” Mom said and then gave me a hug.

The next day at school, the girl’s parents were waiting to go into the principal’s office. Sally and Sandy were sitting in the hallway. Sally’s face was swollen and turning black and blue at the injury site. They both smiled at me as I walked by. I smiled back.

About 15 minutes later I was paged over the intercom to report to the principal’s office. As I was going there, I heard the names of the four jerks also called. When I arrived, I was asked to call my parents.

There was a female police officer and the principal waiting. The school secretary informed the principal that two of the four boys were not in school that day. It seems that Robert Carpenter had a small accident and had a broken arm and a bruised sternum, and Garry Evans had a broken collarbone and a damaged voice box. The secretary told us they said were hurt when they were ‘playing WWE’ and overdid it.

The other two showed up as the secretary got done with her explanation. Jerry had his hands bandaged, and Frank just looked ashamed and scared.

The boys were asked if they would call one of their parents, as there was a legal matter that needed to be discussed. Jerry looked daggers at me, and Frank started to cry. They knew they were in trouble.

The principal and the police officer took Sally, Sandy, and her parents into the office closed the door.

About five minutes later my mother and father came in and sat down with me. A few minutes after that my parents and I were asked to come into the conference room, as the principal’s office was too small.

The police officer asked my parents if they could ask me about the attack on the girls. They said as long as they were with me, yes, but they cautioned the officer that if there was even an accusatory hint in any questions, the interview would be over and an attorney would be called.

The officer agreed and asked me to describe the incident and my actions. I went through the entire sequence from the time I heard the scream until I left the girls at their porch.

The officer thanked me and said that I did a brave but foolish thing in taking on four guys by myself. Then she said we could go. Sally and Sandy both came over to me and hugged me and said thanks again. Sally’s parents came over too, and a handshake, a hug, and two more thank yous, and I was allowed to go back to class.

I next saw Sally a couple of days later in the cafeteria when she came over and asked if I would sit with her. I said sure. I looked at her and saw the fading bruise, but a slight smile. I gently touched the bruise and looked in her eyes and saw the embarrassment. I told her she had done nothing to be embarrassed about; the jerks who physically hurt her did not defeat her. I got a single tear on her face that I wiped off with my thumb. Then the smile got bigger.

I walked with her to an empty table and pulled out her chair and when she sat, I took the chair next to her.

Her smile was huge now, and she said. “I know that I have already said thank you before, so just understand, that you are my hero.”

“I just did what I thought was right. I am not a hero, just someone who hates bullies.” I continued; “Bullies are scum. They’re generally cowards who go after and try to hurt people who are weaker or vulnerable. They will back down or run away when the odds go against them. I just evened the odds.”

Sally let it go and started talking about the school. Her family had bought the farm from the Dawkins estate when none of the kids wanted it. She told me that they had worked their Grandfather’s farm before her father decided to strike out on his own.

She mentioned that she was having trouble finding any friends at the new school. She had been able to talk to several of the girls in her class, but she wasn’t asked to do many things with them.

I told her. “Sally, you should understand, this small school community is made up of townies and country kids. These kids have known each other for many years. Mostly the country kids don’t want to talk to the townies, and vice-versa. You need to find someone to hang out with. Not necessarily join either group, but just one person who will help you become part of the ‘school scene.’” I added; “I don’t follow any of the groups, but I have an after school class in town, and I help my dad on our farm. I seem to get along with nearly everyone. Except for the druggies and the bullies.”

“If it will help, just come in the lunchroom and sit at the table, I am at. You will be the only 8th grader there, but there are froshs, sophs, juniors and seniors there, there will also be farmers and townies, so you won’t stick out.” I added; “I will introduce you to them all. That will at least let them know that I’m your friend. I am your friend, ain’t I?”

Sally giggled, “Friend and hero, yes you are.” Then she continued as we walked out of the cafeteria; “I will take you up on your generous offer, and thank you for being my friend. Sandy told me you were ‘dreamy,’ and I think you are a gentleman first class.”

I blushed, and as she headed for her next class, I gave her hand a little squeeze.

That earned me another smile and a wave. I notice a couple of freshman girls walked up to Sally. She turned and winked and then went on they all walked away towards there next classes.

Sally got acclimated, developed several friends among both 8th grade and freshman girls. She still sat with me at lunchtime, and we really did become very good friends.

As school went on, there were several different dances. Because of the size of our school, all of the dances except the Junior and Senior proms allowed all grades to attend. I found myself escorting Sally to all of the dances, and because I did not have a lot of spare cash, I did not go to the Senior Prom.

When graduation came around, I had four tickets I was allowed to give, so of course, I gave my parents two, my Uncle George one, and Sally one. I was an OK student and graduated in the fourth position of my class. Of course, we only had 36 graduates. So I didn’t even make the top 10%. (LOL)

When all of the parties and other festivities were over, I went into the nearby city and joined the army. My folks would not have the money for college for me, and I had no great desire to go into massive debt for a college degree. The military seemed like a good option, as I really wanted to learn something of the outside world. I was told to report to Fort Knox, Ky., on the 10th of July.

The day before I had to leave Mom had a small dinner with just our family and Sally. After dinner, Sally and I walked the fields and talked. She took my hand as we walked.

I told her that I would miss her, but I did not want her to miss out on any of the activities she would have. I said, “As soon as you can date, find a good boy to date and have some normal high school fun. I will be gone for four years and will only be able to get home occasionally. I have feelings for you, more than friends, more than brother and sister. I guess if I thought enough about it, I would say I love you. I just don’t think either one of us is ready for a commitment like that. I will write to you as often as I can. I will call and Skype when I can. If you ever need anything, contact me. I will miss your sweet smile.”

Sally took my other hand, turned me so I was facing her and kissed me. It was a kiss of passion, a kiss of promises, and a kiss of love. Then she hugged me and ran across the field toward her house.

When I got to Ft. Knox, I took the ASVAB tests, and when they came back they showed I had a mechanical aptitude, so after basic, they sent me to army supply school to learn to be a supply clerk. (LOL) I did learn the computer systems that essentially run the military system.

After my training, some of which had nothing to do with supply school, I was sent to a military base less than 100 miles from the family farm. After signing into my cadre on a Monday morning, I was released and given a 6-day pass and told to go home.

As I drove in the driveway to my folk’s house, Sally, Sandy, Mom, Dad and Uncle George were all waiting for me. Sally ran to me as I was getting out of the car and gave me another one of those kisses and I had to push myself off the car where she had knocked me. When Sally let go, Sandy hugged me and kissed my cheek. Then Mom hugged me and Dad and Uncle George shook my hand and offered me a beer.

I turned the beer down; I discovered in basic training that alcohol made me sick if I had any. I could not even use alcohol-based cough syrup or mouthwash. I asked for some of mom’s iced tea.

We had another family dinner, this time with Sandy also. After dinner, Sally took one hand and Sandy took the other and we went into the fields for a walk.

Sandy began with an exciting account of going to the big high school. She was now a 7th grader. She went on about all of her friends and about her first high school dance. She told me all about the farm and their last harvest, and how she got to drive one of the tractors in the field. She finally wound down.

Sally was very quiet. She had an almost fearful look and was holding my hand in a death grip.

I looked at her, kissed the top of her head and said; “Sally my sweet friend, what are you afraid of? There is nothing that I can think of you could do to make me hate you. There are only a couple of mean or nasty things you could do that would make me stop liking you. Talk to me.”

She started to get tears running down her face, and after I wiped them off with my BDU sleeve, she said; “I can’t talk about it now. I have to tell you when we are alone together.”

With that, she composed herself, and we walked back to the house. The girl’s parents were there, and I was asked to tell everyone about my army training. They all laughed when I told them of the tests and my assignment. I talked about basic training and marching and weapons training. I also explained that the headquarters company my supply cadre was part of was a part of a combat battalion and they had just rotated back from Europe. Then I sort of dampened the party when I said that the battalion was scheduled to rotate to the Middle East after the New Year, and if I was ordered to go with them, I would be gone for 13 months.

I tried to soften that news by explaining that I was a supply clerk, and most likely would be stationed at a permanent base, and not be part of any convoys to forward operations. (This was a complete lie; I knew I would be either with some of the convoys or when promoted, in charge of them or else some of the details for which I had gotten the special training.) I told them that the vast sums of money the army spent on training me to run their computer systems would be wasted in a Humvee.

After things calmed down, Sally’s parents, Sandy, and Uncle George went to their homes. Sally had asked me to take her for a drive before I took her home.

Sally and I drove around the area until we came to the woods near her home. She asked me to stop. When I did, she got out and asked me to walk with her. We went into the woods where I stopped the jerks from hurting her and Sandy.

She started to tear up again; “Sid, I love you, but I am going to start dating a really nice guy I met this year in class. You might not know him; he is a sophomore like me. We will only be going on dates with other kids, not one on one. I don’t want to hurt you, but you said you wanted me to enjoy my school time. I don’t love him, and he will not be getting into my pants or anything like that. That is for you when we get married. I’ll say it again, Sidney Greenleaf, I love you.”

I was surprised, and a little hurt. I had already told her of my wishes. I had told her of my feelings but I was surprised at her expressions of love. I did not recognize that she felt that way.

She then said; “I promise you this Mr. Greenleaf, when you are out of the army, and I graduate from high school, we will be together forever.” Then she gave me another kiss and asked me to take her home.

When I did, she let me walk her to the door. Then she gave me another shocking surprise when she said; “Please write to me often, but don’t come see me anymore this time. When you go back to base, I may change my mind, but right now it hurts to be with you when I know you are going away.”

Then she kissed me again and went into the house.

Well crap; I had come home mostly to spend time with her.

The next morning, I called Uncle George and asked him to come to the farm tonight for a family talk. Then I asked mom and dad if they would sit with me tonight for the talk.

That night after dinner, I explained to my parents and Uncle George that someone in my training group discovered that I had a lot of martial arts training. It was also noted that I was a fitness junkie and that I had an almost record score on all phases of my weapons training. That led to the training company commander asking me to take some special training.

When I agreed, I was sent to Fort Bragg for a quick sniper training course. I was to be a designated backup for any sniper unit that needed a replacement. I explained to my family that I did not tell Sally because she did not need to know.

I then told them of Sally’s request that I not see her anymore while I am home this time.

I told them I would be returning to the base the next morning because as much as I loved them, I had wanted to spend as much time as I could with Sally.

I left to go back to base three days early. While driving, my cell phone rang four times. I never answer while driving, so when I got to my company area, I looked at my voice mail and saw that all the calls were from Sally.

I called her back, and she started screaming at me about my going back early. I hung up. I called her parent’s house number and asked her dad if he would give Sally a message as all she would say to me when I called was screaming and I could not understand her.

He said sure he would take the message. I asked him to write it down exactly as I say it to him. He agreed.

“Ok,” I said; “Here it is:

...

‘Sally, I came home to visit with my folks and spend my time with you. You specifically asked me not to see you anymore while I was home. I did not like it. It hurt, but I agreed. Now you’re mad because I went back to my base before I had to. There was no reason for me to stay the extra three days when you did not want to spend them with me. I will write when I can. Have fun with your new boyfriend. Goodbye.’

...

“Please give that to her and tell her I am hurt but not angry. Thank you Mr. Graystone. I am sorry I have to ask you to be the go-between, but I don’t need to be screamed at when I’m doing what I am asked to do by the person I care about the most.”

I ended the call. Then I sat down and wrote Sally a letter.

...

About three weekends later, after I had been home twice, no Sally and no letter, I was home sitting in the living room on Saturday afternoon when the Graystone’s car pulled in the driveway. Sally’s dad came to the house and asked to talk to me.

I said sure and took him into the den to be by ourselves.

Roger said; “I don’t know if you want to hear it or not, but I gave your message to Sally. That and the letter you wrote has sent her into a serious ‘blue funk.’ She is not eating, not studying, and hardly talking to anyone in the family.

“Sandy is getting ignored just about as bad, her big sister won’t talk to her.”

Then he continued; “I found out what she told you, and when she cried for you doing just that, I told her to grow up. That probably did not help. Please, if I can get her to call you, will you talk?”

“Mr. Graystone; I never said I would not talk to her or write to her. What I said is I will not be punished for fulfilling her wishes. If she didn’t want me to leave early from my first pass, why did she ask me not to see her? If she says she loves me, why does she scream at me when I do what she wants? If she wants to talk, all I ask is a sincere apology for the screaming. I will not come to your place, and I will leave if she comes here if I don’t get at least that.”

I continued; “Roger, I have to leave here tomorrow by 5 PM because I don’t like to drive in the dark. If Sally wants to call me, she has my cell number. It’s the same number that she has not used to call to apologize for the past three weeks. I was asked to not see or contact her went I am home from duty. I am still honoring that request. If I don’t hear from her before the time I pull out of the driveway tomorrow, please let her know that I will consider my last letter our final contact. I don’t need the hurt!“

Then I apologized for yelling and asked that since he delivered the message if I could get him a beer.

He said no, he had just come over to talk to me. He said he would give Sally my message. He said he understood, but he was worried about his daughter.

Then he left.

Sunday I left to drive back to base. No call had come. I figured that she decided that she did not need to apologize.

I stayed at that duty station for about two months when the brigade was notified that we were going to be stop lossed because of pending overseas deployment. Our equipment was being prepared for shipment.

The company commander came to me with a request. He asked that I go to battalion supply and draw a sniper field kit. It seems the backup sniper team shooter had his appendix burst, and was in the hospital, and would be for a while. He also developed a severe infection at the surgical site.

I got the gear, packed it up, and ready for our deployment. The day before we were scheduled to ship out I decided to write Sandy a letter. I had always thought of her as my sister from another mother, and I felt bad about how her life had been screwed up because of what I did to her sister.

We shipped out a week before Christmas and landed in Kuwait City the next day. The headquarters company was transshipped to Afghanistan, but I was left behind to get some additional sniper training. After two weeks the spotter and I were a good team. Then we were shipped out to join our company. I was reassigned to the sniper platoon for the duration of our deployment.

I was writing to Sandy about once a week, mostly bitching about the cold and the dust. I asked about Sally in every letter, but when Sandy wrote me she never mentioned her sister once.

Three months later my spotter and I were on a hilltop looking down into the tribal provinces of Pakistan. Intelligence had discovered that a major insurgent leader was meeting a tribal chief in one of the mountain villages on the border with Afghanistan.

I had my binoculars trained on the village when a Range Rover drove up and my target got out. He went into the head man’s house, and his guards roamed around the village.

I radioed in and was told a drone strike would arrive in 30 minutes. We were told to hold our position until the target was verified as being eliminated.

Our job now was to laser paint the target when the drone was overhead. A missile would be launched from the drone to destroy the house.

We waited. No drone. An hour later the target exited the building and I took the shot. It was about 750 yards and a clean kill. Then all hell broke loose. The doors of most of the village house erupted with armed men coming in our direction.

We unassed the area, split, left, got the hell out of Dodge. I had called in the successful completion of the mission, and that we needed recovery ASAP. We managed to stay away from our pursuers for three days. We were very cold, very tired, very dirty, and very hungry. I had some mild frostbite on my nose and the tips of my fingers. I called back to support for a pick-up and was asked for my location. When I told them of my GPS coordinates, they said 15 minutes.

The sweetest sight I had seen in months was that helicopter and the ground support aircraft. The warthogs (A-10s) scanned the area and started tearing up the ground about 1.5 klicks away from us. We did not know our pursuit was that close.

We made it back to base, got fed washed and allowed twelve hours of sleep. When that was over, we were escorted to the debriefing area.

When we were shown into the office, we were arrested and told that we were being charged with war crimes. We both said we would not answer any questions until we had JAG lawyers to represent us.