D-Day

Danny Lee was sitting at his usual table in the cafeteria of Dallas’ exclusive Faraday Academy, talking to Faith Nelson, his girlfriend of three years. Danny and Faith were discussing which movie to see over the weekend. Danny was so completely over superhero movies and Faith had never been a big fan of them. They were discussing a romantic comedy that Faith wanted to see and that Danny was not completely opposed to when Kent and Kyle, the Olson Twins, approached their table.

Although spelled differently, that had not stopped someone (cough^Danny^cough) from hanging them with an unfortunate nickname. The twins could best be described as “hulking.” Both a couple of inches over six-feet tall with blonde hair cut into flat-tops. Their facial features were unremarkable.

“Hey Mary-Kate. Hi Ashley. What can I do for you girls?”

“Fuck you, Danny! I’ve been looking for a way to fuck you over ever since you dropped out of football,” one of the twins (Kent?) said.

“I’ve told you asshats that there was nothing personal about it. I’ve had my bell rung twice this year. I have to look after my health. Football was never going to be life.”

“You dropping out at quarterback left it up to Larry fucking Turner to finish the season as QB1. That ham-handed retard couldn’t do anything but trip over his own shoelaces. You dropping out meant the last half of our season went into the shitter. Any hope of us getting scholarships flew

out the window. We’re not like you. We don’t have rich parents to look after us. We’re scholarship students at Faraday.”

“Yeah,” the other twin (Kyle?) chimed in. “You really fucked us over! We needed scholarships to get to a D-1 college. Now we have to go to a shithole like CTSU instead of UT.”

“Bullshit,” Faith chimed in. “Kyle Olson, you were Danny’s left tackle. Both times he got a concussion was because you let your man get by and hit Danny’s blind side. You don’t deserve a scholarship to Central Texas State, much less UT.”

Danny looked at Faith with pride. God, he loved this girl.

“You better keep a muzzle on this mouthy bitch,” Kent said with an evil looking sneer on his face. He held up his cell phone. “If what I have on my phone gets out, you’d be laughed out of Faraday. Hell, your whole family would be laughed out of Dallas!”

Danny snatched Kent’s cell phone out of his hand and hit the play button. Porn? That’s what he’s trying to show me. The video was a side view of a woman being spit-roasted by two black men. Her face was pixelated but you could make out her blonde hair set in a ponytail. The man fucking her from behind was pushing her head down onto the cock of the other man who sat on a sofa as she gave him a blow job.

The male sitting on the sofa could be seen looking towards the camera and obviously speaking to the cameraman as he threw insults at him.

“You like watching this, cucky? Watchin’ your snowbunny wife get stretched out by a couple big-dicked brothers? Maybe she be havin’ a baby put in her by one a’ us. How you feel about raisin’ my baby, cuck?”

The camera zoomed out to show all three people in frame. It also showed the room’s furniture and Danny thought about a term he had learned in a drama class he had taken as an elective last year: mise en scéne. The phrase described the overall look of a staged scene in a play. A combination of the furniture, lighting, props and the actor’s relationship and interaction with them.

Everything about the video seemed staged and unnatural. But the primary actor? The star of the show? That freaked Danny right the fuck out.

Faith could tell by the horrified look on Danny’s face that whatever he was seeing was greatly upsetting him. She grabbed the phone out of his hands and quickly tapped on the screen sending the video to both her and Danny’s email as well as one other person.

“Where’d you get that video you piece of shit!?” Danny shouted.

“It’s on the internet,” Kyle smirked. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was your mom. We’ve been to your house often enough. Back when we were friends,” he said with a hateful glare.

“We were surprised your mother likes the BBC. You ever watch her take it up the ass?” Kent laughed.

If the Olson Twins wanted a reaction, they got it fast and hard. Danny threw himself across the lunch table, landing a punch on Kent’s face. Everyone knew by the wet, crunching sound that Kent’s nose was broken. Badly. As Kent fell to the floor, crying and moaning, Danny threw another punch, this one at Kyle’s stomach, knocking the breath out of him. Danny then kicked Kyle in the balls and as he went down, continued to kick him.

It was at this point, a group of teachers tackled Danny, bringing him to the ground. He continued to struggle to free himself. He was like an enraged animal. This was so out of character for Danny Lee that the teachers had been almost shocked into inactivity. But led by Coach Davenport, the football head coach (who managed to get a couple of elbows thrown at Danny because fuck a quitter) they managed to subdue Danny and frog-march him to the principal’s office.

Madeline “Maddy” Lee was furious. In his whole life, Danny had never been in serious trouble at school, much less being on the verge of being expelled for fighting. Leaving her office to rush to Faraday for an emergency meeting with school officials had not been how she thought her work day would end. She had called her husband, Steven, to meet her at the school. Maddy observed Steven’s red Porsche pulling into the visitor’s parking lot in front of her Mercedes.

They met on the sidewalk and expressed concern to each other about what had happened. Danny had seriously injured a couple of students in the course of a fight at lunchtime. Nothing like this had ever happened before and the Lees were shocked and bewildered.

As they quickly marched through the administrative offices, the red soles of Maddy’s Louboutins practically giving off sparks from her determined walk. They saw Danny sitting on a bench in the hallway leading to Principal Diana Regan’s office. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front, while staring morosely down at the ground.

“Danny, what’s this about?” Maddy asked. Her concern was evident on her face.

“Yeah, son; what the hell is going on here. I got called out of an important meeting for this bullshit,” Steven Lee complained.

Maddy shot Steven a look of annoyance. Just like Steven to make this about himself.

It was at that point that Principal Regan walked out of her office to greet the Lees. A middle aged, attractive woman that had become slightly plump over the last five years of her tenure at Faraday, she had become a favorite of many parents because of her focus on academics over athletics. She ushered the Lees into her office and directed them to two of the three visitors’ chairs located in front of her desk before taking her seat behind the desk.

“Thank you for getting here so quickly,” she began.

“We were both shocked at your call,” Maddy said. “Danny has never been in a fight in his life. Can you explain to us what happened? You said on the phone that Danny injured two people and that they had to be taken to the hospital.”

“Yeah, who was injured and how badly,” Steven asked, thinking ‘fuck, a lawsuit is heading our way.’

“It was a fight with the Olson Twins,” Principal Regan said. “One of them has a badly broken nose.”

“Mary-Kate or Ashley? Maddy asked.

“Mary-K ... Ur, Kent,” she said. “Kyle has a groin injury. Danny kicked him several time in his testicles.”

Both Lees’ eyes widened in shock at hearing this.

“What was the fight about? What happened?” Maddy asked.

Principal Regan drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she prepared herself. She knew, or at least she thought she knew Maddy Lee and she had an idea about how she would take what was about to happen.

“During lunch time, the Olson boys confronted Danny. He was at a lunch table talking with Faith Nelson. The twins conveyed that they held their lack of scholarships to a D-1 university as his fault for resigning from the football team.”

“It was my idea that he resign,” Maddy said. “He had two concussions within a month. He didn’t need the scholarship and I didn’t want him to risk a TBI for a high school sport.”

“I completely agree with you,” Principal Regan stated. “If it was up to me, the Texas legislature would ban high school football. But I know that’s never going to happen, at least in my lifetime. But not everyone feels that way. And the Olson boys made their feelings known.”

She looked at Maddy Lee and said, “they had a video that they played for Danny on Kent’s phone. That was what started the fight.”

“What kind of video?” demanded Maddy.

In answer, Principal Regan turned one of her computer monitors so that it faced the Lees. There was a still picture frozen on the screen as Principal Regan clicked the “Play” icon,

It was obviously porn and Maddy wondered why Danny was so upset watching porn. He had never seemed either bothered by, or consumed by porn the way so many teen boys were. As they watched the screen, the camera zoomed out and Principal Regan watch the expression on Maddy’s face morph from one of concern to horror. Her mouth opened and she tried to speak, but no words came out. She had tears in her eyes and began to hyperventilate.

Principal Regan paused the video and grabbed a box of tissues and placed them in front of Maddy. She observed Steven and noticed that his face was red and he gripped the arms of his chair in a white-knuckled, death-grip. He stared at the ground.

After a couple of minutes, Maddy had somewhat regained her composure.

“Danny saw that?” she asked softly.

Principal Regan nodded.

“My poor baby,” she said. She turned angrily to Steven.

“You posted that video on-line. You. Asshole.” She looked back to Principal Regan.

“Has anyone other than Danny and the Olson Twins seen this video?” How did you get a copy of it?” Maddy asked.

“That’s the funny thing,” Principal Regan said, “Kent sent a copy from his phone to Danny and Faith Nelson.” She had a bewildered look on her face. “For some reason, he copied me on the email. I cannot imagine what was going through that boy’s mind to think that sending a copy of that video to me from his phone was a good idea. So, the Olson’s and Danny and Faith for sure have seen the video. I’m sure it will spread across the entire school by the end of the week. There’s no way to contain something like this once it’s in the wild.”

Maddy glared at her husband. She was angry, mortified and ashamed.

Steven did not look at either Maddy or Principal Regan. He continued to stare at the ground as he gripped the arms of his chair. Diana Regan felt that she might be witnessing the destruction of a marriage in real time.

“I’m going to bring Danny into the office. We need to talk about what comes next.” Principal Regan exited her office and in short order returned with Danny. She directed Danny to the third chair and again took her seat behind her desk.

“Baby, I am sorry you saw that video. That was never meant to be seen by anyone but your father,” Maddy said. Tears ran down Maddy’s face as she grasped the forearm of her son.

Danny looked at Maddy. “So, how long has this been going on? How often do you have these kinds of parties? My mother the ‘snowbunny... ‘ Do you plan on showing these videos to your grandkids? Maybe play them at family get-togethers?” Maddy gasped in shock at the vitriol coming from her son.

Danny turned towards Steven. “You’re a cuck huh? You like to watch black guys with big dicks rail your wife? Am I even your real son?” Steven’s face turned crimson with ... anger? Shame? Maybe both?

“Do you want to know what really gets me? What I will never, and I mean never be able to get over?”

Maddy was nearly catatonic at this point. She shook her head at her son’s question.

“Do you remember me working over Christmas? I worked every bit of overtime I could at Carl’s Sporting Goods. Do you remember that?”

Maddy nodded her head. For a month Danny worked every hour that he could fit into his schedule. He had resigned from the football team by then so he had availability and he took advantage of it.

“Do you remember what I used the money for?” Danny asked.

Maddy grasped the gold crucifix that dangled onto her chest. It was an 18-karat gold Celtic cross with two small diamonds at each end of the cross representing herself and Danny.

“I love this cross. It’s one of my most valued possession,” Maddy said. “I wear it every day.”

Danny pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and turned it to face his mother. The screen could also be seen by Principal Regan. Danny hit play and the video began.

Maddy cried out for Danny to stop but he just said, “please watch this part.”

Maddy’s sex partner was fucking Maddy from behind while she performed oral sex on the other man. The man behind her sped up as he neared orgasm. He suddenly stopped, pulled out and pushed Maddy onto her back. Both men then began quickly fisting their oversized penises. After just a couple of seconds of pumping, they both erupted; ejaculating onto Maddy’s face and chest.

Onto the Celtic cross nestled between her breasts.

One of Maddy’s lovers then grabbed the cross and used it to scoop up their combined ejaculate and feed into her mouth. In the video, Maddy smiled as she licked the cross clean. She then opened her mouth to show the semen in her mouth and then made a production of swallowing and re-opening her mouth to show that it was gone.

Principal Regan looked at Maddy. If her earlier look had been one of horror, then it was hard to describe the look on her face now. As Principal Regan watched, Maddy’s face became pale. Then then fell to her knees in front of the desk and started making a retching noise. She reached out to Danny with a look of utter despair but he was already standing and backing away from his parents.

“Principal Regan, I’ll let you finish up with them. I’m going home.”

Diana Regan nodded her head as Danny departed her office.

It took several minutes before Maddy Lee was in any condition to continue the meeting.

“For all intents and purposes, Danny has already graduated. He’s eighteen and he has the credits needed and this semester was just going to be about padding his GPA. With everything that has happened today, I don’t think Danny should return to school. I’ve already talked to him about this and he’s cleaned out his locker.”

Maddy just nodded her head. Steven continued to stare at the floor maintaining his tight grip on the armrest of his chair.

“I know you are both shocked and distraught by what has happened today. I highly recommend the three of you get family counseling as soon as you can. Don’t worry about the Olson’s or the police. I’ll use the fact that Kent emailed me a pornographic video to shut down any possible legal actions, although they could still take civil action. I understand you’re an attorney Mr. Lee, so I’m sure you can deal with that.”

With that, the Lees were dismissed.

Maddy and Steven had arrived separately and they left separately. They arrived at home at the same time but noticed Danny’s car in its usual spot. Maddy searched the house for Danny, but he wasn’t home. She assumed that he and walked over to Faith’s house and so Maddy wasted no time in starting in on Steven.

“Why would you do that to me? Why would you post those videos? You said those videos were for you! No more of this hotwife bullshit! I never wanted any of this! This was all your kink but never again!” Maddy’s voice had gotten progressively louder until she was screaming at Steven.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t get off on it! You loved having big dicks wreck you. I’ve watched you orgasm over and over and over again while they fucked you!”

“Did I orgasm? Yes. A lot. But guess what, asshole? That was just my body’s reaction to stimulus. I would trade every one of those orgasms for a normal husband and wife sexual relationship. You’re getting more and more extreme in your kinks and I am done with it. Get those videos removed!”

“I didn’t post it on-line. I sent it to one person,” Steven muttered to Maddy’s back.

Maddy stormed off. She had no idea how she was going to make this up to Danny. The sex was bad enough, but the disrespect shown to his Christmas gift? She wondered if there was any coming back from that.

Steven went to his office to drown his feelings in bourbon while Maddy went to the guest room to cry. As ten o’clock approached, she was beginning to wonder where Danny was. She wanted to talk to him, but she did not want to bother him until he was ready to talk. The doorbell rang taking her away from her thoughts.

Maddy opened the front door to find Faith Nelson standing there.

“He’s gone! Danny’s gone! He left me a letter and said that he was leaving.” She thrust the letter towards Maddy as she cried.

“I went out to dinner with my parents and when we got back, this was stuck in the door.” Faith sobbed. “He’s gone! My beautiful Danny is gone!” she wailed pitifully.

“Off the bus! Get off the bus, you bunch of lazy dirtbags!”

The drill sergeants walked around the bus containing the recruits pounding on the sides of the bus to hurry them out.

“Welcome to Fort Grant you sorry excuses for soldiers. Let me begin by telling you that I’m not your momma!”

And so began Danny’s military career.

D-Day + 6 Years

Sergeant Dale Lee felt much older than his 24 years. He rarely thought about his old life, actually Danny Lee’s old life. When he thought about that old life, he would think about his old girlfriend, Faith and how he hoped that she had found a good man and was happy. Faith was a faithful loving partner and had been fiercely protective of Danny Lee. Probably as protective as his own mother had been, before her fall from the pedestal that Danny had placed her on. Any thoughts about his mother were pushed aside when they crept in, however Dale did occasionally allow thoughts of Faith to linger.

Dale was in a melancholy mood as he rode the bus taking him to Fort Moore and the Officer’s Candidate School for which Dale had been selected by the OCS board. The last six years of his life had been a time of re-naming. He had started going by his middle name of Dale, and army installations across the country were being re-named to relegate the Confederate generals for which they were named to the dustbin of history. When he first applied for OCS, it was held at Fort Benning. Fort Benning was now Fort Moore. Everything changes, Dale thought.

However there was one constant in Dale’s life: he had no personal relationship with any woman.

Dale’s worst fear was that he shared the cuckold tendencies of his father. It was a very real fear and one that, in retrospect, terrified Dale. When making love with Faith, Dale had liked for Faith to occasionally be aggressive in bed. Not in a dominating way, but definitely take the lead. This wasn’t an everyday thing, but it was for sure a part of their play. Dale’s concern was that this feeling was an underpinning of a cuckold fetish. Maybe he was actually submissive. Maybe he was a cuck-in-waiting. Dale had decided on the day that he left home that he would never place himself in a position like that. He did not date. He did not socialize with female soldiers in his off-duty time. His interaction with every female he encountered was polite, yet professional. And he never placed himself into a position to associate with civilian women.

This lack of involvement was a source of gossip and interests among soldiers both male and female, commissioned and non-commissioned. Was Sergeant Dale Lee gay or straight, or was he asexual; not desirous of either sex. How could someone as tall and handsome as Dale Lee not have any interests in any of the women (enlisted or officers) who constantly circled around him vying for his attention. It was a mystery. His nickname among the other NCOs was the monk.

Dale had been able to complete his college education during the course of his six-year enlistment. It is astounding how much someone can accomplish when they have no personal life. Like baseball great Mickey Mantle had said in interviews, it wasn’t the sex that exhausted him, it was staying up all night chasing it. If you have made the decision to live a monk’s existence, then you can get a lot done. Dale had not only received a BS degree in Organizational Management, he had completed one semester towards his MS when the OCS board recommendation came through advancing his army career.

While many of the BOCs (Basic Officer Candidates) were bemoaning the restrictions that would be placed upon them (no off-post passes! no cell phones!) Dale was looking forward to the total immersion experience that the next twelve weeks would entail. Even if at the end of the ninety-days all he had to show for it was a butterbar and the sobriquet, “90-day Wonder.”

D-Day + 8 Years

Captain Dale Lee was exhausted as he walked across the tarmac. This had been his fifth tour of the sandbox in eight years and his second as an officer. His first tour had been in Iraq, but subsequent tours had all been in Afghanistan. Dale had become fluent in Dari, the Persian based language spoken by three-quarters of Afghan. He was also conversant in Pashto, the other language spoked by Afghanis. The army had denied his request to attend the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, California so on his own dime and own time, Dale had taken language lessons off post. This had made Dale a favorite among the Afghanis and had ultimately led to a medal which Dale was not sure he had earned and not sure that he wanted. It had also necessitated Dale returning from Afghanistan by way of LRMC, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, outside of Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Dale almost missed the curb as he approached the terminal. Both his peripheral vision and depth perception were works in progress as he now faced the challenges of living life with only one eye. The black eye patch covered the cavity that had contained his left eye but the thin, angry pink scar that traversed his face from above his eyebrow to his cheek bone, gave evidence of what had happened.

At Bagram, Dale had overhead a heated conversation between two laborers as he walked towards the mess hall. He had made out the Pashto word for “attack” and was immediately on guard. As he turned to face the laborers, he realized that they had been joined by three other Afghanis that were tasked with keeping the Bagram airfield clean. Dale was pulling his pistol as one of the laborers swung his knife downward. The curved blade of a pesh-kabz, the traditional knife of the Afghani hill tribes had slashed across his face destroying his left eye before Dale could draw his M18 and fire point-blank into the chest of his Afghani attacker. One-eyed, with blood pouring down his face; M18 in his right hand and the captured pesh-kabz in his left; Dale was a fearsome sight. One of the Afghani’s had a stocky build rather than the lean build of the hill country warriors like the other three. As the stocky fighter fumbled the object dangling from his side, Dale slashed downward, cutting off the man’s hand before he could grasp the detonator for the explosive vest he wore. The quick and deadly skirmish along the side of the airfield had been witnessed by several people and was the reason for Dale’s detour to Washington D.C.

To receive the Medal from the President.

They say you don’t win the Medal of Honor; you earn it. President Harry S. Truman had famously said, “I would rather have the blue band of the Medal of Honor around my neck than to be President of the United States.” Dale would have preferred to have both eyes. He would have even preferred to remain a combat qualified line-officer. But none of that was possible now. There’s no place for a one-eyed solder in combat.

However, Dale was under orders. Stand tall. Be proud and let the president say his piece and put the Medal around your neck. Then salute and be polite to any and all well-wishers. Only then could he politely make his exit towards Fort Cavasos.

The Medal did have one huge benefit for Dale. It bumped him to the top of the FLEP list. The Funded Legal Education Program only accepted on average of twenty-five soldiers per year. The fact that Dale had completed both his BS and MS degrees was not enough to guarantee him a slot. The Medal had assured him of a FLEP slot and acceptance to the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. He was finally going to UT.

D-Day + 10 Years

Major Dale Lee of the US Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Fort Cavasos was reading a motion by a civilian defense attorney that charges be dropped against his client. The soldier, Private First-Class Ronald Hawkins had been involved in an altercation at a 24-hour breakfast restaurant three nights ago. PFC Hawkins had noticed his civilian girlfriend, Janika Washington, trading looks across the restaurant with one Devonte Allan, a private in the motor pool of the Headquarters Battalion of the 2^nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1^st Cavalry Division.

PFC Hawkins, himself a soldier in the “Black Knights”, the 5^th Cavalry Regiment of the1^st Cavalry, took exception to his girlfriend’s flirtation with PVT Allan and got into an argument with Ms. Washington in which he expressed his displeasure with her actions. In response, Ms. Washington had told PFC Hawkins to “take his ‘country ass’ back home to Alabama.” Ms. Washington had then left PFC Hawkins’ table and joined PVT Allan and his associates at their table, sitting in PVT Allan’s lap. As PFC Hawkins had walked by Ms. Washington and PVT Allan, he had stated, “You can have her. I don’t need some chickenhead from Tyler, TX holding me back.” This comment served to enrage Ms. Washington who in turn persuaded PVT Allan to attack PFC Hawkins.

In the ensuing chaotic and short-lived skirmish, PVT Allan wound up with a broken nose and a cracked orbital bone around his left eye. Ms. Washington had received a black eye, which had been caused when PVT Allan drew back his fist to throw a punch at PFC Hawkins, accidentally striking Ms. Washington in the eye. PVT Allan’s injuries were sustained when Ms. Washington attempted to jump on PVT Allan’s back for leverage to attack PFC Hawkins, driving PVT Allan face-first into the door jamb of the entrance to the restaurant. PFC Hawkins had just stood there watching PVT Allan and Ms. Washington.

In explaining his part in the melee, PFC Hawkins had said, “they was kicking they own asses. They didn’t my help.”

PFC Hawkins was arrested anyway and it was left to JAG to decide whether to pursue an article 15 for non-judicial punishment or the more serious courts-martial. Or dismiss all charges against PFC Hawkins who had, until the incident with Ms. Washington, been an exemplary soldier.

Major Lee had just signed the order dismissing all charges against PFC Hawkins when he received a call from the MP manning the front gate advising him that he had a Colonel Tom Burton wanting to meet with him.

Dale did not know a Colonel Tom Burton nor did he have any meetings on his calendar, but he did have availability today so advised the sentry to escort Colonel Burton to the JAG office.

When the visitor walked through the door of Dale’s office, he did not know what to make of the man. Tall, with good features and a full head of mostly black hair with some gray mixed in. He had the bearing of a military officer but rather than a military uniform, he was wearing a suit with a clerical collar.

The visitor extended his hand and said, “Major Lee, I’m pleased to meet you. I’m Tom Burton, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army Chaplain Corps, retired.”

“Do you prefer to be addressed as Colonel Burton or Reverend Burton,” Dales asked after they were both seated.

“Actually, I’d prefer Tom. I’m hoping we can be friends.”

Dale looked curiously at the older man. “Okay ... why do you want to be my friend.”

Tom rested his elbow on the arms of his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face and paused before replying, “because I’m married to Madeline Burton, the former Madeline Lee. Your mother.”