Chapter 18

It’s amazing the power that money has and the actions it can initiate. In less than a week, Wendy had her papers verifying her citizenship in the United States and had a passport so she could fly home with my mother and father. Penny had her US passport as well. I’d returned to the base and after speaking with the Lieutenant Colonel I was granted a transfer back to a new and similar unit forming in the States. Apparently, my father had contacts in high places, and I was scheduled to return home in 30 days.

Warrant Officer Rickly and I finally had that nice drink and he was more than amazed when I told him about Wendy and my father. I didn’t tell him about my mother and Wendy.

“Lad, it has been a pleasure serving with you. You’ve proven that the name O’Dell is one to be held in high regard in this unit going forward. I’ve been told that just after you leave there will be a permanent training group established in the unit. It will have its own coat of arms and the letters R-M-O will be featured prominently.”

I laughed out loud, partially because it was so damned funny, but also to hide the tears of appreciation at being honored by the unit.

The next morning I proudly walked to the bus taking me to the airfield, accompanied by Warrant Officer Rickly. At the bus we shook hands and saluted each other. I got on the bus and he walked back to the base. It was the last I heard from him for many years.

I was to be flown back to the States and report for duty in July of 1945 to my new station in Draper, Utah. The base there was the closest I could get to Boise. I was attached to a new unit simply known as Special Forces. It was manned by soldiers who had been on similar teams as the S.A.S., but in the Pacific and southeast Asia. I was to find out that their signature uniform had us wearing green berets. When my enlistment was up, I would be mustered out from there.

I reported for duty and was required to be on base for thirty days before they granted me thirty days leave to get married. Penny and I decided that the best thing for us was for Penny to live in Boise, to be near her mother and my parents and family. She would be able to get us set up in our new house, with plenty of help from the mothers, and perhaps a certain rambunctious grandmother, and have everything ready for when I mustered out in another eight months.

My new unit was pretty damned good. We worked hard, built a strong unit identity. Soon it was apparent that our missions were going to be similar to what I’d done in Europe. I wondered how us Americans were going to fit in if we had to do missions in Japan.

But first I had to worry about a wedding. Well, I didn’t have to worry about a wedding, I just had to answer a phone call, or a letter, and say, “Yes dear.” Penny did make it a point to write me many letters asking all the important questions about our future. She was thorough and competent, and I loved her with all my heart.

One day during training, one of the guys in the unit messed up and screwed up the entire exercise for all of us. The drill sergeant lit into the guy and used the phrase “inbred moron”. I don’t know why but that triggered something in me, and I began to worry about Penny and I having kids. It was uncanny that such a little thing would set me off.

My next letter to Penny must have really had a different tone to it, that I didn’t notice, because three days later, Penny was at the CO’s office asking to see me. I was ordered to the company offices and found myself with an arm full of a very upset fiancé.

“Mick? What did I do? What’s wrong?”

“Pen, what are you doing here? Nothing’s wrong here. Why do you think that?”

“Mick, your last letter was disturbing.”

“What? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Here, my love, read it. See if it sounds funny to you too.”

Penny handed me the letter I’d written a few days ago and I began to read it. About three lines in, I noticed something too. For the first time, I’d asked a question about adopting children. I didn’t even notice it when I wrote it.

“Oh my.”

“Yeah, oh my! Where did all of that come from?”

“I ... I don’t know...” I had to wrack my brain for a moment, then it hit me. “Oh Pen, I do know. The other day the DI got mad at one of the guys and called him an inbred moron. It just hit me in a strange way. I’d been thinking about you, well I always think about you. I love you. But I guess his words hit a nerve.”

“Well it sure hit a nerve in me. I cried for a day, until Grams told me to get my ass down here and straighten out her, and I’m quoting now, “damned fool of a grandson”. I hopped on the first train out of Boise. You’ve got to tell me, Mick; do you want to have babies with me or not?”

“Oh Penny. Yes...”

“Yes? But...”

“I want to be sure that the baby is going to be healthy.”

“You mean normal?”

“Penny, since the DI said that, all I’ve been thinking about is what if the baby was born with some sort of defect. I mean we joked about two-headed kids, but really. What if the baby had no arms or was a moron? I don’t know that I could do that to a baby.”

Penny wrapped me up in her loving arms again. She laid her head on my chest and waited to gather her thoughts, until, finally, she was ready to speak.

“Mick, what if the baby is a genius? What if the baby is the one to bring world peace? What if the baby is just normal? Do we really want to live our lives limited by what ifs?”

“But this is a real what if. We’re brother and sister and talking about having a baby.”

“Half-brother and half-sister, Mick, and that leaves room for optimism.”

I held her tight. What else could I do? I had to come to terms with the fact that everything was possible. But then it occurred to me that that was the case with every potential parent. I could get through this.

“Penny, when you’re ready, we’ll have a baby.”

“Thank you, Mick. I love you.”

That was the last we talked about the subject for almost a year.

My unit was all set to begin a mission in Southeast Asia when we got the word to stand down. Apparently, something called an atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan. Our orders were put on hold. A few days later another bomb was dropped, and the scuttlebutt was that each bomb had destroyed an entire city. It was hard to believe.

When the word came down on September 2 that the war was over, all hell broke loose on the base. There was a general total lack of order. People in town were dancing in the streets and while the base was a bit more relaxed, we did remain on our previous alert status. But I can tell you, the base was surrounded by some very happy Mormons.

Again, it seemed that my family had some influence somewhere, and I found myself mustered out and on my way to Boise the following week. My arrival on the train was nice and quiet. I’d not told anyone which train I’d be on so I could avoid the craziness that my father told me about when he came home after the first war.

And that was when things got really amazing.

I walked in the front door of my parents’ home and called out, “I’m home!”

Penny appeared out of nowhere, seemingly flew through the air, and took me to the ground with the force of her impact. She was followed by my mother, father, and Wendy. While the parents were much more controlled, they were still very enthusiastic.

“Son! How? When?” My mother was just overwhelmed with joy. My father helped me to my feet and Penny re-engaged her embrace.

“Mick, we were expecting you in a few more days,” my father explained. “So you’ll just have to leave for a few days.”

“Daddy!” Penny exclaimed.

“Daddy? That’s interesting.”

“I know,” my father said, matter-of-factly. “She calls Pauli and Wendy mom! We’re trying to civilize her.”

“Don’t you dare, Dad.”

My father looked at me and somehow managed to get between Penny and me.

“I’ve been waiting for years for you to call me that,” he embraced me, and I swear there was a tear forming in his eye.

“Why didn’t you ever say something?”

“I guess I was too civilized. Besides, I never had a dad to say it to.”

“Then from now on, it’s mom and dad for you two.”

“And what about me?” Wendy asked.

“Well is it Wendy Hollyflower or O’Dell?”

“It’s still Hollyflower until the wedding. We talked it over and we want the wedding to signify Penny’s day and the long awaited unification of the entire family.”

“And speaking of the family, we are under strict orders for you to see your grandmother as soon as you get home. She was very insistent about this and you know how she gets. I’ll call her right now and let her know that you’re home.”

An hour later, I was in civilian clothes and in a comfy chair in the sitting room of my grandmother’s home. Across from me was the very frail looking matriarch of the O’Dell clan. No one knew for sure, but it was supposed that Opal Anne O’Dell was approaching ninety or maybe one hundred years old, if she had not already passed that benchmark.

“Michael, first, welcome home. I’m so happy that you’re in one piece. How are you dealing with things?”

“I don’t know Grandmother. I’ve only been home a few hours.”

“Second, the family calls me Grams, I expect the same of you.”

“Yes ma’am. Grams.”

She smiled that sly smile I grew up with and picked up a small bell on the table next to the settee. A young woman came into the room and smiled at me.

“Michael...”

I interrupted her, “Grams, the family calls me Mick.”

“Oh damn! I’m sorry, Mick. This is Silvia, she helps me around the house. Silvia would you please make us a cup of tea. Mick, how would you like yours?”

“With milk, please.”

“Milk? That’s new.”

“Grams, it’s the way the Brits I was with drank theirs.”

Silvia left for the kitchen and Grams turned her attention back to me.

“Mick, this is a talk we should have had on your twenty-first birthday, but you weren’t home. Every member of the O’Dell clan has heard this at the correct time, and I expect that someday you will pass it on to your children.” Opal Anne O’Dell took a deep breathe and smiled at me. “Michael Paul Rory O’Dell, you are one of the richest men in the Western United States.”

She paused to gauge my response. I had none, since I was waiting for the rest of what she was going to say.

“Mick?”

“Yes, Grams.”

“Nothing to say?”

“I was waiting for you to finish.”

“I’m finished. You ARE one of the richest men in the western United States.”

“What does that mean, Grams?”

With that question, my Grams, Opal Anne O’Dell told me the full and true story of the O’Dells. She began with the story of two brothers on opposite sides during the Civil War and of their coming home, only to have to fight more wars in Nebraska.

She told me about five whores leaving Wichita, KS and the rescue of three of them by the O’Dell brothers. She told me of the plain and the land grant and the battles and the deaths of my father, great uncles, great aunts and cousin. She went on to explain that my Aunts Pauli and Michelle had chosen to take a monthly stipend from the Foundation, which caused her to remain running the Foundation.

She also explained that when my father came of age, he had been informed of the Foundation and had taken over running the Foundation a few decades ago. My mother had been brought into the Foundation when she had been married to my father for ten years. Grams went on to explain that the position of Foundation executor would fall to me when my father no longer wished to have the position.