Chapter 2

I was jolted out of my slumber by a telephone call. I got up and saw a number that I dialed before on my caller ID. I had a headache, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from answering THIS call. It was from the head of the Republican Front’s South Charleston branch.

“Hello?” I spoke nervously.

“Hello, Mr. Walker. This is Dr. Marcellus Simms, head of the South Charleston branch of the Republican Front. I have heard that you are interested in joining the Front. We are always pleased to hear that. Despite what you may fear, there are no restrictions against newly released citizens becoming members. In fact, quite a few of our members are ex-cons. One of the reasons for declaring the amnesty for marijuana users was to help enroll people whose talents were wasted with incarceration. As a matter of fact, the Commandant is considering a broader one to cover so-called offenses like ‘statutory rape’ and other things no longer illegal.

“Ultimately, the goal of the Revolution is a more liberated and enlightened society, where dictatorship will not necessary or possible anymore. Col. Lomax wishes to be known as the last American dictator. Tyranny by unrestrained majority rule will be impossible too. The courts will be given clear jurisdiction over certain matters, with more specialization to prevent judicial abuses. Legislatures will know exactly what kind of laws they can and can’t pass.

“You might think of Col. Lomax as an American Sulla or Marius, seeking to restructure the government to adapt to modern reality, so that it can survive with its institutions intact in the future. This will not be socialism, fascism, or Marxism. It will not be Communism or fundamentalism. It will be something closer to the ideals of the Enlightenment,” the man informed him.

“So, you’re the leader of the Republican Front for all of South Charleston and you wish to meet me? Any particular reason?” I wondered.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Your files here say that you were once a registered nurse. To be frank, we need nurses in the Militia. Would you be interested in joining? When the fighting is over, part of the Militia will become a regular army and the rest will be the reserve components or demobilized back into civilian life, just like the old days. You could then decide if you wanted to return to a mostly civilian life. What do you think? Interested in the job? You’d be a least a second lieutenant. Between Front membership and your specialty, you would be respected in the ranks,” Dr. Simms explained.

“Would my regular nursing license be restored or would this only be for the Militia?” I inquired.

“Eventually, we would recommend a restoration of your license, if you wished it. The state license board is not likely to disregard our suggestions. In the meantime, you would be assigned to act as a field nurse in a war zone, where they are badly needed. The most likely location would be in Virginia, where the criminal forces of Mr. Marion ‘Pat’ Robertson are holding onto Virginia Beach. This is a critical area, since we must secure the coastline. Col. Lomax has already overrun all of West Virginia, most of Maryland, the District of Columbia, and all but a few areas in Virginia. Only the cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk in Virginia and the peninsular section of Maryland are still resisting us.

“Unfortunately, the Robertson forces are fanatically opposing us, causing a lot of casualties in the process. Naturally, this means a great strain on our nursing corps. Hopefully, we can keep your personal danger to a minimum. However, the enemy might still try to attack our noncombatant personnel, which you would be. They are desperate to prevent us from capturing their town, because they are afraid of what we will do when we take it. Robertson is doomed to be shot and he knows it,” the party chief announced.

“So, you’re offering me a commission in the Militia as a nurse. In that case, I accept. I have nothing better to do, after all. How much party discipline is there? Is this one of those regimes where you have to recite a dogma?” I asked curiously.

“It’s not like the People’s Republic of Pennsylvania, with their First Secretary Kurt Wagner and his doctrinaire Marxist-Leninism. We are not imposing a permanent one-party state. Like I said, we advocate an enlightened liberal democracy. It’s just a question of fighting off the enemies of freedom and national sovereignty. The future America will be a federal republic, only slighter different from the one established by the Founding Fathers.

“We are asking for your patriotic service to the Union and the Revolution. Will you join both the Republican Front and the Militia, offering your assistance to our brave, wounded soldiers? We will be most grateful for your commitment to the nation,” he told me.

“Very well. I will also join the Republican Front itself. I had been thinking about it, anyway, as I stated. I will be a good nurse and will try to be a fine officer. Thank you for your confidence, Dr. Simms,” I agreed, while chasing some aspirin with soda.

“Thank you for your loyalty to the Republic, Mr. Walker. Believe me, this is a struggle for the ideals of the first American Revolution, being carried out through the second one. We will have to put you through OCS and some basic military training, of course, but that won’t take long. I expect that you will do well at helping us defeat the kind of leaders that caused your unjust imprisonment. This training will be expedited because of the urgent needs of war. Besides, you already have training in your specialty,” Dr. Simms assured me.

“Very well, sir. I will do my best for my country. So, what is my pay and will it be directly deposited into my account?” I probed.

“You will get a starting net salary of thirty thousand dollars provisional, until the pressures of war can ease the economic hardships on the Government. We’re still trying to collect revenue through taxes and war bonds. It’s not easy, but we do what is necessary,” he clarified.

“And the liberation of those cities in Virginia will improve things by providing income through tariffs and trade,” I got the gist of his statement.

“Indeed, it will. You are a smart one. I suppose that is normal for a nurse. Yes, the import duties for foreign products will be most useful in financing the Revolution. We’re in a similar situation to the Federal and Confederate Governments in the last Civil War. With any luck, we can get the circumstances changed for the better. Don’t worry, we will keep in contact and get you to our boot camp in Beckley. It will done by a C-130 cargo plane. You will be with about 20 other men and women in a variety of specialties,” he remarked.

“That sounds great,” I concurred.

After Dr. Simms hung up, I started preparing for my new career as a military nurse. It was like something out of the old TV show “MASH”, except that this wouldn’t be so funny. The country was being ripped apart by civil strife and I had to help treat the symptoms of the national disease. Then again, in every civil war, somebody had to win. I definitely knew that the last thing that I wanted was for the Christian Coalition to triumph. This war meant something. It would save important things like personal freedom and the separation of church and state.

Ultimately, I was better off fighting for great things than rotting in a federal prison for something that should be legal in the first place. Something told me that, if we won, things like civil forfeiture and mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana use would be history. That was the old, corrupt system. The new way of doing things would be much better.

My roommates at the hostels didn’t make a big deal of it, except to be worried that I would be killed in action. I told them that I was a noncombatant and that I would be doing what I wanted, instead of bagging groceries for some supermarket. I would be a nurse again. They teased me a little about being a male nurse, until I reminded them that this job would involve wearing a green uniform and learning to fire an M-16 (just in case).

“So, you’ll be in the Party now, eh?” Summer, the sister of one of my more obnoxious roommates, teased me after she followed me during my walk.

“That’s right, though it’s actually called the Front by members,” I taunted her back.

“Does that mean you’ll be connected?” she joked.

“Probably, for what good it will do me. I’m going to Virginia, remember?” I pointed out.

“And you might still, theoretically, get killed?” she added.

“Thanks for reminding me,” I snorted.

“You haven’t been laid in years and you might be shot before you can fuck again, right?” Summer noted.

“Oh, another wonderful thought that you had to give me! Look, with any luck, I’ll find a girl after the war,” I reacted.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to depress you. I was just looking for an excuse to ... um... , “ she stammered.

“Get in the sack with me?” I finished for her.

“Well ... yes ... if you’re interested,” she admitted.

“Since when do you need an excuse for THAT? I wouldn’t mind getting some action,” I flirted with her.

“Hmm ... well, I like the way you think. I’m sorry. I’m still a little nervous about the idea of fucking someone outside of a relationship. It’s why I rushed into my last marriage, which didn’t work out so well,” she blushed.

“What happened?” I inquired.

“He turned out to be an abusive drunk. What about you? Were you ever married or involved with anyone?” Summer probed.

“I’m divorced. My ex decided that she wanted to save her part of the marital assets from civil forfeiture. Basically, I got screwed out of ALL of my money, not just half like most ex-husbands. She left me when it got a little rough. She didn’t have any complaints when I let her smoke my weed, though,” I answered bitterly.

“I take it that you’re still angry at her,” she commented.

“Yeah, a bit. Are you still mad at your ex?” I asked her.

“Sure. He was a brutal man when he drank. Look, I know that she probably didn’t deserve to keep half of your wealth after doing what she did, but I needed the cash to survive after Dirk spent most of our pay on booze. The man needed help, but I needed to pay the bills. Sometimes, alimony makes sense,” she stated.

“Maybe so, but not when your wife treats you like a gangrened arm that has to be severed. There were no attempts to prove my innocence or help me with my appeals. She didn’t visit me in prison or anything! She just left me like that! She betrayed me,” I declared.

“I know that and I feel bad for you. The drug laws were stupid and I don’t miss them. They meant well, though, trying to save people from addictions like my ex had with liquor. I’m just trying to point out that there are cases where one spouse or another needs a share of the assets. Speaking of assets, though, don’t you want to take me out and get me into the sack tonight?” she responded.

“Damn, that will be a record first date. Most of them have just ended a kiss for me. Mind you, I’ve only had twelve in my life, including one with my ex. What do you say to some Italian?” I suggested.

“Sounds nice. I don’t have time to wait for a relationship. You are clearly a great guy and you might get killed. Despite my joking, I’m not just interested in your supposed connections with the Republican Front. I just wanted a way to flirt with you,” Summer winked at me.

“So, for you, this is an opportunity that might never happen again. Plus, you want to cut loose and find out what a one-night stand is like. So would I. I’ve never really had casual sex before, at least not as a free man. I don’t count prison sex, anyway,” I replied.