Prologue

"What can be as intimately close yet as hopelessly distant as what we dream of?"

From the novel Laura, by Larry Watson.

John David Bartlett, known as Jack to his friends, met Sylvia Louise Goetz at a Valentine's dance in 1976. The dance was held at the Officers' Club on post, and Jack, a newly minted Captain, impressed Sylvie so much that she agreed to additional dates.

Jack was 27 years old and a platoon commander in the Combat Engineers' Brigade; Sylvie was 24 and an elementary school teacher in nearby Monterey, California.

Jack, a native of Chicago, had joined the Army at eighteen in 1967 and spent two tours in Vietnam as an Infantryman; in 1971 someone decided he was officer material and arranged for him to attend Officers' Candidate School. Upon graduation, his scores enabled him to choose Combat Engineering, specifically Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD. He made his superiors very happy men.

Sylvie grew up as an only child in Tipton, Illinois, down south in coal mining country. Her father passed away while she was in high school, and her mother died during Sylvie's senior year of college. When she graduated, she took the job in California because it was far away from the memories of a lonely childhood.

Jack and Sylvie dated that spring and married in July. On May 28^th, 1977, their daughter was born, and they named her Hannah Louise, which was soon shortened to Hani. Of course the Army hadn't changed a bit, and soon after her birth her father was assigned to duty at another place. Little Hani became a well-traveled tyke, enjoying the sights of Alaska and Texas before her third birthday. Then it was the northeast and Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and a year or two later Fort Irwin, California.

She started school in Waynesville, near Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and completed first and second grade; then it was back to Fort Hood in Texas for third and fourth. In 1987, her father was assigned Temporary Duty, or TDY, with the Air Force, and she spent a quiet year in Wilton, North Dakota under the tutelage of a Mrs. Belknap. Her father worked at Minot Air Force Base and her mother taught school in Bismarck.

Hani was ten and starting to grow; her tomboyish features soon gave way to a softer, more feminine look. She was allowed to grow her hair a bit longer and started dressing in a more feminine way.

In the late summer of 1987, her father — now a Lieutenant Colonel — was assigned overseas to the military garrison in Heidelberg, Germany. Their quarters were sumptuous compared to previous postings, and Hani and her family settled in for three years. School was fairly easy, and she took to the language and customs like a native.

All too soon, it was time to return to the USA. In the spring of 1990, Hani's father was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, and Hani and her mother remained in Germany so they could finish the school year. When they flew back in the middle of June, their five-day automobile journey to rejoin their husband and father landed them in the center of Kansas.

I'm Hannah Louise Bartlett, and this is my story.