Leaping (17 page)

Authors: Diane Munier

BOOK: Leaping

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Epilogue

Chapter
22

Fifteen
year old Seth
Tulley
bit his nails while his step-dad
Jordan read his essay. He had written this, but he knew it came from them all,
and he said this, not only his family but from everyone involved in the
shootings, involved in any way. They had all taught him something, and he was
ready to talk about it as this was to be read in the ceremony that would
recognize him as an Eagle Scout.

Cori
and Jordan had cleaned up a few of the sentences or made suggestions, but it
belonged to Seth. It came from him as he drew his own conclusions.

"It's
really good," Jordan said as he laid the paper on the table and rubbed his
carpenter's hand over it.

Jordan was trying not
to cry. He did that now…since Seth had been sick that winter and they hadn't
been able to pinpoint the reason—he cried easily. Seth had lost weight, and
that was something he didn't need. He was ten pounds under weight as it was. So
once he turned around and started to heal, yeah, Jordan cried easy now. He
wasn't sad, his life had never been so precious, but he loved, Seth, Cori,
their baby girl Jane…he loved them with that abandon…well he said he'd be like
this…ridiculous.

Here
was what he'd just finished reading, they were Seth's words:

I
wore a uniform. Buttons and badges and patches my mom had sewn in place.
A Boy Scout of America.
When I put it on, that uniform, I
felt good.
Proud.
It made me hopeful about the future.
I wanted to be a policeman. Like my grandpa. And when I wore that uniform, I
was on my way to all the other uniforms I'd wear…in the army…and on the force.

Mom
hand-washed my shirt so the colors wouldn't bleed, so they'd stay bright.

When
I wore it, when I put that shirt on, it told about me, who I was, what I did,
what I thought was important. I couldn't imagine how it would be ripped apart
first by the bullet meant to take my life and second by the hands of those who
would save my life. I couldn't imagine that a small patch of that shirt would
be forced into my chest and removed two hours later by a surgeon at Glenmore
Hospital.

I
held the American flag. I was taught to never let the flag touch the floor. It
is the symbol of my country.
The land of the free and the
home of the brave.
I thought I was free. I knew I was brave. But five
minutes after I lifted the flag and carried it down the aisle it not only fell
to the floor, but I fell on top of it and my blood soaked into the red, white
and blue.

I
walked with my friends, the other Scouts, Troop Twenty-Five. We'd been together
since Cub Scouts, except for Jason. He had just moved here from Arizona. He was
so glad we had space in our troop. It was his second time to attend one of our
meetings. Well it wasn't really a meeting. It was a practice. It was a special
event. Jason would be wounded, like me, and after he recovered…his family would
move away.

We
were in a church. In the olden times if you were in trouble with the law, you
could run into a church and seek sanctuary. No one could touch you there. We
were safe in that church, in our troop, with our flag, in our shirts, with our
badges.

But
even more….there was my grandpa. He'd driven me over to Sydney. He'd taken off
work early to do that. He was trying to spend more time with me. My first dad
didn't want involved. My second dad didn't get involved. But Grandpa…was
involved.

He
wore his uniform too.
His badge.
He sat in the pew
near the door just like on Sunday, so he could get out quick, he said.

But
he never got out of that church on that day. He died in the back pew.

On
television….people get shot all the
time,
and they bounce back up and they fight. In video games they don't even have to
fall down. But when you're really shot, it's not like that. I was shot in my
chest and my leg. I wasn't aware of the leg wound.

I
never felt it. But the chest…it was like I'd been hit as hard as you could
imagine with a hammer.
Thor's hammer.
And fire. I
couldn't move. I couldn't stand. I couldn't fight. I could barely breathe.

But
as I lay there…on the flag…in my shirt…I felt something move past. I saw a man.
He would become my third dad…my real dad…Jordan Staley. My dad tackled the
shooter to the floor. My dad overcame the shooter…and we were saved.

That
was the last thing I knew before I lost consciousness. We were saved.

But
people died that day.
The shooter, my best friend Aiden and
another friend Colin.
My Grandpa.
Two of us got
wounded. Six of us were alright if you don't count the bad dreams and the
nervous feelings that come out of nowhere, if you don't count that…and we
don't. We're glad to be alive.

Kids
think they can't change the world, that they don't matter. But that's not true.
After I was shot, two of the scouts from Troop Twenty-Five put their bandanas
over my wounds and applied pressure until the ambulances started to arrive. I
learned about this later. I couldn't help myself, but I was helped, and the
flag I carried, the shirt I wore, and the church I laid in…as surely as those
things had meant so much to me...now my blood had mixed with those things,
those symbols, and they came to life…hands…so many hands…helping me…telling me
to be brave…telling me to hang on…hands working and working to make me well…I
believe…I know that good is better than I ever imagined, that love really is
the most powerful thing. I believe that the
living get
the final word, and our word is this—peace.

The
End

Other Titles
By
Diane
Munier

Me
and Mom Fall for Spencer
Available now as Kindle e-book:

The
house next door to Sarah and her mother Marie has been vacant since the murder
that happened there when Sarah was ten. Their neighbor, Frieda, was like a
second mother to Sarah and she died brutally and that event sends a paralysis
over this sleepy neighborhood that hasn't lifted for seventeen years. Imagine
Sarah’s surprise when the old place finally sells to an on-line buyer. She
looks through the thick growth separating her house from the other and a wild
man looks back. He’s thirty-seven year old Spencer Gundry. Once he shaves the
beard and gets a haircut, he’s not hard to look at. Well Sarah’s mom doesn’t
think so. And maybe she doesn't either. Problem is, Sarah has evolved into the
neighborhood watchdog and she knows this tumbleweed Gundry has as many secrets
as the house he owns.

Finding
My Thunder
Available now as Kindle e-book

The story takes place
in the late sixties. Hilly
Grunier
has been in
love with Danny Boyd since she was a kid telling scary stories on summer nights
at the fire hydrant while Danny pulled close on his bike.
But
when Danny is thirteen, their friendship ends when he and his brother
Sukey
have a vicious fight over Hilly.
Years pass,
and Hilly carries a secret and growing love as she watches Danny rise
athletically to the top of their school’s food chain. He even dates the prom
queen and rumor says they are engaged. Now Danny has graduated and shows up in
her dad’s shop looking for some temporary employment until the army picks him
off for Vietnam. He’s thrown aside his college scholarship and the golden girl.
He seems to be searching for something new before he leaves town. He seems to
be searching for her. Hilly can’t let him go overseas without showing him how
she feels. But once he’s gone,
her own
battle
intensifies. It’s a long road to finding her thunder.

Darnay
Road
Available now
as Kindle e-book

Starts out in summer of 1963.
Sweet little ten-year-old Catholic school girl Georgia Christine meets
eleven-year-old smoker with armpit hair who really does live on the wrong side
of the tracks Easy. She and Abigail May are mystery solvers, The
Darnay
Spies, in their spare time, and Easy
Caghan
(E.C.) and his brother Cap will keep these two
little ladies on their sleuthing toes.
Darnay
Road
leads them into a future where their childish friendship blooms into love. Will
the Vietnam War be the one challenge they can’t overcome?

My
Wounded Soldier, Book One: Fight for Glory
, coming July
2015, available for pre-order soon

1866

All
across the country men are drifting home from the war. But when Tom Tanner
musters out, he doesn’t plan to go home. He has been working in the brickyard
in Springfield trying to save enough money to buy a rig and head west. He’s not
expecting his father to show up and plead with him to return to the farm. After
the horrible loss of his older brother, Tom doesn’t feel worthy of the family’s
company. But his guilt won’t allow him to cause them more pain and so he goes
home for one last visit. It’s hard to find normal around the folks. The work of
harvest provides the perfect distraction. Once the crops as in he’ll go so far
away they’ll never have to look at him again. But his plans are challenged one
day. Tom is working in the field when the neighbor boy, Johnny, comes running
for help. What Tom finds at the neighbor’s home is a scene right out of the
war. But it’s not just about killing. The Missus Addie
Varn
,
is ready to birth. Tom
wants to run, and he will come fall, but now he must roll up his sleeves and
play midwife.