Free Gooseberry Island by Steven Manchester Page A

your voice.”
    “Thanks for answering,” he said. “Bye, beautiful.”

4
    Unlike the weather, which had turned bitterly cold, the daily foot patrols were starting to get comfortable.
David was even taking the lead on some of them now, searching out anyone who might like to greet them with a rocket-propelled grenade.
    “What are your plans after we’re done over here?” Billy asked Lieutenant Menker.
    “I’ll be getting into the family business,” Kevin answered nonchalantly.
    “And what’s that?” Billy followed up.
    “I come from a long line of cops, and that’s the next stop for me.”
    David nodded.
Makes sense
, he thought.
Kevin’s the perfect backup when the world gets all dark and scary
.
    “What about you?” Kevin asked Billy.
    Billy laughed. “I’d like to do another tour right here.”
    Everyone looked over at the young buck, cross-eyed.
    “Where else can you lay down a beating like we do and get paid for it?” he asked.
    Shaking heads traveled down the line.
    David glanced over at Nathan, who was looking at the photograph of his sons—and trying to conceal it from the rest of them.
That sucks
, David thought.
    “Not me,” Max chimed in. “I want to get home to Max Jr. I’ve missed that kid something terrible from the moment we left.”
    “I hear that,” Nathan agreed, tucking his photograph back into his cap.
    David shook his head in sympathy.
Both Nate and Max have been tortured every minute we’ve been here.
    The patrol walked quietly for a while and, as he occasionally did, David pulled his father’s note out of his pants cargo pocket and read it.
Keep your head down?
He shook his head, thinking,
I’m not sure that’s such great advice, Pop
. Fifty yards down the road, his thoughts of home shifted to Lindsey’s beautiful face, and he recounted their most recent communication.
*
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
*
    “How was lunch with my mom?” David asked.
    “Great,” Lindsey said. “She’s such a sweet person, but…”
    “But?”
    “Considering that you and I only had one date before you left, I…”
    “I’ve been writing my mother about you for weeks, Lindsey,” he interrupted.
    “That’s exactly what she said. Believe me, I didn’t have a problem getting together with her, but I was worried about what she would think of me.”
    “And?” he asked.
    “We hit it off very well.”
    “I knew you guys would.”
    “We’ve made a pact to share any information we get about you,” she added.
    “Not everything, I hope?” he teased.
    “Well, not the good stuff of course,” she said, giggling.
*
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
*
    Back in the present, David smiled and began to tally his own options, once his twelve-month tour was wrapped up.
    I decided long ago that the military life suits me fine
, he thought. While others complained about the early wake-up calls, along with the work that followed, he was content with all of it. “You probably just signed ’cause you wanted to wear shoes,” they’d joke, but David only laughed.
    You have no idea,
he thought. His desire to join the service had gnawed at him since his first walk down Sesame Street. It was a yearning that had always needed to be fulfilled.
If not for me, then to prove my father wrong. Either way, I needed to do it.
    But Lindsey’s not in the military with me
, he thought, challenging his earlier convictions.
She’s home on Gooseberry Island.
    The friendships made in the Army were forged from sharing hard times with others. David cherished the camaraderie created by those experiences. There were three squares a day, a warm bunk and few choices that needed to be made. The Army would even decide when a man should relieve himself. Besides breakfast, dinner and supper, David’s favorite time was mail call. Mom, Craig and Aunt Jeanne would write, keeping him up on everything that he wasn’t missing on Gooseberry Island. Occasionally, even Captain Eli’s chicken scratch showed up in the pile. David responded to each one.
    But I’d