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Writer Notes
This is in the middle of a novel.
Related Work
Listen to the Reader
No Man Left Behind_part200
By: Corrie
(Note: This picks up in the middle of a novel. What you need to
know at this point is that Jess was blinded during a mission
in Afghanistan and is missing a period of three years in his
memory. The same three years that he met and married his wife
Rebecca. Here he only knows her as his occupational therapist
who is training him to live with his blindness.)
Rebecca remained a few steps behind behind Jess. He stood in
front of a tree, moving his head to different angles. Any
casual observer might wonder what he was doing.
The past couple of weeks, she and Jess had fallen into a
routine. Except for when she taught him new skills or observed
him practicing old ones, they didn’t spend much time
together. It was like the last months of their marriage, only
without the strain. Well, maybe with some residual strain. But
it wasn’t incapacitating like it had been before he left
on the fateful mission.
Jess stepped closer to the tree. “Promise me you’re
not making videos of me talking to trees, lampposts and
statues,”
“Darn. If only I’d thought of it earlier.”
She rubbed her arms then blew into her clutched hands.
She'd brought him out of the housing area into the
recreational and commercial sections of the base. They were
near the sports fields backed up to the gas station with a
convenience store which was across the street from the
run-down movie theater.
Jess’ cane skimmed back and forth in an arc across the
uncut grass of the baseball infield. “I can hear your
mind calculating my top ten most embarrassing moments.”
“I’m trying to narrow them down to ten.”
“What’s number one? Tossing trash into an old
man’s lap or latching onto a stranger like she was
you?”
Rebecca sagged against the metal bleachers, resting her
forehead on her arm. “A camera would’ve been nice
to have at the cafeteria. That poor gentleman was sitting
there, minding his own business when you dumped your tray into
his lap. You were lucky that he was so gracious about
it.”
He followed the dirt path between home place and first.
“Luck had nothing to do with it. I’m still an
intimidating presence.”
He stopped long enough to form his SEAL sneer.
She ignored his attempt to show her that he could still form an
expression which was intimidating and condensing at the same
time.
To keep him humble, she said, “If that were the case you
should’ve terrified the young lady when you grabbed her
elbow and demanded she take you home.”
“What can I say, I’m an Adonis too.”
“In your own eyes. Those of us who can see you dump salt
into your coffee or dip your fingers into the lumpia sauce
don’t think you’re so sexy.”
He stepped onto home plate and furrowed his brows.
She pushed off the bleachers, found her way through the fence
and walked onto the field. “I avoid strange men who sit
on benches ranting about drug cartels –"
“Hey. I told you I was talking with a father who was
watching his kid.”
“Um, hum.” she caught up with him before he was
across the outfield.
“I didn’t know he’d walked away.”
“Right.”
She allowed him to find his way around the back fence of the
baseball field into the rear of the movie theater parking
lot.
“Very good, Commander. Your gait hasn’t slowed this
entire exercise. You’re moving through the assessment
checklist like a pro.”
“It’s my SEAL training.”
“At this rate you’ll be ready for your drop-off
test soon.” She continued to lag several feet behind.
“No. I’m not ready.”
She raised the back of her hand and pressed it to her forehead.
“You’re a SEAL. You’re regularly dropped off
in unfamiliar locations and have to find your way
back.”
“It’s not like that. We have weeks of training. And
I used to have my sight.”
“I’d never abandon you, Jess.”
He stopped short and swung around. She knew he was upset by the
three creases which formed between his eyebrows.
He frowned. “For some reason I don’t feel like
that’s true.”
She snapped. “And do your feelings come from specific
memories?”
She felt ridiculous standing rigid in front of him with her
hands fisted at her side. Even if he could see her non-verbal
challenge, he still didn’t have his memories.
Would this be one of those moments when something so random
triggered a memory for him?
After a moment, he raised hands, palms facing out. “No.
I’m sorry. Forget I said anything. I’m anxious
about the drop-off test.”
Rebecca hadn’t realized until then that she was holding
her breath. Extinguishing it took more out of her than air.
She felt exhausted.
“No. I’m sorry, Jess. I expect you to be reckless
and fearless like you’ve always been. It’s not
fair. I know better.”
He shook his head. “I trained a long time to recognize
fear and then neutralize it.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Otherwise what sane person runs into a gun
battle?”
Rebecca sensed he wasn’t talking to her.
Then he flashed one of his smirks, the covert one where she
didn’t know if he was serious or playing.
She inhaled slowly. “Jess, I’ve been reading a
biography. It is about a blind army officer. He’s the
first to continue serving active duty after his injury in
Iraq. He was Special Forces too. He wrote the most terrifying
thing he does every day is cross the street or parking lot by
himself.”
So I’m not a wuss?”
“Definitely not.”
He tapped his way down the narrow area between cement parking
stops striking them with his cane as he swung it side-to-side.
“So there is a precedent for blind active duty
military.”
“There’s a former Special Forces officer serving at
the Army’s Special Forces Command. He recently ran a
marathon too.”
Weariness was getting to her. She sat down on one of the
parking stops, pulled up her knees and hugged them.
Jess walked to the end of the parking spaces and turned around
and came back the same way. “Any serving in the
Navy?”
“You could be the first.”
His stride through the path protected by cement parking stops
was reminiscent of his former cockiness.
She called out to him, “Are you having fun?”
“Actually I am. It feels like when I skipped school to
explore.”
“You’re still in school and you’re supposed
to be learning to recognize what different landmarks sound and
feel like.”
“I am studying the sounds and feel of an empty parking
lot.”
She laid her check on top of her knees. “While there
might be value in learning how to walk between cement stops so
not to be hit by a backing car, I need you to leave the safety
of the barriers and explore an open parking lot.”
He negotiated his way around one of the parking stops and moved
into the open. “What other skills do I need to learn
before the drop-off test?”
“You haven’t walked in adverse or night conditions
yet.”
“Everywhere I am is night.”
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