Dreams and Flashbacks
See part 1 for disclaimers
Chapter 2
By Ermintrude
The next couple days they were busy with a case. Then came the weekend. Amanda had the boys, so he hung around their baseball game watching. They didn’t know he was there—but he enjoyed watching their games—it reminded him of his childhood playing sports with the other Air Force brats. One thing about military bases—there were always people around willing to play sports.
That night Lee picked up his dreams from where he had left off a few days earlier.
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Grandma Clayton had died during the summer, when Lee was out of school. He had been taking care of the both of them for almost three weeks. Then one morning he brought grandma’s tray up to her bedroom, and she wouldn’t wake up. He touched her face and it was cold and stiff—and he knew she was dead. He was very sad and frightened—what should he do? Then he remembered—Grandma always said if things got bad—go to the Murphy’s—their neighbors.
He ate grandma’s breakfast and his own and did his chores—no sense letting the eggs go bad or the chickens go unfed. After washing the dishes, be walked the couple miles to the Murphy’s. He told Mrs. Murphy that his grandma wouldn’t wake up—he didn’t want to say she was dead—he didn’t want to scare them. Mrs. Murphy gave him some lunch while Mr. Murphy went over to grandma’s house. When he returned he talked to Mrs. Murphy in the parlor while Lee played with their children—4 and 2 year-old girls and the nearly year-old boy. Then Mrs. Murphy hugged him close and murmured, “oh you poor boy.”
Lee stayed with the Murphy’s for a few days. Then they all dressed up and they went to Grandma Clayton’s funeral. Lee was real sad—but he figured life with the Murphy’s wouldn’t be so bad. They had lots of livestock and their children were little. Lee figured he could help with chores and be generally useful to earn his keep. He liked Mr. and Mrs. Murphy. He still missed grandma and his mum and dad—but Mrs. Murphy was nice—she hugged and kissed him—and he always had lots to eat.
At the funeral he noticed a stranger—a man in a uniform. The man kept looking at Lee—he didn’t like the man—he looked unhappy and tense. He thought he’d seen the man before—but he couldn’t remember when or where. The uniform was familiar—but it wasn’t green like the Army soldiers he’d seen in town—it was blue.
After the funeral, the strange man came up and introduced himself.
“Hello, Lee. I’m your uncle, Captain Robert Clayton.” He held out his hand.
Suddenly Lee remembered where he had seen the man before—when his mum and dad died he was at the funeral with Grandma Clayton. He remembered grandma talked about her two boys—Matty and Robby—dad’s half-brother. Grandma had explained how her first husband—Grandpa Stetson—had died when Matty was 3 and she had remarried, this time to Grandpa Clayton and had Robbie when Matty was 5.
Lee nodded silently but didn’t take his uncle’s hand—he leaned into Mrs. Murphy’s skirts.
“Lee, we’re the only family each other has.” The man looked sincere.
Lee was silent.
The Captain forged ahead. “So now that your grandma’s dead, you’re going to live with me.” He smiled a bit, but it didn’t look like he was happy about it.
“NO!” Lee shouted. “No! I’m gonna live with the Murphys—I wanna stay with the Murphys—I’ll be good—I’ll help with the chores and keep track of the little kids…” He turned his head into Mrs. Murphy and held on hard.
She spoke soothingly. “Lee sweetheart, your uncle is family—you belong with your family, Lee. We wouldn’t ever stand in the way of that…” Mrs. Murphy smoothed his hair and spoke softly—but her words hurt just the same.
“NO! I don’t want to leave!” His eyes stung with hot tears.
His uncle tried again. “Lee—you can live with me on the Air Force base. You’ll see all sorts of airplanes and helicopters. I’ll take you up in a plane, a chopper—hell—when you’re older you can even learn to fly ‘em yourself.”
Lee was silent. He didn’t like this man. He smelled funny—not like a farm but like machines.
Captain Clayton took Lee’s hand—Lee pulled away and yelled and screamed—he tried to get back to Mrs. Murphy but the Captain was too strong—Lee couldn’t get loose—then he saw Mrs. Murphy—only now it was Amanda—she held her arms out to Lee and he got loose and ran to her.
She held him close and talked to him. “Lee—you don’t have to go with the Colonel. You can live at my house with my family—you can be a brother for Philip and Jamie—you and Jamie are almost the same age—you’re almost 8 and he’s 8 already—you’ll like living at my house. You’ll have brothers to play with all the time.”
He held on to her and he smelled her shampoo—it was nice. He liked the way his Amanda smelled. It felt so good to hold her close.
“Don’t worry Lee, I’ll take care of you—I’ll give you enough to eat—and I’ll love you like your mother—I love my boys and I can love you too—can you love me? I want you to love me…”
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Lee awoke in a sweat—it was 2:46am. His heart was pounding and he had another headache. He got up and took a couple of aspirin. No sense in trying to get back to sleep—he went into the living room and poured himself a glass of scotch. Then he turned on the TV. He found some old movie and sat half-watching and half-musing, as he drank. ‘Another weird dream about Amanda and her boys—well mostly Amanda. I’d forgotten that I thought I was going to live with the Murphys after grandma died. That sure would have been a better life for me than traipsing along after the Colonel all those years. Nobody really said anything—and the Colonel never visited grandma when I was living with her.’
‘Is this a reaction to that drug again? I know I was delirious and had those dreams the day afterward. The doctor said I might have some delayed effects—but it’s been four days now. Surely the drug is all out of my system…’ He watched the movie, refilling his glass once and eventually drifted off to sleep sitting on his couch.
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Young Lee was back after his grandma’s funeral. Mrs. Murphy was holding him and talking to the Captain. “Give the boy some time. He can stay with us tonight and you can take him in the morning.” Mrs. Murphy sounded sad.
“I only have a 72 hour pass. We have to leave tonight if I’m going to get back to the base in time.” His uncle sounded impatient.
“Couldn’t you ask for some more time? After all, your mother just died, and Lee needs a little time to adjust…”
“I need to set a good example in my squadron. I would expect them to return as soon as possible and so I have to follow those rules myself. We leave today.” There was no room for argument with that statement.
Mrs. Murphy sighed. “Will you stay for supper at least? We planned for a big group and it will give Lee time to say goodbye to his friends.”
The Captain thought for a minute, and then nodded. “All right. Lee and I will go back to the house and pack his things. I have a trunk for him. Then we’ll be over for supper.”
“We’ll eat at 6—will that be OK?” Mrs. Murphy smiled sadly.
“6 it is. Thank you ma’am for the invitation. Say thank you, Lee.”
“Thank you Mrs. Murphy.” Lee said in a small voice.
“C’mon now, boy. We’ve got to pack you up.”
This time Mrs. Murphy pushed Lee away toward his uncle. He looked back at her with a lost forlorn look.
She smiled back at him in reassurance. “It will be OK, Lee—you’ll come to like living with your uncle. You’re family—you belong together.”
The captain took his hand, and this time he didn’t resist.
At grandma’s big old stone house, they packed up his things. Not everything—just his clothes that still fit and weren’t too worn out—and whatever else he could manage to fit in the trunk.
His uncle explained. “This is your kit, boy. From now on everything you own will have to fit in this trunk. If it doesn’t—it stays behind.”
Lee looked forlornly at the possessions he’d have to leave behind. “Where will I sleep?” He envisioned himself trying to fit into the trunk to sleep.
“You’ll have a bed and sheets and all that at the base. I’ve applied for family quarters. You’ll have your own room—won’t that be nice?”
“I always had my own room,” Lee replied sullenly. Didn’t his uncle know anything about him?
The Captain took a breath and let it out slowly. “Son—there’s one thing you’d better learn right quick. I’m a Captain in the US Air Force—I’m part of a fine group of men. We live up to high standards and I expect the respect due my rank. And that means I expect you to respect me as well. I’m sorry your parents and grandma died. I know you aren’t happy with the idea of living with me and God knows I never expected to have to raise you when I promised Matt and Jenny that I’d look after you if anything happened to them. But I made that promise and I always do my duty. So here we are. We’re all each other has—so you’d better get used to it. I expect you to address me with respect, which means you will call me Captain or sir. Do you understand?”
Lee was sullenly silent.
“Do you understand, boy?” The Captain was sounding a bit angry, now.
Lee nodded.
“I didn’t hear you.” The Captain spoke sharply.
“Yes,” Lee mumbled.
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you. Speak up.”
“Yes,” Lee said loudly.
“Yes what, boy?” The Captain growled.
Lee thought a bit. He was stuck with this man—so he figured he’d probably go along—for now. “Yes—sir.” He said through clenched teeth.
The Captain nodded. “That will do—for now.”
They had a last supper with the Murphys. They had fried chicken. Lee ate as much as he wanted. It sure was good.
Then it was time to go. He hugged Mrs. Murphy tightly. “Thank you for taking care of me. I really would have liked to live with you—but I’ll go live with my uncle. Thank you.” He buried his head in her warm chest, and cried hot tears.
“You would have been welcome to live with us, if your uncle hadn’t come by. But he’s your family—you belong with your family, Lee. Always remember, family is the most important thing. Remember that Lee—family is the most important thing.” But now it was Amanda telling him that. “Family is the most important thing—I love my boys—I can love you, too—can you love me?—will you love me?”
“Oh, Amanda—I want to love you—but I’m not sure I can love you—I don’t know if I can love anyone—I want you—I want to hold you—I want to make love to you—but I don’t know if I can love you like you want me to…”
He held on to Amanda—she felt so good in his arms. He pressed his face to her hair—she smelled so nice—she was so warm and soft—he wanted to hold her—touch her—his hands roamed over her soft curves. He kissed her and she responded to him—they melted into each other—and he quickly became aroused as he held her tightly to his body…
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Lee awoke with a start on his couch with a raging erection. He took a few deep calming breaths and things subsided a bit. He shook his head and headed off for another cold shower. These were becoming more frequent as the erotic dreams about Amanda became more common.
‘But this one was different. Usually I get a lot farther along before I wake up.’ He mused as he dressed for his Sunday off. ‘This time it was more about … love … than about sex.’
He made coffee for himself, drank it and then left. He knew Amanda was taking the boys to the National Zoo with a group of school kids. She and Dotty were chaperones. He would spend the day at the zoo watching them. There were worse ways to spend his day off.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tissue alert! This one may make you cry--I did when I wrote it.