The Long Dive into Longbow
The rain was coming down in buckets in Paragon City, Rhode Island as Jon Lamier ran from street corner to street corner. He had watched the news the night before and the storm system that had ravaged the Mid-West had now reached the Eastern seaboard. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and a tremendous crackle of thunder was soon heard. "That was close," he mumbled to himself.
The drenched youth finally reached the Longbow office. Posters lined the windows saying 'Are You Good Enough' and 'Fighting for a Better Future'. Jon sighed and pulled open the door; quickly stepping inside. Shaking himself off, he had a chance to look around the office. The impressed youth was taken aback on the numerous pictures on the wall and how unprepared he was to finally sign on the dotted line.
Jon had always been so outgoing and so friendly to others in high school and on the school's swimming team. He smiled to himself as he remembered his first swimming lessons. His father had taken him to his first lesson and teased Jon about being a son of a diver in Longbow not knowing how to swim was going to be disastrous, but then he put a arm around his young son, clad in swimming briefs, and reassured him that even if he couldn't swim, he would be proud that he tried. Jon shook his head; he had enormous swimming fins to fill.. That is what he was afraid of most - not living up to his father's standards of what it was like to be in the Dive Corps in Longbow.
"Well, take your time there young man," the Longbow officer said, clad in the trademark, skin tight Longbow uniform; his officer cap on a hat rack behind him. "That weather outside is nasty today isn't it; might get blown away if you're not careful. Gonna play hell with our Eagle units." The officer stood up from behind his desk and walked over to the youth. "Name's Larry," he said, offering his hand.
"Thank you, yes, the weather is quite stormy," Jon said, shaking his hand and taking a seat. "I sorta got an introduction on what I want to do in Longbow just by running outside."
It was then he really took a long, hard look at the office. Pictures of Longbow achievements and lined the walls - everything from Eagle training, where one straps a jet pack on your back and fight from the air to the dive corps. On the wall, Jon saw a couple of pictures of a group of ten divers swimming under the water, with spear guns out and knives strapped to their calves. A television was heard in the back room, probably where Larry took his breaks; it was a news channel from the female announcer's voice. Usually it was filled with nothing but hero versus villain chatter, but it must've been a slow news day. She was talking about the horrible weather as well as the sagging economy. Jon thought he smelled a slight hint of cinnamon in the air, probably from an air freshener that was connected to the air unit.
"Yes, yes, I understand," the Longbow officer consoled the young man in front of him. "So, I take it you read all of our brochures, watched all of our DVD's, and visited our bases that are open to the public?"
"Twice on weekends," Jon smiled. "Yes, I have done all of that. I even know what sub-branch I want to enlist in."
"Oh, do you now?" the officer asked. "Where exactly then?"
"The Dive Corps is where I finally want to end up. My father was in it when he was my age and well, I guess I got his swimming genes as well. I have a couple of medals and trophies when I was younger."
The officer nods as he is writing this stuff down. "Good swimmer, relatives in the corp. from before, and knows what he wants to do. Good traits if you ask me. Longbow could use you of course. You would do our regular training that everyone goes through; no doubt you'll do 'swimmingly' in our swimming course. Sorry, had to say that, and then if you make it, you can go to the dive training. Oh, you do know how to dive don't you?"
"Yes sir, I do; learned when I was twelve, well, learned how to dive from my father but got certified when I was fourteen; legally that is," confirmed Jon. "But what I'm worried about is, well, I'm a bit slight of build, being a swimmer and all, do you think I can make it through training?"
"Thought so, probably used to the tanks on the back and all that; well we use something different, no bubbles and you don't carry around clunky tanks or wear bad loose suits. We have the top of the line of everything in Longbow," the officer said, some pride beginning to show in his face. "Yes, I think you can make it through training. No doubt you've toned your muscles and mind for nothing but swimming for the past decade or so, we'll get you trained for any land work we might have you do before you are transferred to the dive corps."
Jon began to relax somewhat, as the officer began to open up and relay information to him about the Dive Corps and the training. He looked around the office again as he leaned back in his chair and saw many pictures of the Freedom Phalanx and the Vindicators directly behind the officer. "Sir isn't that Ms. Liberty, the head of the Vindicators?" he asked.
"Yes, she is and she is also the head of all Longbow activities and next time, if you do sign up, you would address her as ma'am," the officer said a bit sternly, but then he smiled. "She really is nice though, she drops by once a month to see how this office is doing with recruitment."
The youth only shook his head in amazement. "Nice to see heroes like that so common," he blurted out before he stopped himself.
The officer only laughed. "Son, she can be as sharp as a thumbtack one minute and partying at Pocket D the next, she is only twenty something, but now, let me tell you she has Statesman's and Miss Liberty's temper, so keep on her good side and well, you'll live to see another day. So what will it be, joining up or not?"
Jon looked around at the pictures one more time and this time he too felt himself swell with pride, knowing he was about to make the right decision. His father had told him some great stories about the dive corp. and now, he was about to continue that tradition. "Yes sir, I'm joining. Where do I sign?" he asked excitedly.
Larry produced the necessary paperwork and set it in front of the eager youth. "Now before you go signing your life away, read everything, ok?" he made sure this was plainly evident by having his hand right on top of the papers before he let Jon read them.
"Yes sir, I was going to do that, just felt, I don't know, duty bound?" Jon admitted to the Longbow officer.
The man across the desk from Jon nodded his head and lifted his hand from the papers. "You can use that table over there," he said, pointing to a table along the wall. "When you are done reading them, you are to come over here and have me witness your signature to make it official like."
Jon nodded and rose up from his chair. Looking outside, it was still raining. He shook his head. "Maybe I should've brought my swim suit today," he joked as he walked over to the table and began to pour over the contents of the recruitment papers. Each time a paragraph stated on what was expected of him, the youth began to think of several times in his life where his father was there for him to help him along his swimming career and his school work. Jon never realized how much of a presence his father was on his life until now. The young man felt sick to his stomach and put his head down on the table.
"You alright over there, Jon?" Larry asked; a hint of concern in his voice.
"Yeah, just finally calmed down enough to realize what a decision this is," Jon admitted. "My father pretty much raised me and well, to be honest, I'm a bit afraid that I won't measure up to what he has meant to me all my life and if I fail…"
"Now look here," the officer stood up and walked over to the youth. "You will not fail. Many recruits come in here with family currently serving or had served in Longbow and they had the same worries you are having now. They turned out alright and I expect the same from you. You have a good head on your shoulders and pretty soon you'll be wearing the proud red and white colors of the Longbow uniform. Now get that notion that you will fail and you can only be as good as you can be; no one else, you hear me?"
Jon crooked a half smile on the right side of his lips. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted. "Just it came on sudden and well, I felt uneasy for the first time I thought about joining Longbow."
"Oh, I'll still join," Jon said, lifting his head up. "Pretty much everything I expected from these papers."
He lifted them up and shook them twice to emphasize his point. Jon rose up and walked back to the desk with Larry following. Both took their seats and the officer handed Jon a pen. "Just to be sure and I have to ask this to all new recruits," he started in. "This decision about joining Longbow, it is a decision made by you and with the support of your family that you are to dedicate yourself to the ideals of Longbow and help where it is needed no matter where it is?"
Jon took a moment and nodded. "Yes, it is what I want to do; no matter if I fail or don't do as well as others, I will do my part to be the best Longbow recruit out there."
"Good, now sign the papers and we'll get you started on when and where to meet for your training," the Longbow officer stated.