San Francisco
Chapter Six
By A Shot of Amber
This is going to be the last chapter of the story. Thank you everyone for coming this far. I started this story at first with a lot of ideas but as school progressed I got busy so I'm wrapping it up now. Thank you so much for your reviews and compliments. But still don't forget to read and review or send all comments, questions, suggestions, and flames to Thank you.
San Francisco
Chapter Six
San Francisco. We finally made it. The van crested a hill and then we were in the city. Over the fog of the bay into a clean and clear city. We had driven through the mountains and entered California yesterday. Once over the border we camped for the night then progressed on across the state till we entered the city three days before I was due for basic training.
If we made a strange sight, two vans and a school bus, but no one seemed to notice. People instead waved to us as we entered the Haight. On the streets men and women alike danced and performed hoping to be noticed and sent into the national spotlight with their music and performance. In the back of Tim's car I could only watch as we drove past immaculate Victorian houses into the poorer district of San Francisco. This is where we would be. Tim knew of a place were we could make up a home. It was a communal building that belonged to his friends. There in the rooms these people would make their living hoping for something better. At least Mina and Rei would. I knew Tim wanted to leave soon for Washington. He was only happy when he was driving through the country, he would never be happy settled down in San Francisco.
" Oh isn't it beautiful?" Serena sighed clutching my arm tightly as she looked out my window along with me. I nodded but my thoughts were else where. Some where in this city my parents were waiting for me. Before we had left a small town in Nevada, I had called them. My mom had answered the phone, at first I didn't know what to say but the words flowed out anyway.
" Mom, its Darien."
" Oh my God," she whispered then probably clutched her chest. I could see her doing it in my mind. " Darien? My baby?"
" Mom, its alright. Calm down. I'm fine."
" Where have you been for these past two weeks?" She cried into the phone her scared persona gone and the real mother coming out. " Your father and I have been worried sick about you since we got that note."
" I told you that I would be gone for a few weeks. I met some hippies and I've been traveling with them," I replied suddenly feeling slightly embarrassed at the truth of it all.
" You've been with hippies?" My father's voice yelled into the line. Obviously he had picked up the other phone. " What son of mine runs around with dirty hippies? You are better then that! You are going into the army and you are going to be man and what do you do? You run around the country with hippies in a bus while your mother and I worry sick about you at home. Your mother practically had a heart attack when she read your note the day you left. I wanted to call the police and almost did but I thought it was just a hoax and that you and Andrew had run off with some girls for the night."
" Dad why would I do that?" I asked. " Don't you know me at all?"
" No, son. I do not," my father replied. " When Andrew came by that day asking for you I knew something was up and I was right. You left the comfort of your home and life to run around with people that have no sense in their heads."
" Dad these people have a lot sense and the reason I left was because I met a girl. The most beautiful girl in the world and I love her and I want to be with her. I don't want to go into your stupid army. I want to be with her." I was angry and my voice was conveying it. I knew my words were in vain and that I would be going but I still said them anyway.
" Oh Darien," my mother sighed with tears in her voice.
" Darien, I don't care that you love some hippie girl. I want you to listen to me. You are enlisted in the best God damned army on the face of the planet. You are going to be a solider. You are going to teach the Viet Cong that you can't mess with an American. I don't want to hear that you ran away with some girl when you have the rest of your life to live."
Deep down inside something wanted to rebel, to hang up the phone, to leave the phone booth where I stood and to never talk to my parents again. I was no longer Darien Shields. I was Earth now. But I didn't, I didn't hang up the phone and in that second Darien Shields replaced the man named Earth.
" Your mother and I are coming to San Francisco. We are going to stay at the Regency hotel and when you get there we expect you to meet us there. We need to get back into shape. The army doesn't accept weaklings which you have become. You are going to be a man Darien and when you return if you still love that girl then you can pursue her. Until then forget her, she's a hippie and she's not your type."
" That's a contradiction dear," my mother replied softly.
My father just grumbled something and hung up the phone. " Darien I want you to be safe," my mother said to me as we were once again alone on the line. " I know you must love this girl and she's probably lovely but you must fulfill your father's wish. He wanted you to be in the army ever since you were born. This war is the perfect excuse for him."
" Don't worry mom. I'll see you when I arrive in San Francisco," I replied then hung up the phone and left the phone booth. I was disgusted with myself right now.
Now I stood in front of the Regency Hotel alone dressed in my old clothes. They were rumpled and slightly dirty but I knew I would never get inside in my new clothes. Earth was shut down deep inside and Darien was alive again. I walked into the hotel through the revolving glass door towards the lobby where my parents waited. I looked like a kid on his way to being punished and in fact I was. I was too old to be spanked but there was another way to punish me, I was going to be shipped off to Vietnam and an uncertain future.
My parents were sitting on the red plush chairs around a small wooden table. As I came forward my father stood up followed by my mother. She was clutching a handkerchief in her hand and her purse in the other. I took a deep breath and walked forwards towards them and hugged her. She cried as her arms went around me and gave me a good squeeze. I let go of her and turned to my father. His hands were in his pockets and he didn't remove them as he looked at me. Our eyes met but there was no exchange of pleasantry.
" I see your not wearing their clothes," he said gruffly.
" I left them back at the place. I didn't want you to see them," I replied.
" That's good. It would probably shock your poor mother."
She slipped her arm around me and looked at me. " Oh Darien your thinner. Have they been feeding you?" She asked.
" Yea Flower, I mean Lita is a great cook. I eat more then I should. It was fun mom and they were all very nice to me especially Serena. She's the best thing that ever happened to me." My mother smiled but my father said nothing but instead looked away.
" You report to basic training tomorrow Darien. I suggest you say goodbye to these friends of yours and come back here tonight. Your mother wants to say goodbye to you properly before you leave."
I nodded and let go of my mother. " I can't guarantee that I'll come back tonight. I want the night to say goodbye to my friends but I will return in the morning. Don't you worry about me. San Francisco is the safest place to be when you're with friends." With that I hugged my mother again, nodded to my father and walked off headed towards the doors. They could have stopped me, but they didn't. Instead they watched me go. My back was straight and my step was sturdy as I disappeared through the glass doors onto the street.
Once outside I took a deep breath and sighed. Tonight would be my last night with Serena. She didn't know that my parents were here and she didn't know that tomorrow I would be leaving her. I looked down at the clothes I was wearing then turned and walked off. Lita and Ami had watched me leave. Serena had gone with Rei to make some money on the streets. They would be back at night fall. Until then I would plan how I would say goodbye to her.
When I returned Lita handed me my clothes and the string of love beads that Serena had given me. I changed into them and put my clothes back into their hiding place. We were staying in an old abandoned building full of people just like us. Everyone cooked in the communal kitchen and slept in their own separate rooms. From the windows you had a magnificent view of the bay. I looked at that window at the Golden Gate Bridge while behind me Lita watched.
" She's going to be heart broken that you are leaving us," Lita said softly.
" I know," I replied lowering my head from the view.
" If there was a way to make you stronger I would use it Earth but I can't so instead I give you this." She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to me. It was a small circular object with a weave like a spider's web in the middle.
" It's a dream catcher. It will bring you good luck in the war. I wish you could stay with us forever Earth but I know that you can't so I won't give you harsh words or empty promises. Instead I'll give you this and a hug because a hug always makes a person feel better." She stepped forward and hugged me tightly. " Please come back to us Darien. You're the best thing that's happened to Serena in a long time." With that she turned and walked off, back down the stairs to the kitchen on the first level. I watched her go then I looked down at the dream catcher. I would always carry it into battle with me no matter where I went.
Later that afternoon Rei and Serena returned. With the money they had they bought us food that we ate that night in the light of the setting sun. That golden light was shining through the windows onto Serena who sat next to me. She still didn't know I was leaving so her face was happy as she ate. I was heartbroken and afraid to tell her but I had to so after we were done, I took her hand and asked her to take a walk with me.
" Where are we going Darien?" She asked as we left the building and walked through the darkening streets.
" No where. I just wanted to walk," I replied tightening my grip on her hand. She looked at me oddly but didn't say anything. Instead we walked through the streets till we were on top of a hill looking down on San Francisco.
" This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen," I whispered softly.
" Yea it is," she replied moving closer to me and putting both arms around my waist.
" Serena…" I hesitated. I was afraid to tell her but then the words poured out just like they had done for my mother. " My parents are in the city." She didn't say anything but her grip got tighter. "I'm leaving tomorrow for basic training." I turned and took her hands into mine. " I want you to know its killing me to leave you but I have to. I can't hide from the United States Army."
Her eyes were enormously blue in the street lights. She didn't say anything but all of a sudden she started fighting me, cries like an animal coming from inside her. I held on tightly and pulled her closely to me, clasping her to my chest. Eventually she stopped crying and put her arms around me. Her harsh words of let me go and I hate you died in the air and instead it was just us and the silence. She was crying now, softly, no tears just the feeling.
" I don't want you to go. I know you'll die there," she cried softly into my shirt.
" Serena, I'm not going to die there. I'm going to get out of this alive and then I'm going to come back and we'll be together. It's just like my parents and yours and World War Two. The men went off to battle and the women waited for them and they came back and they were together again. It'll be just like that. I'll go off to battle and then I'll come back and we'll be together again." I was looking into her eyes now holding her hands tightly in my own.
" I don't think I can wait that long," she whispered sadly.
" But you have to. Serena if I had known you before I enlisted I would have never done it. I met you the night I graduated from high school and became a man. If I had known I would meet someone like you I would have given up high school and becoming a man and everything else just to be with you. None of it matters except you being happy."
" But I'm happy with you," she cried softly, the tears starting anew. I took her and held her gently against my body while she cried again. I think even I cried a little bit as we stood there on top of the hill under a street light wishing that time would stop and morning would never come.
Eventually I took her back to the building. Everyone had left for the night to see the wild party scene of San Francisco. We instead lay down in her bed and I held her close to me as I just looked into her eyes while she stroked my face with her own cold fingers. We stayed that way until we fell asleep.
Now some of you are probably wondering why I didn't sleep with her but you have to understand something. This was too sad a moment to waste it with sex. I loved her more then just a bond of sleeping with her would bring. Also it would break her heart even more in the morning when I left. And I guess the real reason was because I was only 18 years old and she was only 15 years old. She was still some what of a child in my eyes even though she was the most grown up person I've ever met. So instead I just held in her arms and let myself fall asleep next to her. The others eventually returned but they didn't disturb us so we slept until morning when the rising sun woke me up.
I sat up in the bed and look out the window at the sky turning blue. I knew it was time for me to leave. I quietly slipped out of bed and got my old clothes out. I changed in a side room figuring that no one was awake but I was wrong. As I came back out into the main room I saw Tim standing by his bed.
" So your leaving us Earth."
" Yes I am." I handed him his folded clothing. " Thanks for letting me borrow these."
" Anytime man, anytime." He set fingered the shirt gently then looked up at me. "Stay safe in Vietnam. Don't let yourself get killed and come back to us. You know there's always going to be a place for you in here."
" I know," I replied then smiled. " Thank you Tim for being so good to these people. Without you I don't know what would happen to them especially Serena."
Tim just smiled. " I don't know either and I don't want to think about it. I love them because they love me and accept me. That's all I ask."
I placed one hand on Tim's shoulder and squeezed it softly. " You're a good man Tim. I'll never forget you."
" As the same for you," Tim replied. We smiled at each other then I turned and walked away. I picked up my bag then walked down the stairs and out of their lives.
At the hotel I met my parents in their room and took for the first time in a few weeks a real shower and a real shave. I dressed in the clothes my mother brought me and combed my hair neatly, it didn't really matter though. It was going to be shaved off by tomorrow anyways.
" I want you to know Darien that I'm proud of you for doing this," my father said as I left the bathroom and shut off the light.
" I know dad, I know."
We left the hotel and headed for the recruitment station which would take me to the camp. I sat in the back of the car that my father had rented and watched the buildings go past. The bus to take me was already there and a group of people were milling around it. My father parked his car and we climbed out. I grabbed my suitcase from the back and walked towards the bus. My mother was crying again, she always did cry a lot. My father was quiet. I was quiet to and looked almost dead as we came upon the group. Maybe I was dead, dead inside because I was finally fulfilling my father's wish for me to be a man.
" All recruitments line up here to get on the bus!" A man yelled. The other young men in the crowd began lining up. I turned to my mother and set down my suitcase. "Take care mother. I'll miss you," I said hugging her tightly.
" I'll miss you to Darien," she cried hugging me just as tightly.
I then turned to my father but he only held out his hand. " Take care son." I shook it and nodded. " I will dad."
If you didn't notice my father and I never hugged. He was so removed from me that even though I may never see him again he still wouldn't hug me. He was too much of a man to show affection to his only son. I would notice this in the fields of Vietnam.
I picked up my suitcase and was headed for the line when someone called my name. I recognized that voice. I would recognize it in my dreams. I would always recognize it. It was Serena. I turned around and searched for her then I spotted her. She was running towards me with something in her hand, her white skirt fluttering behind her. " Darien!" She yelled again as she saw me.
I set down my suitcase and ran towards her catching her in my arms. " Darien how could you leave me without saying goodbye?" She asked breathing slightly heavily from her run.
" I didn't want to wake you," I replied feeling all the joy in the world that she was here.
" You can't leave yet. You almost forgot these." She let go of me and stepped back to open her hand show me something. It was the head band that Rei had given me and the string of love beads that Serena had put my around my neck when we first met. I took them from her and looked at them. " I'm sorry I almost forgot them," I said softly.
" Carry them into battle with you. They'll be your good luck charms," she replied taking the love beads from me and slipping them around my neck.
" I will," I replied bending forward so she could reach then I stood up and smiled down at her. She smiled back then she reached up and kissed me, one final kiss of goodbye. I hugged her tightly standing there in the street while my parents watched.
" Darien you need to get going," my father called breaking into our scene.
I let go of her and smiled down at her. " I'll be back."
" Hopefully soon," she replied petting the love beads once then letting go of me. I turned and picked up my suit case and climbed onto the bus. Once inside I picked one of the empty back seats and sat down. Outside Serena stood next to my parents watching me while I watched her. My mother was waving her handkerchief. My father had his hands in his pockets and Serena was clutching her hands to her chest. As the bus engine roared to life and began to move I smiled at her and she smiled back then she let go of her hands and raised one of them in a peace sign to me while her lips moved in silent words. I will never forget it. She was saying I love you.
We wrote each other even after she left San Francisco for Washington D.C. Rei didn't make it too well as a singer on the streets so she went with them while the others stayed behind. I got through basic training just fine and was soon shipped off to Vietnam with my platoon. I had made friends with some of the other guys in the group. They all had girls back home too but none as special as mine. I kept a picture of her that she had given me in my left coat pocket wherever I went even when I was in the plane headed overseas to Vietnam. I wrote my parents too and received in reply letters from my mom. My dad never wrote me but from what I heard he was proud of me for what I was doing. Near the end I got disgusted by his pride especially in one battle that I would never forget.
Tim pulled into the driveway of the nice looking suburban house and cut the engine. Serena who sat in the front seat opened her door and slipped out onto the driveway. It had been two months since she last heard from Darien. She had gotten two of her letters back from her new address in Washington. They were both addressed to Darien Shields and in her own hand writing. When she had received them she knew it was time to go and see his parents.
" Do you want me to go with you?" Tim asked as she closed the door.
" No, I want to do this alone," she replied shaking her head and walking up the side walk to the front door.
Serena knocked once then twice. She then stood there and waited. The door soon opened revealing a dry eyed Mrs. Shields. She looked at Serena for a moment then smiled in remembrance. " You're the girl that Darien loved aren't you? Please come in. My husband is upstairs but I'll call him down." Serena entered the house, this time through the front door and took a seat in the living room. Mrs. Shields called her husband down and together they took a seat on the couch opposite Serena.
" I wanted to ask you about Darien. I got these back." Serena pulled out her two letters and handed them to Mrs. Shields. Mrs. Shields took them and looked at Darien's name on the envelope. Then she began to cry and looked behind Serena to the window showing the front yard. Mr. Shields put his arm around Mrs. Shields and looked at the window too. Serena looked confused for a moment then turned around herself. In the window was a small flag with a gold star on it. Those flags hung in the windows of families who had a son in combat. The blue star meant that you had someone in combat. The silver star meant they had been wounded. The gold star meant they had been killed in action. A gold star hung in the front window of the house where any passer by could see it. Darien had been killed in action.
For a second her heart stopped beating but then painfully it started again. Mrs. Shields was crying into her husbands shoulder. " He was killed last month in a fight with the Viet Cong near the border of South Vietnam and North Vietnam," Mr. Shields said softly, the pain in his voice evident while Serena clutched at the cloth of her skirt covering her knees.
" We didn't know how to get a hold of you and tell you," he added. " So we waited. My wife thought you would come. She knew that you remembered where Darien had lived so when we got the telegram we waited. It took you a month but you're here. Darien died like a man though. He died a hero's death. He was a man till the end. There there honey it will be okay," he said to his wife patting her hand.
" Darien is dead…Earth is dead," she whispered softly to herself as if though she didn't believe it. But she did, she believed it all to well. He had said he would come back to her and they would be together again. She had seen them lying under the stars again like the night they had taken the drugs with his arms around her and her falling asleep on his shoulder. She had seen him stepping off bus a year from now and running towards her to hug and kiss her. She had seen him every night in her dreams. Now she would never see him again.
Serena stood up and smiled weakly at Darien's parents. " I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for telling me." With that she walked out of the room and out the front door, shutting it behind her. Outside the sun was shining but Serena didn't feel its warmth. She opened her door and climbed into the van. Tim looked at her face which was cold as stone. He understood almost immediately and as if his old Christian training had come back to him he crossed himself. " God bless his soul, he was a good man."
" Please lets just go," Serena whispered softly.
Tim nodded and started the van up. He backed out of the driveway and down the street. The house soon disappeared over the horizon. They passed the ice cream parlor which was closed for the day. The place where she had first met him. They passed the drive in movie theatre, the place where he had agreed to join her group. They passed the edge of town and drove out onto the highway and out of the town where she had met him on that night when hippies had first entered their town. She sat there numb with her memories and only once when they were out of the town on the highway heading south did she allow herself to cry.
The End. Sorry but I had to give it a sad ending. Vietnam was not a happy war and this was quite common. If you hate me for doing then write me a flame but I'm not changing the ending. I didn't want this to end with fluff when it was such a serious war. So many young men were drafted for this including perhaps your father or your teacher. One of my professors is a Vietnam veteran and he only talks about the war with serious matter if he talks about it at all. Many Vietnam vets won't even talk about the war; it was a horrible experience to them. I've learned that in my history classes and from working with veterans of war. So man young men died in this war. I couldn't make it a fluff story when it was so serious. Anyway thank you for staying till the end. Please remember to read and review or send all comments, questions, suggestions, and flames to Thank you.
