Chapter 7
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I wasn't the only one who was considering enlisting. A lot of us talked about this in the winter of 2063-2064. Some went off and did enlist, others changed their minds. I had one friend who talked about how he "almost" joined the marines. I did wonder if that would be me, for the rest of my life saying how I almost enlisted. I went to the local army recruitment headquarters. It had actually became a fairly popular hangout spot for teenagers. One part was a free videogame, where the player shot down alien planes, or shot aliens on combat. It was actually a lot of fun, when it was just a videogame. They also gave free snacks, and someone was always there to make a sales pitch. I liked to talk with one guy, Benson. Benson was maybe 23, I admit I had a crush on him. I had a fair amount of questions, and he had the answer. If I were to enlist, I'd likely see combat. Death was a very real possibility, no question about that. So was losing an arm or a leg, but the fact was that any of that could happen in this city, so long as the aliens kept up their air raids. But if I enlisted, I could at least fight back, could kill some of the aliens who killed humans. I had a great hatred for the aliens who bombed our cities, killed people I knew, the thought of killing more of them seemed appealing. Benson also told me how much I'd get paid, including the bonus. It seemed like a lot of money to a 15 year old, particularly since the army would give me a place to sleep and three meals a day. If I survived the war, the army would help pay for a college education, and possibly a house with a reasonable mortgage. If I died, someone of my choosing would get a bonus, and Benson assured me that I could divide this bonus between Willow and my mother. I didn't want to die ofcourse, but it was a comfort to think that mom and Willow would be taken care of. In March Benson and I were bonding over baseball, we had both been dissapointed when the season was abruptly cancelled. It was during this conversation that we all heard that Marcus Turner had died. I think I mentioned tis before, Marcus Turner was a baseball player, had a 63 game hitting streak for the Bandits. Turner hit a total of 621 home runs. Had the aliens never come, he could have played a few more years, maybe even broken Josh Gibson's record of 783 homers. But then it happened, and Turner felt it was his duty to fight for his planet. We were used to death reports, but this hit us all hard. Benson told me about another baseball player from 100 years ago, Ted Williams. Williams hit over 500 homers, but he also lost five years serving in the marines, three years in world war 2, two years in Korea. Had Williams not enlisted, he might have broken Babe Ruth's old record. But, according to Benson, Williams was willing to make this sacrifice to serve his country when they needed it. Just as Marcus Turner lost his chance to break Gibson's record to serve his people, and in the process sacrificed his life. One time, in confidence, I admitted to Benson about the pilot I murdered. I was young, stupid, I hoped he would comfort me and we would end up making love, like in the movies. Benson was shocked at first. Then he just said "Don't tell anyone else this. I'll forget about it." Benson and I never had sex. At the time I had some hope that my crush on him was requited, but I later realized he was just seducing me into the army, and it was working. I had mentioned the possibility of enlisting to my mother a few times, she always tried to talk me out of it. But May 4th was fast approaching, and then I could just enlist without parental permission. For several reason I was becoming more and more determined to do exactly that. A part of me was still hoping to be talked out of it. I remember the exact moment when I definitively decided that I would join the army. It was early April, the morning after an air raid. I was on the school roof with my gardening class, working on our victory garden. A girl, 15, walked unto the roof. I didn't recognize her, but new additions to class wasn't unusual. We found out later that her whole family had been killed in the air raid, both parents, her little brother, all gone. Why she bothered coming to school that day, I don't know. Maybe she just wanted to go to a place where she had felt safe, once. In any event, this girl just walked right to the edge, and jumped off. One more death that the aliens had caused. That was the moment I chose to enlist in the army.