Chapter 1
April 1973
Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
Friday
14 year old Gregory House sat idly staring out the window of the second floor classroom, only vaguely listening as his English teacher droned on about sentence structure and possessive pronouns while his mind drifted toward black holes and the secrets of the universe. He was beyond bored, his right hand weaving a black ballpoint pen through his fingers even as his left unconsciously played silent piano to the strains of a piece he had come up with a few days before.
It was spring in Japan, the last day of school before the start of Gōruden Wīku, Golden Week, and Greg couldn't wait for classes to let out and his week of freedom to begin. He wasn't sure what he was going to do first, but he knew that once the final bell rang for the day he wasn't going to give another thought to his studies until the last possible moment.
Greg's father, Lt. John House, USMC, had recently been transferred to the only Marine Corps Air Station on mainland Japan and was almost immediately deployed to Vietnam with the 1st Marine Air Wing. In fact, Greg's mom Blythe was still waiting for some of their larger pieces of furniture to be delivered by Household Goods - Maybe even the piano, Greg thought hopefully - and while it wasn't the first time Greg had lived overseas in his relatively short lifetime it was his first time attending an international school outside of the base's main gate.
When the bell rang for lunch, Greg filed out of the classroom with the other students, black backpack slung over his shoulder. He automatically reached up to loosen his tie and unbutton the top buttons of his uniform shirt as they filtered into the hallway. Heading toward the cafeteria, Greg's right shoulder was jostled by another student moving in the same direction. Glancing over, he recognized his friend Declan Hanover and punched him lightly in the arm by way of greeting.
"So are we still going climbing this weekend?" Declan wanted to know. Both boys were tall and lanky, with medium brown hair that was only tamed by regular and close haircuts; on more than one occasion they had been mistaken for each other by their teachers. Declan had already been at the school for almost two years when Greg arrived, and being the tallest boys in their class they naturally gravitated toward each other. They soon found that they had many of the same interests in sports, music, and books. Like Greg, Declan had moved frequently in his short life, living in 5 different countries before the age of 12. His father was in the Foreign Service, and their time in Japan bordered on the longest he'd lived anywhere, ever.
Greg looked over and shrugged. "That's the plan. Dad's on deployment with the 1st MAW and the way the war's been going, who knows how long he'll be gone. Mom's still waiting on some of our stuff to get delivered, but we've already unpacked and organized everything else. Since the house is squared away, I'm pretty sure she won't mind."
"Cool. I found a couple of my dad's old climbing ropes. He said we could borrow them as long as we promise not to do anything crazy."
Greg chuckled and tried to look innocent. "That doesn't sound like us. What could possibly give him that idea?"
Declan laughed. The boys entered the cafeteria joking and jostling each other as they moved to stand in line with the other students.