The Photograph.

16. December 2009 by yungzee.

Paul sat twiddling his thumbs. He had been traveling for almost 17 hours.
Despite how tired he was, he couldn’t fall asleep. The rear of the C-130 cargo
plane wasn’t very conducive to sleep. The cargo area was crowded with other
passengers and baggage. The netted makeshift seats weren’t very flexible so they
forced him to sit upright. Paul sat facing another row of passengers roughly 4 
feet in front of him. This provided no leg room for him to stretch his six foot
two inch frame. Ever since Paul was 16 he had learned to ask for Exit Row seats
whenever he flew. There was no such option on this flight. The space was dimly
lit by a single red light that seemed to throb with the droning of the
propellers outside.

Paul reached into the left breast pocket of his Air Battle Uniform. He pulled
out a wrinkled piece of glossy paper. It was a photograph of him and his
girlfriend Sarah. Both he and Sarah were smiling, cheeks pressed together.
Behind them the caging from their Ferris wheel cart was visible. The sky was
blue and cloudless. The only other scenery was that of a few trees and Lake
Pleasant in the distance.
Sarah had dirty blonde hair just past her shoulders. Her eyes were a brilliant
coral blue. Her skin which was normally pale was slightly tan. Before that
particular picture was taken, Paul and Sarah were on the road in Paul’s sporty
BMW convertible top down the whole way. They had both decided to spend the
weekend at a bed and breakfast a few hours from home. A carnival was in town for
Memorial Day and the Ferris wheel seemed like a romantic thing to do that
afternoon.
Sarah wore a bright purple t-shirt which sported a very rockstarish design with
artsy ink splotches, crosses and subdued wings. She wore eye shadow to match but
just enough to notice it was there. Paul preferred her this way. There were
times he felt she wore too much makeup but he would never say it. He never
wanted to hurt her feelings. No matter what she wore though, she was beautiful
to him. There was a cuteness that always showed through. Just being around her
warmed his heart. The way she laughed could always bring a smile to his face no
matter what his mood was. There were times when riding in his car, Sarah would
burst out laughing seemingly for no reason. It usually ended up being about the
little moving cars that danced around the stereo display. Paul couldn’t help
himself from cracking a smile or even laughing himself.
Sarah was hands down the best thing that ever happened to Paul. She wasn’t a
model and didn’t always have the best fashion sense but she was attractive in
her own right. She was sassy and Paul liked that. She didn’t take crap from
anyone and could dish it out if need be. She was also just as much of a geek as
Paul. Every Wednesday was set aside to enjoy geeky television shows on Paul’s
couch. This was probably Paul’s favorite ritual. Paul’s friends loved Sarah and
her friends welcomed Paul as one of the gang. Paul couldn’t ask for a more
perfect relationship but his mind had drifted elsewhere.
Paul’s unit had been tasked with a deployment and Paul immediately volunteered
to go. Sarah was naturally devastated when she heard the news. Her heart sunk
even more when he told her it would be for over a year. Paul explained it to her
as if he had no choice but in truth he had no obligation to go. There were
plenty of people who could have gone in his place. He couldn’t bring himself to
tell her though that he was going because he wanted to. He couldn’t tell her it
was his fault that they would be separated for such a long time. It was
something he felt he needed to do though. He had been in the Air Force for
almost 5 years and hadn’t been deployed yet.
Two years ago he was set ship out to Afghanistan with his friend Nate. Nate was
Paul’s best friend in the Air Force. A week before they were to ship out, Paul
broke his leg in a rock climbing accident. Nate ended up going and another
Airman was sent in Paul’s place. Nate never made it back home. He was killed by
an IED while traveling in a convoy. Paul felt guilty for his friend’s death and
felt he had to take this deployment not only to do his time but also as a sort
of revenge. He wasn’t a frontlines infantryman but he knew he would be
supporting the effort to kill those responsible for killing his friend Nate. As
far as he was concerned nothing else mattered as much as going over there and
getting through this deployment. At least that’s what he thought.
Paul tried to tell himself that he wouldn’t miss Sarah. He would see her again
and everything would be fine. He just needed to do this first. Looking at the
photograph he couldn’t help but miss her now. He slowly ran his thumb across the
photo as if he was actually touching her face. He thought back to how he would
touch her cheek just before leaning in to gently kiss her on her soft lips. Paul
suddenly found himself overwhelmed with sadness. It took all that he had to keep
his already misty eyes from pouring out in tears. The only thing he wanted at
this moment was to touch Sarah’s face once more, to feel her curled up next to
him on the couch while he ran his fingers through her hair. He missed her more
than he cared to admit and his deployment hadn’t even officially started yet.
Before he could lose his composure, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud
voice on the plane’s intercom. “We are preparing for our descent,” The C-130
Loadmaster announced. “Please make sure your helmet and body armor are on and
your seatbelts are fastened. We should be touching down shortly.”
Paul wiped the mist from his eyes with his sleeve. He tucked the photograph into
his left breast pocket close to his heart. Read the rest of this entry »

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