Will Ye No Come Back Again?

by Judge Holden

Prologue

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot."
-Carl Sagan

---

I recall reading somewhere that in the last 3,500 or so years, Earth has been at peace for a total of 230 of them. That's about 6.5 percent of the time, and I find it amazing.

I always told my friends and family that we should just put all the politicians in the world in a room with a few BB Guns, and let the problem sort itself out. It would save a lot of fighting, confusion, bloodshed, and money.

And then the Japanese hit us.

It was 7 December, 1941. I remember I was working with my Dad in some garage at the time and listening to Little Orphan Annie on my transistor radio. I was a pretty lucky kid; they only made about 11 million and I got one.

Hey, don't judge me. That's a moving story. It had been a guilty pleasure of mine to tune in every chance I got. I never heard the end of it from my parents, friends, or brother (granted, he tended to just parrot everything anyway). I listened to it right up until I enlisted- half because I legitimately enjoyed the show and half because it annoyed everyone else in my family.

"Mite-size, always on the go,
If you want to know- "Arf," goes Sandy.
Always wears a sunny smile,
Now wouldn't it be worth a while,
If you could be,
Like Little Orphan Annie?"

I scowled while I dicked with the bolts- Dad had been offered somewhere between 7 and 12 dollars to do a tune up on some fellow's Fords. The lucky bastard was doing alright, even during the tough times- our world wasn't exactly thriving financially at the time.

Being that I was 16, I knew enough that we needed every dime if the family was to eat. I didn't like what I usually had to do, but work is work. My brother Stevie wasn't able enough to help- he was 27 years old, but the doctors said mentally, he wouldn't outgrow 9. I heard a lot of shit from people about him too, which always enraged me. I suppose you can say he was a touchy subject.
"Sam."

I growled lowly. A few kids at school took to just calling him, "The Retard." Now, he and I may not always see eye to eye, but nobody rips on my blood. I had a reputation at school of being a hothead, and I ended up in and out of anger management classes- which by the way, were a complete freaking waste of time.

I wasn't exactly the toughest cookie, though. Yeah, I was strong- anyone that has to lug 75 pounds of scrap around to help their old man gets built up. I didn't know how to fight, though.
"Sam."

I just sort of powered through everything. Sometimes if I fought a bully, it ended with me creaming him. Other times...

Look, I didn't get these scars falling over in church.

Speaking of which... there was ringing in my ear and a sting to my cheek- a smack reverberated through the cozy garage, even over Little Orphan Annie's musings. Like I were a child, I put a hand to my cheek in wonder.
"What?" I asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice.
"You've been tuning that damned wheel for an eternity. Get on to the fuses."
"Kill you to ask nicely?" I grumbled. Dad, who had been walking away again, turned partially to face me again.
"What? What was that? You want a please?"

I said nothing. Dad and I usually got along alright, but not when he got like this.
"How about you please me and finish your damned work?"

He cringed. I didn't even have to say anything that time!
"Uhh, not please me like... look, just do your work, would you?"

I just shook my head, and stood once more.
"I'll have it done in like ten minutes," I said.

Dad didn't say much else. He just left out the door- while I was doing this he was working on the rich bastard's other car just outside.
"Asshole," I muttered. He didn't hear me.

Before I could get back into the work, however, I heard Annie clam up abruptly- I jumped out of my skin when the radio started playing a strong male's voice out of the blue. Christ, a bit of warning next time?
"We interrupt this program to bring you a special report: The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by air, President Roosevelt has just announced..."
My heart skipped a beat. My cousin was stationed there. I hardly even noticed when Dad returned and turned up the volume on the radio.
"...there have been at least 2000 confirmed American casualties in this senseless and barbaric attack. We at KCUF Radio Station will keep you informed as more information unfolds."

Dad and I exchanged a silent stare. My cousin Donny was also one of my closest friends. When he left I told him he wasn't allowed to die. I found myself praying to the God I didn't believe in for his safety.

Clearly, I stuttered, or had bad reception. It wasn't days before we heard from his mother- he'd been killed while trying to evacuate civilians from the area. I saw red when I heard. I saw red when I had to head off to school. I saw red when my first teacher of the day offered condolences.

I saw red when I had to try my best to explain to Stevie why his favorite cousin wouldn't be coming around to visit anymore.

Apparently I wasn't the only one. Our president declared war literally the next day. I lied about my age on the papers, and joined the army at the close of the week, and I was trained, changed; moulded into an infantryman in boot camp.

So you can imagine my displeasure at being shot and/or killed by overdose of explosion during my first taste of action.
End of Prologue

Author's Note:

I have no idea why I'm having so much trouble remembering the indentation rule for writing. You ignore it on dialogue, right?
Oh, it's 2:20 AM. Maybe that's got something to do with it.
Let me know what you think. You'll see where I'm going with this. Probably pretty soon.

Comments

[Silent Echo]

Donny is that a referenc to the movie Pearl harbour?

[Valhuir]

Erm... minor thing, but there was no such thing as Anger Management classes back then. If you got into fights, you were either paddled or expelled.

[Bronzedragon]

I really hate to be the nit picker in these comments but transistor radios did not appear until 1955