Marine Brats 2 EDITED

I woke up around noon feeling surprisingly refreshed, given not sleeping last night and this mornings activities. My face was buried in the pillow my mom had used, the subtle scent of her shampoo and perfume clung to it. I half expected to feel guilty, dirty, maybe even sick with myself. None of the above was true. I felt better than I had in ages. No aches, pains, tension or stress. Mom had given me two wonderful gifts today. First was the wonderful session we had this morning, and second she had off work today and let me sleep in, relieving me of a lot of the duties I usually took care of for her. After getting up and showering, I meandered downstairs.

“Iiiits Alive!” May bellowed. In a terrible imitation from the movie Frankenstein.

I just grinned shook my head at her as I sat at the table. Mom had heard me get in the shower and had some lunch waiting for me. Dad was usually deployed before his death, and mom always worked hard, sometimes two jobs to make sure we had what we needed. They may have not been around a lot, but there was never a doubt May and I were loved, and their world revolved around the two of us.

Mom piped up and said “Guys, I have some good news, and I have some not so good news. Not terrible news, so don’t get worried. Now which do you want first?”

“Lets get the bad over with” I said, and May agreed.

“Well the base commander has let us stay here much longer than he should have, out of respect for your father, so we will have to move off base.”

“We are a military family we have the moving thing down pat.” I replied.

“And the good?” May asked.

“He told me you two can finish out the year at the on base school. He knows your brother is a senior. He doesn’t want to mess your lives up….any more than it already has, in the middle of the school year. The military will help move everything for us. Now here is the best part of all of this. Between the death benefits, life insurance, and my overtime we will be set for quite a while. So I signed a contract on my way home this morning, on a new, four bed three bath, single family in a new subdivision, close to the base, and work. To top it off, I took two weeks off so I will finally have time to spend with my two favorite people.” Mom said, then stood looking at us for a reaction.

“I don’t know if I will be able to wake up in the morning without hearing reveille at 4am.” May said. Her comment had broken the tension and caused a round of laughter.

A week and a half later we all stood in front of our house on base, uncertain of our feelings as the moving truck pulled away. May and I had spent out whole lives living on one base or another. Now were leaving our walls for more civilian surroundings. We all piled in the car and left in silence.

The trip to the new house only about fifteen minutes away seemed to take hours, especially since the moving truck got hung up at the gate for an inspection. After the MP saw my family and I in the following car, he realized what the big truck was for and let the truck go and flagged us right through. He stood at attention and saluted us on the way by. There is no military protocol to salute civilians, it was purely out of respect for my father.

“Well, what do you guys think?” Mom asked as we pulled up in front of a newly built split foyer on the right hand side of a cul-de-sac in a very nice middle class subdivision. The driveway led to a garage on the side of the house. It had a sizable, level front yard front and back. Two flags had been hung on the front porch. The US flag on the right and the USMC flag on the left. My mother was tickled saying the real estate agent must have just done that, because they weren’t there while she was there earlier.

“Well go explore.” Mom said.

Like any split foyer, upon entering the front door you were on a landing with a short set of stairs both up and down. On the upper level was the kitchen that had a sliding glass door out to the back deck, dining room, formal living room, a half bath, and the master suite with its own full bath and huge walk in closet. The lower level was a large den with a sliding glass door that exited out under the deck into the back yard, a full bath, two fairly large bed rooms and one smaller one, as well as the garage entrance. May and I both laid claim to our respective rooms, of course mom got the master.

The movers worked quickly only taking a half of a day, bringing in the big furniture, and placing all the boxes in their respective rooms. The next few days we thoroughly enjoyed each others company, and despite all the work had a good time.

Unfortunately the two weeks had passed and mom had to return to work, and May and I to school. Our teachers had given us take home work to keep up during the move.

Mom had left, dinner and dishes were done, and May was in her room rearranging it for the hundredth time. I was sitting at the table getting my take homework all finished and ready to turn in. The door bell rang, and about scared me half out of my skin, this is the only house we had ever lived in that had one. Upon opening the door there were three very attractive ladies, one carrying a hand decorated tin.

“Hi!