Another Place Another Time - Episode Three

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Three

My mother and daddy were engaged before World War II began. The day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Daddy enlisted in the Navy. The night before he enlisted, he and mother spent the entire night considering whether to elope before he left. Finally, they decided that it would be best if they waited until he returned. Though they never said it, I think their primary consideration was the real possibility that he might not return.

Daddy never talked about the war. From bits of conversation I’d overheard when my parents didn't know that I was around, I knew he was in many naval battles in the Pacific. Once bored and home alone, I found a small leather-covered box in Daddy’s chest of drawers. I opened it carefully and found five medals. I went to the encyclopedia and searched until I discovered a photo and description of them listed under Naval Decorations. Two of them were ordinary, the National Defense Service Medal and the Pacific Campaign Medal. The other three were anything but ordinary: The Navy Commendation Medal, a Purple Heart, and a Bronze Star.

I tried even harder to get him to talk about the war, but he always said that was a long time ago, and it had nothing to do with his life today. Even then, I suspected that wasn't true, but I didn't push the point.

Because they decided not to marry until the war was over, my mother and daddy were twenty-six years old before they married. During the war years, they had both saved most of their pay. They used their savings to buy a small supermarket in Valdosta, a town in south Georgia, roughly two-hundred miles from Atlanta, Georgia, the only place they had ever lived.

They both wanted children, but they put that dream on hold until they got the store up and running. They were thirty years old when I was born. It was a difficult delivery for my mother. That, and their age, combined to convince them that one child was enough.

The store was doing well, and they were able to cut back on the number of hours they spent in it. They invested those saved hours in me. They listened to me; they talked to me as if I were an adult. They introduced me to the world outside Valdosta through books, day trips and magical summer vacations. They always supported me in everything that I did, even though I was obviously a bit different from the other kids in the neighborhood and later in school. No kid ever loved his parents more than I loved mine, and no kid was ever more loved by their parents than I was.

********

In 1967, the military was desperate for men. On September 9, 1967, I turned 18. On October 9, 1967, I received my letter from the Harris County Selective Service Commission. It began, “Greetings from your friends and neighbors….” The letter went on to direct me to report to the Greyhound Bus station in Valdosta, Georgia, on October 14th, for transport to the nearest military induction center.

On the appointed day, my parents took me to the Greyhound bus station. It took a while for me to convince them not to stay until the bus arrived, but I finally managed. Mother cried and hugged me. Daddy shook my hand, and I saw that he was crying too. I pretended to be sad, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t happy or sad. I was about to start a new adventure. Beyond that, I had no expectations or judgments. I waved as they drove away, and then I joined the group of young men clustered around the Coca-Cola machine.

Another Place Another Time - Episode Two

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Two

I walked to Mr. Jones’ office, knocked lightly, and heard a soft, “Come in, Leonard.” Mr. Jones was sitting behind his big, government-issue, gray metal desk. He didn’t look up from shuffling through my records which had become a huge, untidy affair that always seemed on the point of exploding.

I didn’t interrupt him. I knew he wasn’t going to find anything new there, and I knew that he knew that. It was obvious to me that he was just stalling, thinking of what he was going to say. So I waited.

I wasn’t a smart-Alec, or a troublemaker, which Mr. Jones had confirmed often enough in previous meetings. After noting that, he would always add, “You’re just different, Leonard. That’s why you don’t fit here. You do everything your way without making a visible disturbance, but still it’s disturbing to the other students and the faculty. I know you aren’t aware of this, and maybe your classmates aren’t aware of it either, but Leonard, the truth is that no student at this school does anything they’re told until they first see what you’re doing. Leonard, that means you’re more influential here than I am.” At that point, the conversation would usually die away, leaving us staring at each other until Mr. Jones said, “Well, go on back to class, Leonard.”

I knew Mr. Jones was right. I did upset the school, and not just the school but every organization that I encountered. I didn’t do it intentionally or aggressively. I just didn’t fit, and I wouldn’t pretend to fit or try to fit. I just did what I knew was right for me to do and let the world do what it was doing without any judgment or interference from me.

Finally, Mr. Jones looked up from my file. He smiled a bit sheepishly and said, “Leonard, I’m going to miss you around here.”

“Miss me, Mr. Jones? Are you going somewhere?”

He smiled, “No, Leonard. I’m not going anywhere. You are. I’ve talked with the school board, and I’ve talked with your parents; and everyone agrees the best course of action for you and for the school is for you to graduate a bit early, four months early to be exact. By rights, you are the Valedictorian of the class. However, if you will forgo that honor, I’ll give you your diploma right now.”

That should have been a major league surprise for me, but I’m not easily surprised. In fact, I’m never surprised. So I simply said, “That’s fine by me, Mr. Jones. I wasn’t looking forward to talking to all of those people anyway.”

Mr. Jones, obviously relieved, smiled and slipped a large manila envelope across the desk toward me, “Well, then, here’s your diploma.”

I took the envelope and we stood and shook hands. “There is one more thing I’d like to discuss with you, Leonard.”

He paused, looked at me, and I nodded. He continued, “You’re close to your eighteenth birthday. When you turn eighteen, you will have to register for the draft, and there is a war going on. Thousands of young men your age are being drafted every day. Don’t waste this time, Leonard. Find a school where you think you can fit in and enroll. If you don’t, you will be drafted before Christmas. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir,” I replied.

The last words Mr. Jones ever said to me were, “Do it quickly, Leonard.”

I didn’t enroll in college, but I did spend a lot of time in the library researching Vietnam and the selective service system. Then I reviewed all of my choices. Since school was not an acceptable alternative for me, I had with only three ways to avoid the Army and Vietnam. I could pretend I was gay; I could pretend I was a conscientious objector; or I could run away to Canada. None of those were right for me. Therefore, I didn’t choose any of them. I waited for Harris County Selective Service Commission to make the next move.

I spent my bonus months and the summer fishing, hiking in the national forest, reading, and, occasionally, writing a bit. When I needed spending money, I did chores for the neighbors or worked in my parent’s neighborhood supermarket.

Book One - Jake and Whispers - Episode One

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode One

The day I met Whispers, I was nineteen and he was one. From the day we met, we were not apart for a single day for almost fifteen years. I cannot imagine what my life would have been without Whispers, and frankly, I don’t even want to think about it. This is our story, my dog, Whispers’ and mine.

I am going to begin the story in 1967, when I was seventeen years old, even though I didn’t meet Whispers until I was nineteen. In a few minutes, you’ll know why I’m starting there.

My given name is Leonard Jacobsen and for the first nineteen years of my life everyone called me Leonard. In Vietnam, I became Jake, and I've been Jake since then.

********

In early January 1967, during a televised address, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the thirty-sixth President of the United States, said, “North Vietnam isn't serious about peace. For that reason, the United States will continue to step up its defense of South Vietnam.” He said some other things that evening, but I wasn't paying much attention to LBJ back then, and I can’t remember what they were.

One month later, U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam went over five hundred thousand for the first time. I knew there was a war going on in Southeast Asia, but I could not have found South Vietnam on a map without some difficulty.

On Monday morning, February 4, 1967, I was a senior at Harris Senior High School in Valdosta, Georgia, and I was on the way to the principal’s office, again. There was nothing unusual about that. Seldom had a school day passed that I didn’t hear a teacher say, “Leonard, why don’t you go to the office for a while?” It was a fact that I spent more time in the office than I did in class.

My frequent absences from class didn’t have any affect on my grades. Nothing affected my grades. The only time I ever made anything other than an ‘A’ was when I made an ‘A+.’ My grades, however, had nothing to do with hard work, long hours, or intense effort. They were simply a reflection of the way I am, which is not easy to describe, but I’ll take a shot at it. I pay attention to everything all the time. That’s not something I learned, it’s just the way I am. Until I was six years old, I thought everyone was that way. It’s as if you aren’t attached to any single thing, but you are attached to everything equally, and you know it.

At age six, I realized that not many people experience life that way. In fact, it was then that I began to wonder if anyone else paid attention to everything, all the time. For a while, I thought I was just crazy, and then I had an even more alarming thought. I wondered if I were a reject who had somehow slipped past the quality control department. In time, the idea that I was flawed gave way to an understanding that flawed or not, there is no other way that I would rather live than the way I live.

********

I didn’t mind spending time in the office or talking with Mr. Jones. It gave me the opportunity to learn jobs I’d have never learned in a classroom. In fact, I knew everything about the routine office tasks of the school. That’s why Mrs. Little, the school secretary, always put me to work answering the phone, checking and filing the class rosters, writing hall passes, and all the other little tasks that seemed necessary to run the school. I spent so much time in the office that many my classmates thought it was a part-time job.

That particular morning, I walked in the office fully expecting Mrs. Little to put me to work as usual. Instead she said, “Good morning, Leonard. Go on back, he’s waiting for you.”

Introduction

Serials (serialized novels) have been around longer than I can remember, and that covers a long span of time.  In spite of that, they are just now finding their way to the internet in a big way.  There are a number of sites that specialize in serials and that number is growing daily.  Rather than join one, I decided to set up this site to serialize my novel, Another Place Another Time, and in the process, learn first hand about this old/new idea.

Another Place Another Time is a book about men, women, and dogs who have one thing in common: they always do what's right.

I hope you enjoy this serialization of one of my favorite stories.