Forever by Jeff Holmes Read Free Book Online Page B

softly, “it’s not your fault you work for assholes. So it’s another month; you’ll be home for the Stampede. That’s worth waiting for!”
    “Yeah, and it was probably stupid of me to get my hopes up,” Scott said. “I just miss you so much, baby.”
    “I miss you too, and I love you,” Roni added, “and I’m REALLY horny…but we’ll work it out.”
    Roni always had this way of throwing in this one comment, just to drive him nuts. “ horny…”
    Yeah, baby, thanks for that one, he thought.
    The next week was hectic. Monday it was off to the rifle range to qualify with M-16s. To qualify, and to graduate, trainees had to hit 16 of 32 targets. Scott was never much of a hunter, but for some reason, he was the best shot in the platoon. He hit 31 of 32 targets and won the Delta 5-2 Top Shot award.
    Wednesday morning was the final PT test. Scott couldn’t make the Top 10, but he broke 30 in the Run, Dodge and Jump without breaking his foot and, for the first time, went down and back on the horizontal ladder without falling.
    Thursday morning it was off to the woods for three days and two nights. There were even war games against Alpha 4-4, the other BCT company that was on the same cycle as them.
    After a free day Sunday – Andy, Terry, Carl and Scott watched the St. Louis Cardinals lose 15-12 to the Atlanta Braves on TV at the NCO Club – and cleaning and turning in TA-50 on Monday, not much was left.
    The first few days after Scott found out about Memorial Day, the guys were pretty sympathetic to him and his disappointment. They all felt as if they knew Roni and were really pulling for their friend.
    But after a few days, the guys seemed to blow it off. They even teased him about it.
    And there were other odd conversations. On Sunday, Andy and Scott had gone to the phone bank before the Cardinals game started. Scott called his family first and they were all in a really silly mood for some reason. At one point, Kimmy asked him, “So are you surprised?”
    “About what?” he asked. In the background he heard his dad shout “Kimberly Marie!” while Amy was shushing her.
    “Ummm…nothing. Love you, bye…here’s Mom!”
    He went to call Roni but her line at home was busy. Probably Brooke on the phone, she was on the phone more than Amy, which goes some.
    He looked back toward Andy and mouthed “busy” at him. Andy nodded, then hung up and turned to make another call. “Probably Mollie,” Scott thought.
    Mollie had been Andy’s girlfriend since high school; very much a hippie-chick.
    Scott turned around and put the call through to Roni. He paid his dollar for a five-minute call. The phone rang twice and her dad, Ray, answered.
    “Hi Ray, it’s Scott,” he said. They’d talked a few times lately.
    “How you doing, soldier?” Ray asked. “Just a few left, right?”
    “Yes sir, can’t wait,” Scott said. “Is your eldest around?”
    “She’s right here,” Ray said.
    “Hi baby, I love you,” Roni said. “How much time we have?”
    “About four minutes.” He’d blown a minute talking to Ray.
    “OK, well finals sucked, but it’s over and that’s all I care about!” she said.
    “And this shit is about over too,” Scott added.
    “Won’t be long now,” Roni said.
    “Yeah, another month,” Scott said glumly.
    “Yeah, a month,” Roni replied. Was she giggling?
    “What’s so funny?” he asked.
    “Nothing, Brooke’s being goofy,” she said.
    The rest of the call was pretty basic. The one-minute warning went off.
    “About a minute, babe,” he said.
    “OK, baby. Hey, we’ll talk in the next few days. I’m going to pick up Maggie at Rick’s parents and we’re going to get your guitar,” she said.
    “Why are you getting my guitar?” he asked, puzzled.
    “Oh…well, Mark said Snakebite might play the Stampede, and he wanted to me to bring it over so he could tune it.” Snakebite was the band Scott and Mark played in with some of their high school friends. They had