Chapter 16

Mark, Jackie, and the girls sat for hours talking with Colonel Seasprunk. It turned out he had two kids a little younger than the girls were, so he talked about his family and what living a life in the military was like for them, having to move from place to place, sometimes overseas. In fact, Bree learned a lot about what life in the military was like, and about life as a pilot in the Air Force. The discussion went on through dinner, and Bree thought she’d wound up learning a lot. There were dimensions and details she’d never thought of before, and she thought that while some of it didn’t seem very appealing it was part of the whole, and that it was better knowing it now than finding out about it later.

Colonel Seasprunk wound up spending the night with them, sleeping in the guest room, but he had to be heading back in the morning. In fact, they wound up having breakfast together, and he started driving toward his base at the same time the girls went to school.

“He sure is a cool guy, isn’t he?” Becca said as they drove down the road to school.

“He sure is. I learned a lot. I mean, a lot! Most of it is stuff I’ll really need to know and might not have found out about until too late.”

“I take it you still want to go to the Academy?” Becca grinned.

“More than ever. Becca, do you think I’m crazy?”

“In a word, yes. I’ve always thought you were crazy to want to do that. But I can also see that, if you manage to go to the Academy and become a fighter pilot, you’ll have accomplished something that’s far beyond anything I’ve imagined I’d do. It almost scares me that you have goals like that and can see a way to reaching them. I mean, I know I’m planning on going to college next fall but I still don’t have any idea of what I want to do. You do, and that puts me to shame a little, you know?”

“I’m sorry,” Bree said, a little downcast. “I don’t want you to feel that way.”

“I know you don’t,” Becca grinned. “And my not being able to figure out what I want to do is my problem, not yours. I’ll come up with something.”

“It’s a little hard to make a living playing sand court volleyball,” Bree replied, half in a tease.

“Yeah, but there are people who do it. Not around here, though, and while I like it I don’t think I’m that good at it. Maybe I’ll think about being a teacher and a coach. I can think of worse things in life than being a coach as good as Mrs. Wine was, or as inspirational as Mr. Emerson has been to you.”

“That’s not a bad goal, even though you have to remember that Mr. Emerson really is a mailman.”

“True, but think of the satisfaction he gets out of working with kids like you. I’m sorry I never had him for a coach, but I sure like the way he managed to get you working way beyond what you thought was possible. That’s not a bad thing, Bree. Little things can change peoples’ lives. I mean, think what Colonel Seasprunk’s life would have been like if Uncle Mark hadn’t taken him for a ride in Rocinante a long time ago.”

“Yeah. Wow! You never know, do you?”

Christmas break came as a welcome relief from school.

Bree had plans about spending some time in the living room chair with Perky and a book, but hoped for doing it less than had been the case in previous years. She had a few things she wanted to get done and seeing her friends while she was at it.

One of the most important of those things came a few days after Christmas. Aunt Jackie happened to notice in the Record-Herald, the local weekly paper, that Congressman Elmer Lawton was going to have one of his regular “office hours” sessions at a restaurant in town. “He uses them as a chance to get out and talk with people in the district,” she explained. “It might be a real good time for you to get some information about how he goes about handling nominations.”

It was a little scary to think about having to sit down and talk with the congressman, but one of the things that Bree had learned from Colonel Seasprunk was that there were going to be some scary times that she would have to face up to and deal with. When the session happened, Bree had Becca drive her into town for it, but Becca said she’d sit in back and have a Coke or something while Bree talked with him – this was just one of a lot of things she’d have to learn to do on her own.

It took a while to get to see Congressman Lawton. There proved to be several people waiting in line, and while Bree wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the complaints, she could see they were rather heated.

Finally it was her turn to talk to the congressman. “Well, good morning, young lady,” he grinned personably. “I hope you’re not here to complain about EPA regulations or gas prices, too.”

“No, sir, I’m not,” she replied politely. “I want to go to the Air Force Academy, and I want to find out what the procedure would be to get an appointment.”

Lawton got a smile on his face. “That’s a relief,” he said. “But aren’t you a little young for that?”

“Yes, sir, I am,” Bree replied. “But I won’t be in two years, and that’s when I’ll be looking for an appointment. I’m already a pilot, and I’ve been working toward the Academy for a long time.”

“That’s a very hard thing to do, and a lot of people I’ve nominated haven’t made it through,” he said, realizing Bree was dead serious. “What makes you think you will?”

“Sir, a few days ago I spent several hours talking with an Air Force colonel who went through the Academy, and he told me a lot about what it’s like there, and what it’s like being an Air Force officer. I know it’s going to be hard and I’m trying to prepare myself for it. All I can say is that if you give me a nomination, I’ll do my best to make you proud of me.”

“That’s an attitude I like to see in a young person,” he said. “You’re what? Sixteen?”

“Fifteen, sir. I’ll be sixteen shortly.”

“Young lady, I have met very few fifteen year olds who have their heads as firmly on their shoulders as you seem to, and who seem to have the quality of goals you do. It’s very refreshing to meet one who does. I’ll have my aide here send you an information packet on the admissions procedures. I’ll tell you right now, though, I’ll make the judgment on merit, not political considerations, and you’ll be facing some stiff competition.”

“I’m aware of that, sir. All I can do is give you my best.”

“I can’t ask for more than that. Miss, I’ll say this. Even if you don’t get an appointment to the Academy, with that attitude you can go far in life.”

“Thank you, sir. I do want to go far in life, and I want to do it in the seat of a jet fighter.”

“They don’t make fifteen year olds like they used to,” Lawton grinned. “And I’ll tell you what, sometimes I’m very glad of it. The best of luck to you, young lady.”

Bree wasn’t sure what to make of her meeting with Congressman Lawton, but she was sure she hadn’t done her chances of getting into the Academy any harm.

The rest of her holiday break was spent a little more casually, but a lot of it was with her friends. They spent a long day over at Alan’s, going through a grand total of six modules of the witches and inquisitors game. It was playing more smoothly now, and while Alan and Summer said they still had more work to do on it, they thought they were starting to get the hang of it. It still wasn’t something Bree would have sought out for its own sake; but it was something fun to do with friends during what she considered a slow time of year, especially since she couldn’t be flying.

As the long day wound down – with pizza, of course – Jared had a proposal. “Back last fall sometime,” he said to his sophomore friends, “I suggested maybe we could get together with Uncle Randy and introduce you to martial arts. He was pretty busy that time of year, but things are slow for him right now. I could call him up and set something up. He’s already said he’d be interested in doing it.”

“Sure,” Howie said. “I’ve always wanted to learn a little more about it.”

“I’m up for it,” Bree agreed. “I don’t know if it’s anything that would be useful for me, but I think I’ve learned that I need to have a broader interest in things than I’ve had in the past.”

“If you two are going, I might as well go along,” Autumn said. “I don’t think I’d be very good at it, but you never know.”

The next evening Becca took Bree into town, to an unmarked door on the back side of the Spearfish Lake Furniture and Appliance building. “I’m not doing anything else,” Becca smiled, “so I might as well check this out.”

Bree had met Jared’s uncle, Mr. Clark, by this time; he was not a lot larger than she was, in his thirties, at a guess, and seemed like a pretty easy-going individual. The rest of her friends soon showed up. Once introductions had been made around, Mr. Clark asked, “Do any of you other than Jared know anything about martial arts? I mean, other than the junk you see on TV?”

“When you put it that way, no,” Bree said as the others nodded agreement.

“Good, then I can start with the basics. Martial arts are about fighting, that’s true. But they’re also about a lot of other things, the biggest of them being discipline, but other things, like staying in shape, balance, poise, and control. It’s more than a skill, and I like to think of it as an art form. I’ll be the first to admit there have been times I’ve had to use the skills I have for fighting, and I’ve never liked to have to do it. That wasn’t why I started doing them, and it’s not why I continue doing them. We can’t get more than the simplest basics done tonight, and believe me, you never, ever, learn it all.”

There were several older men around, one in his seventies, and they mostly stood back and watched while Randy and a bigger man than he was did some demonstrations, and then started the group in on some simple exercises. The session went on for a couple hours, and while Bree thought she was learning something, she could see that Mr. Clark was right: there was an awful lot to learn.

The session eventually wound down, with most of those present, including the older man, sitting around on the floor talking about what they’d learned. As even that was dying down, an older man she didn’t know turned to Bree. “Bree,” he said, “Jared tells me you’re planning on going to the Air Force Academy.”

“Well, I hope to go to it, and I’m working toward it. It’s going to be a big challenge.”

“I never was near one of the service academies,” the man said, “but I can tell you it’s a big challenge, and it’s a bigger challenge to be willing to do your duty to your country. A lot of kids tend to turn their noses up at it these days, but it can be an honorable and rewarding career.”

“You know, I think you’re right,” Bree replied. “I’ve tried to not make too big a deal out of it around the kids I go to school with, since I don’t think many of them would respect working that hard to reach a goal.”

“Wow, have you ever learned a big lesson already,” the older man grinned. “Many people don’t think much of the military these days. Bree, I’m a Vietnam veteran, and I can tell you that back then not many people had much respect for those who decided to serve their country. But there are those who know better, and they know what both duty and honor are. If you want to stay with martial arts, you can learn a lot of the kind of thinking you’ll need in the future, and maybe there are a few other things you can learn, too.”

“I realize I’m taking on a big goal,” Bree said, “but I want to do the right thing, Mr. . . . uh, I don’t think we got introduced.”

“I’m Gil Evachevski, Bree,” he smiled. “A long time ago I was a sergeant major in Army Special Forces. I mean, a long, long time ago. What is it you want to do in the Air Force?”

“I want to fly fighter jets,” she said. “I mean, I’m already a pilot, and I think I can do it.”

“Although I’ve never been in one, I can tell you there’s more to jet fighters than just flying them,” he said. “The key word there is not fly, but fight. It doesn’t happen much anymore, but when it does you have to be ready for it. Training plays a big part, but you have to have the mental attitude to fight, not just to fly. Again, I can’t speak to flying, but I can tell you that it’s one thing to think about combat, and another thing to have to do it. Your dad is Mark Gravengood, right?”

“Yes. Now that I’ve heard your name I know he’s mentioned you.”

“I know your dad well enough to know that he’d know just what I was talking about. He has been there and he has done that, although I also know he never talks about it. It often happens that way. I can tell you that he knows the difference. Bree, the reality of combat could be the toughest challenge you ever face. Martial arts can help you prepare for the possibility of it happening, so maybe we can help you with that. Tell me, Bree, have you ever fired a gun?”

“No, sir,” she replied, aware of the intensity of the lecture she was getting.

“Have you ever even held one?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, doesn’t surprise me, I guess,” he sighed. “And I can’t blame Mark for that. Like I said, I understand where he’s coming from and how he got that way, even though I don’t know the details. Bree, do you realize that a jet fighter is more than just an airplane? It’s a weapon, and while I suppose they’d be fun to fly if you’re into that kind of thing, its purpose is still to be a weapon, one that kills as efficiently as possible. Do you understand that?”

“I think so, sir.”

“Wow, you’re polite,” Mr. Evachevski grinned. “I sure don’t see a lot of that in kids these days. That’ll help you in the military; you already start to respect your elders and superiors. But the point I was making was that the purpose of a jet fighter is just like a gun, just like the bottom line for martial arts: to generate violence. You have to be prepared to use that tool, and that’s what it is, to generate violence without psyching yourself up for it. Tell me, Bree, do you know Cody Archer?”

“I know who he is, and that’s about all.”

“A few years ago, Cody came on a situation where a couple of men were beating and raping a girl. They were hopped up on dope, and they could have killed her. Cody yelled at them to stop, and both of them dived for a shotgun. They didn’t make it. Cody was carrying a nine-millimeter pistol, and he was forced to stop them.”

“I heard about that,” she replied. “He killed both of them, didn’t he?”

“Yes he did,” Mr. Evachevski nodded. “The point is, he went in to rescue an innocent victim, and when the time came to do what needed to be done, he did it. No thinking about it, no pondering the consequences, just that he needed to do his duty to protect someone who was helpless. He did it, and damn the consequences. Bree, he was seventeen, not much older than you are. Any of us could face a question like that at any time, without warning. Bree, here’s a very important question you should be asking yourself, and be prepared to have an answer for it when the time comes to think about getting in a jet fighter. If you found a situation like that, had a pistol and some of Cody’s skills, what would you do?”

“Wow,” she said, starting to realize the seriousness of the point Mr. Evachevski was making. “I guess I’d try to do the right thing.”

“It’s not a case of guess, it’s a case of knowing you’re capable of doing it if you have to. Bree, many people can’t. I can’t fault them for it. Sometimes they don’t know it themselves until push comes to shove. But you at least have to consider it, and I’d appreciate it if you’d give it careful consideration. If you can’t do it, fine. You’d probably make a good transport pilot or something anyway. But being a fighter pilot is the front lines, Bree, and you better know if you can handle it if you have to.”

“Thanks, Mr. Evachevski,” she said. “I can’t give you an answer, and I guess I will have to think about it. You’ve given me an awful lot to think about.”

“It deserves to be thought about,” he said. “And it’s better thought about now than when it’s your ass and the ass of your fellow pilots on the line. Training can only carry you so far, Bree. You have to find the willingness to do what you have to do in yourself. Now, I didn’t intend for this rap to get so heavy, but this is a subject that’s been important to me for much of my life. What I’d started to say is you’ve never fired a gun, right?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s too darn cold to do much about it now, but that’s something that can be fixed when the weather warms up. Next spring, I’d be willing to take you out to the range and introduce you to the M-16. I think that’s what the academies use these days, but I wouldn’t put a cannon like the M-14 past them, either. I’ll have to check on it, and I will. I’ll introduce you to it, show you how to deal with it, and let you fire it. You can learn something of its potential. If you do all right at it, I’ll see if I can’t make a halfway decent marksman out of you. If you wind up going to the Air Force Academy, it’s something you’ll have to face, and you might as well have the fear factor out of the way ahead of time so you don’t have to deal with it when the time comes.”

“That would probably be a good idea, Mr. Evachevski,” she said. “I really don’t know much of anything about guns.”

“You might as well learn,” he smiled. “A gun is a weapon just as much as a jet fighter. Maybe even more so, but I don’t want to get into that argument, at least not with you right now. Maybe some other time. I probably ought to spend some time with pistols with you, too, just so you can understand them. Too many people see guns as dangerous. They’re really not. They’re just tools, just like a jet fighter. Yes, they can kill, but it takes a person pulling the trigger to do it.”

“Yeah, that’s something I have to learn too, I guess,” she sighed. “I mean, I know it in one sense, maybe in my head so to speak, but I don’t know it in my gut.”

“Bree, I have a tremendous amount of respect for what you want to accomplish. I hope you can do it. If I can do anything to help you get ready for it, to make it easier for you, I’ll do what I can. I may have gotten to be an old fart, but I still feel a duty to my fellow warriors, past, present, and future. That may well include you. If it does, I want to know I’ve done my duty.”

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