The reels moved slowly, as I knelt by the bedside, transfixed by the words of the country’s sitting president.
“My friend,” Nixon began, after another pause, saying the words in his strange way that nobody on earth I’d ever heard talked like, “will you guide me through this time? My friends are deserting like rats from a sinking ship.”
The tape hissed but it seemed like there was nothing more, until the last two words were spoken, again by the President.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice once again decaying into what seemed like suppressed sobs.
The tape spun on, and I listened for more, but nothing followed until the entire tape was spinning on the takeup reel, ticking like the sound of some time bomb, which it well could be.
I put everything away but didn’t go downstairs immediately. What was I to tell Richard, and in telling Richard whom else would I be telling, as well as revealing that I’d stolen the tapes in my recovery of them from the sunken Porsche that I’d sunk, as well as used every subterfuge to keep the originators or the new owners and possessors of them from having not only access to them but also evidence that they’d survived?
Nixon’s falling apart in front of Kissinger had shaken me. Nothing was as it seemed, just as I’d observed when I was wheeled into the Naval Hospital back in Oakland. I’d been treated like a pariah, even roomed with prisoners, and my wife treated with the same disrespect I’d received…to the point where all I was reduced to was again killing my fellow humans instead of being valued by and valuing them. I’d killed no one back home, however, not yet. My shoulders slumped at the thought. What to tell Paul, my sort of therapist, as I’d thought those two words could only mean I wasn’t back home mentally at all. “Not yet,” I whispered to myself. I breathed in and out deeply. It was time for a run on the beach to rid myself of the demons surrounding me who seemed like they were inviting me to be one of them instead of fighting them off.
I changed into my Marine running gear, distinctive and identifying, but not importantly so, as I would run fast, dive into the cold refreshing surf, ride a few waves, and then return home without encountering anyone, if I was lucky. One day soon, I knew, I’d have to part with the Marine attire, even though I could no more shed the Corps any more than the Western White House crew, or parts of both. It was like I was living in an old movie I’d once seen that catapulted Steve McQueen into stardom called “The Blob”. If touched by the Blob one could never pull oneself free, like a fly having landed on flypaper.
The Volks sat in our driveway, but I didn’t get into it. A compound Lincoln eased its way down Cabrillo from South Ola Vista, moving so slowly that it was completely noticeable and distinctive. So much for any kind of secrecy, I thought to myself, my spirit slightly deflated because I wouldn’t be running any of my angst off anytime soon, I knew.
The Lincoln stopped in the middle of the street as if it owned the roadway itself. The side windows were too darkened to see inside but the Staff Sergeant was visible through the windshield. We looked at one another without moving or expression. It was like in sales, I recalled, where the first one to say anything or move is the “loser” in the sales process. Once again, the legendary words of (in my mind) the sales king of life insurance, Tom Thorkelson, flashed to the forefront of my thinking. The Staff Sergeant smiled slightly, no doubt knowing what I knew but not caring. The spell was broken, and by him, so I walked to the window on the passenger’s side. It slid silently down.
“I’ll get changed,” I said into the open window, not bothering to confront the Staff Sergeant or even look at him.
I was becoming emotionally fatigued by the way my life had fallen so much under the control of people whom I had no real understanding of or identification with.
“Hop in,” the Staff Sergeant replied. “This will be quick, in the parking lot and nobody’s going to care what you look like or are dressed in.”
I got in but the interior of the vehicle felt all wrong, although I knew it was what I was or wasn’t wearing that was what made me feel totally out of place. Although I knew the Staff Sergeant’s timing had to be accidental when it came to what I might be wearing, I still wondered, as being attired only in my workout shorts and “T” shirt made me feel vulnerable and weak. The Staff Sergeant said nothing during the short drive while I shifted uncomfortably in the spacious rear seat, my thoughts turning back to the valley and how even a helmet, poncho, and jungle boots would be preferable to what I was wearing.
The Staff Sergeant pulled the Lincoln up to the gate guarding the compound parking lot, slowed to nod at the two Marine guards, and drove on into the nearly empty lot. Since the President’s troubles in Washington had taken over the front page, the number of visitors had declined to almost zero. Sometimes I wondered why the media never showed up, but I wasn’t unhappy about that obvious fact either. My own time and income from my work for those at the compound had to be coming to an end, although I really didn’t want to think about it until I’d tied up some loose ends. My wife had found a home on Lobos Marinos, a street much closer to the Nixon estate, making me a little uncomfortable unless that whole affair was soon to be over. The home was owned by one of the actors who played a gunfighter in the O.K. Corral movie, although she wasn’t sure which one. The actor was ill and renting out the house for a good bit more than we were paying for our apartment, but it was located only two blocks from the beach.
Mardian stepped through one of the double doors before the Lincoln came to a halt. He walked purposely to the car, opened the rear door on the driver’s side, and got in. As if on cue, the Staff Sergeant turned off the ignition, stepped out of the door, and walked over to where two of his enlisted Marines stood guarding the gate. None of the three looked back at the Lincoln.
“I wanted an opportunity to say goodbye and thanks for all you’ve done, and all you’ve kept from reaching the public or anyone else… I’ll be going back to Washington and it’s very unlikely that I’ll ever get back to this neck of the woods.” He looked around when he stopped talking, his expression wistful, although there was nothing to be seen except the north side of the Coast Guard Station, the compound wall, and the rest of the parking lot.
I didn’t respond, except to look directly into his eyes, letting him know he had my full attention.
He noticed my attire for the first time. “Nice outfit, although a little informal for around here,” he said, the hint of a smile crossing his lips.
“The President’s coming apart at the seams, which means he’s not going to be in any shape or attitude to reward those who’ve served him so silently and well. That’s not going to go down well for me or some others you’ve been dealing with here, although you should be safe since you barely exist on anyone’s radar, except for your eventual new employers.”
I stared over at the man. His comment about my outfit was the first humor I’d ever heard the man use or respond to. He was in a state of tension that would have caused me to feel fear before I’d gone down into the valley, never to come out, but having come out as somebody else I was no stranger to fear. I wasn’t afraid for myself, however, and my fear for Mardian was close to being non-existent. He was a man very adroit and adept at taking care of himself. I had to make sure that his taking care of him didn’t mean sacrificing me in any way. The fear I felt was of the unknown, something I thought would have disappeared with my homecoming but certainly had not.
“What new employers?” I asked, his words ‘eventual new employers’ having been driven into me like hot red stakes instead of words.
“You already know, so don’t act like the innocuous beach boy the President and his wife think you to be. Hunt, Cobb, Richard, and the others that inhabit this place all work for the same alphabet soup operation, just like they run that San Onofre mess for Rickover.”
“What’s a Rickover?” I asked, feeling more and more lost as Mardian seemed to fade in his ability to concentrate on any mission orientation. I was so used to him holding it all together in my presence that the seemingly minor difference from that was unsettling.
“Hyman G. Rickover, the nuclear admiral or Grand Old Gentleman, as he’s sometimes called. He’s grand alright but he’s no gentleman, that’s for damn sure. Your new boss.”
I thought about what he was saying, having little understanding, other than I wasn’t apparently, going to be left to fend for myself. No certainty or assurance was coming from Mardian. What did an admiral in the Navy have to do with San Onofre? Why would he be my boss? The CIA had to be the ‘alphabet soup’ Mardian was talking about but it wasn’t run by the Navy or any admirals I’d ever heard of.
“The CIA can’t operate at home or anywhere in the USA,” I said to Mardian, but the man just laughed for the first time since the faint smile.
“Define home or even the USA…good luck on that,” he replied, once again giving me a rueful smile. “I’ll be out of circulation for a while although we could run into one another in D.C. or thereabouts in the future. Unlikely though. Don’t take an employee’s role in whatever’s coming. It puts you in too close and there’s little protection when in too close, and besides, you can never rise into the top ranks of that organization as it’s all political at the top…and that’s not you. Take a contractor’s role or nothing. Contractors simply get written off, not sent to prison if the leaders don’t like their work.”
I fidgeted a bit, my back shoved into the very corner of where the seat was barely separated from the inside panel of the door. I was memorizing every word Mardian said, but I wasn’t truly comprehending almost any of it. My wife would be better at interpreting what might be coming, and also what we were likely leaving behind as changes began to take place that we had little or no control over.
“There’s one more thing, to go with the other stuff and information you have,” Mardian said, lowering his voice and looking around as if somebody might be close by, but there was no one.
The Staff Sergeant was many yards away, talking with his security gate team.
“There’s an artifact. I’m going to have it delivered to you. This particular thing came from the nuclear plant you’ve been trying to learn more about. Don’t be particularly put off by it when you receive it.”
“Artifact?” I echoed, “Like in an archaeological piece of concrete evidence?” I asked back, a frown wrinkling the skin of my forehead.
“Just keep the unusual artifact until you don’t keep it anymore,” Mardian intoned as if the entire conversation was uncomfortable for him to proceed with.
“Unusual, how?” I asked, not being able to leave things where they were.
I was already driving around with a pound of high explosives, detonators, fuses, and more in the back of my Volkswagen.
“It doesn’t obey the physics we have come to understand that controls the universe we live in,” Mardian whispered, “but it doesn’t matter. Just put it somewhere safe until a later time.”
I sighed but kept Mardian from noticing the slight slumping of my shoulders in frustration. Every turn brought some other strange event, object or person onto a stage already loaded with too much for any sane person to understand much less accommodate.
“I’ll have him take you back home, and good luck to you,” Mardian said, in dismissal. He held out his right hand.
I was so shocked that I just sat there for a few seconds before taking it.
“You’ve performed just as described,” he said, before letting go of my hand and getting out of the Lincoln.
The Sergeant was already back at the car, somehow knowing we were done with our ‘secret’ meeting.
As with during the trip to the compound, neither the Staff Sergeant nor I spoke.
When I made it home, I didn’t take the Volks and headed for the beach. My day was running out and a good exhaustive cleansing run and a cold washing swim in the rough surf would have to wait. I changed into my police ‘commander’ uniform, everything about it perfect, right down to inspecting in detail the .44 Magnum hot-loaded with tungsten rounds ready for combat that would hopefully never reach out to pull me in ever again. I was on with Richard, although for some reason Gularte was riding along. What did that man, the only true confidant about the tapes and many other things have on his mind, particularly since he had his suspicions about Richard?
I sat and then lay back down on the bed, trying to clear my head about what Mardian had been talking about. I was nobody but trusted with almost everything. How was that even possible in anyone’s eyes or head? I heard the stereo downstairs. Mary had the tuner set to WLS, bounced somehow through from Chicago by something called syndication, which I’d never heard of until she told me. The Seekers, a wonderful rock group, were coming up the stairs and into the bedroom. The song was something about a carnival that I didn’t know anything about. But the lyrics caught me right in the solar plexus: “Now the harbor light is calling, this will be our last goodbye, though the carnival is over, I will love you till I die.” Another stanza followed but I wasn’t listening anymore. The harbor was Dana Point Harbor, the ‘you’ I loved was the life I’d been living as an unknown security person of little consequence who thought of himself as special because of that association. The Western White House, Mardian, Nixon, Kissinger, and even the President’s wife, were all passing quickly into history and I wasn’t going with them.
I rubbed my eyes with my right hand, the same one I’d handled the Smith and Wesson with before holstering it. My fingers smelled like Hoppes No. 9 gun cleaning fluid, which, for someone who liked guns and everything about them, could better have been labeled Love Potion No. 9, like in the famous song lyrics. My eyes didn’t tear up. It wasn’t that kind of grief I was feeling. It was a dry thing. A loss of something big and important but also one that was buffered by a whole lot of other big important things remaining very much in my life. How many of them would survive the upheavals coming was anybody’s guess.
I went downstairs where Julie was riding her electric cycle endlessly around the dining room, out through the open door to the patio, around that, and then back inside. The whine of the machine I usually found bothersome, but it seemed more of a calming influence than anything else as I approached Mary, working in the kitchen laundry machines, to discuss the visit I had with Mardian.
I sat at the dining room table. Mrs. Beasley was carefully propped up on one of the other chairs, while Bozo remained just outside the patio door, either examining Julie’s continuous ride of her vehicle or merely waiting for her to stop.
The recitation of everything Mardian had said during our informally strange visit took about twenty minutes, during which my wife didn’t say a word. When I was done I simply stopped talking and waited, not asking any questions at all.
“This is going to be a very delicate time,” she began, pausing to light one of her Kent cigarettes before saying anything more. “You have no choice, though, and no matter what Mardian said, if the CIA extends an offer to us then you have to take it. We’re going to need all the protection we can get and their expectation that you might be of use will serve to gain us just that, or so I hope. You’ve made some mistakes, but nobody knows or has evidence of them. You might even consider destroying those tapes, just in case. The president is unstable, Kissinger appears in charge, and it would seem to me that both Haldeman and Ehrlichman will have to be sacrificed to save the President, so they won’t be any help at all.”
I hadn’t informed my wife about the contents of the Nixon tape detailing the nuclear threat he wanted to make to save himself but promised he wouldn’t follow through on. I also knew in my heart of hearts that I couldn’t destroy the tapes, as they were historical documents that might one day be an important part of the nation’s historical development. I realized from her comments and conclusion that my ride later in the day with Richard was going to be a definitive one. If Richard wasn’t the man I needed to see about some coming offer then he would certainly know who that was.
Taking my time, after talking to Mary, I decided to relax for a bit. I drove to Galloways but there was nobody there. I had the free coffee alone, except for the marginal passing company of Lorraine. Even though I was in full uniform and not properly in the San Clemente Police area of operations I left the restaurant and made a run out to Straight Ahead, but Paul wasn’t around and it wasn’t a scheduled visit anyway. There was only one more place to go where I thought I might find any solace at all, since the complexity of what was occurring in and around the compound was too much for me to take in all at once, even given my wife’s most excellent take on things and advice about what to do. Unfortunately, Butch wasn’t in his trailer either, which made sense, as the construction activity in and around the harbor was running at full tilt. I gave up and headed back to San Clemente to meet Richard and Gularte.
When I got to the department parking lot, I immediately saw Richard’s Mercedes parked where it was usually parked. We were on for the afternoon and evening tour of the beaches. Richard came out of the building dangling the keys to the Bronco in his left hand. I walked to the vehicle and climbed into the passenger seat just as Gularte came from somewhere behind me. He stood outside the door so I wound down the window. He wasn’t wearing his uniform which surprised me. Going out on patrol unarmed and without other parts of the uniforms we wore, for identification and self-protection was against regulations. The beach patrol had no policy of civilian ride-along or any of some of the stuff that normal street patrol units engaged in. Richard climbed in behind the wheel, looking over at both Gularte and me, but he didn’t say a word.
“I don’t want anything to do with the agency,” Gularte said, surprising me. “I just want to be a full-time officer in the department, if that part of the deal can be worked out after you guys talk.”
Neither Richard nor I said anything. I was completely in the dark about whatever had transpired between them but knew something had, and that Richard would likely be the man I needed to talk to about my future.
“That’s doable,” Richard finally said, nodding to Gularte, who didn’t respond, at least not to him.
“Sorry,” he whispered to me, before pulling back and walking away to wherever his car was parked. I had no time to reply, not that I could think of anything to reply in light of what he’d said to Richard.
Richard started the Bronco and we slowly cruised out of the parking lot. I’d planned to confront Richard directly, as soon as our shift began, but now saw no need to do that. According to what I’d understood of Gularte’s comments, Richard would be making some offer to me, as he no doubt had already made one to Gularte but been turned down.
We didn’t talk, and part of that was all about what I’d learned in the Tom Thorkelson sales training program for selling life insurance. The first one to speak was the loser or in the weaker position. No matter how long it took I wasn’t going to comment until Richard did.
Richard detoured the vehicle up onto the base of the pier and then very cautiously gentled the machine along to where the restaurant sat at the end. The sign, written by hand and hanging crookedly from a string, said “OPEN,” although sometimes Shawna forgot to turn it over when she left.
I opened my door but didn’t get out, as Richard stopped me with one word.
“Don’t” was all he said.
I eased myself back inside the Bronco, closed the door, and wound the window back up. A steady breeze was blowing across the surface of the pier which made hearing difficult, but hearing inside the vehicle, I knew, wasn’t what Richard had to be cautious about. I sat, looking through the fuzzy salt-sprayed windows to see if Shawna was behind the counter.
“The Agency wants you,” Richard said. “I’m not a card-carrying member of that club, although you probably think so at this point. I’m merely a messenger.”
“Why did Gularte turn you down?” I asked, surprised that the ‘offer’ was being delivered so informally and without any substance to it at all.
“He’s loyal to you but not to any operation, agency, or anyone who’s not a combat veteran, whatever the hell that is,” Richard replied. “He’s not a team player, he lacks your talent, rank, and experience and he doesn’t like me.”
I couldn’t help but smile. He’d described Gularte to a “T.”
“What’s the pay?” I asked since it didn’t seem to be possible to mention Mardian’s recommendation to someone simply carrying messages back and forth.
I was in no position to negotiate, not with what might be coming on the legal side, and also the financial hit was likely to take place pretty quickly.
“Your last DD214 discharge form, even though you’re not discharged yet, was for expiration of active service under honorable conditions. Your new DD214 will be for disability. You’ll be deemed unfit to serve, honorably of course, but you’ll get a lump sum payment of twenty thousand dollars. Your pay will be under the old federal contract you’ve had through the compound, but it’ll be only fifty percent of what you’ve been getting. The twenty grand should get you through to the point where you can work full-time for the Agency.”
“As a contractor, not an agent or employee,” I replied, knowing I was giving the man tacit assent to his offer.
“Not my call,” Richard said, opening the Bronco’s driver’s door. “It’s kind of a take it or leave it deal, like with Gularte. The details will work themselves out.”
“Do I turn in my I.D. card?” I asked.
“No, you keep that, at least for the time being,” he said, moving toward the door to the restaurant. The second discharge will likely be followed by a few more along the way.”
I knew the man didn’t want to talk anymore, but it was a complex thing that was happening, at least from my perspective and I was taking an awful lot on someone’s spoken word who, admittedly, whether it was true or not, wasn’t a member of the ‘club,’ I was being asked to join.
I thought about the next tape as we entered the restaurant to get coffee. There were two more reels left. Jackie Kennedy’s had been the first, the accidental, or otherwise, departure of the three Marines from the planet the second, Kissinger’s disclosures about tax haven offshore accounts to hide cash was the third, and then the Nixon pardon stuff was the fourth. The fifth tape I was mentally committed to listening to was titled ‘Immediate Measures.’ What that phrase meant I was sure I wouldn’t know, or come to try to understand, until I was through the reel, however long or short that tape was. None of the tapes seemed to hold any good news for almost anyone. I could only hope, upon returning home, that the immediate measures didn’t involve more things that might change my life substantially.
We rode quietly across the soft sands, from beach to beach until we reached Trestles, just beyond the estate.
Richard backed the Bronco up until the back of it was nearly touching the giant rocks stacked to protect the rails but didn’t turn the ignition off. We sat in the vehicle while it idled away. I didn’t know what to say to him anymore. He worked for me on the beach patrol but was a major player of some sort for an organization that was so hugely powerful I couldn’t even take it all in. I had no idea about just how important or unimportant Richard, as the messenger, really was, or how much he knew until he spoke.
“They’re going to know what the artifact is,” he said, in a tone that seemed to transmit sympathy, or that he was doing me a personal favor by letting me know.
I’ve read many of the earlier comments and all I can say is “Ditto”. All of your previous chapters since arriving at Pendleton have been just that, a chapter, a fragment of your memory. This one chapter, though spanning what appears to be a very short period of time has wrapped up an era, revealed many answers about people and events, and seems to have dropped you on a very slick slide taking you to a whole new era.
When you first introduced Gularte I thought he would turn out to be a wise ass. You soon proved he was a trustworthy accomplice. I assume he now, or very soon will leave the story. Too bad. He reminds me very much of an old Cavalry buddy who has hung around for 38 years. Friends like that are hard to find.
Great writing and Happy New Year, Lt.
Thanks for the writing of the comment on here and the compliments inside that comment.
I won’t reveal what happens before it happens in the story, of course, but much appreciate your
intelligent conjecture.
Semper fi,
Jim
I thought your conversation with Marxian was private. How does Richard know about the artifact?
Thanks Christine for the great and accurate comment. Living that life, where there were so many ‘holes’ in everything almost any of those people said, was difficult. What privacy? There was surveillance everywhere and those of us not trained in that didn’t know it until stuff like what you pointed out occurred. Richard had to be so inside that he was privy to that kind of surveillance material and I had to be so studied as to be almost a museum specimen, but then so was probably everyone who was in close contact with those people. Thanks for a great comment and Happy New Year!
Semper fi,
Jim
Well, this is a pretty kettle of fish. Lurching from one startling revelation to another, not knowing which direction the next bit of drama is coming from. You certainly know how to keep us on the edges of our seats.
I hope Santa was good to you and that you have a healthy and prosperous New Year Jim.
In Anticipation,
Tim
Thanks Tim, much appreciate the good wishes. Also, thanks for the compliment and Happy New Year to you
and your family!
Semper fi,
Jim
The suspense keeps getting deeper an deeper, with so many unknows and different directions. Just like the Valley no matter which trail you follow trouble is always present. Can not hardly wait for the next chapter !
Thanks very much Don, for that complimentary review and also…Happy New Year!
Semper fi,
Jim
Hmmmm?? Sherlock himself would need a larger magnifying glass to unravel this mysterious tale of drama and intrigue. Duh! Hurry up James! My curiosity is boiling and needs sating. HELP ME!!!!!!! Quickly please!
Thanks Chris, for the sublime compliment!
I am at a rate of a chapter a week and have been at that rate for some time now,
thanks to some people motivating me on here and a Marine named Jim Flynn…
So, I will stay hard at it.
Semper fi,
jim
Thank you LT. We do know you have been working hard to tell your tale and you are producing more and more faster and faster, but Sir, the plot keeps taking detours and my little ole brain is having some trouble keeping up with the intrigue, drama and changing events. Methinks I should do as Bozo is doing, just chill and observe from my perch and let the events unfold as they eventually will. Patience exhausted now so will read with interest the rest of the story, sans the impatience for more, NOW! LOL HAPPY NEW YEAR to You and Yours!
Using Bozo as an example of how to absorb and accommodate all of this that you are being handed is a funny but not inaccurate way to look
at things. Thanks for the great compliment of your impatience. Remember that I’m writing books but allowing the developing chapters to be
viewed online for the faithful. Not many authors do that, but I sure do understand your impatience, particularly with the added LOL!
Semper fi,
Jim
Absolutely chilling! So many balls in the air at once and dropping one could be quite problematic. What the hell could this “artifact “ be and why would they want you to have it? Another great cliffhanger my friend! Semper Fi!
Thanks for the compliments, as usual, and the depth of your ability to see inside what’s going on,
or maybe going on. The ensuing chapters will reveal a whole lot that isn’t quite believable
but that’s all I can do is lay it out here and let the chips fall where they may.
Thanks, my friend from the beginning.
Semper fi,
Jim
I could copy all the pervious comments and still not be able to say how I feel, what a time you lived thru and what an unknown future you have! Keep it coming LT you have me hook line and sinker. Semper Fi sir and happy New Year
Interesting associative comment Bob and I much appreciate the New Year wishes, as Christmas seem to simply blow on by this year, at least for me. Unknown future, now that’s true, and not necessarily a bad thing I would think. After living my life to this point I’d sure as hell hate to have a predictable one in some assisted living joint or worse.
Semper fi,
Jim
O.M.G.!
Jim,
You certainly have lived an extremely “interesting” and incredible life.
Thanks for getting this chapter up as a Christmas present to all your loyal readers. But you KNOW, all they want is …MORE!
I won’t even speculate as to what “artifact” is going to come your way.
Hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.
Wishing you a great New Year.
THE WALTER DUKE. OMG wasn’t a shortened version of the expression back in those days, as language and the written word have changed so much. Thanks for the compliment Walter! Happy New Year too! The artifact was and remains one of the most puzzling and astounding bits of matter I’ve even run across during a life where strangeness has permeated almost everything I’ve ever done or been involved with. More on that as the chapters flow forward.
Thanks, as usual, for the encouragement and support on into this New Year.
Simper fi,
Jim
James, This is a special chapter. The high points are the human heart-to-heart connections: Mary using “us” and “we.” The two of you are a team working to navigate the unknown. Mardian thanking you, providing guidance, and shaking hands in farewell. Gularte and his loyalty to a fellow Marine and combat vet. …and the smell of Hoppes No. 9.
I have heard stories about artifacts that defy the laws of known physics. Just being able to touch one is special. Being entrusted with one implies someone really wants it hidden.
May this coming New Year bring all good to you and to all whom you hold dear.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
The reels moved slowly, as I knelt by the beside
Maybe “bedside” instead of “beside”
The reels moved slowly, as I knelt by the bedside
The tapes spun on
“tape” singular
The tape spun on
until the original tape was spinning on the blank reel
Maybe reword
until the entire tape was spinning on the takeup reel
possessors of them from having not any access to them but any evidence
OK but could change the “any”s to not only – but also
possessors of them from having not only access to them but also evidence
demons surrounding me, and seeming like they were inviting
Maybe “who seemed” rather than “, and seeming”
demons surrounding me who seemed like they were inviting
Since the President’s troubles in Washington had taken over the front page of White House life the number of visitors
Maybe drop “of White House life”
add comma after “page”
Since the President’s troubles in Washington had taken over the front page, the number of visitors
one of the actors who played gunfighters in the O.K. Corral
“gunfighter” singular
Add “a” before “gunfighter”
one of the actors who played a gunfighter in the O.K. Corral
concentrate on any mission orientation I was so used
End sentence after “orientation”
concentrate on any mission orientation. I was so used
I was so used to him having him hold it all together in my presence
Maybe drop “having him”
Change “hold” to “holding”
I was so used to him holding it all together in my presence
minor difference to that was unsettling
Maybe “different from” “different to” is British usage
minor difference from that was unsettling
CIA had to be the ‘alphabet soup Mardian was talking about but it wasn’t run by the Navy or any admirals I’d ever heard of.’
Seems as if your intention is to put single quotes around ‘alphabet soup’
Add singe quote after “soup”
Remove single quote from end of sentence
CIA had to be the ‘alphabet soup’ Mardian was talking about but it wasn’t run by the Navy or any admirals I’d ever heard of.
The Staff Sergeant was many yards away, talking with is security gate team.
Maybe “his” instead of “is”
The Staff Sergeant was many yards away, talking with his security gate team.
physics we have come to understand controls the universe we live in
Maybe add “that” before “controls”
physics we have come to understand that controls the universe we live in
I was so shocked that I just sat there for a. few seconds
Extraneous “period” after “a”
I was so shocked that I just sat there for a few seconds
good exhaustively cleansing run
Maybe “exhaustive” instead of “exhaustively” adjective not adverb
good exhaustive cleansing run
I change into my police ‘commander’ uniform
“changed” instead of “change”
I changed into my police ‘commander’ uniform
for identification and self-protection was required
/Context indicates instead of “was required” something else like “was against regulations”
for identification and self-protection was against regulations.
not with what might coming on the legal side, and also the financial hit was likely to take pretty immediately.
Add “be” before “coming”
Add “place” after “take”
Suggest change “immediately” to “quickly”
Else drop “pretty” before “immediately”
not with what might be coming on the legal side, and also the financial hit was likely to take place pretty quickly.
It’s kind of a take or leave it deal
Maybe add “it” after “take”
It’s kind of a take it or leave it deal
wasn’t a member of the club,’
Maybe add single quote before club
wasn’t a member of the ‘club,’
however long or short it that tape was
Drop “it”
however long or short that tape was
Blessings & Be Well
I will certainly be missing your pithy penetrating comments and editorial assistance for a bit here my friend. Thanks for everything you do and I’ll be limping by, damaged but holding it all together and awaiting your return.
Happy New Year and looking forward to hearing from you again soon.
Your friend, and
Semper fi,
Jim
I agree with Charles. Good luck!!
Thanks Leo, and yes, Charles was and remains spot on. Happy New Year
and hope to hear from you after the next chapter!
Semper fi,
Jim
What a tangled web you spun yourself into James. Absolutely intriguing . Can’t wait for the next chapter. Happy New Years.
Thanks Charles, much appreciated the card and the holiday wishes. My gifts are mostly what comments are written here, with some
other more physical stuff coming in from some wonderfully warm human beings along the way that i never expected. I thank you
for being there for me all the time and being such a loyal and observant reader and friend.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
I know Dan C. said he would not be around for a while to offer editing suggestions.
I cannot hold a candle to the superb ability Dan C. has in proofreading/editing, but I will try to pinch hit for him in that regard in his absence.
“The tapes spun on, and I listened for more, but nothing followed until the original tape [played out, or ended, and was] spinning on the blank reel…”
“I was so shocked that I just sat there for a. few seconds before taking it.” [delete the “.” after “a”]
__________________________________
““You’ve performed just as described,”
[as “expected”?]
Blessings to you, Jim.
THE WALTER DUKE! The only person I announce that way as a form of addressing respect. Thanks for picking up the mantle.
I was hoping that CanC wasn’t gone yet for this one because at the end i had to rush to publishing as Chuck is down in
Texas with his son and family. Which I thank God for, as he didn’t want to go, but with shirley’s pass not long ago I
know he’s been so emotionally destitute. With the number of souls I’ve lost along the way in my life I truly understand,
although understanding does not offer much in the way of solace.
Thanks for the help, my great friend,
Semper fi,
Jim
Holy crap. LT !!
Thanks for the great two word laconic compliment of meaning Cary!
Semper fi,
Jim
BTW – the acknowledge page shows this error !!!
There has been a critical error on this website.
Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.
We are seeking answers.
SgtBob, I’m not sure about this comment, as we all are always seeking answers to questions that are never clear enough to even
provide the direction in which to seek the answers…well, not always, but you get th drift.
Thanks for writing in no matter how laconically,
and Semper fi,
Jim
Well, I’m trying SgtBob. One of the reasons Chuck is aboard is so that the multiplicity of
online media I am involved with can be sorted and understood, although not always by me.
Chuck is the master of WordPress and the site while my own online expertise leans strongly toward
the social media sties, like Facebook and the others.
Thanks for the heads up, of course.
Semper fi,
Jim
Let the games begin!! I often said I should have kept a journal! Share a tale or too! Friends always tell the truth is stranger than fiction, and we can’t make this stuff up! Semper Fi Lt!! Glad your back at it! Hope you had a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!!
Christmas was fine this year and looking forward to the same in the New Year. Hope that is true for everyone
who reads the material and writes on the site here, as well as you personally Junior.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another phase is opening while the first is not yet fully closed. I find it rather odd that certain people think you know things which you may or not realize you really do know – yet !
Job offer to follow, and your wife is the brightest person you have around you !! 🙂
Now another mystery is laid in our laps , an unknown artifact and “they’re going to know what the artifact is” !! Good grief James, hurry on with the next chapter !!!
Semper Fi
Happy new Year 🙂
Yes, SgtBob, there’s the artifact and how it played a role in so much and still does to this day.
Thanks for the usual compliments you spin off like surf spray, and I love it of course.
Happy New Year to you and hopefully, you will enjoy this coming chapter to usher that new year in.
Semper fi,
Jim
O.M.G.!
Jim,
You certainly have lived an extremely “interesting” and incredible life.
Thanks for getting this chapter up as a Christmas present to all your loyal readers. But you KNOW, all they want is …MORE!
I won’t even speculate as to what “artifact” is going to come your way.
Hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.
Wishing you a great New Year.
THE WALTER DUKE~ Thanks for the thanks Walter and the rest of what you write. Always uplifting and really good to read what you
write on here and I know I’m not the only one who thinks so. Have a grand beginning to this New Year.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
you’re writing is incredible. It is engaging. It is suspenseful, and it certainly is entertaining. I am struck bu many comments
I did not reply to the last chapter because your conversation with Butch really made me pause because of the closeness to my life, mainly when he was talking to let go of the anger that you felt about the war This passage suggests that if you focus too much on seeking revenge and correcting past injustices, you might be hindering your ability to move forward in life. The analogy of a highway implies that your attention on the past prevents you from looking ahead and anticipating what the future holds for you. It encourages a forward-looking perspective rather than dwelling on past grievances. This passage suggests that if you focus too much on seeking revenge and correcting past injustices, you might be hindering your ability to move forward in life. The analogy of a highway implies that your attention on the past prevents you from looking ahead and anticipating what the future holds for you. It encourages a forward-looking perspective rather than dwelling on past grievances.
You been reading my mail
say that this happened while you were younger man, and the same thing happened to me at the same age even though you’re a few years older than me when I was this old
We’ve been on very different career paths, but I suspect it’s a result of our life experiences for the age of 26 our training, the basic beliefs we grew up with at that time in our country, and probably our relationships with our father
it is also extremely ironic and perhaps it is serendipity that we married women who share very similar operating styles and attended the same high school a few years apart in this particular chapter, you mentioned that you wanted to get home and talk to Mary about these things I won time a few years ago recorded a business conversation so I could get Lori‘s insight on it they seem to have a an understanding we weren’t given, but we were given them as a gift and we can trust them. Honor them, and Lori is about the only person‘s direction I have ever followed in my life now she will tell you differently that I don’t listen to her, but nothing could be further from the truth .
you got advice from Butch and Martian even though he is an oddball was a very impressed with your talents, and I suspect what may have been going on your brain was kind of a dual dilemma of why are these people so enamored with me and at the same time, knowing that they should’ve been, but not trusting the own knowledge of ourselves, I went through that quite often I would say, why are these people so intent on telling me about my future in the talent. I have it turns out they were right, and it took me a while to discover it, and then to be blessed with success. If you can call business success, real success, but I turned out to be a really good person or I wouldn’t have a great friend like you and I hope you feel and know you do the same way about me there is that old saying about people coming into your life for a reason and you’re writing this now is part of the reason I think we met and I hope some of my comments are important to you, James this is a great piece of literature and we really should see what we can do about getting it out of the public I also know that a lot of the public would not understand elements of this would not appreciate elements of this and wouldn’t even get some of what you and I are talking about in this post but we do. Thank you my dear friend.
Howly cow Richard. There’s so much in your comment I don’t even know where to begin to respond.
You are, of course, a great friend of mine and I look forward to having lunch with you in the very
near future to discuss what you wrote and the rest of the philosophy of life you live and espouse.
Thanks for writing what you write on here because I think it helps other vets to read about your
personal experiences and how you have responded to them.
Semper fi, my friend and I will see you soon,
Jim
Wow !! That is heavy !
One word compliment, followed by a complimentary conclusion. Not bad for me to start my day reading it
just as the New Year crops up. Hope you have a wonderful one and thanks for writing on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
First line Bedside missing the d
Thanis for the editorial help here. DanC will be gone for a bit soon so I need all the help I can get.
Semper fi,
Jim
This chapter seems to have more definition than most; sort of like cauterizing some of the open questions. Though one wonders how Rickover’s rule over non-Navy domestic nuclear intelligence occurs! Wonder where in that vast basement workshop the “artifact” resides?
This seems to be a natural break because we all have been touched RVN, return to world & JFK to Nixon fall! As I look back, it seems every thing disappears into the ether or maybe “Blob”!
Great stuff from Jim Homan, Colonel USMC, and what could we expect otherwise.
Thanks for laying things out the way you see them happening my friend.
I hope you are having a great introduction to the New Year.
Semper fi,
Your friend,
JIm
Run on the beach to get rid of the demons, mine was a flyrod on a remote mountain stream. To come back to the world purged of malice by the rushing water and energertic cutthroat trout. The problems I brought to the stream were always placed into new almost irrelevant persperctive, much moreso if the fish were active!.
Two things jumped from the page and spurred memories, “change” while often difficult is constant. The best leaders consistently led change, the worst resisted and often actively obstructed it. A mentor I was fortunate to know had told me the only way to be effective with change was to get infront of it and lead it. He was as intuitive as Mary. She sees the big picture and offers sage guidance into spaces yet unknown. The second piece of advice was ” you can’t make desicions without information”. Not giving up your own hold cards but seeking information about the alphabit agency was the only play that made sense. The conversation with Richard is the segway into the next chapter of your life! Hard to know what to do, how critical the “artifact” is, how it may impact your life and security Why does Mardian want to be rid of it. What will the alphabet people want from you. Mary can turn all those distant pieces of information into intelligence. To help guide strategically, while you have to make the tactical desicions like back in the valley again, constantly moving to stay alive and conserve the power of your Marine company.
Your new world is “a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep. while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light (Mary). Your new power is information and your strength is in the management of it.
This is the Genesis of your new world and I am invisioning the endless possibilities of adventure within it!
I am strapped into my seat for the 5 ticket ride to begin! Woo Hoo ! Deas Gu Cath (Ready for the Fray) Semper Fi for you Marines!
There are comments and then there are COMMENTS!!! This last comment is something else entirely, and I’ve been absorbing it
for most of the week without saying anything. Then depth you reach is amazing, especially inside me! I am moved by how
you manage to see things I did not, form conclusions I sure could have done better coming to, and your expectation that
my life would become something more productive than it was. That the life had splash and elan cannot be argued after the
reading but the goodness so hoped for by my times, daily, spent following Paul’s advice and finding redemption by doing
good things was harder than I expected. I once thought about going into see him and asking if maybe once a week might be
okay, but I was, and have been, never able to avoid that shaving mirror in the morning thing. Thanks for a perfectly wonderful
comment to start this coming New Year. I wish you the very best and offer my greatest gratitude for your great writing here.
Semper fi,
Jim
My home to yours , we wish you the very best in the New Year.
Your writing touches me far more than most, thank you for bringing us along!
A real high compliment from a man as gifted at writing as you obviously are.
Happy New Year and I am so happy to read you work as you respond to my own.
Semper fi,
Jim
All I can say is WOW!
thanks Glenn, that’s a very nice one word comment and compliment! Happy New Year.
Semper fi,
Jim
Artifact. This reminds me of a single key to keep folks out of somewhere they don’t need to be or to keep them from doing something that shouldn’t occur.
Well, sort of, Harry. Hard to describe but describe it I will in the coming chapters.
Thanks for the support and your discerning take on things written here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Its sometime after 8 Dec. 1972. Dorothy Hunt is dead and June Cobb sailed away into the night. Mardian left as well. The Administration is rapidly becoming unraveled with Nixon’s eventual resignation and the Haldeman/Erlichman team headed for prison. And then there is Richard who is CIA but not CIA offering you a way forward.
For some strange reason I’m reminded of the Gunny pushing you off that mountain top and the wild ride into the unknown.
Looking forward to the next chapter and hoping for many more to come!
Thanks so much Monty, especially for the reference all the way back to the slide down the mountain in Thirty Days.
Seems like so long ago now that I wrote that series of books. The days do go by. Happy New Year my friend and
hope the New One brings you more joy and contentment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow. I finished reading this and just sat here staring at the screen as if I were hypnotized. I could sense the fear you must have felt at this time of transition.
That was a fearful time of transition, that’s absolutely true, and although not the inner swirling core of terror
like down in the valley, it was hard and troublesome to say the least. I did sleep, however, when I went down
but that was problematic all on its own. No real nightmares, except not that has repeated all through the years (but with no violence in it)
so when I do get to sleep I usually get some relief. God can be kind in His ways.
Semper fi,
Jim
Welcome to my web said the spider to the fly.
Yes, Michael…definitely not my own web, but more like webs plural than singular.
Thanks for the short but accurate comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Always wondered how you started working for the Agency, and it turns out that you have been since being assigned to San Clemente! AND you get an artifact to hold onto!! Seems as though everyone except you knows what it is, however.
James, this is a big turning point in your life. Is this going to be the end of Chapter Two? And hopefully for we avid readers/followers, will there be a sequel, Book Three? You’ve done about as many different things as I have, travelling about the world.
James, I have some serious work to be done on my neck vertebrae this coming week – helluva way to start the New Year. They tell me that there is a likelihood of being mute, blind, unable to swallow, or dead. Naturally, some trepidation. Damned Agent Orange has really rotted my spine. Had a lot of surgeries; this is the first time facing fear of the scalpel.
Don’t know how it will work out, but really have enjoyed you sharing your life. Thanks for being a swell writer, and hope to be back with you soon.
Very big week coming just up ahead my friend…
and I hope you will be able to give us some update on here when you have whatever resolution they might provide you.
Trepidation has to be your close associate as we close on the time.
I, and others who read this, will pray for a great resolution.
My number is 262-581-5300 if you get a relative or some passing nurse to call and let me update everyone who reads your frequent comments on here.
With love and a prayer…
Semper fi,
Jim
I got in but the interior of the vehicle felt all wrong, although I knew it was what I was or wasn’t wearing that was what made me
*wearing that made me
Thanks for the immediate help here Don, and your participation, of course!
Semper fi, and happy New Year.
Jim
Intrigue and subterfuge abounds in spades. Mardian seemed genuinely interested in where the future was taking you. I would have been a bit apprehensive had I found myself in your situation not knowing specifically what lay ahead
Semper Fi & Happy New Year
Thanks Reb for your heartfelt comment. Those were indeed dangerous times to be involved the way I was involved,
although I was to go on to even more threatening situations as the years wore on. Happy New Year and thank you so
very much for reading and then coming inhere to write something.
Semper fi,
Jim