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Motto: Writers Helping Writers |
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Where Did All The Music Go?
Bill Monday
Joe lay in the coffin size fox hole awaiting the angel of death to arrive, and remove him from the hell he was in, to the eternal hell which he felt was surely his final destination. The 30 below zero had turned the hole he had so desperately dug from the frozen ground two days before, into a concrete freezer. He knew it was no longer a question of survival, but the choice in the manner in which he would die. Looking down at his frozen feet he knew why he was there. He was part of a made up company of Marines chosen to be the rear guard for the retreating battalion. The chosen company was from those least likely to survive the long march south. He knew the dawn would bring the screaming hordes of Chinese up the mountain side. His last three rounds would do little, but should he use two on the enemy and save the last for himself. Will I make it through the night without freezing to death? What would John Wayne do? He thought. As delirium began to take control of his mind, his thoughts returned to the small farming town he came from in Iowa. He was a farm boy and he loved being one. His future was the farm and helping his father to make it large enough to support both his parents and the family he would begin. Memories of the smell of the plowed earth in the spring, the beauty of the golden colored wheat, the majestic rows of corn, the chorus of the farm animals and the finality of the fall harvest was the cycle he felt that connected him to God. The simple life style of the community, the Saturday night trip into town, to go to the “show,” the summer barbeques, fishing and hunting, were what he liked calling, “pleasures of the plain.” Money was always a problem, but never an obsession. He loved seeing war and western movies. John Wayne was his idol. The brief escape from his life style was fulfilled by Duke’s exploits, yet he never wished to pursue anything other than the farm. What he enjoyed most about the movies, was the music. Chases on horseback, and life threatening battle scenes, accompanied by heart racing music filled his mind and body with a feeling of total fulfillment. Then came his high school graduation and the draft call up. His feeling of patriotism refused to allow him to run-off to college in order to dodge the draft. He chose to become one of John Wayne’s Marines. He recalled the pride he felt upon graduating from boot camp, and the inspirational music. The music played as he boarded the troop ship in Oakland headed for some place called Korea. Now he lay in the earth he loved so much, which could very well be his killer. Irony has no restrictions. Finally dawn began to break, but there was no music. |
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Motto: Writers Helping Writers |
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Rome Area Writers “WHERE DID ALL THE MUSIC GO?” By Bill Monday |
