It had been a hard hot last two weeks of August for Ronnie. Carl had been in an ill-tempered rough mood. His last trip to DC had not gone well. Veronica had been in her own surly mood. Not being able to spend time with Robert meant her body was perennially aquiver. She now craved her young neighbour’s touch, his kiss, and his love. Deprived of this she became upset, moody and angry. Veronica had seen Nixon on the CBS even...

“I love you, Beth. I love you." The sudden awareness of the time snaps out of my daydream. Three years ago, Mark Taylor told me he loved me and became the first boy to say those three magic words to me. We lasted two years together, braving the perils of a long-distance relationship with me in Boston and him in Chicago. Before the summer of 2012 kicked in, Mark was offered a prestigious internship in a law firm in Hong Ko...

Preface: Please read Parts I to III to understand our tale fully. It takes place in 1970 and the emotional backdrop is the Vietnam War. Our protagonists in this naughty and yet sad tale are a boy and a girl. A simple tale to tell the truth: boy meets girl, boy secretly desires girl, girl leads boy on, and love soon grows—a simple part of the eternal circle of life—nothing more and nothing less, right? Yet our story has co...

Vietnam June 1970: The War There were now over 475,000 USA personnel in South Vietnam supporting a massive war effort. The number had peaked at almost 550,000 in April of 1969. But then President Nixon had started a slow un-declared withdrawal. The public mood had turned sharply against the war. In spite this change in public sentiment towards the war, it had expanded and then expanded some more. But now a change was happ...

It’s the summer of 1970 and our story continues. The war in Vietnam is enflamed and spreading into Cambodia. Young men across America are being drafted, including our Rob. June 1970 SoCal Suburbia America We last left the sexually and emotionally unfulfilled suburban housewife Veronica Robinson, or “Ronnie” if you will, in a rather compromising position. The love-starved twenty-nine year old and her rather hunky eighteen-...

Present Day April 2014 Veronica approached the endless black marble wall slowly. It was her first visit. She felt the glycerine tears welling in her eyes. Why hadn’t she come before? At seventy-three you would think the pain would be gone? But it was nowhere near gone; the pain was searing. He was “only a boy” she kept repeating to her self. If anything it all felt like only yesterday. In recesses of Veronica’s distraught...

It was the summer of 1963.A vacation of change for me. I just a boy of sixteen, young and earthy.She a bit older, but much more worldly. Lessons taught were real and sensual.Often dreamed but most incomprehensible. Showing me much more of life was attainable.Dreams come true, incredibly sweet, insatiable. Visiting places I had only been in my mind.Journey around the world totally unconfined. Changing from a boy into a man...

As I drove to her home, I could barely keep my eyes off of her and on the road. She was chattering away about many things, but I hardly heard a word. That is until she said, "I was sorry to hear about you losing your wife." A flood of emotions washed over me as I thanked her. "She was a wonderful woman, taken away much too soon." "I am sure she was, how could she not be, she had you for a husband." As I pulled in her driv...

I don’t want the car drive home to end. Every so often, he reaches over and brushes his thumb over my knuckles and when I look at him, he gives me a dazzling smile. It has been a mere half hour since we left after the most romantic evening I’ve ever had and I wish I have the money to afford another night at the hotel. As we ride in the morning sun, I admire the coast by the road. The ocean is a deep blue, the cloudless sk...

They say that when you’re dying, your life will flash before your eyes. That’s bullshit! Here I am, just a few weeks over 65, haven’t even drawn a single damned social security check and I know my end is not far off. I have tubes and sensors stuck in me or on me, all over my body. That kinda sucks! Well, I can’t say I haven’t had a full life, nor can I say it was a bad life either. I did what I did and that was that. Thin...

The days were already getting longer. It was nearly eight o’clock at night, and the sun was only just now dipping below the horizon. The California sky turned tangerine. It was stunning. But not as stunning as Elizabeth. I heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see her dark, wavy hair caught the wind. She was dressed casually—just faded jeans and a simple zip-up cotton hoodie. No makeup that I could see (not that sh...

"Shall we head to the mall? Hang around a little?” Dale suggested with his back leaning on the wall, his arms crossed. I looked into his gorgeous green eyes. “Great idea!” I replied, “I'll have to get me some new shoes anyway.” I looked down to my feet. My old chucks were about to fall into pieces, and since we were in the middle of May, it was way too warm to wear these piles of winter boots I had gathered over time. We...