“Shooting Star” Chapter 28 – Dilemma
It has been nearly six months since Tommy and Sandra have been living in the Phoenix quote on quote “Homeless Shelter”. They have negotiated with the staff to at least stay there for another six months before made to depart the premises. Tommy however, has not found a job that he is interested in as Sandra is excelling well within her ranks and gets promoted to store assistant manager. Sandra has been getting raises and has even won employee of the month a few times since being there. As Sandra is excelling in her job Tommy is hitting dead end after dead end. Other people are beating him out for jobs that he is interested in and wanting to do. Now Tommy feels as though he is at his wits end and feeling himself getting depressed of his situation. His father always taught him to be a man and take care of your woman. He grew up seeing his father loving his mother and taking care of her and the family to the best of his ability. Tommy never knew of his dad being depressed or having a hard time taking care of his family even in the time of financial crisis.
At the time of the attacks his last image of his parents was seeing his father and mother on the couch watching television with her laying in his arms. Over the course of time since that dreadful day he has not really had the opportunity in missing his parents until now. Each day he would cry for a few minutes thinking about his parents and the life he once knew. The new life that has been forced upon them has been hard to except, but knowing that a new way of survival is imminent. One morning after Sandra left for work he went down to the career center and saw the same Military Policeman he saw once before. This time the MP was not helping anyone as he was standing next to the computer talking to a fellow soldier. Tommy looked around and saw that no one was by him and made his way through the crowd in the career center to the MP standing there. The MP broke conversation with his fellow soldier and made eye contact with Tommy smiling at him. He stuck out his hand to shake Tommy’s hand and they both gave each other firm hand shake. The MP was impressed with his hand shake and guided him to the computer to help him join.
MILITARY POLICEMAN: Good morning! What’s your name so I can put it on the roster?
TOMMY: Tommy Henderson.
MILITARY POLICEMAN: Well, Mr. Henderson what brings you here today? Interested in joining the military?
TOMMY: I’m interested in becoming a military policeman and serving my country. I just turned 18.
MILITARY POLICEMAN: Awesome! I just need to see your driver’s license or ID and we can go from there.
Tommy pulls out his ID issued from the shelter with his date of birth on it and hands it to the MP. The MP then directs the mouse on the computer to a couple of video that Tommy can watch as he is copying down information. The first video seen was the Military Policeman in action during World War II and the most recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The first video he was watching had him in aw and the fascinating job of the MP’s in combat theatres. He got to watch how the MP’s conduct convoy escorts and saw some recorded interviews of some MP’s talking about their job. That first video lasted about five minutes and then immediately after that one ended the second one began. The second video first explained of all the MP’s who gave their lives in the time of conflict. Natural disasters are one of the biggest things that the MP’s will face while being mobilized within the country. Oddly enough not one video recording showed anything on the east coast. The video was mostly showing recovery efforts of citizens and police in California and far east as Nevada and Arizona.
MILITARY POLICEMAN: Looks up and see Tommy looking at him. I’m assuming the videos are done?
TOMMY: Yes sir.
MILITARY POLICEMAN: Gets up and walks over to him with a packet in his hand and places it down in front of Tommy. Okay now the next thing I am to give you is this packet that explains what we do and what our responsibilities are as a Military Policeman. The next two pages explain how you can get yourself mentally prepared for the extensive training you will be receiving and what to expect. The next few pages are explaining to you of what you should bring with you and what you next duty station will be for training. Then the last pages are to explain to you what your possible first duty stations are once training is completed. Any questions for me?
TOMMY: If I wanted to sign up where do I do that?
MILITARY POLICEMAN: On the last page explains to you where you can go and who to talk to about signing up and beginning your military career.
Tommy was satisfied with that answer given by the MP and didn’t ask anymore questions after that. Once he got his packet he stood up and turned around and saw a line of about a dozen guys waiting to get their chance at talking to the MP. He leaves the career center and pretty much already knew that he was going to join the ranks of the nation’s best. He smiled when he saw the packet in his hand and felt a sense of alive and satisfaction. He went back upstairs in his room and put the packet down on the bed next to him. He glanced through the packet and as he did he became more and more excited to follow this dream of his. He puts the packet back down and turns on the television and turns to the news as he is interested on what is going on in the nation’s front. Not much news going on today as the same thing is being reported day in and day out about the riots going on in the northeast and protest going on in the west. Military continues to battle extremists and organized groups in the Midwest who refuse to bow to government rule. Once the attacks happened these militia groups saw the opportunity to express their beliefs and spread their cause amongst the citizens.
With military being deployed in the streets that counter acted the militia group’s influence and caused citizens to turn against them. Skirmishes are being reported throughout the region and many civilian casualties are being caught in the crossfire. With rumors of another civil war outbreak on the horizon all able bodied citizens are gearing up for that conflict. Many sympathizers are siding with the militia and those who have lost loved ones during the skirmishes with the military are also siding with the extremists. The militias are gaining more and more influence amongst the Midwest region and some from the southeast and northwest. The U.S. military is facing a growing number citizens fighting for their belief of a separate nation and for no government rule of the current status quo. Amongst the military community and other loyal citizens the second revolutionary war is more imminent than the rumors of a second civil war. Many religious leaders and followers are already in expectance that the government is going through a cleansing to get rid of all corrupt officials in office.
As the events throughout the nation begin to increase and spread from region to region the president of the United States is faced with numerous challenges. He continues to hide out in the mountain regions of West Virginia and puts his executive staff on high alert. Intelligence that the president is receiving from the field is that the country faces another nuclear attack and that Washington, D.C. is a potential next target. With the nation’s capital out of power and basically living in the Stone Age alerting the public would be reasons of mass panic. The president then orders his chief of staff to send out the alert to all employees that can be reached to evacuate the area and their families. The president does not want to take a chance of him not notifying the government and thinking the threat is not real. The virus that hit Washington, D.C. has spread up the northeast corridor affecting other regions of New Jersey and New York City. Emanuel finds his president in his office with his head down in his hands and sitting in complete silence.
PRESIDENT FORD: Feels the presence of someone and looks up. Emanuel, I have a huge mess on my hands. I have the threat of nuclear attack on Washington, D.C., this virus has spread and continues to spread up the northeast region, riots in every corner of the country, and now I have intelligence that we are facing the imminent threat of another war on our homeland.
EMANUEL (CHIEF OF STAFF): Mr. President I am surprised that you haven’t declared Martial Law throughout the country. Our nation is facing trial and tribulation for things that we have failed to take care of.
PRESIDENT FORD: I have the armed forces stretched thin and no military unit is to come home from Afghanistan until the end of the year. That’s five months from now so until I have units coming home I have to deal with what I have here. Would declaring Martial Law actually make things worse or better?
EMANUEL: I think at this point we don’t have many options in trying to control the situation. Times are asking for desperate measures and this is one of them.
PRESIDENT FORD: One of them? What’s the other option we have?
EMANUEL: Prepare for war.
In the meantime while the president of the United States explores his options on bringing peace back to the country the Pacific West Territories governing body receives a blow to their position. Governor Wallace is in his office speaking with governors of Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana on conference call. During the conversation Wallace hears a knock at his door and gives the person permission to enter. He sees that it is his sexy secretary, the one that he loves to have an affair with, approaching him with a yellow 8×11 envelope. She hands it to him and he grabs it from her hands and notices her nails were done. She walks out slowly showing him her sexy legs through her nude stockings and black heels. She exits the office and closes the door behind her and he then immediately turns his attention to the package in his hand. He hears the governors on the phone talking amongst them as he opens the package.
Silence is heard on Governor Wallace’s phone and the other four men are trying to figure out what is going on.
IDAHO GOVERNOR: Richard? Are you there?
GOVERNOR WALLACE: I just received the response from the state of Colorado and what their position is.
MONTANA GOVERNOR: Well, what those bastards say about what they gonna do?
GOVERNOR WALLACE: Gentlemen, we will not be seeking unification with Colorado as they side with the President Ford.
ARIZONA GOVERNOR: I can almost assume that President Ford got to him and convinced him otherwise. I say we take things to the next step here Mr. Wallace.
GOVERNOR WALLACE: What would that next step be? NORAD was the focus point of our reason in having Colorado joining our union.
ARIZONA GOVERNOR: We need to mobilize our state militias and be ready to defend our cause against President Ford.
GOVERNOR WALLACE: Mobilizing our National Guard troops would only prompt President Ford to mobilize his forces. Plus, we are not completely official with our separation from the U.S. Constitution. More than likely he still has some influence in our states.
ARIZONA GOVERNOR: We are independent states and we control our own militia without his approval. We mobilize our forces and put them on high alert because I can almost guarantee you he is probably thinking the same.
GOVERNOR WALLACE: Governor’s of Idaho and Montana, are you ready to join our cause?
IDAHO AND MONTANA GOVERNORS: We are both ready to seek unity and we shall join our states together to form a region within your borders.
GOVERNOR WALLACE: Very well then, lets go ahead and welcome these two states into our union and celebrate our victory.
ARIZONA GOVERNOR: What is going to be our next step for Colorado?
GOVERNOR WALLACE: He’s made his choice and now he must live with that choice as so we. Time will tell who is right and what side is stronger.
Later that night Sandra returns home and sees that Tommy is not in the room. She puts her work bag down on the bed and sits down and kicks off her shoes exposing her feet to air. She goes into the bathroom and doesn’t see him in there either and now she is wondering where he could be. She sees a packet sitting on his night stand under a bottle of soda. Her curiosity got the best of her so she peeps over to it and sees that it talks about military training and what to expect. The room door opens, but her back is to the door as she is sitting on the bed reading the packet in her hand. The door closes and she jumps up startled by the noise of the door closing and sees Tommy standing there. He sees her with the packet in her hand and turns on the lamp near the door for better lighting. She stands there with the packet in her hand and she then throws it across the room as you can hear the papers whipping in the air they fly. She runs into the bathroom crying and slams the door shut and locks it to avoid him coming into the bathroom. He walks over to the packet she threw and picks it up off the floor by the television. Without saying a word he rolls up the packet in his hand and walks out of the room. Sandra hears the front door close and that is when she began to weep loudly sitting on the floor leaning up against the bathroom door.
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