1. Don't Drop Anchor Here (Part VII)


    Date: 5/22/2016, Categories: Love Stories, Author: flytoomuch, Rating: 8, Source: LushStories

    was it serendipity? For some reason Veronica was at home looking out the kitchen window when the olive green army car pulled up to the neighbour’s house next door. Fear struck her at that moment. She knew instinctively her Rob was gone. She watched the man in uniform walk up the front walk towards the door and knock as if it was in slow motion, as if in a slow motion nightmare. The baby was sleeping. She started to sob her body wracked by pain. The black Panasonic radio was playing “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young. That song could always make her cry forever after that. Soon enough the whole neighbourhood knew the young boy most of them had hardly known had died in the killing fields of Vietnam. By this time the war was winding down and most people thought it was just damned bad luck. Life was moving on. History was moving on. No one really gave a shit anymore about Vietnam. Ronnie had cried a lot. Carl had not understood why she cried so much. He started to drink more. In her darkest moments Veronica had taken out Rob’s letter and poem and read it quietly alone. The final lines of the poem read: “Whatever happens remember I love you, Don’t let fear take away what we have found, Find a new place to smile and laugh, I will always be with you, Remember you don’t belong where you are—so Don’t drop anchor here.” Within a year of Robert’s death Ronnie ...
    summoned the courage she needed to do what Robert had asked. Skye let her stay in Malibu for a while. And then she went north. She pulled up anchor and headed to Oregon. She had always known they should have gone north. In her own way Ronnie made a life for her self and her beautiful son. She had new lovers. Some were good, some in the way life is, were terrible. But Veronica was a strong independent woman now. She made her way in life. At some point the man was just about right. She married again. He was not Robert, but he was a wonderful caring man. He became a good father to Robert. _________________________________ Life had been bitter and sweet for Veronica. She pressed her cheek to the black marble surface for the last time. She whispered an unspoken goodbye to the Robert from long ago. Ronnie reached out and touched his inscribed name tenderly. She felt the sharp chiseled edges. Her son Robert approached and reached out his hand. She smiled realizing how much his hand looked like his father’s. With the help of her son’s hand Ronnie rose up from her knees. She brushed her cotton dress to smooth the fabric. Her heart ached, but she was okay. She looked at her son and smiled. “I have a lot to tell you, Robert.” The middle age man held his mother tenderly as they walked away slowly from the endless black expanse of the Vietnam War Memorial. THE END
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