Chapter 24: Back to School

07 September 1991 – Main Street, Enfield, Massachusetts

Jeff unlocked Bilzarian’s front door and flipped the sign from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open.’

The steady rain this Saturday fit his mood. He’d simply existed over the two weeks since Jenna and Oscar’s wedding. The apartment was cold and empty without Allison, even in the late summer heat. He would have to be cautious not to dive back into a relationship just to fill the hole in the space or his heart.

When Paul Ezekiel returned to the store, he handed Jeff a coffee and bagel from the shop down the street. Jeff made appreciative noises as he accepted the offering. Paul kept his laughter to himself while Jeff inhaled the bagel. The coffee would have disappeared as fast if not for its temperature. Jeff drank hot coffee year-round.

The week before Labor Day, all the other summer helpers’ hours were ‘reduced’ to one afternoon per week, and none had chosen to stay. Jeff offered Paul, who didn’t play sports, twenty hours a week, with the implied offer of more hours. Since he was over fifteen, his hours-per-week work restriction during school was higher.

Paul’s school year started the week Jeff returned home. Jeff was glad Paul decided to keep working. He hand-picked the youngster to open the store with him on Saturdays.

“How’s the EMT class so far?” Paul asked after the usual mini-rush of customers at the opening.

“A little different than I expected. It turns out that military medics are allowed to do things civilian EMTs here in the Commonwealth aren’t. I suppose that’s due to the potential for being isolated in military situations. Even if GVMC wasn’t around, there are four or five emergency rooms within a thirty-minute drive of Enfield. Heck, there’s even helicopter evac available to civilians now.”

“Do you like it?”

“I don’t see any reason I won’t. We haven’t gotten into the medicine too much yet. We’ve only had two classes. The first night was introductory housekeeping stuff, and the second was a medical-legal lecture. I liked the first-aid stuff in the Army and how it felt to help that family I told you about. Another thing the Army taught me about training was that reality doesn’t always equal training.”

“In what way?”

“Well, the Army took the time to set up scenarios for us. It was very realistic training. The things they taught us individually started to pile up on us fast during field exercises, and sorting things out could get very interesting quickly.

“This is why they tried to set up the training scenarios in the first place: to show us how things could go sideways so fast and how to react to unexpected changes. You learn how to anticipate. I’m a big believer in ‘train like you’ll fight, and you’ll fight like you train.’”

“‘Their drills are bloodless battles, and their battles bloody drills?’ That kind of thing?”

“Right, you are, Josephus. ‘The more you bleed in training, the less you’ll bleed in war.’ You could go on all day like that. Ask me how it’s going around Halloween or so. I’ll be doing some assistant coaching this fall, too.”

“Trying to fill the space?”

“I guess I am,” he replied with a look of loss. “I’m not trying to talk down to you, Paul, but it’s very true that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

“You going to serenade me with hair-band power ballads today?”

The following week, the EMT class began with actual medical training. Jeff strolled into class the week after that and spotted a new friend lacking hair. They’d been paired together for their initial CPR training, and Jeff suffered from the same hair issue.

“Gene the Marine! What up, Jarhead?”

“Hey, Airborne. I prefer ‘Devil Dog,’ you know?”

“Well, Entschuldigen Sie bitte, Herr Teufelhunden. What about ‘Leatherneck?’ ‘Gyrine?’”

“What about I kick your ass?”

“Which Marine Amphibious Unit will you get to help you with that?”

“You think I’ll need a MAU? I’ll do it myself! Pay attention tonight, by the way. You might actually learn something.”

“What? How do you manage to hang on to that wife of yours? How one of Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children like you manages to keep a woman like that hanging around him is beyond me.”

Gene Choamsky smiled a crooked smile.

“It’s beyond me too, Jeff,” he sighed.

Jeff recognized the shift from the playful insults they’d been trading.

“I’m surprised you and Jean didn’t name your little girl something that shortens to ‘Jeanine,’ ‘Ginny,’ ‘Jen,’ or something else along those lines. How old is Elise again?”

“She’s almost four,” the proud papa replied. “It’s weird; while I was still in Force Recon, the best part of my day was helo casting into the water or some gung-ho shit like that. Now, it’s coloring a Snoopy coloring book with her.”

“That sounds pretty great, Gene.”

The plates on the universal gym crashed together as Jeff finished his military press reps. Although he’d prefer to use free weights for his workouts, the universal was safer without someone around to spot him. Thompkins would have free weights, too.

He finished his eight-hour workday at Bilzarian’s at two before coming to his alma mater for his workout.

I guess a pre-workout workout would be more accurate, Jeff thought. After the upper body work, he’d lace up his skates for the on-ice leg work. Suicides on the ice. I must be nuts.

“Hey!”

Jeff spun on the stool he was using. He looked up at the person who had yelled at him. A man in his forties scowled at him from the entrance to the weight room.

“How did you get in here?”

“I opened the door?”

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Finishing my chest and arm workout.”