Galactic Empires: Paladin (eBook)

Chapter 3

(11 Years Previously)

The balance of the summer between Johnny’s seventh and eighth grades went by very quickly, and Johnny started his eighth grade in the fall.

This was to be his last year in middle school, and so his was the oldest grade in school, and he was one of the “Big Men on Campus.” However, the school counselors had told the entire eighth grade class to be cool and to please help the younger students. So that is what Johnny would do.

Also, there was a new accelerated scholastic program available to the advanced students called UMMAP, short for the University of Maryland Mathematics Project. Johnny qualified for the program, so he enrolled for the year. They had an excellent teacher from Maryland University for the math parts of the program and other excellent teachers for the balance of the program. Johnny also had two hours of music instruction each day to fill out his schedule. He had music instruction and practice in the piano, the cello, the clarinet, and the saxophone.

He also had his continuing dance lessons, so he had a full schedule. He also kept up with his reading, history studies, his electronics, and his science fiction. And occasionally he was able to get some sleep.

And then there was a miracle that arrived in their household in the form of a little baby sister. And, of course, there were all the other attendant accessories: crying, loss of sleep, additional chores, babysitting and other unmentionable stuff (uck).

But she was a very beautiful child and mostly well behaved, and as she got older, she looked a lot like the painting of “Girl with a Watering Can” by Renoir. She arrived in December just in time for the holiday season, and Johnny and his family all knew that they had been blessed.

Unfortunately, where there is beautiful life, there is sometimes terrible death!

In the spring, Johnny’s father received a phone call from grandfather, (father’s father), who lived in Springfield, Ohio. It seems that grandmother was very sick with terminal cancer and did not have long to live. If they wanted to see her one last time, they would have to go over there quickly because she was going fast.

Father and Johnny packed their bags quickly, said their good-byes, and started over to Ohio, which would take about 8 hours traveling time. They arrived about 6:00 p.m. and went directly to the hospital to see grandmother. Grandfather was already at the hospital in the hospital room with her.

They went right up to her room, and father went in and spoke quietly to the doctor who was attending her.

But as Johnny was just about to enter the room behind his father, he stopped abruptly.

He could feel it, and he could sense it. He did not know how he knew; he just knew.

For sitting in the far corner of the room was the Specter of Death!

Johnny braced himself, took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and entered the room.

The Specter glanced briefly at Johnny and then returned to his patient waiting, as if to say that Johnny’s time would not be today.

Johnny put the Specter out of his mind and went over to his grandmother. She was awake but looked very frail and weak.

But she recognized Johnny and smiled at him, and in her smile and in the gleam in her eyes was all the love of a grandmother for her grandson that could possibly be!

Johnny asked the doctor if it was OK for him to give his grandmother a big hug, love and kisses, and the doctor said it was OK as long he was gentle.

Johnny went over to his grandmother and gently gave her all the best of his love, hugs, and kisses!

For somewhere in Johnny’s heart and soul, he knew that this might be the last time with his grandmother, and so he cried. He was just a boy, and so he figured that he had a right to cry as he held his grandmother for what most likely would be the last time!

As he held his grandmother, he thought that the whole situation was just not fair. His mother was an orphan. Her mother had died in childbirth with what would have been her third child, who also died a week later. So it was just her at 4 years of age, her younger brother at just 2 years of age, and her father. Seven years later, her father died of a rare form of TB. So, then it was just Johnny’s mother at eleven and a half years old and Johnny’s uncle at just nine and a half years old.

Needless to say, they did not have an easy time of it. They were passed from one member of the family to another, and there was a lot of resentment at their very existence. Johnny knew the story of Cinderella and had at least a modest idea of what kind of hell they probably went through.

But he also knew that any ideas he had about their growing up probably paled into insignificance compared to the true reality of their situation.

Eventually, visiting hours were long since over, and they had to leave. The doctor and the nurse said that they would keep a close watch over grandmother and call them if there was any change in her condition. They all said their last good-byes, and Johnny and his father and grandfather left. They went to a restaurant for a late dinner and then went home.

Four hours later they received a call from the hospital, and they were told that grandmother had quietly and peacefully passed away in her sleep. Father and Johnny went to the hospital, but grandfather was too upset and worn out to go, and he stayed home to go back to bed and be alone with his thoughts.

Johnny and his father arrived at the hospital before grandmother’s body had been moved, so they both had a final opportunity to say good-bye. Then they watched as her body was removed and transported to the hospital morgue. Father then spent some time with the hospital staff concerning funeral arrangements while Johnny waited with a heavy heart in the waiting room.

While he waited, Johnny sadly realized that he now had only one remaining grandparent. So, he vowed to do everything he could to visit and look after his grandfather.

And in years to come, Johnny would spend considerable time and effort looking after his grandfather, especially when, two years later, grandfather came to live with Johnny’s family.

Johnny poured all his love for his grandparents into his relationship with his grandfather, and they had many excellent times together!

Several days after grandmother’s death, there was a funeral service for her at a local funeral parlor in Springfield, Ohio, and then everyone went to the cemetery for the internment and burial. The burial service was at a very beautiful cemetery called Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield, Ohio.

By a modest coincidence, it was the same cemetery where Johnny’s mother’s parents were both buried. But perhaps it was not too strange since Ferncliff Cemetery was one of the main cemeteries in Springfield.

Grandmother’s burial site was actually a double site since grandmother and grandfather had planned to be buried together after they passed away.

Eventually, in later years, after Johnny’s grandfather had also passed away, all four of Johnny’s grandparents would have been buried at Ferncliff.

Additionally, Johnny’s maternal grandfather had purchased seven cemetery plots, two for him and his wife, three for the three children (one of whom had died in childbirth), and two additional plots for the possibility of additional children.

In later years, both of Johnny’s parents would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, since Johnny’s father and mother were eligible due to father’s lengthy military service. But Johnny would probably not be eligible due to his substantial childhood injuries, and likely absence of military service.

Later in life, Johnny’s cousin offered the remaining two cemetery sites at Ferncliff to Johnny since Johnny’s cousin had made other arrangements for his family’s burial.

Johnny gratefully accepted the two sites and thanked his cousin profusely since Johnny could now eventually be buried with all four of his grandparents.

After the burial service, Johnny and his father spent several days with grandfather, making various arrangements, cleaning grandfather’s house and just spending time with him.

But eventually, they had to go back home. Father had his job, and Johnny had school and his other activities. So, they said their goodbyes to grandfather, gave him lots of hugs, love, and kisses, and drove home.

It was a rather somber trip back home. Mostly they were each absorbed by their own thoughts and memories, but occasionally they listened to the radio.

During one of the times they were listening to the radio, they heard a minister giving a sermon. Since they had just experienced a serious personal loss, they decided to continue listening.

The minister told the story of a man and Jesus walking along the shoreline of a beach. They had both rolled up their pants legs, taken off their shoes, tied the shoestrings together and hung them around their necks, and taken off their socks and stuffed them into their pockets.

As they walked along, they chatted about various topics. On one occasion, they stopped to just observe and appreciate the beautiful scenery and landscape all around. The man looked forward, landward, seaward, and eventually he looked backward from where they had...