The Grim ReaperChapter 29: Leave free porn video

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March 30, 2005 - April 2005

As soon as we were dismissed, the place broke into sheer pandemonium, as everybody tried to find their family members. I wasn’t even sure my family was there, so I ended up wandering around looking for a familiar face. I think the people who had it the worst were the spectators, since there were about a thousand of us all dressed alike and with the same haircut. Fortunately, I was a few inches taller than most and that made it a little easier. I slowly circulated, and then I saw a poster being held aloft saying ‘REAPER’ and I made my way towards it. I couldn’t recall anybody else named Reaper in the battalion, but I didn’t think it was that unusual a name. I knew I had hit the jackpot when I saw another head above the crowd standing next to the sign. I held my hand up and waved, and he grinned and waved back. It was my brother Jack.

He turned and yelled, “He’s over here! We got him!” We kept waving and started heading through the crowd towards each other.

When we finally got together, I saw that our baby brother, Bobbie Joe, was the one waving the sign. He was nowhere near as big as Jack or me, so all you could have seen of him was his hands holding the sign. I didn’t care. I gave them both a hug. “When you going to get your growth spurt, Bobbie Joe? You ever going to grow up?”

“Screw you, too, Grim. You’ve been in the Army two years now and you’re still an asshole,” he replied, laughing.

Jack said, “Look who’s talking about a growth spurt? I used to think you were big, but I guess I was wrong.” Jack was two inches taller than me and must have weighed at least twenty or thirty pounds more. He was like a human mountain now.

“Yeah? In the Army we specialize in cutting big problems down to size.”

I was about to grab him and show him when he turned away and waved his hands over his head. “I got him over here!” he called out.

“Who’s here?” I asked.

He gave me an odd look. “Everybody you invited.”

“Hey, communication has been pretty screwed up lately,” I told him. “I haven’t heard from any of you in two weeks.”

“Mom and Dad and Kelly,” answered Bobbie Joe.

The mention of Kelly lifted a big burden from me, but I still needed to talk to her. Something about her last letters just wasn’t right. I looked over at where Jack was waving. I saw Dad first, but he’s about as tall as Jack and me. He’s almost a head taller than Mom or Kelly. It was like watching a ship part the sea, as he came forward, and then I saw my mother and my fiancée. Mom was crying but smiling, and Kelly was simply smiling. I ended up hugging both of them at the same time, and looking over at Dad and saying, “Hey, Dad!”

“Hey yourself!”

Kelly pulled my head down to hers and she gave me a kiss that was enough to raise the temperature about twenty degrees. “I have missed you so much!” she said.

“Same here, babe, same here.” I gave her another hug, and then hugged Mom again. After a bit we were hugged out, so I asked, “What’s going on? Where are you guys staying? How’d you get here?”

“We drove up yesterday and stayed the night. We’re actually staying down in Syracuse. We’ll stay the night and then drive home tomorrow,” said Dad.

“All six of us? You drove the minivan up?” Six of us plus luggage might be tight.

He shook his head. “No, Kelly has her car. We drove up in the truck, so we can throw all the luggage in the back.” I raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged it off. Dad loved his pickup truck, and it was certainly big enough for the four of them plus luggage in the capped-over truck bed, but the thing got gas mileage like a Humvee. It helped if you owned an oil well. “We brought up some civilian clothing for you in case you didn’t have any.”

“Thank you.”

I was interrupted by a voice from behind. “Specialist Reaper!”

I turned and came to parade rest. I knew from the voice that it was Lieutenant Briscoe, but I was surprised to find him approaching with Captain Holman. “SIR!” I barked out.

“At ease, Specialist, at ease,” he said with a chuckle. “This won’t be a minute.”

“Yes, sir. Uh, allow me to introduce my parents, John and Maureen Reaper, and my brothers Jack and Bobbie Joe, and this is my fiancée, Miss Kelly O’Connor.” I turned to the others and said, “This is my Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Briscoe, and our Company Commander, Captain Holman.”

“Pleased to meet you, all of you,” said Briscoe. Holman said the same, and they shook hands with the others.

Briscoe dug into a pocket and pulled out something. “Specialist Reaper, I’m jumping the gun by a few weeks, but I thought you might like to have this before you went on leave.” He handed me the chevrons of a corporal.

“Sir?”

“You’ve earned it, Corporal. We’ll do the paperwork when you get back, but the Captain and I don’t think it will break too many rules to give you this now. You’ll be getting a fire team as we rebuild the battalion.”

“Yes, sir. Understood. I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t.”

Captain Holman looked at my brothers. “Either of you fellows planning on following in your brother’s footsteps?”

They shook their heads. “No, sir. I’ve got a football scholarship to the University of Georgia,” answered Jack.

“The Bulldogs? You’re big enough for them. Well, if you boys change your mind, we’ll be happy to talk to you. If you’re half as good as your brother, you’ll do fine,” Captain Holman said.

“Thank you, sir,” I answered.

“Congratulations, Corporal. You earned it,” he finished.

We shook hands and left, and my family gave me a confused look. Mom asked, “Was that a promotion?”

I made a waffling motion with the hand I didn’t have wrapped around my fiancée. “Yes and no. I’m still an E-4, which is the same as a Specialist, which is what I am now, or was, anyway. This is a lateral promotion, they call it. I won’t get paid any more, but it makes me a non-commissioned officer. I’ll have a fire team when I get back here.”

“So, you don’t make any more money, but you have a bigger job?” she asked. “That doesn’t sound fair.”

I grinned at her. “That’s the way it works, Mom. Don’t worry about it. If I do a decent job, my name will be at the top of the list when it comes time to promote somebody to Sergeant.”

“And you can do this job?” asked Dad.

I thought about it for a second, but only a second. “Yeah, Dad, I can run a fire team.”

“Well, then, congratulations. You can sew that on your dress uniform and take us all out to dinner when we get home. We’ll find someplace nice and expensive.”

“Now I wish he’d waited!” That got my family laughing at me.

With that, we went over to where I had stashed my personal gear, and my brothers and I hefted it and carried it as Dad led us to the parking lot and the truck. We loaded it, and then they climbed in, while Kelly led me over to her Miata. “You want to drive?” she asked.

I gave an involuntary chuckle. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I’ll probably be looking for the machine gun mount on the roof!”

“You’ll have to get over that,” she replied. “I think your parents were wondering if you were going to buy a car to come back here with.”

I nodded. When I had arrived here right out of training, we had almost immediately gone into preparation for our deployment, and it had made no sense to buy a car and then put it into storage two months later. Things were different now. I could easily see driving around for a year before we had to go back. That we would eventually go back was almost a guarantee. Nothing I had seen in Iraq made me think we were anywhere near winning over there, or even that we knew what ‘winning’ would look like.

We got in and followed my father out of the parking lot and out of Fort Drum. I just sat there and watched her driving. She was so beautiful. She had worn designer jeans that looked like they had been painted on, and a cable-knit sweater that was about one size too small, so it hugged her curves very nicely. She looked over at me and asked, “What?”

“Hmmm?”

“What are you looking at?”

“You.”

“Grim!” Kelly blushed. “Seriously.”

“I’m looking at you. I have been dreaming about you ever since I went back to Iraq. I’m just so happy you came.”

She gave me a funny look. “Well, where else would I have been, silly?”

“I don’t know, school I suppose,” I told her.

She shook her head, causing her coppery hair to flow around her. “No, that’s not an issue.” I looked down at the floor, feeling guilty for ever doubting her. She looked over at me, and asked, “Grim, what’s the matter? What’s wrong?”

“I ... I’m sorry. I thought ... I don’t know...”

“What’s wrong?”

I looked over at her. “Ever since you went off to college, it’s been like things are different. I was wondering if you had changed your mind or something.” I looked down at the floor of the car again. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here,” I said quietly.

Kelly reached over and smacked me on the side of the head. “Grim, you’re an idiot! Of course, I’d come. I love you! Now, what’s going on?” She had an exasperated look on her face.

“Well, it’s just that since you went off to Vanderbilt, the letters haven’t been coming as often, and you used to write how you and your friends were going to parties and over to fraternity houses and places like that. Then, this year, it’s like I haven’t gotten many letters at all. I write, but nothing comes back.” I sounded like I was whining, but I had to say it. “I figured that now that you had left Matucket, you had finally seen what was out there, you know.”

Kelly sighed. “Grim, it wasn’t like that. Yes, I had a few problems going from Matucket to someplace different, but it’s not what you were thinking, not at all. Still, Grim, I simply do not understand you at times! It’s like you have this gigantic inferiority complex or something!”

“Kelly, I’m just...”

“STOP IT!” she yelled at me. “Just stop it! I never ever want to hear you say the words ‘I’m just’ again! You are the most amazing person! Do you have any idea how lucky I feel to have you be in love with me? You are strong and brave and good! Do you know just how rare that can be? I don’t care about anything else!”

“You deserve somebody...”, I told her.

“JUST STOP! If I’m so wonderful, then I deserve somebody just like you! What makes you think that going to college makes you a wonderful person? Believe me, there’s a lot of assholes in college!”

I had to admit, I got a laugh at that. “Okay, that’s probably true.”

“Grim, I love your brother Jack, but just because he’s going to college doesn’t make him better than you. Let’s face it, his grades aren’t any better than yours were, off the football field he’s Mister Lazy, and he changes girlfriends like I change shoes! Trust me, I’m not attracted!” she said.

I laughed loudly at that. “True, very true. I am guessing that he hasn’t settled down yet?”

“Your mother is hoping that he’ll grow up someday, but I’m not holding my breath. From what he was telling your brother, some of the college recruiting trips got pretty wild.”

“Figures.” I looked over at her and shrugged. “So, college hasn’t changed you?” I asked.

That got me a sigh. “Not like that. I do have to tell you, though, Vanderbilt was tougher than I thought it would be, or maybe it was just that I didn’t realize what would change when I moved away from home. My schedule was a lot more difficult, and my roommate liked to party. I’d go with her and some dorm friends to weekend parties to blow some steam off, and I wasn’t writing to you or calling home. There were some problems. For that, I’m sorry. I messed up.”

It was my turn to apologize. “No, I was figuring it was something different, so when I didn’t get a letter, I would stop writing, too. It probably didn’t help that we moved around so much the last six months. I am sure that some of our mail went missing.”

“Well, you figured wrong!” She looked over at me, and said, “Grim, look at me. I love you! You are the only man I have ever been with or ever want to be with. I am going to marry you and have your babies and grow old together with you. Get that through your thick skull!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Good!”

“So, how is it you can take time off to come up here and meet me? Is it spring break or something?” I asked.

Kelly gave me a sheepish look, and another sigh. “No ... Grim ... I’m not at Vanderbilt anymore. I left.”

My eyes popped open at that. Kelly O’Connor was the smartest person I had ever met. She was made for a fancy college! I simply couldn’t understand it! “What happened?”

She kept her eyes on the road ahead but reached out and took my hand. “Grim ... I did a few dumb things while I was there and made a few mistakes.”

“Talk to me.”

“Well, like I said earlier, just because you can get into college, it doesn’t mean you can’t be dumb. My roommate, Sarah, she was a party girl, and she wasn’t carrying anywhere near my load. She was constantly bugging me to go out with her, her and a few of the other girls in the dorm.”

“You flunked out?” That was simply incomprehensible to me. Kelly had been straight-As as long as I had known her. When she had been born, she had probably popped out of her mother’s womb and quizzed the doctors and nurses on their technique!

“No! God, no! No, I kept the goofing off just to the weekend, but I would go out with them on Fridays and Saturdays, and I know I got trashed a few times. We’d go over to a party at a frat house, and just drink as much as we could, just getting absolutely hammered. A lot of the guys would try to get you upstairs, and I never did go, but Sarah and some of the others did. Still, it wasn’t pretty.”

I nodded. “But you didn’t go upstairs?”

“No, it’s like I told you. You are the only - the only - man I have ever been with. Still, I shouldn’t have been at some of those places.”

“So, why’d you leave? Did you get kicked out or flunk out or something?”

“Uhhh ... Okay, this happened at the beginning of the spring semester. It was the first party, and Sarah and I and a couple of other girls went over to this fraternity. It was Tau Beta Kappa, and the four of us started playing this drinking game, and Sarah, my roommate, she got roofied.”

“Shit!” I commented. Just because Matucket wasn’t Metropolis, it didn’t mean that I didn’t know what a roofie was. Back home, being on the football team meant I had a steady potential supply of girls who were interested in me (just ask my brother Jack!), not that I ever indulged. Still, I had heard of it. “Was she ... raped?” I asked.

“No, I think the dose was too strong, and she passed out so fast that we knew something was wrong. Still, Grim, she wasn’t the target. I was!”

My head whipped around to her. “WHAT?”

“It’s like I said, we were playing this game. We each ordered a different drink, but when we got them, we switched drinks. I passed mine to the right, and the girl on my left, Kimberly, she passed me hers. You following me?” I nodded. “So, Sarah, she got my drink! I was supposed to be the one who got the roofie!”

“Holy Christ! What happened?”

“Well, she was smaller than me, and maybe the dose was wrong, but about five minutes later, she just started getting really dopey and passed out. It wasn’t like we were drunk, either, since this was only our first drink. As soon as it happened, I started looking around for help, and that’s when I saw him, and I knew!”

“Saw who?”

“Randy Holden! He was there! At the party! He was a member of the fraternity!”

“You went to a party with Candy Pants?”

“No, I mean yes, I mean no. He was there, but I didn’t even know he was at Vanderbilt! It’s not like we had classes together or something,” she protested.

“Jesus Christ! Candy Pants was at that party?”

“I swear, Grim, if I’d have known, I’d have never gone! I’d have left as soon as I saw him!”

“Jesus!” I muttered. For years I had wondered what had ever happened to Randy Holden, what rock he had slithered under. Now I knew.

Kelly wasn’t finished, though. “As soon as I saw him, I knew it was his fault. He had this smirk on his face, like he knew he could get away with it.”

“What’d you do?” I asked.

For the first time since she started telling me the story, Kelly smiled. “Oh, that was easy. I grabbed my bag and pulled out a canister of pepper spray and sprayed his face, right there in the middle of the party! He started screaming and went down on the floor, and I started kicking him in the nuts and screaming back and kept spraying him. A couple of guys tried to stop me, so I pepper sprayed them, too. It was great!”

I just stared at her and rolled my eyes. It sounded to me like a gigantic clusterfuck! “Great? It sounds like a disaster! What happened?”

“Somebody called the cops, and they called an ambulance. I got arrested-”

“YOU GOT ARRESTED?”

“I was charged with assault and battery. That’s not important. Sarah went to the hospital, and they found GHB in her blood, so we knew it had been real. I suppose that’s what kept me out of jail. Daddy had to fly down and hire lawyers and all...”, added Kelly, quickly.

“And your father thinks I’m a bad influence? Lady, at least I’ve never been charged with a felony!”

“Grim!”

“Do my parents know about this? What if they prevent me from seeing you?” I went on in this vein a bit longer.

“You’re not very funny, Grim!”

“Criminal!”

Kelly flipped me the bird, just as we were about to get off the highway in Syracuse.

“So, what happened after that? Why’d you leave Vanderbilt?”

“It just became a mess. The cops charged me with assault and battery, but they also had enough evidence to search the fraternity house. They found no drugs, but the frat brothers had enough time to clean out the place. Meanwhile, there was also the evidence that I had been the target, since Sarah admitted that she had drank my drink, but since we were all underage, everybody was bitching about that, too. Her parents wouldn’t let her press charges, either, since it was all my fault, and they didn’t want any problems. The fraternity - the boys all had rich parents, I mean, you know what the Holden family is like, and Daddy had his lawyers, and it got fucking crazy! We made the front page of the Nashville newspapers.”

“Oh, shit! So, what happened to Candy Pants?”

“Nothing. The cops dropped all the charges on all of us. There hadn’t been a rape, and they couldn’t find any drugs, and the Holden family dropped the assault charges. Vanderbilt simply swept it under the rug; they just didn’t want to know. Maybe if I hadn’t pepper sprayed Randy something might have happened, but it didn’t. Sarah left school, and some of the girls in the dorm acted like it was my fault, that I was the one causing the problems. I left and came home. I won’t go back there. Next fall I start at the University of Georgia. I have enough credits to go in as a senior.”

“Holy shit!” I just shook my head in disbelief. Then I looked at her. “You actually pepper sprayed Randy Holden?”

“He was crying like a baby!” she answered proudly. “I kicked him in the balls pretty good, too! They couldn’t drag me away until after I ran out of pepper spray.”

“I’m sure that your sense of remorse and contrition showed through.”

“Screw you, Grim!” she laughed.

“Holy shit!” I repeated. I looked at her and smiled. “For our next deployment, I think I’m staying home and sending you to Iraq. You’re more dangerous!” We pulled into the hotel’s parking lot. I got out and said, “If I carry your bag, will you promise not to pepper spray me?”

She grinned. “We’ll see.” She reached out and took my hand. “Are we good?”

I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her. “We’re good. I’m sorry if I was an ass.”

“I’m sorry you were an ass, too,” she said. I smacked her on the butt, and she added, “And I’m sorry if I was an ass. I think we both do better when we are together. We need to be together more.”

“Yes.”

She reached over and took my hand. “Grim, I know your mother and I joke about you thinking better when we do your thinking for you, but it’s more than that. This last year ... I do better when you help me do my thinking, too. I don’t want that to change. I’m sorry that I let that go. Forgive me?”

“Nothing to forgive. I should have trusted you more. Forgive me for that?” She tearfully nodded, and I smiled at her. “You really pepper sprayed Candy Pants? God, I wish I had been there to see that! Let’s go!” Kelly wiped her eyes.

Jack and Bobbie Joe grabbed my gear out of the back of the truck. “You’re staying in our room,” said Jack.

“We have a cot for you,” added Bobbie Joe.

“Yeah. No hanky panky allowed,” finished Jack.

“You two are real helpful. Just carry the stuff where she tells you to, and don’t piss her off.”

My brothers grinned at me and followed us to Kelly’s room. “Dad said to tell you that dinner was at seven, and not to be late.”

We went inside and closed the door on them. As soon as it latched, Kelly looked at me and smiled, and then she pulled her sweater over her head. She had only a tiny lace bra underneath it. “Don’t just stand there! Dinner’s at seven!”

I laughed at her loudly, and then I began undressing also. We were actually a few minutes late, but it was worth it.

My parents admitted that Mrs. O’Connor had told them about Kelly, especially after Mom saw her driving around town when she should have been at college. I think they were as angry about what happened as the O’Connors were. Dad pointedly asked if I planned to do something stupid about this with Randy Holden.

I shrugged. “Hey, if the guy was standing here in front of me right now, I’d probably use him for target practice, but I am not going to go stalking him on the streets of Nashville. Kelly and I have talked it over. We’ll be okay.”

Then my father turned to my brothers. “If either of you two were to ever be involved in something like what the Holden boy did, don’t even bother calling home. You’ll be safer in jail.”

Bobbie Joe didn’t say anything, but Jack replied, “Listen, I’m not saying I haven’t bent a Commandment or two, but that? No way! That is so far over the line, it’s not funny. I... we...”, he said, pointing at me and Bobbie Joe also. “ ... know right from wrong.”

Mom beamed at that, and Dad simply gave a solemn nod.

After dinner, my brothers decided to watch television in their room, and Mom and Dad decided to have a drink or two in the bar. Kelly and I went back to her room and got back to getting reacquainted, a process which went on late into the night and then renewed again in the early morning.

The next morning, we drove back home, a process which took the entire day. At least we had enough drivers. Dad, Mom, and Jack swapped out in the pickup truck, and Kelly and I swapped driving duty in her Miata. It was still a long drive, but at least I didn’t have to worry about somebody firing an RPG at us. Kelly asked me how long I was home for and what I was going to do in the Army, and I answered as best I could. I didn’t completely know, but I figured that it would be a lot easier to talk to her and see her now. She giggled and said that she could visit me this summer, at least until classes started at Georgia. I liked that idea, and happily told her so.

Driving from Syracuse to Matucket was just over 1,000 miles, and basically took us twenty hours. That included fuel stops, potty breaks, and meals. We left the hotel at 0900 on Thursday and arrived back home at 0500 on Friday. By then we were all exhausted and cranky. I looked around when we got in the house. I saw some chew toys, but no puppy. “Where’s Rex?” I asked.

“He’s over at your grandparents. They’re watching him,” said Mom. “We’ll get him after I get some sleep. I can never sleep right in a car.”

That was a sentiment true for all of us. My family hauled themselves off to bed. I lay down on the couch with Kelly, and we both crashed as well. I didn’t wake up until about half past nine, when I heard people stumbling around. Kelly and I crawled off the couch and shook ourselves alive. “I need to go home and clean up,” she said.

“Yeah.” I thought for a second, and then looked over at my father, pouring himself some coffee in the kitchen. “Am I staying here or over at Grandpa’s and Grandma’s?”

“Over there. You might as well just leave your stuff in the truck and take it over. Your mother and I will be over later, to pick up the Wonderpup, and I’ll grab it then,” he told me.

“Good.” I turned to my fiancée. “You need to get anything from home. Your folks going to be okay with this?”

“Yes. Daddy will be coming here next weekend, and he did say he wanted to talk to you, but I don’t think it’s anything serious,” she replied.

I sighed. “My future father-in-law wants to speak to the guy shacking up with his daughter. Trust me, it’s serious.”

“Grim! Daddy’s not like that, and you know it!”

I remembered that time he tried to come through a door for me. “We’ll see. I just survived sixteen months in Iraq. I hope I didn’t use up all my luck!”

Kelly protested some more, and I just eased her towards the front door, snagging Dad’s truck keys as we went. We first drove over to the O’Connor home, where I grabbed a cup of coffee and chatted with Mrs. O’Connor while Kelly packed some stuff. I promised that we would come over for dinner that week and tell her our plans. Then it was over to my grandparents.

Rex bounded out of the house as soon as the door opened. He had grown - a lot! - but was still sort of gawky and gangly. He ran around like his tail was on fire but ran straight back in when Grandpa called him. We followed inside, to get handshakes and hugs.

“It’s good to see you again, Grim. Still in one piece?” asked Grandpa.

“Still holding together, Grandpa. How you doing?”

“Just fine. This mutt is driving us crazy, but other than that, we’re fine. This thing’s got more energy than the two of us put together.”

Rex streaked in from the kitchen and jumped up on the couch, much to my grandmother’s outrage. “I hear you,” I agreed. “The folks’ll be over later to rescue you.”

He went over to the mantel and took a key off it. “Here, we got the boys to clean up some. You’ve got some leave?”

“Two weeks. After that I’m back at Fort Drum. Still, it won’t be out of the question to be able to get back here for a few days every now and then.”

“That would be good. Just call and let us know ahead of time.”

“Great! Thanks.” I pocketed the key and wandered into the kitchen, trailed by Grandpa and Rex. “Hi, Grandma, how you doing?”

She was looking inside the refrigerator and making a grocery list. “Just fine, Graham, just fine! You kids want anything special from the Piggly Wiggly? We’re having Sunday dinner here for the family. You like fried chicken, right?”

“I love fried chicken, Grandma!”

“Well, if you want anything special, just let me know. I’ll pick it up.”

“Grandma, do you still sew?”

“Sure, honey. Need something patched?”

“Not precisely. I do need some patches sewed on my dress uniform.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my new chevrons. “I made corporal. Also, I have some overseas service bars for the sleeve and a unit patch for my shoulder.”

“Congratulations!” exclaimed my grandfather. “Anything else new?”

“I picked up a Bronze Star, but that was mostly for just being there, and a few more I-was-there ribbons,” I commented.

“Same here, I guess,” he commented. I looked at him in surprise. He had always kept his Army service, his real service, a secret from his family. “I told your grandmother after you went back to Iraq.”

“You’re such an ass,” she told him, though without any heat to it. “Married forty years before he tells me that!”

Grandpa shrugged. “It was a different time.” He sat down at the kitchen table next to Kelly. “You were so much against the war; I was afraid you’d turn against me.”

Grandma snorted and rolled her eyes, but she looked at me and said, “He’s right. It was a different time. I never did it, but I knew people who would yell at soldiers and throw things at them. Just because the war was wrong, it didn’t mean it was the soldier’s fault.” She turned to Grandpa. “And you know that was a wrong and stupid war!”

He shrugged again. “It wasn’t our country’s finest hour, that I’ll admit.”

“And now?” she pressed, obviously referring to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Grandpa looked at me, and it was my turn to shrug. He said to Grandma, “Jury’s still out on that, I think.”

Grandma looked at me and smiled. “Well, I might not be in favor of the war, but I don’t have anything against the soldiers. You dig out your uniforms and whatever, and I’ll sew them up for you.”

“Deal! Mom told me that I have to dress up in my dress uniform and medals and take them out to dinner sometime. I think she wants to show me off.”

“Darn right she does!” she agreed.

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The Grim ReaperChapter 15 A Complicated Life

Kelly screamed! “DADDY!” “JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!” “OH, SHIT!” was my contribution to the growing nightmare. Mister O’Connor looked like he was going to kill me, so I ran down the hall to Kelly’s room, with her barely in front of me, our towels fluttering to the floor behind us. I heard him trip over one and sprawl on the floor, and that was the only thing that saved us. I slammed the door behind us, and Kelly grabbed for the door knob an instant before the door rattled and boomed as...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 58 Redemption

Monday, Kelly told me that she was going with me to the lawyer’s office, and the way she said it indicated I had better not argue. I still wasn’t sure what Brockport could do for me that Stillwell couldn’t. Everything I had heard from the guys the other day showed that no matter how I got out of this, the County Attorney and the County Council would still demand they get rid of a killer, and I was still probationary. “Grim, just listen to what he has to say. Daddy says the guy is a magician....

4 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 7 Aggravated Battery

Sunday & Monday, February 18 & 19, 2001 I came to slowly. I was surprised that I didn’t hurt as much as I thought I would, but I couldn’t really move all that well, and things seemed weird. It was warmer than I remembered it being, and brighter, and my sweatshirt and windbreaker were missing. I groaned and tried to move some more. That did hurt, quite a bit, and I tried to find a position it didn’t hurt, and I realized I hurt all over. I blinked my eyes, but only my left eye was...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperEpilogue

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 I got out of bed at 0600, but I hadn’t been asleep. I had slept fitfully at best all night, and I just gave in and got up. I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, so the water would warm up, and then started brushing my teeth. “Can’t sleep?” asked Kelly, from our bed. “I need to get to the station early,” I told her. Any further discussion was ended when we heard a cry from the hallway. Kelly groaned and got out of bed. I smiled and shook my head and...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 67 Fame and Glory

Things got very strange from that point on. It wasn’t like I could just fly off to Washington so the President could slap on the Medal of Honor. Everything had to be coordinated. I was informed of the Medal of Honor on May 24, which was a Monday. My keepers, which is what the two light birds turned out to be, returned on Tuesday, June 1, to let me know the latest. The Army, by that time, had publicly confirmed that I was to receive the Medal of Honor, but that the ceremony was to be held at...

1 year ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 61 The Goat Whisperer

Friday, September 5, 2008 I had to do a lot of yard work at that resort. Kelly was very insistent that the lawn needed to be mowed as often as possible. I also had to ‘clear the weeds’, ‘trim the shrubs’, ‘edge the lawn’, and perform every other possible type of yard maintenance. On the other hand, I considered it critical to provide the best customer service possible. It’s just the kind of guy I am. Still, we did have to get out of the room on occasion, if simply to gas up the mower....

1 year ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 50 Rooftop

December 21, 2007 The rest of the year I simply prepped for the academy, worked at the police station, and ‘assisted’ Kelly with wedding planning. Assistance basically consisted of doing whatever I was told I was doing, regardless of my personal opinions. White and rose orchids? Whatever you say, babe, they look wonderful! The fact that I couldn’t tell an orchid from a dandelion meant nothing. White cake, yellow cake, or chocolate cake? They all tasted delicious, but even if they tasted like...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 11 Cruising

That was pretty much it for grand romance for a few weeks. School was ending the following Thursday, and Saturday Kelly and her mom were flying out of Atlanta to London. Neither set of parental units were allowing us to date on school nights, not even during the last week of school. We were able to go out on Friday night, and we got in some quality time then, but that was it. She was going to be gone the last week of May and the first two weeks of June. She got sort of tearful and clingy and...

1 year ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 33 The Cherokee Bar And Grill

Jim Talbot called me the next afternoon and told me that there was a lively discussion after I left, but that they hadn’t blown me off. I was still being considered by most of the council. He also told me that one of the other candidates had dropped out, citing the council’s inability to get its shit together. That cut it down to me and one other candidate. Sometime next week would be another interview, though that one would be in a smaller setting. What that meant wasn’t specified, but I...

4 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 65 Coffin Metal Handles

Monday, May 24, 2010 I busted my ass that winter getting back into shape. As the doctors had told me, my problems mostly related to muscle and tissue damage, but my joints were in good shape. My biggest problems were in stretching and rebuilding the muscles in my left arm and side. I spent a lot of time in rehab and therapy, and then even more time in the gym rebuilding myself. Kelly and I didn’t have a gym in the house, but it was another one of those benefits of being a cop. The MPD had an...

4 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 64 Recovery

Thursday proved to be about as hectic as I expected it to be. By the time the detectives came to see me, I would be the last guy they would be talking to. By that time, they would have already interviewed everybody except the three dead guys, and they would have been autopsied. The crime scene crew would have been all over the last car they had been in, as well as all over the Quiki-Stop. The security videos from the Quiki-Stop would have been obtained, as well as any from any of the...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 21 Visitors

They were right, of course, I was beat. I stayed awake through dinner and then fell asleep. I woke up Saturday morning stiff and creaky. As the saying goes, it’s just like cars; it’s not the years but the mileage. At thirty-three I had the mileage for one-hundred-thirty-three. Saturday was all about family. My parents arrived right after breakfast, and after Mom violated the rule about not treating a relative by checking my records, they gave me the latest info. Jack was flying in from San...

1 year ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 6 Tuesday September 26 2017 to Thursday September 28 2017

Kelly and I watched the news Monday night for about an hour, but it was getting repetitious, and we turned it off. By then Kelly was beginning to get some emails and tweets from people she was friends with, mostly asking what was going on. Most seemed confused, but several were rather vile. A few people wanted me to immediately fly to California and butcher my brother on the fifty-yard line, followed by ritually committing suicide. We went to bed, where Kelly tried to take my mind off...

1 year ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 45 Job Prospects

I called Kelly as soon as I had finished a couple of slices. It was a Thursday, so she promised to come home that night and spend a long weekend with me. I told her I was heading over to the apartment and to find me there. It would be late when she got there, but that didn’t matter much to me. I went back to the kitchen, grabbed another slice of pizza and a beer, and sat down in the family room. Bobbie Joe returned my keys. When I was finished, I kissed Mom on the cheek and headed out. The...

3 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 8 Scholar

Tuesday, January 7, 2019 The rest of the semester was a bitch, a stone-cold cast-iron bitch. I don’t know what I had been expecting, but it was just unrelenting work. Maybe it was because I had taken a lot of time on the two consulting jobs or maybe it was because of the time taken up with Tolley’s book project. More likely it was because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing trying to get a doctorate in history. I mean, I knew there was a lot of reading that was going to be involved....

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 11 Early Retirement

Seamus fell asleep in his car seat before Kelly got home. That made him extra fussy when we got there, and he was handed to me after she got him out of the car. For the next hour we kept putting him to bed and he kept waking up and fussing. Kelly and I talked about my father’s condition. “So, what happens next?” I asked. “This ever happen to your father?” “Not that I’ve ever heard. Maybe he doesn’t exercise as vigorously as your father does.” I had to laugh at that. “There are some things...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 31 Fire Team Leader

June 2005-March 2006 The next morning, we were back to the Army in earnest. Most everybody had filtered back, and we began with PT, physical training, including calisthenics and a four-mile conditioning run. I was hurting as bad as any of the other troops. Leave had left me soft. It didn’t matter, since I knew I would be back in shape in a few weeks, tops. Montoya and Gonzalez, the fuzzies just out of Benning, were in decent shape. Riley was coming off leave and was in about the same...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 47 Job Hunting

Nothing job-related came to my attention by Friday afternoon. I speculated what the perfect job ad would look like - “Wanted! Matucket Firearms Corporation has an immediate opening for product design and testing in their Machine Gun Division! Iraqi war veterans with PTSD desired! Call now, operators are standing by!” I remembered that the AK-47 was invented by a busted-up Russian sergeant during World War II. Too bad there really wasn’t a Matucket Firearms Corporation, either with or without...

3 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 15 Recuperation

Monday, September 26, 2022 Monday was a busy day. I bundled the kids off to school and then called Matucket State. While I didn’t go into details, I had to let her Department Vice-Chair know she was going to be away from work for a week or two. I didn’t know who to call at DARPA or the NSA, but Kelly didn’t talk to them daily anyway; she could handle that chore. Then I drove over to the hospital. By all accounts, I would be able to bring her home that day. First, though, she needed to be...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 15 Background Briefing

Monday, March 19, 2018 “Dispatch to One-Six-Three.” “One-Six-Three to Dispatch, go ahead.” Dispatch to One-Six-Three, say location.” I was curious as to why Dispatch wanted to know where I was, since they had sent me to supervise an accident at Pinetree and Glen Aubrey. There was a three-car pileup on Glen Aubrey after the first car, a silver Nissan sedan had suddenly braked for a squirrel. The next car, a red Ford Fusion had slammed into the Nissan from behind and had then been...

3 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 34 Moving Forward

Hank called me later that evening, laughing about the three chuckleheads, as he called them, and told me that he had told them some more stories. Of course, he kept their glasses full, so it was a profitable conversation for him. He told me that he had told a bunch of war stories about ‘the old days’ and how we did things ‘back then.’ I laughed and invited him and his wife over some night, and to just call me or Kelly to schedule it. Over the weekend Kelly and I goofed off while driving the...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 17 Preparations

Chief Crowley called the meeting to an end. He told Captain Abernathy to light a fire under the detectives and see if anybody had seen any African-American strangers recently. At best we had maybe a day or two before something might happen. Captain Bullfinch and Lieutenant Roscoe were told to give whatever support possible, including moving watch schedules around. Hank was told to assist me and dial up TRT. As far as I was concerned, Priority One was taking care of my family. What was even...

1 year ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 60 Wedded Bliss

Saturday, June 21, 2008 I continued riding with Hank Jenkins for two weeks, and he signed off on turning me loose on the public on my own. During our time he taught me about the night and graveyard shifts, much like Jerry had taught me about the day shift and general police work. We also brought in a number of bad guys on various warrants, taking criminals off the street and otherwise making Matucket safer for all. It seemed like every shift would start with Hank handing me a stack of...

4 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 21 Bank Robbery

Fall 2023 The summer progressed nicely. I spent a fair bit of time down in Sullivan County and the nearby environs, first analyzing what they had and then developing the options everybody needed to consider. One thing I stressed with them was that by standardizing on similar doctrine, training, and hardware, the SWAT teams created would be suitable for any eventual regional coordination. How the politics would work out was questionable, but it would be easier if the local units had similar...

4 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 30 Fort Drum

April 2005 - May 2005 A few days later I had to leave. I was due back at Fort Drum on Thursday, so Tuesday Kelly and I loaded up the back of the Outback with all my stuff. This time we added all my personal stuff that I had shipped home when I first deployed to Iraq in 2003. Jack was none too amused when I took the television set with me, since he had set it up in the bedroom, but I wasn’t impressed. “You want to keep it? Fine with me. Just buy me a new one,” I told him. “I don’t have the...

1 year ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 17 Summer

June to August 2002 The following week we had finals, and that was it. Seniors had to go through graduation, but the rest of us were out for a couple of months for the summer. For me that meant I had about a week of goof-off time before I had to go back to the mill full time. That would take me through all of June and into July, at which time it was back to practice for the football season, running twice-a-days and sweating off about ten pounds under the July sun. Somewhere during that...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 17 Miles Madigan

Summer 2023 The job in Sullivan Springs was a larger project than most of those I had already worked on. The spreadsheets were smoking by the time I got through with them. When I contacted Ballantine in two weeks, it was only to tell him I was still working the project. Unlike some of my other jobs, in this one I didn’t have a single answer already packaged. In my other jobs the chief or sheriff already knew what he wanted to do and simply needed an outsider to give him a third-party...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 41 Abu Dhabi

January 2007 Mom was very upset that I wasn’t going to come home on my leave. She just wasn’t buying my explanation about losing my squad. She wanted me to come home, squad or no squad. I think Dad understood, and he told me that his father understood, but Mom was very unhappy. I had been in the Army now for four Christmases, and three had been spent in Iraq. I didn’t even bother telling her about the incident at Yankee North. One of her latest kicks was, “Are you the only soldier in Iraq?...

1 year ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 2 Reunion

It seemed late when we finished dinner. There was a Welcome Aboard talk in the ship’s theater and after that we did a bit more exploring. There were all sorts of stuff on the boat, including a shopping center with incredibly overpriced stuff, a casino, and a bunch more bars, restaurants, and lounges. We walked around the deck and then went back to our cabin, where we discovered it had been made up, the bed turned down, and an odd animal formed out of some folded towels. Kelly decided she...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 48 Administrative Assistant

I was able to get in to see Captain Crowley on Thursday morning. Another young officer, African-American this time, was the one who escorted me in, and this time Crowley had some paperwork on his desk. I got the impression that after this meeting it would be time to shit or get off the pot. Crowley outlined the procedure to apply, and then reviewed the pay and benefits. “Grim, as an Administrative Assistant you make a bit more than minimum wage, but it’s a full-time job and it qualifies you...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 20 Schools End

Dad didn’t say anything to me the next day, so we must have covered our tracks. At least the back seat in the SuperCrew was wide enough for us to lay semi-flat on. We still drove around in the cold air with the windows down. Monday at school I saw Coach Summers and gave him the news. I was out for a week, and would be reevaluated afterwards, so I might be able to play if we won next week and went to State. “I won’t let you back on the field until you bring me a release from the doctor,” he...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 27 Returning Home

June 2004 - August 2004 Word came down from Battalion that the rest of Second Brigade would be deploying to Iraq soon. It was expected that they would show up sometime in July, but no dates were available. What they would do then was not known, or at least not known to us down at Camp Custer. Where exactly they would be positioned wasn’t known or might change before they got here. However, one interesting tidbit came out. Fourth of the Fourth was going to get some leave. Over the next few...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 8 Sunday October 1 2017

For the last few days President Trump had been on a Twitter rampage, demanding that the NFL players stand during the anthem, demanding the team owners and coaches fire them if they didn’t, and promising dire actions otherwise. Both Jack and I were getting slammed left and right, me for not complaining about the football players’ protests and Jack for not doing more. He was also bitching about Puerto Rico, primary elections, and fake news. No wonder he wasn’t doing his job - he was spending...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 24 Boxie

2024 Sunday, I helped Jack get home. He had chartered a plane to fly from California to Matucket (“ Can you imagine flying commercial through Atlanta with a wheelchair?”) so I simply drove over to their house Sunday morning and helped him out of the house and down to his rental. None of our homes had ramps and I asked whether we should build some for their next visit. “Grim, I’m not sure you should bother. I don’t think I’ll be coming back here any time soon.” “Jack...” “Grim, I just...

1 year ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 19 Rescue

I never really passed out, but I wasn’t in a mood to keep talking. The immediate threat was contained, and since I was trapped under a tree and wounded, I wasn’t going to wander around the battlefield. After a few minutes I began to hear sirens, both police and fire department; I wouldn’t be alone for long. I twisted my head to the left but couldn’t see to the end of the driveway out on Lakeside Drive. I did see flashing lights approaching, and the sirens went silent. Moments later I heard a...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 66 Old Acquaintances

Grandpa was right about some of what he had said. I googled ‘medal of honor procedure’ later and it turned out there was a huge process involved in giving the Medal of Honor. Once the recommendation worked its way up from Battalion to Brigade and then to Division, it landed at the Pentagon. At least two boards in the Human Resources Command had to approve it, and then it went before the Chief of Staff, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of...

2 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 12 Thanksgiving

Thursday morning was an exercise in controlled chaos. I had time to do a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon, which could be a bit of a luxury. I tried to cook a nice family breakfast on weekends but shift work with the MPD meant I frequently missed weekends. At least three of us ate well. Seamus only ate Froot Loops; he was almost three and was still a knucklehead in the Terrible Twos. After breakfast Kelly put Riley and me to work cleaning the house. Seamus, on the other...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 70 60 Minutes

Captain Crowley simply congratulated me on making it through SWAT and then told me that I needed to call CBS in New York. He gave me a phone number and told me to let him know what was going on. For my mind, I was basically done with publicity. The Army had mustered me out a second time, so they couldn’t order me back to New York, and if 60 Minutes wanted to do something on the MPD, they had to come to us in any case. The call went smoothly. Now that I was home from the Academy, CBS felt...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 8 Recuperation

Mom went back to work down in the ER the next morning, which I found a blessing. I mean, I loved my mother, but she was driving me completely nuts hanging around the room with me. She still dropped in at lunchtime, but I could handle that. Otherwise, I had her bring in a few books from home that I could read holding up with my left hand. Kelly came over after school on Tuesday. She had worked out an arrangement to take a different bus over to the hospital, and then either Mom would take her...

1 year ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 7 Friday September 29 2017 to Saturday September 30 2017

Friday started out like most other days. We got Riley off to school on the bus, and Kelly loaded Seamus in the Sienna to take to day care at Matucket State. The big difference was that we dug out all the luggage. While she was at class, I packed all my formal stuff in a hanging bag, with the rest in a suitcase. As soon as Kelly and Seamus came home, she grabbed her stuff out of the closet and told me to start packing, while she packed everything for the kids. It became a mad rush, since I...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 6 Kelly

Friday, February 16, 2001 School had just started again after the winter break. I was hanging out after lunch with some friends near the south stairwell lockers, with Tilly next to me, when Terry Watson muttered, “Holy shit!” as he looked at something behind me. I turned around and didn’t see anything unusual, at least not at first. What I did see looked like a bunch of girls hugging. Then I saw one of the girls turn around and come over towards us. She was slim, about my height, with...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 19 A Winning Season

Jack managed to finagle a ride home with a couple of cheerleaders who were juniors. I have no idea if he got anything more from them than a lift home, and I didn’t want to know. One of these days my brother’s love life was going to bite him in the ass. Some girl was going to find him with another girl, and there would be hell to pay. Hopefully she wouldn’t be carrying a weapon when that happened. The Sports Section headline Saturday morning was “UNDERDOG PIONEERS CRUSH WARRIORS!” I had no...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 68 Television

I knew what the citation said; whether I believed it was a different question. It didn’t matter much. I stood there, kept my mouth shut, and looked straight ahead. The President put the ribbon around my neck, and everybody saluted and applauded. He gave me a whispered, ‘At ease.’, and I was able to break position and shake his hand in thanks. That was the end of the official ceremony, and it was time for a meet-and-greet. Mister and Mrs. Obama escorted me down off the stage and over to where...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 53 Living the Dream

Police work was vastly different from military life. One of the biggest differences was that the U.S. Army was quite monolithic, in the sense that everybody trained and fought the same way. Every infantryman trained at Fort Benning. Every helicopter crewman trained at Fort Rucker. Every medic trained at Fort Sam Houston. You get the idea. The same could be said at any camp or fort in the country. Everybody did things the same. There’s a reason they called it the ‘big green machine.’ It made...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 63 Out of State Visitors

Saturday, October 24, 2009 My schedule that week was the night shift, Tuesday to Friday, and then I would have off, Saturday to Tuesday. That worked out well, since Saturday was my parents’ anniversary, and both Kelly and I would have the day off. I would be able to sleep late and then we could go over to the house later. Since it was their Silver Anniversary, the plan was for Bobbie Joe, Kelly, and me to take the parental units out to a nice dinner. Jack and Teresa couldn’t be there, of...

4 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 69 Going Home

That was basically the end of the craziness. From Chicago we flew home for a long weekend. Monday, we flew back to New York, and I went on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which proved interesting. Stewart was on the liberal side of the spectrum, but he always showed a lot of respect to the soldiers even as he crucified the politicians who got us into Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the interview was the standard questions, but at the end he asked me something nobody else had asked. Stewart:...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 43 Aftermath

It looked like almost the entire platoon had arrived, led by Lieutenant Southerland. They rolled up to the front gate, actually driving over various body parts as they did so and stopped. The crashed Apache blocked the way in. The first guys to come inside the compound simply stood there and stared at the carnage, though a couple of guys tossed their cookies. Eventually somebody noticed I was standing there and Southerland and another couple of guys ran over to me. “Sergeant Reaper! Sergeant...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 18 Senior Year

Our first game of the season was at the end of the month, the last Friday of August, the 30th. It was a home game with North Cobb High, from up in Kennesaw. They were from a wealthy suburb of Atlanta, and North Cobb was a big school, certainly bigger than us. That was important in high school football, since the more students you had, the more likely you’ll be able to find better players. I commented on that to Kelly once, and she said something about Gaussian distributions and standard...

4 years ago
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The Grim Reaper Reaper Security ConsultingChapter 38 Coming Together

Things moved along through the summer. At times it seemed as if for every step we took forward we were taking two steps back. Still, some good things happened. Our new Auto Theft Division made a major arrest mid-June. They grabbed a few cars out of the impound yard and fitted them with GPS trackers and allowed them to be stolen. That generated enough information to get warrants on a pair of ‘chop shops’, garages where stolen cars could be taken and stripped for parts. Lieutenant Dupree of...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 49 Training

October 2007 - December 2007 Mid-October, about when it became obvious that I was going to stick it out and go to the academy, Tim Hungerford showed up at the rickety-bench-with-delusions-of-grandeur that I called my desk. He had a packet of paperwork with him. “Take a break,” he ordered. “You need to look this stuff over.” I looked at him. “Why? What is it?” “It’s the packet from the academy.” “Ah!” I nodded at that. “Let’s take a look. You’ve been through this, right?” Tim nodded....

1 year ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 52 The Academy

January 2008 - March 2008 When I went back to work, I let Captain Carson know about meeting the Gorsky family, and that I was sure that a lawsuit was on the way. Both he and Lieutenant Brownell quizzed me on what I had told the Gorskys and I swore six ways from Sunday that I hadn’t said anything that could be construed as an admission of guilt. Their general feeling was that we would be named in the suit, but we could dump any responsibility onto the Sheriff’s office, since they ran the jail...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 16 Springtime

March to May, 2002 Mom was not at all amused by my thinking. All through dinner, which Kelly and I nuked in the microwave to warm up, she badgered me about why I was joining the Army. I pretty much gave her the same reasons as I gave my girlfriend. Dad mostly just sat there and listened. He insisted that they had to meet Sergeant Donaldson, and that I was not doing anything until after I got out of school. Eventually I could escape, and I took Kelly out and we went over to the mall, to do...

2 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 46 Barbecue

We slept in the next morning, and I informed Kelly that she needed to pass an audition like I had done with her. How was I to know that she wasn’t a demanding wife? What if she was only interested in me for my body, and not my mind? That got me a smart-ass comment from her, “Really? You want to go there? Grim, you need to stick with your body! Your mind ain’t going to cut it!” That earned her a sharp smack on the ass, and I tickled her until she shrieked and begged me to stop. That led to her...

3 years ago
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The Grim ReaperChapter 59 Back to Work

Monday, May 26, 2008 Certain things worked out for me. The bullshit out of the CORB had gotten pretty extreme, and the Justice Department planned to investigate them and not me. The Review Board wasn’t helped when Pendergast was caught saying that he was hoping for the dissolution of the entire Matucket Police Department and its replacement by a federally supervised police force. That was considered more than a bit nutty, even for hard-core Democrats. In any case, it got me off the hook with...

1 year ago
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The Grim Reaper Adventures in Southern Law EnforcementChapter 4 Skinny Mike

Friday, September 1, 2017 “Gentlemen, I have had it. I hereby resign my position as a member of the human race. There is no possible way I share any genetic material with what I had to put up with today.” So saying, I settled myself onto a barstool in the center of the bar at the Cherokee Grill. Around me my fellow police officers laughed. Mack Waterhouse, the owner of the bar and a former MPD lieutenant, came over and smiled. “Feel free to tell your friendly bartender what your problem is,...

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