Biding Time Read online

CHAPTER FIVE

  SENIOR YEAR WAS ALL RIGHT. At St. Francis, seniors were like kings and queens all year long. Seniors were always captains of the two basketball teams and had the lead in the spring school play. Not that I planned on trying out.

  I started hanging around with these two guys, Jeff and Mike. Jeff's mother had moved here from North Carolina, to live near her mother. You could always count on him to know a new joke. Mike reminded me a little of Eric, always sort of hanging loose. Not too serious about school. But, no dope. I'd made up my mind never to be friends with someone who did any drugs. It wasn't like having the old Eric back, but it was friends.

  Everybody talked about how they couldn't wait to get out of school and make big money. I wasn't so sure. I didn't know anybody who'd ever made big money. I certainly didn't know how to go about it. A bunch of the others talked about going to college. Me, I was tired of school. Besides, mama wasn't exactly rich, and Uncle Rudy hit me up for a buck when he needed it.

  Late in the fall, I walked by the Center one afternoon. I hadn't gone back since the first week of school. Paul was there by himself. "Hey, Paul. What's going on?"

  He smiled when he saw me. "You slumming it today?"

  I laughed. I forgot how Paul could have you laughing pretty fast. "Naw. I live here."

  He tossed a pencil at me. I missed it.

  "I was just wondering." I bent over to pick up the pencil. What was I wondering? "What did you do when you got out of high school?"

  Paul put his pen down and looked at me steady for a second or two. "It was different back then. Everybody was trying to go to college so they could get a student deferment. So, I..."

  "Say what?"

  "Oh yeah. You of the all volunteer-Army generation. Back then, which was Vietnam time, of course, you could avoid going to Vietnam if you were a college student. You couldn't get drafted. I went for awhile, but I flunked out. Went to Uncle Sam's field academy instead."

  I knew I had to register for the draft when I turned 18, but I never heard about this part. I said so.

  "Well, it doesn't work that way, now. Everybody registers, so you're on the list if we there's a war and we need a lot more troops. Everybody would have a pretty equal chance of getting called up. No deferments."

  I thought about that. "Bill Marshall said my uncle talked about going to college after the war."

  "Yeah, well," he paused, like he was thinking how to say something. "Your uncle was probably talking about the GI bill. That's what I did. After you got out of the service, you could get the government to pay for you to go to college. They'd even pay for your rent and stuff; at least a little."

  Sounded like a good deal. He wasn't finished.

  "From what Bill Marshall says, your Uncle Franklin was pretty sharp." They'd talked about him! Paul never told me. "Bill says your uncle was going to teach. Come back here to Shaw and teach."

  I was dumbfounded. Uncle Frank could have been one of my teachers? This was too much. I sat on the floor.

  Paul sat next to me. If he put his arm around me, I thought I might puke. "See, Frank, your uncle didn't have a real choice. It doesn't sound as if he had a lot of money to go to college to avoid going to 'Nam, so he figured he'd go to school when he got out."

  And I had figured he fought in that war because he wanted to. "You mean, he didn't want to go?" Why was I asking Paul? He didn't know him.

  "Well, I can't say, for sure. One of the big issues about Vietnam is that the kids whose parents had tuition money could stay home, and the kids who were poor, well, they had to go."

  So that's what mama meant about black men fighting a white man's war. Damn. I felt like I was going to cry. I stood up and made to go.

  "Here, Frank, have a Coke." Paul put some money in the machine and handed me one. I took a big gulp. I didn't want to cry right there.

  "Have you ever been to the Wall?" he asked.

  I shook my head. I knew what he meant, but I had no intention of going to the Vietnam Memorial.

  "You want to go with me sometime?"

  "I'm not going until Uncle Frank's name is on it." My words surprised even me. I didn't know that was why I hadn't gone. Even Uncle Rudy had gone.

  Paul nodded slowly. "I see your point. Well, I hope your family can have that peace someday."

  That was a funny thing to say. I stood up. "Anyway, thanks."

  "You could go to college, too, you know. It's different now, but there are lots of ways for the military to help you get an education."

  I never thought I would hear Paul suggest that someone go into the service. The surprise must have showed in my face.

  Paul smiled. "I don't advocate going to fight in a war half-way around the world, especially one as controversial as Vietnam. But there's a lot to be said for the opportunities in the military, especially if you're looking for a way to change your life." He paused. "I gather that's what your Uncle Frank thought."

  I nodded, and turned to go.

  "If you want," he continued, "we can talk some more about it some day. Before you decide what to do, you should talk to a couple of people. Doesn't have to be me, of course."

  As if there was anyone else I would talk to. Mama would have a fit if I did it.

  WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT she did when I told her I enlisted in the Marines and would go in the service at the end of the school year. She was so upset, halfway through her storming and crying she had to run to the bathroom.

  Uncle Rudy was none too pleased, either. "Why you want to upset your mama like that? After all she's done for you." This was a switch. Uncle Rudy usually left the guilt trips to mama.

  I tried to explain that I wanted to do something besides graduate and hang out. Or graduate and work in some warehouse and catch colds all the time, like Uncle Rudy did before he started being a night guard at the veterinary clinic. Of course, he still sneezed all the time. He was beginning to think he was allergic to cats.

  Finally, I took mama to the recruiting office. Lieutenant Hutchins was pretty good with her. He was going to college at night. He said the Marines gave him lots of training during the day, too. Mama felt a little better, but not much.

  I wasn't prepared for graduation, when the principal announced that "three of St. Francis High School's finest" were joining the United States military." If I'd have known they were going to announce it, I wouldn't have gone.

  That almost made mama forget how scared she was. Everybody kept coming up and congratulating her. Not a lot of my friends congratulated me. Mike said I was stupid. Nice to know who your friends are.

  Brother Rodriguez was pleased. I guess Paul told him more about it than I did. He kept slapping me on the back and saying I'd get to see some of those countries I liked to study.

  Just one. One would be enough.