Burning Passion

9/2/16

I heard this story from an old-time army man:

A guy who wanted to defend his country so much he didn't let his 4F from one recruiter stop him from seeking another would overlook his flat feet. Back in 1950.

 The guy eventually served five years in Korea. Twenty more in the reserves. Before that he was in ROTC- a foreign language expert: Swedish, Italian, German, Korean.

The guy was a writer, had a father who was a voracious reader, a clearheaded mother who eventually surprised her husband by getting a civil service job on the Base. Old dad was a fireman. Rules were back then you had to work 54 hours a week.

The kid who'd one day be that serviceman hauled ice to his family's ice box. No refrigerator just a metal container which held the ice on top letting the cool permeate the foods below.

 An old paper-mill town. More paper there than just about anywhere. More paper there than anything else. Lots of arson.

That kid who wanted to serve his country, had been a good son, had written a lot, was now some old guy who owned a mill or two, fell in love with a young beauty who lived with her dying mother in a building on the property of one of his mills. Wouldn't give him the time of day, that woman.

He devised a plan, poured his heart into every detail. He set fire to the tenement, rescued the girl and her mother making sure no other people were in the building. Showered her with gifts, things she needed, and for her mom too. A place to live rent free, clothes, food, a good job. Well, as fate would have it, a year down the road she did fall in love with him. They married. Had five great kids.

 All this time he'd lie awake at night with his dishonesty. Each day before dawn, he would write a journal entry of his guilt. He burned these with the morning trash. One morning, in a good enough humor to laugh at himself, he thought: My journal entries are like Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, just a little bit shorter. After a while, couldn't stand the guilt- made a confession to his wife. She said that was all in the past. He was a loving husband, good father. She told him he needed to move on.

He would have too- except there was an unsolved death. Another old guy who had lived in that tenement. Nobody missed him till a new building was being put up on that lot. They found his bones, some medals from the First World War- and his dog tag. Still that might not have been enough to open that can of worms. Turned out the old geezer had a nephew who'd heard family lore about his uncle’s treasure. Sure enough the old guy had a metal fireproof safe buried near where his bones were found.

The good husband and good father who was now more than happy to forget the past, having learned from his clearheaded wife, found himself being questioned for an unsolved arson and murder case.

It did not go well for him.