Non-fiction / Understanding the Fight Pt 3

It was October and 101* outside in the sun. The temperature difference in the shade compared to the sunshine was considerably noticeable, all you had to do was stick a hand out of either one and feel and instant 20* change. At least it’s dry heat, she thought to herself. Unlike her home state of Massachusetts, which was intolerably humid, Arizona had a dry heat that although the sweat simply evaporated off your body, was at least bearable.

She remembered standing in formation during Basic Training in Missouri, the July sun beating down on their backs, causing beads of sweat to roll down their backs. She much preferred this new stiffling heat to that. Accept for now, when her sergeant had them out turning rocks over to sun bathe them because apparently, that’s why the rocks in Arizona were so colorful, and today Sergeant Hartley had decided that the undersides of the rocks were looking rather pale and needed sun. Each rock in the court yard, now ceremoniously had to be turned over to offer it equal opportunity to be colorful and bold on both sides, not just the top. Not that Ashley could tell the difference between the top and the bottom. Once you turned it over, the top become the bottom and the bottom became the top. She smiled to herself as she turned over a violet colored rock. Maybe it was the Arizona sun that made the rocks so attractive, these were of course the Painted Deserts she’s heard about in that song. Her aunt would love that rock for her garden. It’s smooth surface and unique color. Well, the color was unique for where she was from, not for where she was.

The single, fleeting thought of her aunt sent her into thoughts of home and her family. She missed it and missed them. It’d been months since she’d seen her loved ones and there was no end in sight to their separation. She missed a lot since she’d been gone. Her nieces’ sixth birthday for instance, upon which day she received an angry phone call from the belligerent child for missing the party. The annual family reunion, where her fathers side of the family gathered for beer, barbeque and volleyball was another missed occasion. And the memorial horse show in memory of her late great grandfather had passed, the entire family gathering again for it. She had also learned, that the family had gotten together to help her fathers brother finish the renovations on his house before the cold weather set in in Maine. She had to hand it to them, although they were dysfunctional and rarely got along for more than five minutes at a time, her relatives knew the meaning of love and family and banded together to help each other when they needed it most.

She sighed. Home. She missed it. This time of year especially. She could just picture exactly what it was like there. The weather was starting to ease, temperatures in the low 70’s and high 60’s, a cool constant breeze, the sun was warm but you could still wear a sweater. The leaves were changing colors creating a bronze canopy and were falling to the ground to create a mess for parents to rake and children to play in. The air was fresh and every morning you could wake up to a crisp frost on the ground. Her aunt would be bringing her new grandbaby to pumpkin picking and apple picking at their favorite orchard, trips that Ashley and her cousins had enjoyed and looked forward every fall since she could remember. It was a contest of sorts among them to see who could pick out and carry the largest pumpkin, and then they’d have apple fights, leaving giant welts on each others bodies.

She looked over her shoulder to see her Platoon Guide yell at one of her fellow soldiers for taking a break. PG was anything but slack, she was definitely persistent to say the least. Ashley smiled to herself, flipping over another purple rock., she’d have to find a good rock and send it in the mail to her aunt to put in her garden…

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