《At The Lions Gate》Chapter 12
Advertisement
The banner stretched across the living room read “Bon Voyage Josh.” Below the banner a large punch bowl and assorted snacks adorned a long table covered with a white linen table cloth.
In the living room Josh, his mother, Vinny and his parents, Bridget, and a handful of other friends and relatives were drinking, snacking and chatting as Artie Shaw’s soaring clarinet played on the phonograph in the corner.
Everyone was well dressed except Josh. He wore jeans, a red long-sleeved flannel shirt, and sneakers. He and Bridget were in conversation.
“There’s still time to change your mind Josh.”
“What, and spoil my own party?”
“This is serious. I won’t sleep a wink until you come back.”
“You’ll be awful tired.”
“I’ll be exhausted, and it’ll be your fault.”
“I’ll be writing letters.”
She sharpened her tone. “Josh, you don’t have to join this war to prove something, to me or to your dad.”
“My dad? What makes you think I’m doing this to prove something to my dad?”
“Doesn’t every boy want to be as good or better than his father at some point in his life?”
“Maybe so, but I’m doing this for myself, for the country. If I wanted to be like my father I’d be joining the infantry. I’d be a foot soldier, carrying a rifle. I don’t ever want to have a gun in my hand. I decided to fly, to be a pilot. I can see better up there, Bridget. I can see more of the enemy, and they won’t be able to see me. I’ll be the eagle eye in the sky.”
Bridget felt reassured. “You’ll be a darn good pilot. I only hope this war ends soon.”
“It will. I’ll make sure of it.”
Advertisement
“It better end soon. I can’t wait for too long. You will come back, won’t you?”
“I have to. I may want to marry you some day.”
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
“If you’re going to be that serious you could have at least dressed up a little. Look at those boys. They’re all dressed in coats and ties, for you!”
“I’ll be dressed up soon enough, in a tailor-made uniform, compliments of the Army Air Force. I’ll send you a photo.”
Vinny, who’d been talking to some other boys around the same age, excused himself and went over to Josh and Bridget.
“You two love birds want to dance? We have Artie Shaw on the record player. Sweet music for dancing.”
Josh looked at Bridget. “You want to?”
“Why not?”
As they started to dance Josh’s mother and Vinny’s parents looked on, smiling.
“Susan, your Joshua, he’s such a handsome boy,” said Vinny’s mother.
“But he could use a few dancing tips from an old pro,” said Luigi, as he strolled over to the dancing duo. “May I cut in?” Josh graciously consented.
Chris Roper, a big, burly, blond-haired kid, almost as big as Josh, walked over to Vinny.
“Hey Vinny, your dad’s quite a dancer. But doesn’t he look a little like that Dictator Mussolini?”
Vinny turned to the boy, who was half a foot taller. “No, he doesn’t look like Mussolini. He looks like my dad.”
“If they draft me, I may be going over to fight your own people. I didn’t know you Italians were such Fascists.”
Vinny became incensed. “I’m no Fascist, Chris. And neither are my parents.”
“What about your grandparents? They’re still over there in the old country, aren’t they? I’ll bet they like Mussolini.”
Advertisement
“You better take that back,” said Vinny.
Josh walked toward them as he heard Vinny raising his voice.
“What’s going on, boys?”
“Vinny can’t take a joke.”
“Those didn’t sound like jokes,” replied Vinny. “We’re every bit as American as you are.”
“Chris, go get yourself some fruit punch,” said Josh. “And there’s plenty of food left.”
“Aye Aye, Captain. But shouldn’t we have some spaghetti?”
“That does it!” yelled Vinny, as he lunged at the bigger kid. Josh stepped in between them. “Knock it off! Chris, you won’t last a day in the Army! You used to be a decent kid. A good teammate when we played football together. What happened to you?”
“War…that’s what happened to me.”
Chris Roper turned away from them and walked out of the apartment. Vinny’s folks came over; his mother put her arm around Vinny.
“He meant no harm.”
“He’s scared,” said Vinny’s father. “First the depression…now another war. Everyone is scared.”
That evening, after everyone had left, Susan Sanders knocked on the door to Josh’s room.
Josh lay on his bed, his hands behind his head, looking at the ceiling. His suitcase stood on the floor beside his bed.
His mother came in carrying a small wooden box. “I thought you might want to look at this before you leave tomorrow.”
Josh sat up on his bed. “What is it?”
“Your father’s medals.” She opened the box and sat beside Josh. “There’s also a photo of him, taken in France in 1918.”
She held up the photo, showing Josh’s father in uniform, holding a rifle, an open trench behind him. Josh looked at the photo, then he picked up the three medals.
“Why didn’t Dad ever show these to me?”
She took his hand as she spoke. “Your father once told me, after the war ended, that receiving medals wasn’t something to be proud of. No one goes to war to win medals, Josh. But I brought them to you because these medals were given to your father for saving the lives of people who might have been killed if he hadn’t acted as he did on the battlefield. War can’t be about destroying lives…it has to be about saving them. I want you to remember that when you’re over there.”
Advertisement
Hunters of the Night
Parmasus was young boy, living with his father and mother. His father was abusive and would would beat both him and his mother, but one day, he went overboard. As Parmasus witnessed his mothers death, he saw only one choice. Run! Eventually, he managed to escape the city, but not without a fatal farewell gift from his father. Then he met Palazar, the vampire, who showed him salvation, and turned him into a vampire. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Hello there. This is my second series, also about vampires. I've always been fascinated with vampires, since childhood, so I decided to write a few different, unique books about them. My first book, Rise of the Vampires is about just that, and how the progenitor rises to power in a world of mixed High Fantasy, and Xianxia. This book however, is different, again. This is more traditional, in the sense that it isn't high fantasy, but closer to low fantasy. It begins in a time period similar to Ancient Greece, but it will travel through time, showing various ages. The vampire world will be similar to the World of Darkness, or Vampire the Masquerade. It's not a female romance book, as it will have action and stuff. But yeah, the books will follow Parmasus as he lives through the ages, becoming older and stronger. Also Rated 18+ for violence, gore, harsh language, explicit sex, etc.
8 168Nandemonogatari: A New Story of Something Else
New chapters every 10 days! *Currently on brief hiatus. We will return shortly! With the loss of Miyafuji High School, it's time for a new year and a new school for the Paranormal Club. Not only that, but new members and new adventures too! At Zonzai High School, the premier school for gifted children in Japan, things are run a little different. Each club will fight for supremacy in weekly challenges, with winners rising through the ranks and losers falling to shoddier accommodations. But there may be more action at this school than is sanctioned, and old fights may bubble back to the forefront for our Paranormies. This is the 2nd book in an ongoing series. Be sure to read the 1st novel, Nandemonogatari: The Story of Something Else here on Royalroad first!
8 198Goan. The Transferred Power. Vol. 1.
Goan is an episodic fantasy-adventure story that narrates the events of a world where the human race has received unprecedented power, giving rise to great clashes between the Goan wielders.
8 92Aberrant Tales
The world of deities had met its end. Now is the time of nightmares and delusion. Or it should be that way but Alvah made the best of living a half-life until after so long he spoke with another "creature". A broken mage and a lovely monster meet in a world deprived of its gods and other stories both long and short. With cover art provided by Jack0fheart as found in https://www.royalroad.com/profile/178717
8 154Love, Napalm & Homicidal Fairies
When Nasilain started traveling between worlds, she hadn’t expected to get caught by a police officer. Nasilain: Traveling between worlds always filled Nasilain with dread. All those men with their friendly smiles and hundreds of questions. What was the last movie she watched? What music did she like? What country was she from? If Nasilain could use magic in this world, she would’ve blocked the flow of calcium ions in their jaw muscles just to shut them up. The scientific knowledge she could find on the internet using the free Wi-Fi in one of the local coffee shops forced her to tolerate the occasional interrogation. But even hipsters were better than Seth, the beefy police officer that caught her teleporting. Apparently, she wasn’t allowed to lie to him, which was fine as long as he didn’t ask about the clone. Seth: Seth had seen his share of bad luck. On normal days, it manifested as a shoulder injury that got him discharged from his SEAL team or wounding a civilian while on the police force. But landing in a parallel dimension with elves in neon green pants, a cute mad scientist with magical abilities, and swarms of carnivorous fairies? That was a first. At least Nasilain promised not to use her magic to split atoms. Content warning: This book DOES NOT contain zombie fairies. Everything else is fair game though.
8 125REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!
This is my first writing but i accept requests1. no gender swap2.i do kinks as well just no feet ok?3.just click read alreadycharacters don't belong to me.they go to EDDS WORLDDom tord orDom tom
8 139