Pilgrimage (The New World) (6 page)

With the peace temporarily restored, Ross took the empty bunk next to James and began to unload his gear. He thought to himself that this plebe year would already be difficult enough, but it could become next to impossible if the four of them couldn’t get along. He had been in his quarters roughly five minutes, and had already learned another lesson of diplomacy while also demonstrating leadership abilities. Those were facts that had not gone un-noticed by their squad leader who had been listening to the introductions while patrolling the hallway.

It didn’t take long for Ross to acclimate to academy life. He enjoyed the rigors of the academic pace needed to survive, and seemed to fit in well with many of the other midshipmen. The days and weeks went by quickly, with the help of multiple letters and care packages from Patty and Jessica, and soon he was stepping off the bus in Rumley for a short Christmas break. Jessica tried to give Ross and Patty as much space as possible during their limited time, but the three of them enjoyed some fun times together. She and Patty had really become more like sisters since Ross had left for the academy, and because of that Jessica had transitioned into high school with relative ease.

Elizabeth Wright invited Robert Martin and his two children over to her house on Christmas Eve for a good home- cooked holiday meal that had been prepared by Patty and herself. The five of them had a really good time, but the highlight of the evening was gathering around the television set after dinner to watch the broadcast from Apollo 8. That mission had just become the first manned spacecraft from Earth to orbit the Moon, and Ross was saddened that Grandpa Hank had not lived long enough to see it happen. The event in itself was the next big step in the effort to eventually land a man on the Moon, so Ross was watching with great enthusiasm. The broadcast from the three astronauts further solidified Ross’ intent to someday travel into space.

During the last evening before his return bus trip to Annapolis, Patty informed Ross that she had been accepted to the University of Maryland in College Park just outside of Washington D.C. It was great news as she would be much closer to Ross again starting the next fall, and as he earned liberty from the academy they could spend time together.

Upon his return to Annapolis, Ross and his roommates quickly readjusted to the disciplined environment of academy life. There were some difficult moments as would be expected with four young people from various backgrounds, but for the most part the remainder of the school year went by without any problems. Eventually every plebe has to arrive at the realization that a team effort is needed in order for everyone to survive. Some struggle with academics, while others face challenges with the physical aspects that are required, but with some help from the team all can pull through.

The only one of the group who seemed to occasionally have difficulties with that concept was Davis Lee, as he had been raised to believe that someone of James Franklin’s color, or Shaun Jamison’s heritage, was inferior to his own. He had let it be known to all who would listen that he, along with his father and grandfather, had been named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The socialization, or brainwashing, of his outdated southern belief system had been firmly embedded throughout his youth, and it represented the negative side of what otherwise could be a nice bright young man.

Ross took the opportunity during every skirmish between his roommates to impart wisdom and show leadership abilities, but was also careful not to overstep his boundaries. After all, they were all grown men and it wasn’t his responsibility, or right, to dictate their actions.

SOON THE PLEBE
year, or what’s generally known as the toughest of the four at a military academy, was over and Ross was headed home to Rumley for another short break. His bus arrived in town the evening before Patty would celebrate her graduation from high school, but she was unaware of that fact. In what had been an acceptable lie, Ross had informed her that he would be in town in another week.

The only reason he would even be able to attend the event was because her 1969 graduation was scheduled to take place one week later in June than Ross’ had been the previous year. That meant that Ross would obtain summer leave from the academy at the completion of his plebe year in time to fly to Dallas before riding on the bus to Rumley. Patty’s mother Elizabeth would keep her occupied so that Robert and Jessica could pick him up at the general store undetected, and then on the following day he would sneak into the seating area with the others while the graduates gathered in the gymnasium. Ross’ plan was to surprise Patty when he would be the first one to stand and applaud at the conclusion of her speech as the valedictorian of her class.

Everything about the plan worked to perfection, and while Ross slouched next to Jessica so he wouldn’t be seen by Patty, she gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs. She didn’t miss the opportunity to pick on her older brother a little bit by reminding him that Patty was the valedictorian of a larger class of fifty-three graduates, and was therefore smarter than he was. Ross took the ribbing, both literal and verbal, in stride, while informing Jessica that her own class might be larger still. He said, “That should be considered additional motivation for you to strive for the same goal that both Patty and I have achieved.”

Ross was the first to stand at the completion of Patty’s speech, and applauded her effort. She beamed with delight at the sight of him, and kept her eyes fixed in his direction for the remainder of the ceremony. When the two of them finally had a chance to embrace at the conclusion of the commencement ceremonies, little doubt was left that they belonged together. A few well-wishers came by to see how Ross had been doing at the Naval Academy, but he quickly reminded them that this day belonged to Patty and the rest of the graduating class.

The two of them decided to forgo the camping trip with her classmates to Proctor Lake, because they wanted to use the extra time to get Patty ready for her great adventure. A few weeks later Ross and Patty boarded the bus together for the trip east. His summer leave would be over soon, and she was anxious to look around her new school in Maryland that was less than fifty miles away from Annapolis.

OVER THE COURSE
of the next three years, Ross continued to excel at the Naval Academy. During their second year together he had developed a stronger friendship with James and Shaun, but Davis Lee continued to create occasional problems. Unfortunately every time he returned to South Carolina, or spoke to his father on the phone, the ancestral hatred of others was reinforced. Not even the tragic event that befell upon Shaun during the summer after their second year at the academy could bring him around.

While on summer leave back in Boston, Shaun was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it cost him dearly. A stray bullet from a robbery at a convenience store had left him in a wheel chair for the remainder of his life, so his dreams of becoming an officer in the Navy came to an abrupt end. It was a shame that Shaun had found a way to escape his neighborhood, and was on the path to a more productive life, only to be accidentally shot while picking up a few groceries for his mother just two blocks from the family home. She probably would never forgive herself for sending him to the store, but Ross knew the random act of violence against her son was in no way Mrs. Jamison’s fault.

Ross, along with James and Davis Lee, had traveled to Boston and visited Shaun in the hospital after they had been informed of the event by their squad leader, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood to listen to any of Davis Lee’s immature bigotry about the neighborhood where the shooting had taken place. Shaun was happy to see both Ross and James, but let it be known that he was much more receptive to the idea of either one of them coming alone for future visits.

As graduation day approached, the three remaining roommates were each looking forward to their respective future postings. Many events of both a positive and negative nature in society had occurred during their four years at the academy, and there had been numerous discussions among the young men about several of them.

Heading the list of positive achievements for America, and frankly all of mankind, was the successful landing of ten men on the surface of the Moon. The historic event had first been accomplished by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission during July of 1969, and had been duplicated successfully on four of the five other attempts since that particular flight. The only miscue had occurred during the Apollo 13 mission when a near fatal explosion in the spacecraft while in flight made a landing on the Moon impossible. Fortunately for the astronauts, a large team of highly skilled and dedicated personnel at NASA were able to get them safely back to Earth. There was still one more Apollo mission to the Moon that was scheduled for December of 1972, but all other future missions had been cancelled due to budget constraints.

On the negative side of the human endeavor had been the tragic massacre at Kent State University in Ohio during May of 1970. While hundreds of college students were in the midst of a protest against the United States military presence in Vietnam, four of them had been killed, with several others wounded, by gunfire from the National Guard troops that had been sent in to subdue the unruly behavior. It had been an emotional event to say the least, and had stirred deep feelings and opinions from both sides of the argument during the discussions in their quarters.

In the most recent weeks, the discussions of worldly events had been overshadowed by talk of each man’s respective assignment, or posting, after graduation. Davis Lee, through the assistance of his powerful and well-connected father, would be stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. That way he would be out of harm’s way, and close enough to the family that they could maintain their influence over his thought process. Ross was again saddened by the fact that Davis Lee had actually made significant progress towards accepting other people, but that progress would soon be reversed by his family.