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Back The Preserve
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  6. 1.
  7. 2.
  8. 3.
  9. 4.
  10. 5.
  11. 6.
  12. 7.
  13. 8.
  14. 9.
  15. 10.
  16. 11.
  17. 12.
  18. 13.
  19. 14.
  20. 15.
  21. 16.
  22. 17.
  23. 18.
  24. 19.
  25. 20.
  26. 21.
  27. 22.
  28. 23.
  29. 24.
  30. 25.
  31. 26.
  32. 27.
  33. 28.
  34. 29.
  35. 30.
  36. 31.
  37. 32.
  38. 33.
  39. 34.
  40. 35.
  41. 36.
  42. 37.
  43. 38.
  44. 39.
  45. 40.
  46. 41.
  47. 42.
  48. 43.
  49. 44.
  50. 45.
  51. 46.
  52. 47.
  53. 48.
  54. EPILOGUE
  55. AFTERWORD
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Kanani’s fellow valley dwellers came for him the next day and led him up the old steep road and out of the valley. They put him in the back of a pickup truck for Hilo. From there they would put him on an interisland steamer and then a sea-bound merchant ship, all with full papers in his name, since it was certain he would never be exposed for what he’d endured at The Preserve.

No one would ever believe it. No one would believe him if he talked about it. That alone made him no threat. Talking about it would only prove him insane.

On his long journey back by ship and then by rail and thumb, his dead old friends never visited him, nor did his nightmares. Lett wondered if this meant the war was finally over for him. Could it mean that his troubles were healed, that he finally had his cure? Sometimes this worried him more than anything. Yet his lovely vision of Heloise waiting restored him, just as it once had when he was on the front line. And only then did he realize just how much he had truly missed his Heloise. Seeing her again was like discovering something elementary to existence, as if a whole color had vanished from the spectrum of light yet had now returned.

EPILOGUE

Jock Quinn was killed in 1950, one of the early American casualties of the Korean War. He wasn’t a Marine then, for his beloved Corps would not take him back. But General MacArthur’s US Army had. An initial brief obituary labeled Jock a hero for storming an enemy Communist stronghold to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. The truth came out years later, once the records were finally declassified under pressure from journalists and victims’ families. Jock had seen US air strikes using napalm incendiary bombs on innocent Korean refugees. He had witnessed US troops being ordered to gun down civilians. He couldn’t take it anymore. During an air raid he entered a cave and attempted to pull out the civilians inside being asphyxiated by the fumes. Women and children. His fellow GIs, green and rattled and ready to crack, were shooting them dead when they exited the tunnels. Friendly fire caught Jock. Or, maybe he was just in the way.

AFTERWORD

The story of Wendell Lett is fictional, as is The Preserve itself, but I have plucked certain characters and events from established historical record.