Skyscrapers
The Outsider
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Skyscrapers
Part of the Enfield Undrowned universe
© 2020, 2021 by The Outsider
Edited by Graybyrd
Distributed by Lucky 13 Media
All rights reserved
Cover photo by David Besh. This image is in the public domain in the and available on Pexels.com
The added text is the work of the author and no additional copyright is claimed.
Civil engineer Todd Rook feels he has little to show for his time on the planet other than a good job and a few possessions. It will take a former friend from his past to make him understand what he has, and what he still needs.
Tags: Romance, Military, Workplace, Alternate Timeline
See the man with the lonely eyes
Oh, take his hand, you’ll be surprised
– Supertramp
🏙
Skyscrapers
“So, Todd, what’s your first choice of branch again?” my friend Sam asked before sipping her beer.
We were two serious party animals: a pair of ROTC nerds trying to have a quiet chat at a fraternity party on a Saturday night.
“Corps of Engineers,” I answered without hesitation. With an excellent rating after Advanced Camp this past summer, I should get my first choice. “You?”
“Aviation, even though it’s a long shot.” She shrugged; Sam hadn’t done as well, but she still rated above average. “I’ll likely get my second choice, which is Ordnance; it’d be a good fit for a mechanical engineer, too. Of course, we’ll be managers more than anything.”
I nodded while sipping my own beer.
Sam and I met at our ROTC battalion’s welcome events during Freshman Orientation. I was a four-year scholarship cadet, and they expected me to be there; she was walking by outside and thought rappelling off the building looked like fun. Events during Orientation were suitable for drawing in some who hadn’t considered ROTC; some stayed on to receive commissions four years later. Sam was one such student.
Once classes started, we ran into each other again in Engineering 101. She stood out as a female engineering student and as a beautiful six-foot-tall female. We clicked as friends right away and decided to join a freshman study group together.
She asked me plenty of questions about the military and ROTC after our classes and early study sessions. I suggested she talk to my battalion’s MS1 instructor – the officer who taught the first-year ROTC class – if she was serious. She could take the first two years of ROTC without obligation.
The others in our study group shook their heads when Sam decided to join ROTC two months into our freshman year. While her parents weren’t exactly thrilled with her choice, Sam earned a two-year ROTC scholarship in December of our sophomore year. That paid for her junior and senior years and made her decision more palatable to them – slightly.
“Your parents stop freaking out yet?” I asked.
She shook her head. “They’d just about accepted that I’ll spend four years in the Army after graduation before September 11th happened. They started freaking out all over again after the attacks, and now they won’t relax until I get out.”
September 11th. That day two months ago changed more than the course of our Army careers. At the start of our senior years, our futures became much more specific in a very unpleasant way.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Mom’s not too happy, either. I’m not sure if Dad being a veteran helped her deal with the reality or made it worse.”
“And your dad?”
“More philosophical about it than she is, even if as a parent it has him nervous.”
“You once told me he’s the reason you want to join the Army, right?”