THE WONDER YEARS
An Untold Story of the Great War
Dedicated to the memories of the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, and St. Maximillian Kolbe, anti-nazi martyr in Auschwitz.
Previously on 'The Wonder Years"(hee hee)
What was to happen to him? How was he supposed to survive in war? Horror stories of violations within the army suddenly entered his mind, and the minds of all five teenagers gathered there. How could this have happened to their own brother?
Tommy didn't want to wait around to find out.
He was going straight to Michelle about it.
PART TWO: "THIRTY-NINE LASHES"
Jumpin' from six to six,
Jumpin' from six to six,
Jumpin' from six to six; got herself in a heck of a fix.
-Colin James and the Little Big Band II 'Jumpin' From Six to Six'
Tommy sighed for what seemed like the millionth time today. He glanced around at his sister Michelle's new aged bohemian room within the palace, and sighed yet again.
"I'm really sorry, Tommy, there's absolutely nothing I can do." Michelle explained for what seemed like the millionth time today.
"But you work for the government!" Tommy cried, exasperated. "There's gotta be something you can do! Don't you hold ANY power?"
Michelle cocked an eyebrow. "No! I'm Charles' assistant, and he doesn't have anything near that kind of power. He's a scientific advisor."
"Then if you could simply ask him to adVISE the King to take Dryden out of the army, that would be really..."
"He's a scientific officer!" Michelle rejoined. "Not a..." She snapped her fingers, searching for the words. "Army...advisory...guy!"
Tommy and Michelle remained silent for a moment, staring at each other. Tommy eventually perked up his ears to the techno music spouting softly from Michelle's speakers. "What's this?"
"Plastic,"
"Guh?"
"It's techno. Jungle, new school, big beat." Michelle explained.
Tommy made a face. "It's weird."
Michelle let out a frustrated breath. "You are SO narrow minded." She lifted him up off her couch and steered him in the direction of the door.
"But you still haven't said that you'd-"
"FOR THE LAST TIME!" Michelle exploded. "There's absolutely nothing I can do! Look, I was devastated when I heard too, and I would give anything to get Dryden back, but it's not going to happen. Now go home, eat something, get some sleep."
"But I-"
"Tommy! If you want to do something about it, then raise money! Light a candle! Say a prayer! Juh!"
Tommy reluctantly backed out the doorway. "Okay, but if you hear anything about it-" The door slammed in his face. Tommy stood there, silent, staring at it for a moment. He turned and walked back down the corridor. "Well. That'd didn't go quite as well as I had hoped."
SIX MONTHS LATER.
In front of the palace in the city's square, was a fountain that flowed with clear blue water, splashing happily into the ivory and marble pool that it fed. It was on this fountain that Jules Hedgehog leaned, Bernie in his arms. They whispered to each other, giggling, occasionally pecking each other and proclaiming that they'd be 'together forever'.
Tommy stood close by, arms crossed, staring at the couple. He wore only one expression, one that said 'oh, please'. His right eyebrow was raised and his lips were curled in what wasn't a smile, nor a frown, it was somewhere between a sneer and a smirk, but more subtle.
James had officially joined the army. A little early, as the King needed all the able young soldiers he could get. Today his company was leaving for the fight. It was formal, one of these took place every month, and the King stood stories up on a balcony of the palace, speaking words that went in one ear and out the other for Tommy. Hey. If he sort of squinted and tilted his head, the Queen kind of looked like Hayley Jones, one of his favourite actresses.
Tommy sighed, glanced back at the lovers, over at his sister who seemed to be having a better time than he was with his friends, and wondered where Flash was.
He hummed something disinterestedly under his breath, waiting for what seemed like eternity for the formal address to end. When at last it did, Tommy sat up at the foot of the fountain and searched the sea of green-clad soldiers, looking for James. The figure that first stepped up to him, though, was not a hardened southern rabbit but a beauteous red furred young fox.
Ginny.
"Tommy?"
Tommy looked startled for a second. He and Ginny had become friends, to a degree, if you considered making snide remarks behind the teacher's back together friendship. This was the first time Ginny had spoken to him outside school.
"Uh...yeah?"
Ginny crossed one arm behind her back, stared at the ground and sort of rocked on her feet. "I was, um, sorta wondering, uh..will you be at Club Megacentral tonight?"
Tommy leaned back on the fountain. "Well, yeah, I guess. If I can, y'know get out of the house an' everything." He shrugged.
Ginny sort of nodded, as if deciding something. "Well, I went down by there a few days ago and it looked sort of...interesting...and I was thinking of going down tonight."
"That's great!" Tommy grinned broadly. "We can dance. Have something to drink. It'll be slammin'!"
Ginny gave a curly, shy smile, showing dimples that nearly made Tommy melt. "I've actually never danced swing before," She said modestly. "I just thought it'd be fun to go down..." She trailed off, shrugging.
"Well...all right then. I guess...I'll see you there?"
Ginny nodded tautly. "Ok then. I'll...see you."
"See you." Tommy and Ginny stood silently for a second. Ginny finally nodded again, and walked off.
Tommy's eyes followed her lovely back as she strode away. His mind was devoid of all thought as he watched her go. Finally Jules managed to get his attention by flicking him in the back of his head.
"Ow! What?"
"Hey, uh..." Jules stood behind him, Bernie's arms around him. "Have you seen Flash around?"
Tommy was caught off guard. "Well...no. He was supposed to have been here by now."
Jules nodded. "Yeah. I was just thinking it would be a shame for him to miss James' farewell."
"Speak of the devil," Bernie was glancing in the direction of the great line of young soldiers. James, looking very warmongering in his military uniform, was approaching them. He seemed warmer than usual as he said his goodbyes.
"Where's Flash?" He asked softly after giving Emma and her friends a farewell hug.
Jules shrugged. "I dunno. I guess wherever he is, it must be pretty important for him to miss this."
James nodded distantly; he, Bernie and Jules said their fare-thee-wells. When James came to Tommy the two stood speechlessly for a second, before Tommy spoke up.
"Um...well, James...I guess I should say I'm really kinda proud of you," Tommy shrugged. "Even though I'm, y'know, against that whole military industrial thing."
James smirked.
"And," Tommy averted his eyes. "Take care. I...get really worried about...stuff like this," His voice trailed off.
James understood. "Thanks, man. That's means a lot." He put a sturdy hand on Tommy's shoulder. "And I promise you, man, I'm bringing your brother back." Tommy's face lit up.
James glanced around at the rest of them. "Well. I better go. I hear they get really peeved when someone's late."
"You'll write us, right?" Bernie called as James headed towards the green-covered army jeeps.
"I'll try!" He called over his shoulder. But for now, James was doing what he had dreamed of for boyhood. Fighting for his land, his king. And Sandy.
| \ | \ | \ | \| \ | \ |
James met Sandy when he was twelve. She was fourteen. His elders, and friends, considered his immense crush on her slightly taboo, but he figured that when they were in their twenties, two years would no longer matter. Hell, when he was fifteen, two years would probably not matter. When he was thirteen he was sent to Megacentral to school- and when he was fourteen she was sent to war. James hadn't seen her since.
Now he stared out the window of the green and black army vehicle, speeding away from the shining city on the horizon, thinking only of her.
| \ | \ | \ | \| \ | \ |
That evening Club Megacentral was just not the same. While Tommy waited nervously (and nervously wasn't a word used often around Tommy) for Ginny to show, Emma brooded about Flash's disappearance from the farewell speech, and Bernie and Jules just...drooled over each other.
Not a one of them was dancing, which was curious for the four.
"Ginny!" Tommy called, out of the blue. She smiled and made her way past the frantic furs before seating with them.
"So!" Tommy drummed the table with his thumbs, showing that he had been storing up just a little bit of the hyper left over from that afternoon. "You gonna dance with me or no?"
Ginny looked surprised. "No!" She laughed. "I can't dance. It's so...I dunno." She looked out at the ballroom floor. "Dangerous and...frenetic."
"Hmm," Emma said thoughtfully. "You don't hear the word 'frenetic' too often, do you?"
"You guys go," Ginny gestured at brother and sister. "I'll watch,"
Emma and Tommy eyed each other for a moment, but not unkindly. They had grown up together, told each other everything, always stuck together at family reunions. For all intents and purposes they were best friends.
It's just that they hadn't danced with each other in YEARS.
"Well..." Tommy trailed off.
"I don't see why not," A comical grin crossed Emma's face. "That is, of course, unless you don't want to be outshone by a girl." She crossed her ankles and put her hands in her lap humbly.
That got Tommy going. He stood up and wordlessly grabbed Emma by the wrist, literally pulling her out onto the ballroom floor.
"Root beer and licorice," Their brother Brian sang out over the crowd's noise. "Fifty cents to spare. I'm going to the candy store gonna get my candy there." As Ginny watched, Tommy and Emma spun with all the grace of twirling, falling snowflakes. He spun her daringly, and she perfected each move with a shake of the hand or a twitch of her tail. Tommy tossed Emma high into the air, where she executed a dazzling horizontal spin before coming back down into his arms. A few more turns, a few more steps, and he was jumping over her head with the aide of her one hand.
But all Ginny could see was Tommy.
After the song, Tommy returned to the table as Emma went off to find another guy to dance with, preferably NOT one of her brothers.
A suggestive smirk on his lips, his twin tails swinging back and forth with the slow, calculated music, he held out an arm to Ginny.
"No," She said firmly, but that didn't stop a delighted smile creeping onto her face. But despite her vocal protests, she lifted herself out of the seat and she and Tommy went into the near center of the ballroom floor.
"Just follow my lead," he whispered to her. He cupped her hands in his and drew her closer until they were very near each other. She followed perfectly, swinging her hips gently, drawing her feet out and back in sliding motions, even her tail swung with his. Tommy smiled, as did she, and he was about to tell her how great a dancer she was, when something behind her caught his eye. There was Emma, dancing with a cat much bigger than she, must older.
Tommy knew that guy. Almost sixteen, two and a half years older than Emma herself, Jacel was a big ol' football player in Daemeon A. Tommy stared, no, gaped at Emma dancing with the guy, letting him run his hands over her belly and legs, and let himself feel a little horrified. Seconds later he caught himself, and realized that Emma could run her own life. It was really none of his business, and Jacel was a pretty nice guy, he guessed. Besides. Emma told him everything. If something was wrong, he'd know. Tommy didn't need to be protective of a girl like Emma. He had six other brothers to do that.
The music brought him back down to Mobius.
"Oh, when it comes to kissing I just gotta keep insisting, oh baby. You sure do swing! And when it comes to kissing I just gotta keep insisting, oh daddy. You are the king!"
Tommy and Ginny were really getting into this. Swinging in unison, holding each other appropriately, the occasional dip or spin, pull or kick. His entire image of her was blown. Ginny was so much more, now. She was so much closer, that much more within his reach. If he had ever felt real love, he thought, it was nothing like this.
"Oh, baby you're a genius when it comes to cooking up some chili sauce!" His brother Brian sang on the illuminated stage. A pretty young wolf, one of the trombonists, sang in response to him.
"But in the middle of the night, when the moon is shining bright, oh, you're the boss!"
Tommy wrapped his arms around Ginny's waist, and they stared into each other's faces, needless of words. Everything around them no longer seemed to exist. All there was was each other. Tommy licked his lips, slowly, and bent his head in slightly, leaning forward. Ginny closed her eyes, and for a fleeting instant their lips brushed...
"My God, Flash!" Jules' voice ripped them both out of the dreamworld they were just recently in. Tommy and Ginny stepped away from each other, minutely embarrassed, and Tommy's eyes searched the ballroom for Flash.
There he stood, with Jules and Bernie, his face bleeding and covered with tears.
Tommy shot a sidelong glance at Ginny, and the two quickly weaved passed startled furs to their friends.
"Flash! Oh my god, what happened to you?"
"Vic...Vickie..." Was all he managed to sputter through his panting.
"Your SISTER?" Jules cried. "She did this to you?"
Flash shook his head slightly, shrugged, and burst into tears again.
"Hey, give him some air," Chad, one of Tommy's brothers, a nineteen year old med. student, gently pushed the well-dressed dance-crazed hepcats away. He pressed a hand against the gash on Flash's forehead, and sopped up the blood with some napkins.
"Chad?" Tommy said bewilderedly. "What are you doing here?"
Chad shrugged as he gave Flash a bit of soda water. "Aced last semester. Came to party." He gently helped Flash to his feet. "It looks worse than it is. I'm gonna take you home, okay, Flash?"
"No!" Flash seemed pretty forceful about that. "I can't...please, just...no!"
"All right, shh," Chad tried to comfort Flash.
"Is...is he gonna be okay?" Emma asked nervously. Jacel was behind her, holding her hand consolingly.
"Yeah, he's gonna be fine." Chad assured her. "Just a bit shaken up about something."
"A bit shaken up?" Flash was quaking, his eyes wild. "Vickie...she-" He couldn't finish the sentence, but broke into tears again.
"We-we can take her home, right Chad?" Tommy said. "Please don't send him back to Vickie. I think she did this,"
Flash had by now buried his head in Chad's chest, quivering and bleeding, sobbing uncontrollably. Chad sighed. Their father, Winston, had been shot to death on the job by a criminal not three days before the triplets' eighth birthday. Tommy and Emma had been five and six, too young to understand the notion of death, but had a vague comprehension that their father would never come home again. Their mother, Maria was now aged and tired, and still raising five teenagers while putting another five children through University. The eldest children, Merlin, Brian, and the twins Michelle and Geoffrey, had long since moved out and gotten jobs. Caren and Liz, now 25 and 24, sort of ran the household now, taking care of their mother and looking after the kids. They both gave up their education so that Chad, Majik, Dryden and the others could go to school. Chad wasn't so sure that another, obviously emotionally distraught young boy added to the clan would be a very good thing for them, nor for their poor, worn out mother. But he saw the look on Emma and Tommy's faces, for their friend. They were probably all Flash had left in his life, after his father died.
"Fine," Chad sighed.
The ride home was silent. Chad felt weird driving all these people he didn't know around. Emma and some guy named Jacel, who looked much too old to be Chad's sister's boyfriend, rode up front with him. Emma sat on Jacel's lap, much to Chad's chagrin. He would have shot Jacel dirty looks and asked inappropriate questions, but the fact that Flash was unconscious and bloody in his backseat kept his mouth shut. Tommy was next to Flash, looking worried, being condoled by some fox girl Chad had never seen before. Had to admit, she was pretty cute. With a flash of disgust, Chad pushed the thought out of his mind, chastising himself. Next to the girl beside Tommy sat another girl, Bernadette, whom he remembered vaguely from the last party Emma and Tommy had thrown, when the latter had turned fifteen. She was leaning her head on Jules' shoulder, and he was stroking her hair.
Chad wondered how his little siblings and their friends came across love lives better than his. After all, he WAS a med. student, was he not?
Well. Maybe it was because he was still just a student.
After what seemed like ages they arrived at the old Prower residence. Chad silently carried the sleeping Flash in, Tommy and Emma walking beside him tremulously, Jules and their various new interests behind them.
The big house was silent. The triplets were out, Majik was spending the night at her sorority house, and their mother was most likely long asleep. Chad brought Flash and the kids down into the basement, where Caren and Liz were most likely watching a rented movie or late night TV.
And they were.
Chad gently laid Flash down on pull-out bed the Prowers always had open for one reason or another.
"Chad!" Liz was surprised, worried. "What happened to Flash? What are all these kids doing here?"
"It's all right," Emma said. "They're friends of ours."
"Flash was too upset to tell us what happened," Chad began dressing Flash's wounds. "He fell asleep in the car. All we know is that he truly doesn't want to go back home. Something really bad must've happened."
Tommy sat right by Flash, an extremely perplexed look on his face. Ginny sat beside him, and they put their arms around each other. The same with Jacel and Emma. Their older siblings shot each other a look, but that was all.
Flash slowly stirred and opened his eyes, confused. His shirt was off, his head bandaged, his various cuts and wounds treated. "Ung...Tommy?" He asked blearily.
"Hey man," Tommy said softly, smiling gently.
Flash shut his eyes tightly against the light. "Wha...happened?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," Jules knelt by his friend.
Flash studied Jules' face, his eyes ran across Tommy and Emma's expressions. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he sat right up. "Oh my God! Vickie!"
The others fell silent, gently awaiting an explanation.
"This...this morning," Flash gathered his thoughts together. "She was all mad about something. Her...best friend was sent to war. Her boyfriend had died in a bread riot or...one of the student protests or...something," He rubbed his bandaged forehead, cloudy thoughts fogging his mind. "She...couldn't find a job and couldn't find food and...we were going to be evicted..." Flash shook his head. "I think somehow she thought it was all my fault..."
Tommy was silent, taking it all in. Flash had had to quit school three months ago, there was no money left. The poor guy. Tommy wondered why everything bad had to happen to Flash.
"Then..." Flash's voice was shaky. "She just...just started yelling at me and throwing stuff and...hitting me." He stared down at himself. "I didn't know what to do,"
"Flash," Liz spoke gently, feeling for her siblings' friend. "It was good you got out of there. We'll call it in, you don't have to stay with her if you don't feel safe."
Flash laughed ironically, melancholy tainting his boyish face. "I couldn't if I wanted to. Vickie's dead."
Continued in the The Wonder Years Part Two: Thirty Nine Lashes B (only did this because my stupid notepad thingie couldn't take all the text :P ) (
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