Letters to a Rose
by
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We made it, Rosie. I don’t know where we found the strength, but we had a boisterous celebration in that chopper. Putnam and I hugged each other, and Hayman, flat on his back, kept yelling, "Fuckin’ A!...Fuckin’ A!...FU-A!..." But our joy quickly faded as we passed into theclouds and that terrible mountain became a tiny dot on the horizon. An eerie silence came over us, drowned by the thumping of the chopper’s rotors. Our eyes fell on Clairborne’s lifeless body. We were stunned by confusion as the shock was finally settling in. "He knew it," Putnam finally hollered over the din.He put his hand on Clairborne’s face. "J.C. dreamed he was going to die over here." Until then, it had slipped my mind that CWO Clairborne, acting very peculiar the night before our ordeal, mentioned something to me about not making it out. Apparently, he told Putnam, too. We remained silent for the rest of the trip until Soc Trang came into view. Putnam sat with his eyes closed, tears leaking out. Hayman, now overcome by pain, also had his eyes tightly shut. I stared ahead, seeing nothing. It was most remarkable, Rosie. In the heat of our ordeal I had forgotten, but I suddenly reached in my pocket and found the silly Mickey Mouse doll you gave me. He’s been with me since he got here. I pulled him out and brushed the blood off his face. We won our war, Rosie. The politicians will never care, but we won. I’m coming home. I’m going to make it, of that I’m certain; I pray you will hold forgiveness in your heart for what I’ve had to do to get back. Let’s pray God will understand. . .
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About the Book
"Letters to a Rose" is a quickly paced, contemporary narrative that offers a glimpse of the latter 20th Century through the eyes of a child of the Sixties. At the center of this teetering universe is the story''s Everyman narrator, who paints vivid images of a troubled generation through entries into his personal journal and letters written to ''Rosie,'' his childhood sweetheart and lifelong friend. At one moment, readers find themselves moving casually through the serene waters of boyhood innocence, then shifting to the sudden, head-swirling terror in the steamy jungles of Deeply rooted throughout this glimpse of a unique time in American history is the fragile nature of two human hearts beating a perfect rhythm in a dissonant generation that never quite found itself.
About the Author
Colorado native Kevin Cahill is the author of Sand Creek, Letters to a Rose, The Last Café, Knights of Harvest, and Simon Sez.