We had just gathered in formation when the trucks that were going to take us to the firepower demonstration came roaring down the little street in front of the company area. Sergeant Ramos said “what the fuck” to Sergeant Lewis and strutted over to the lead truck. He tapped his swagger stick (the one with the 20 mm round mounted on the tip) against the side of the truck. His hat was pulled down low over his forehead so you couldn’t see his eyes. He talked for a while with the driver then came back, not as fast now, and said something to Lewis.
Lewis walked out in front of our formation and yelled, “Fall out. You’ve got 30 minutes.”.
I wandered over to the shady side of one the trucks and sat down with my back against a tire. It had a rubber smell. Oswald leaned against the other tire. Off in the distance I could hear another training company drilling - hup thrup threep four - left - left - left right left.
The cooling engine popped as I nodded off.
When I woke up something was different. I looked around at the others standing or lying down. It was like a French painting except instead of colorful insubstantial people there were drab insubstantial Marines. Oswald’s eyes were closed, his face relaxed in a frown. He was real.
I muttered. “Peaceful.”
“Say what?”
Oswald was awake.
“Nothing.”
He looked at me, grinning in that funny way he had. We were not friends. But we talked some. He was smarter than your average Marine. He said, “Naw - I heard you say, ‘peaceful’. What were you talking about?”
What the hell.
“When I woke up from my little nap I decided that I was peaceful.”
“Really” he said in his nasal southern accent, “how’s that?”
“It occurred to me that I didn’t give a shit. I didn’t give a shit about Sergeant Ramos, about the Corps, about you even. I had this little fucking transcendent moment. Know what I mean?”
“A rare moment of peace while we lie here waiting beside these trucks that will take us to a place where a variety of weapons will be demonstrated for our amusement?”
“That’s it.”
“No I don’t know what you mean.”
“You never had a fucking transcendent moment?”
Oswald snorted. “Sure. But my fucking transcendent moments aren’t exactly peaceful.”.
a novel of death and reincarnation by Tom Weathers
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An old man is transported by unknown agents back in time to relive his life and participate in history, becoming a ghost in his own machine and the machines of others. The events shift between 1944 and 2010, culminating in Dealey Plaza on November 23, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald is one of the characters.
The novel deals with action and adventure and fate and loss. The story is divided into four parts as described below...
The novel deals with action and adventure and fate and loss. The story is divided into four parts as described below...
T.G. 2010 – 1960
A first-person narrative in which T.G. Hamrick tells how he gets transported from old age to youth for purposes as yet unknown.
These events take place in Shelby, North Carolina, a town of about 20,000 souls in the western Piedmont region of North Carolina. (On a clear day the Appalachian foothills are visible from Sunset Cemetery which is where some of the REDUX action takes place. In other writing, the author refers to Shelby as the "Center of the Known Universe".)
T.G. has no idea why or how this translation in time has taken place. At first he wonders if he is dead. Then he wonders if he is crazy. However, after having some dreams that aren't dreams, he stops thinking and takes things as they come. He enjoys eating his mother's food and watching her operate her vacuum cleaner. From the standpoint of his old young self, his middle-age mother is disturbingly attractive. He enjoys target shooting with his friend Frankie and discovers he has turned into a really good pistol shot. He places a bet about who will be the 1960 Democratic presidential nominee.
He starts to think about what he will do in this new life - maybe stay in science at N.C. State instead of transferring to the Journalism program at Chapel Hill as he did in his previous life. But before that can happen he dies again.
These events take place in Shelby, North Carolina, a town of about 20,000 souls in the western Piedmont region of North Carolina. (On a clear day the Appalachian foothills are visible from Sunset Cemetery which is where some of the REDUX action takes place. In other writing, the author refers to Shelby as the "Center of the Known Universe".)
T.G. has no idea why or how this translation in time has taken place. At first he wonders if he is dead. Then he wonders if he is crazy. However, after having some dreams that aren't dreams, he stops thinking and takes things as they come. He enjoys eating his mother's food and watching her operate her vacuum cleaner. From the standpoint of his old young self, his middle-age mother is disturbingly attractive. He enjoys target shooting with his friend Frankie and discovers he has turned into a really good pistol shot. He places a bet about who will be the 1960 Democratic presidential nominee.
He starts to think about what he will do in this new life - maybe stay in science at N.C. State instead of transferring to the Journalism program at Chapel Hill as he did in his previous life. But before that can happen he dies again.
ABBY 2010
Mostly a third-person account of events in the life of Abraham (Abby) Burns. Abby performs out-of-character deeds (fighting a boy who is not exactly a bully and kissing a girl who may or may not be cruel). Then his world comes apart as it does for all those who embark on mythic journeys up creeks of shit. He discovers the secret of his father's laboratory.
T.G. is a mysterious peripheral character in these episodes. Reincarnated in his old body he tells his story to Colm, Abby's father. He offers Abby cryptic advice on how to survive the ordeal to come. At the end he explains to Abby and April (the girl who may or may not be cruel) what he knows - which isn't all that much. Then T.G. continues his own mythic quest.
T.G. is a mysterious peripheral character in these episodes. Reincarnated in his old body he tells his story to Colm, Abby's father. He offers Abby cryptic advice on how to survive the ordeal to come. At the end he explains to Abby and April (the girl who may or may not be cruel) what he knows - which isn't all that much. Then T.G. continues his own mythic quest.
LEE 1941 - 1959
These are brief first-person recollections by various unwitting participants of encounters with Lee Oswald, from the time he was a toddler until he was in the Marines.
Although T.G. does not show up in these accounts, he is in the background, a small voice egging people on.
Although T.G. does not show up in these accounts, he is in the background, a small voice egging people on.
ALICE 1944 - 1963
In these stories, T.G. returns as first-person narrator. He encounters Alice, a childhood sweetheart who has also become unstuck in time. Embodied in their 20-year old selves they sit on the porch of his parent's house and compare notes about their lives, deaths and dreams. He tells her how he tracks Oswald; she tells him about Kennedy.
After Alice disappears into the night, T.G. robs a bootlegger to get money to finance stock market tips received in a dream that is not a dream. He buys a motorcycle and gets an apartment. He has encounters with Oswald, maybe sees Alice in a crowd in Moscow (where the smell is a mix of cabbage, body odor and cigarettes).
At the end there is Dealey Plaza.
After Alice disappears into the night, T.G. robs a bootlegger to get money to finance stock market tips received in a dream that is not a dream. He buys a motorcycle and gets an apartment. He has encounters with Oswald, maybe sees Alice in a crowd in Moscow (where the smell is a mix of cabbage, body odor and cigarettes).
At the end there is Dealey Plaza.
Sample Chapters
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2009
(13)
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June
(13)
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Jun 07
(13)
- 1 - waking up
- 4 - going for walk
- 11 - breakfast with mother
- 14 - shooting with Frankie
- 17 - dreams that were not dreams
- 23 - in fluttering light
- 28 - someone watching
- 33 - many worlds
- 41 - fucking transcendent moment
- 43 - sculptured wall of water
- 48 - broad outlines
- 53 - on Dumaine Street
- 54 - Dealey Plaza
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Jun 07
(13)
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June
(13)
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