L I B R A R Y

{What will the world see this day; children falling out of the sky?}  He reflected upon Tommy and made an assessment of his own thoughts.  Why did he think of Tommy as his son?   Was it because Tommy was the youngest?  He remembered his contemplated strategy to keep all the boys alive through the jump.  Tommy was the key; the main focus of his strategy.  If Tommy, who was five years old, could make the jump safely, then the rest of the unit could take care of themselves respectively.   That was his plan.  That was what he had prayed for all the previous week prior to the jump.  That was what he had been fasting for.  All he had to do was to focus on Tommy.  {I can’t let anything distract me.}
 
He knew the plane would not take flight unless he gave the command.  And he knew he had to give that command, but what was stopping him?  Did he even know the command?  He turned his gaze to his right to see a grown soldier place another child in his plane.  As he observed, he contemplated, {who is that child and what is she doing in my plane?}  Then he reflected on the fact that he referred to her as a she.  His assessment was inconclusive.
 
He looked to the grown soldier who had placed the child in his plane and contemplated.  {That soldier is Latino}  Until then, the General believed that he had been the only Latino at the academy.  Then he looked to the child and contemplated for a third time.  What ethnic background pertained to that child?  He noticed her, sporting braids, reminiscent of cornhuskers and made an additional assessment. 
 
{Only black kids wear that hair style}, thought the General.  {She’s not black.}  Or is she as one of those Mexican-American dudes who think they’re African-American?  She wasn’t a dude.  Is she as one of those privileged American born children, whom because their parents have money, think they can do whatever they want without having to pay the price of earning their way through life?  {Not in my Unit.} 
 
Then the grown soldier geared up the female child and she looked different in the General’s eyes, especially when her helmet was placed upon her head.  {That is a soldier.  But still, no one told me I should be expecting an extra…man…person…soldier…or is she my back up?  She’s definitely not my replacement.}

Young Joseph was at West Point Military Academy on a plane bound for a parachute drop when he first saw Michelle. She was the only girl in the Unit. Joseph the Time Traveler had brought her to him then. She was to be his wife.

 

Unfortunately Joseph the Time Traveler was seventeen while Michelle was seven then; ten years younger, an age difference Joseph deemed inappropriate for a relationship of marriage. Joseph was going to use the Time Capsule to diminish that age difference. He was twelve at West Point, five years older than Michelle as the Time Traveler had taken Michelle out of her time frame and had placed her five years into her future, and five years into his own past and said to her, “I want you in my life. I want you as my wife. Marry me.”

 

And attendance at West Point, became the present then for them both, in 1979. Joseph the Time Traveler had taken her home for three years. He then brought her back, as though she had never left, five minutes past present time. In between training at the Academy, Michelle turned ten. The age difference between Michelle and Academy Joseph was then two years as he had turned twelve. They each had had a birthday at the Academy.

 

Young Joseph loved her because in all, the Academy, there was no other like him but her. He is Spanish as she is too. Young Joseph felt they belonged together despite the excuse of being of the same race as he so felt. They however were unaware of each other’s feelings for she wouldn’t tell him, as the Time Traveler had assigned her to make him fall for her without her revealing the source. He also kept himself hidden from himself. There was someone else that loved him as well though he did not know of her emotions.