Jono's Journey Home Ch. 01

He nodded in the affirmative, "Jono, why did you take this assignment?"

"It's the only way I can make enough money to save the last piece of the old homestead."

"I'll always be here for you buddy. If you need to talk you know where my door is."

"Thank you." I pointed at the now dried and set stain on his shirt and smiled. "Sarge, you need to go change, soak that, and get your butt back to the banquet before you are missed. Thanks again for being here. Really, I will be okay. I just need a little 'alone' time. By the way Sarge which site did you get?"

"Riyadh," he said with disgust, "I hate being this close to the brass, and I hate wearing my blues, almost as much as I hate the fucking heat."

"Sas, if I had your fruit salad (ribbons and medals) I would wear my blues every day. As to the posting, ask Captain Nelson, maybe he'll give you my posting to Al Kharj." He smiled and walked down to his room as I entered mine. I was almost overjoyed to see that the dry cleaning was already in the room. Who knew they had a "one hour dry cleaners" in the hotel. Sadly the washables were not ready, but there was a note promising they would be there in the morning.

I flipped through the TV channels mindlessly. After about an hour or so, I figured I may as well go to bed to rest for tomorrow's dramas. Damn, my pajamas are at the cleaners, "fucking dog." Well there is at least a fluffy bathrobe in the bathroom. I was just about to strip off my uniform and jump in the shower when I was disturbed by a knock at the door.

I opened the door to see Captain Hassan standing there. I blushed in shame and dropped my gaze. I started to apologize for my behavior. His hand came up and cupped my cheek, "Your sergeant explained all. Sergeant Gilmore has also informed me you appreciate having time in nature when you are troubled. This hotel has a wonderful cafe in the arboretum. Would you care to join me for some tea before bed?"

Just about everyone is bigger than I but, damn. This man was so tall and muscular; he practically filled the whole door frame. The look of compassion on his face took me off guard. He reminded me so much of my papa, right down to the narrow well-trimmed beard. I told him, "Thank you Sir, I would love to have some tea."

We took the elevator down to the lobby and walked out to the cafe in the covered garden. Tables were separated by banks of what looked and smelled like jasmine vine. The smell was overwhelming. Throw in a bit of magnolia, with a touch of jacaranda, and it could have been home. Eyes were turning as we strolled through the garden to our seats. As we approached he heard my stomach growl. With my outburst I didn't get much dinner. The waiter approached and the Captain placed an order for both of us. I again apologized for disrupting the dinner. He looked at me and said, "There is a limit to how much pain any man can endure. You have borne your share and then some. You stayed longer than most would have in your place. When you realized you could not handle any more, you removed yourself with skill, tact, and grace. You did not make a scene." He put his hand in the center of my chest. "I believe your heart to be strong, and ruled by a wise head."

The waiter approached with our tea and a small plate of kleeja. I smiled, "Momma and me used to make these for Papa. He would always pull me onto his lap and feed me the first one. Thank you; it is such a happy memory." The Captain smiled picking one up and touched it to my lips. I let it slip through, until his finger touched my lower lip. At that point he released the cardamom cookie into my mouth. When I had swallowed, I closed my eyes and I pulled my lower lip into my mouth to get the last bit of oil film that remained on it. Again I said thank you. We sat and drank our tea and talked for hours. He told me of how he lost his mother last year. He could not imagine how it would be to lose his entire family as I had. I told him how my Uncle Jack adopted me after the death of my parents. I told him how happy he took me as his boy, but that I was annoyed with the Banks name. "Uncle Jack didn't trust Papa much and kept him at arm's length. Sad to say Jack was a bit of a bigot, I once overheard him talking to one of the other ranchers. It turned my stomach when he said he didn't mind selling 'them' horses, but they had no right taking his baby sister. It was as if he didn't accept half of me. When he took Papa's name from me it was as if he was calling me a bastard. Don't get me wrong I love my uncle, I just didn't care for how he treated people." The look on the captain's face was perfect. It was not one of surprise, or pity, it was full of compassion and care.

"Did I hear you correctly at dinner when you said you spoke Persian and so many other languages?"

I smiled telling him, "My family was well known for our line of horses. In addition to Papa's jewelry business, he was also an importer of fine furnishings, and very active in the charities sponsored by his mosque. He would often take me on buying and charity mission trips with him. It was as if each time we went somewhere new, I came home with a new language or dialect. As far as the Persian, that was a gift from Merhadad and Afsoon Ghorbani. They ran the group home I moved to after Nan passed. They escaped Iran after Shah Pahlavi fled. In Iran he was a professor of archaeology and she was a Veterinarian. Now he was forced to be an elementary school teacher." I had to explain what a group home was, "It's where DCF puts the 'difficult' to place children. Our home was filled with special needs kids. Either physically or emotionally damaged children. I was very lucky, our families had not only been neighbors, and we were very close. They asked DCF for me. The Ghorbani's treated all of us like we were their own children. I was also glad they were horse people too, their family bred Arabian horses, and their line is well known like ours was. Uncle Jack was a thoroughbred breeder. He thought it was silly, I liked the Arabians better. Still, he and dad got together and bought my first horse Fajera from Merhadad for my seventh birthday."

"Because I skipped three grades during primary school, I graduated high school at 14. My family's estate was divided between the taxes, and the hospitals for both my care and then Jack's care. All I have been able to save is the old homestead. Most people tell me to just sell it and use the proceeds to go to college. I just can't, its home, it's all I have left. Sadly, I am still in jeopardy of losing it. After the bills from the estate were settled, we didn't have enough money for me to go to college. I was too young to get a job so, I would help Afsoon cook and care for the other children who looked at me as their big brother." He laughed; no doubt at the thought of me being big anything. "I would also help out around the ranch, just like I helped out on my father's. In exchange for my work around the ranch, the Ghorbani's kept the taxes current on the homestead. When I enlisted I couldn't keep asking them for help." We continued talking about our careers; he started poking at my ribbon rack asking what each of my three ribbons meant. I laughed, "The one on the end is the worthless one, it is the BMTS ribbon every enlisted graduate of basic military training gets one. Logic dictates that if you're wearing the uniform, you graduated boot camp." He poked the green one "I told him that is my small arms marksmanship ribbon; the star in the middle says that I am an expert both in long rifles and handguns. The last one is my Honor Graduate ribbon. That is the one I'm proud of because it says I graduated in the top of my class and academics and deportment." The Captain asked me why Vanessa calls me Taz on occasion. "That is my call-sign sir. When I get on a task that must be done, I can become target fixated. I move quickly until it gets done. I have been told I occasionally bump into things in this mode." I was yawning as I saw we were alone in the cafe.

"I am sorry young one, I have kept you up till late in the night and you will have a long day tomorrow. We should get you to bed."

"Oh yes, I had almost forgotten, my bathrobe is calling." He looked at me confused, "My pajamas had not come back from the laundry yet and I don't like sleeping in the buff. I'll probably be sleeping in the bathrobe. If I can sleep at all." He laughed as I continued, "Thank you sir, for salvaging what could have been a horrible night." He pulled me close until my face was buried in his chest and hugged me. I could feel his strong slow heartbeat; it was regular as my metronome. Part of it felt odd, but I felt safe and very cared for. He walked me to the elevator and wished me good night saying, "Welcome home to 'OUR' Kingdom little one."

As the elevator door closed I saw him pick up the front desk courtesy phone and dial.

When I entered the room I saw the light on my phone letting me know there was a message waiting. It was Vanessa demanding I call her as soon as I get back to my room. I dialed, "Hey Nessa."

"Where the hell have you been Jono?!? First night in country and you bust bed check? Do you know how worried I've been? We have standing orders not to go out alone. Damn straight not out at night either. The captain is pissed. You had better have a fucking good explanation!"

"Nessa, I did not leave the hotel. Captain Hassan came to apologize for upsetting me and ensure I was okay. He took me out for mint tea and cookies. I told him it was my issue, not his. And how neither he, nor his people did anything wrong. We talked for a while about my family, and how he lost his mother. We just talked and I was never alone." She continued pressing me for more information for about 30 minutes.

"Oooooh, what a slut puppy you are! You are quick. In-country less than a day and you've already had a date. I may just have to reassess that whole shy thing you got going on. Clearly, I am gonna have to keep a better eye on you!"

"Nessa enough, it wasn't a date. He just felt bad that I left the banquet and wanted to make sure I was okay. Plus I think he could do better than hitting on an under developed virgin who looks more like a Q-tip."

There was a knock at the door. The bellhop announced, "Package for Mr. Banks." I took the fancy blue shirt box with a gold embossed logo on it and thanked him.

Vanessa asked, "Who the hell is sending you a package at one in the morning."

I opened the box. There was a card sitting on top of a pair of jade green silk pajamas and a royal blue pair under those. The card read, "The dog sends his apologies. Goodnight Jono."

"Jono's got a boyfriend... Goodnight pal. Don't worry about Benny and Sas. I'll smooth things out with them. The Captain wants me to call him when you get in. Don't forget to set an alarm for 6, so we can get some breakfast before we head in for orientation, Slut Puppy." With that final teasing jab we hung up.