Saga of Chief Barking Loincloth: Book 2 (eBook)

In Search of Forever

Larry Sargeant (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
208 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-8948-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Larry Sargeant's autobiographical questioning of life's essence is told through his protagonist, Alan Bentley. Alan left the cocoon of family four days after high school graduation in 1960, hoping to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming legendary in the mold of real life and fictional heroes. Following three years of army life marked by inconsistent, sporadic, risky, impulsive and often unintentionally hilarious adventures, he returned to his childhood home burdened by a sense of failure. Beset by challenging relationships, national tragedies, and society's changing mores, his quest had floundered. He questioned his motivation, the criteria for heroism, and his potential for success. An unusual epiphany in 1968 inspired him to re-examine his continuing romantic misadventures, inconsistent career and life choices, numerous near-death experiences in the air and on the ground, and often questionable behavior. With a revised sense of urgency, he resurrects the search for his inner hero in the context of a finite forever. Will he succeed?

About the Author Larry Sargeant was born in Plattsburgh, NY in 1942. Immediately after graduating from high school in Mooers, NY as class valedictorian, he enlisted in the US Army. His military assignments included stints as a bandsman, a tech school instructor, and chief instructor and training officer for the Ft. Gordon, Ga. Sport Parachute operation. He has enjoyed a variety of careers, including soldier, corporate buyer, professional skydiver, furniture salesman, small-time carny, shoe designer, factory manager, and marketing director. He earned a BS in secondary English education in 1972 and a Masters degree in 2011, enabling him to teach high school English from 2005 through 2017. In addition to his debut novel, The Saga of Chief Barking Loincloth, he has written special occasion poetry, numerous musical comedies performed as Rotary scholarship fund raisers. and short stories for use in his English classes. Sargeant retired from teaching in 2017 and resides with his wife, Joni, in Little Falls, NY.

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Larry Sargeant provides autobiographical questioning of life's essence through his protagonist, Alan Bentley, the second son of a "e;greatest generation"e; mother and father. Alan has grown up during the post WWII era of euphoria, with many real (Abraham Lincoln, Lindy, Ike) and fictional (Superman, Batman) heroes. His adolescence is filled with questions about the meaning of life. He asks himself can a person establish and reach goals to justify his existence while enduring the pitfalls of innocent ignorance and impatient curiosity in an inept search for his inner hero? In Book 2 Alan resurrects his documenting of that search from 1963 as he somewhat reluctantly returned to boyhood digs that he had escaped from in 1960. Having experienced many challenges in his quest for heroism, he questions his commitment to that goal as a result of setbacks and irrelevant detours. Returning home had reinforced his sense of failure and, while fighting an inclination to accept defeat, he begins to symbolically tread water. The only perceptible changes in his status after a three-year absence are being older and finally having a room of his own. Alan had suspended his journal-writing, but fortunately continued to scribble notes about events and experiences, stuffing them into shoe boxes in case he ever decided to resurrect his journal writing. In 1964, after determining that, despite frequent renewed misfires, perseverance was his only choice, he established a Plan To Live Forever, his personal PTLF. He experiences an unusual epiphany that gives rise to the concept of a finite forever, inspiring him to adjust his goals with revived zeal and a new sense of urgency. In 1974 he resurrected his journal from his saved notes. Again, his documentation reveals a plethora of misfires and catastrophes that ran a gamut of highs and lows, laughter and tears, excitement, and flirts with death. Self-destructive behavior, lust-related threats from angry husbands and boyfriends, risky experiments with skydiving equipment, and flawed romance-centered decisions, frequently challenge his PTLF. Alan attempts to reconcile his altered concept of forever with his goals, achievements, and beliefs, by narrowing his focus to unmask his inner hero. Will his revised path and renewed determination enable him to finally find the hero-centered success and happiness he seeks?

Textauszug

Plan of attack

Ten years ago, I completed Book One of my journal. Then, I guess I got lazy. Though I regularly made notes to address events in my life, I did not bother to make journal entries. I can classify my behavior with three phrases from my high school Latin class: Tempus fugit, humanum est errare, and alea jacta est. After my decade long breather, I’ve decided that it’s time to resume my journal writing. I’ve also vowed to myself that I will become more regular in my effort to objectively analyze my life’s journey (my die is cast). I plan to divide the remainder of my life into twenty-five-year segments and provide a report card grade for each decade. For the slightly longer period covered in book one, 1945-1963, I’m giving myself a B minus. Here’s my logic: Positives include having had the courage to escape the established cocoon to become a soldier two weeks before my 18th birthday; facing the big world despite limited real life experiences; dealing with crises by relying on truth and personal conviction; and overcoming natural apprehension to become an expert skydiver.

On the negative side, I had reneged on a promise of marriage; engaged in behavior that did not meet my standard for morality; violated intra-friendship rules of conduct; frequently drank to excess; and often performed my military duties with less than total enthusiasm or commitment. The skydiving element provided my justification for a grade above C. Obviously, I’m still a work-in-progress. 1963 to 1988 thus becomes the period for Book Two of my planned three book journal.

To bring my journal up to date, I’ll select a few events from each year until I’ve reached this year, 1974. I’ll return to regular journal writing, continuing through 1988 when my second 25-year session ends. My intent remains to chronicle my quest for heroism while remaining objective in my observations - neither too generous in self-praise nor too severe in my criticism, acknowledging that as a human, I am entitled to my mistakes. Aware of the increasing rapidity with which time passes, I know that the days allotted for my quest are limited.

I’ll have to make a judgment as to whether I’ll be doing anything worth writing about should I survive long enough to consider additional 25-year reports. What point would there be in writing what no one cares to read?

So let the journal be resurrected starting here and now.

The Return, June 1963

Much has been written about returning home only to find that the home of one’s memory no longer exists. In my case, I knew that I had some time ago sabotaged the main reason for my reluctance to leave in the first place. My quest to overcome Sharon’s resistance to my carnal inclinations had failed! Our steady relationship had been mostly a chronicle of my effort to overcome her slowly eroding resistance to sex. Though I knew that my subsequent decision to call off wedding plans was the right choice, knowing that someone else achieved what I could not was saddening, sort of like losing a puppy. I also had to admit that much of the quasi-heroic behavior during my monomyth could be regarded as self-serving, undertaken to prop up a needy self-image, rather than to benefit my fellow man. I had missed my parents and siblings, but the inability to generate excitement over the restoration of those relationships was a bit troubling.

As the bus slowed for the Plattsburgh terminal, I realized that I was already beginning to regret my return. I involuntarily found myself revisiting army years through rose-colored memory. Episodes of adventure, wild-abandon, and humor blocked out the less desirable elements of military existence, such as being subject to the control of others whose intelligence is suspect. There now existed an uncertainty that was, at best, perplexing.

The diesel bouquet of an idling Trailways bus reminded me of numerous lonely terminals visited during the past three years – Penn Station, Augusta, Atlanta, Birmingham, D.C., St. Louis, San Francisco, Albany. This really didn’t feel that different. I walked to the side of the bus to await retrieval of my duffel. As the driver struggled with the whale-sized bag (apparently unmoved by the sacrifice for our democracy it represented) he muttered an obscene remark about punishing its inconsiderate owner.

I hadn’t revealed my ETA to anyone. My plan was to walk to my older brother Billy’s apartment several blocks from the bus station to beg for a ride to my parents’ house some 25 miles north of the city. Should that not be offered, I would hitch-hike, an undesirable option due to the late hour and remote location of my pre-army residence. Family reaction to the surprise aspect of my return held some potential to make it seem sweeter.

With my overweight duffel balanced on my shoulder, I eventually reached Billy’s place. Linda, my sister-in-law, answered the door and despite her residual dislike for me, feigned delight at my unexpected arrival and called for my older brother. His welcome was sincere but subdued, likely in deference to his wife’s negative opinion of my character as it pertained to her friend, Sharon, for my wimping out of marriage and, still, after three years, my rumored (but factual) high school infidelity.

They apologized for the lengthy hike I had undertaken to reach their apartment, especially when my brother realized the mass and weight of my belongings.

"You should have called from the bus station, Al. I would have picked you up!"

"The pay phone was out of order. The bus station is kind of dumpy.”

This presented an opportunity for me to ask for a ride to Mom and Pop's. Billy looked to Linda whose vaguely reluctant nod approved his offer of transportation. Later, during the ride, I reflected on the interaction as we headed north, deciding that a degree of cynicism had affected my interpretation of both Linda’s and Billy’s reaction to my arrival. The offer of transportation was a brotherly move and even Linda’s effort to be welcoming should have impressed me as worthy of appreciation. In the warmth of Billy’s Ford, fatigue almost instantly rendered me involuntarily unconscious.

“We’re here!”

Through sleepy eyes, the family homestead appeared smaller and more “rustic” than I remembered. After extracting my belongings from the trunk, I couldn’t help but bask in the joyful reaction to my unannounced arrival. Despite my minimal enthusiasm for returning, I found myself reveling in an outpouring of happiness because I was back and safe, their returning hero and potential source for tales of adventure and bravery. Eight-year-old Glen was happier than a pig in poop to have his one-time idol back, and Elaine, now five, was just plain giddy! Mom hugged me while shedding a tear of joy, and even Dad embraced me.

As we celebrated my return, I’m sure that both Mom and I were remembering that sad day of my departure three years earlier, detailed extensively in Book One of my journal.

I hugged Billy and thanked him for the ride. He backed from the driveway and departed for Plattsburgh.

The bedroom I had shared with my younger brother, Gerry, was now mine alone. I had finally attained something I had longed for throughout my adolescence and three years in the army, a room of my own! It felt odd that, except for that small improvement, I was right back to where I had been three years ago!

Re-establishing a Home

One of my primary goals was to overcome pervasive remorse for the loss of the former appendage, Sharon. Another was to render my parents less inclined to interfere in my personal affairs than when I lived here before. After all, I was now a veteran and about to turn 21. In neither effort was I entirely successful.

My reality was that I had just completed three years in the army. My experiences were varied. As a member of the Ft. Gordon, Georgia, Signal Corps Band, I had played and marched in countless parades and for weekly assemblies of incoming signal corps students, performed at special ceremonies including those for President Eisenhower, and participated in civilian musical productions in Augusta, Georgia. I taught electrical instrument repair and was a platoon sergeant. My most significant service was as the chief training officer for the Ft. Gordon Skydivers. In my mind, I had earned the respect of those under my command and even those to whom I reported.

Despite the lack of combat opportunities, I had asked to be included in an invasion during the Cuban missile crisis. If nothing more, I felt that I was owed some degree of respect for my three years of military service. At least from my parents!

Pop, now in his mid-40s, was still teaching 5th grade and operating his auto-body repair shop. We agreed that I would work for him through the summer for $50 a week with room and board. For some reason, though the work was demanding, I often felt guilty accepting the pay, because I saw how hard my dad worked for it, and how, out of concern for his customers, he often undercharged.

Without question, I knew that I had to get back in the sky. Being unable to do that would be akin to quitting. The very next morning, I borrowed the family car to visit the county airport in Plattsburgh to ask about the location of a jump operation in the area. Swanton, Vermont, about 40 minutes from home, was suggested as a possibility. On Saturday, July 6, I threw my skydiving rig into the car and drove to Swanton to find the airport. A Cessna 170 with the right door removed was...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.1.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-8948-9 / 9798350989489