Flying. a Story About True Heroes by Paul John Hausleben

Author:Paul John Hausleben
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: stories about military heroes, short stories about military heroes, World War 2 heroes, short stories New Jersey veterans, New Jersey military heroes, stories of Paterson New Jersey veterans, stories of military radio operators
Publisher: God Bless the Keg Publishing LLC
Published: 2018-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

The Basket on the Wall

Originally Published in When Words Fall Short. The Military Collection

Published in the collection of short work by Mr. Hausleben Greetings from 182 Belmont Avenue. The Essential Collection

AS OF LATE, I FELT as if I visited this particular hospital, the least of any other hospitals that were on my pastoral rounds. Now, I had no actual data of which to base my analysis upon; it was just a strange feeling that I had. A feeling that came over my previously empty mind while I turned my jeep into the parking lot of the somewhat ominous building looming in front of me. While I passed the stone monument sign that proclaimed in large, block letters, “United States of America, Military Veteran’s Hospital, Fair River, New Jersey, I thought how it could be that my analysis of my visitations was indeed, quite correct.

Perhaps there were just not that many veterans left.

I parked my old wreck of a jeep, grabbed a few items from the rear seat, jumped out, made my way across the large parking lot, and headed towards the front door. While hustling across the parking lot, I was thinking the entire way, while I stared at the structure in front of me, how this building requires a major refresh. It was most likely from the 1930s eras or thereabouts, and the facility and grounds were less than inviting. It was large, ominous, and rather rundown, while towering into the sky above the foreboding urban neighborhood.

It was a dark, dull day in late November, and the wind blew fiercely at me while I hustled along. A few dry leaves played hide and seek with my feet. The only trees on the landscape twisted and protested at the force of the wind, their now bare limbs creaking and cracking a bit in the gusts.

Fighting against the strong head wind, I pulled the front door to the hospital open and listened while the hinges cracked and protested the movement. While opening the front door to the hospital, the thought occurred to me as to why we could not provide an improved atmosphere for our veterans. It seemed as if it would be the very least that we could do for their sacrifice and their service.

“Step over here, please, Father. Go through the metal detector here,” a federal police officer instructed me as he pointed at a walk-through metal detector stationed in the lobby.

“Please remove everything from your pockets and place them in the tray on the belt before you walk through the x-ray machine. Be careful that you do not get all of that hair and your beard stuck in the machine somewhere. Must’a lost your razor.”

While the officer stared at me rather dismissively and spoke to me sarcastically, I nodded, took out a hair tie, pulled my long hair back, and tied it behind my head. I took my wallet out of my suit jacket as well as the keys to my jeep. First, I placed the wallet and

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