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08-25-2010, 04:58 PM | #1 |
The truth is liberating.
Join Date: May 2010
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 2,422
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******************************** Premise: So I've decided to post up some short fan-fiction for this forum just for kicks. The Beginnings Stories are not necessarily an origins story but more of a back story for some characters. These stories take place long before G.I. Joe and focus on the individual characters and how they became part of not the G.I. Joe world, but the characters that flourish in the Joe Universe. Some of the stories may have already been put to print or related in other media. My goal isn't to overlap nor undo any other written stories. But to expand on them. Perhaps give some more insight or the possibility that long before the legend started, they were people with story to tell. These are their stories... **************************************** Beginnings: Cooper "Low-Light" MacBride In a single bed huddled under his blankets, in his bedroom of the single-story, ranch-style home in Crosby, North Dakota cringes a boy who has nothing but fear on his mind. Just outside his room and down the hall he can hear his father yelling at his mother for things she has no control over. The boy sinks deeper into his blankets as he hears the sound of breaking glass followed by his mother’s whimpers. His bedroom door is open only slightly with the light from hall being the only illumination in his room. His father’s drunken screams terrify the boy. He knows that it’s only a matter of time before his father comes stumbling in to the boy’s room. And although not asleep, his father will “wake” the boy up and try to explain his actions against the boy’s mother. All the while, she will sit in the big chair in the television room, covering her fresh bruises from the beating that she endured during his onslaught. His mother has threatened to leave before. They talked about going to someplace like New Mexico where they could be free and far away from the abuse of his father. But for as many times as she has packed their bags, she has also returned to her husband. On many of these occasions, they never even made it out of the driveway before his father’s tone would change and she would fall for it. It’s that same tone he uses to convince the boy, whose name is the same as his father that things are going to be just fine. The boy hides under the blankets as he listens to the yelling and screaming. He wishes he could just tune it out. He knows the outcome of this fight. He’s seen it and heard it all before. And while the words may be different and the players of this act may be of a similar but different cast; the scenario is still the same. The boy recalls the time that he accidentally broke his father’s favorite coffee mug while washing it. First came the yelling where his father would scold the boy for being clumsy and aloof. Both of which are common characteristics of a pre-teenage boy going through a growing spurt. Then, when the boy’s tears would well up, his father would take the belt from his pants and commence with the whipping. The boy recalls the sound of the thick leather belt as it passed through each of the belt loops of his father’s dungaree work pants. The whippings were never a punishment for the actual crime, but more a result of his father’s frustration for having a son that cries during punishment. “Why are you crying? Dammit?” his father would scream between lashings. “You’re going to need to toughen up! Be a man, Cooper! I will not have my son, my namesake, start bawling like a little girl as soon as things get tough!” Cooper would do his best to hold in the tears until his tear ducts would just simply dry up. And when the sniffles stopped and he regained control of his voice, the beating would stop as well. But only long enough for his father to delegate the actual punishment. And for the crime of breaking his father’s favorite mug, young Cooper would have to go to the darkest end of the back yard with a flashlight and rake the leaves at a quarter to eight in the evening. This was task that not only was senseless, but played on the boy’s fear of darkness. Tonight though, it isn’t Cooper that is on the receiving end of his father’s drunken rage. It’s his mother. Who, earlier that day purchased a new dress that was on sale. His mother works at St. Luke’s Hospital and they’re having a day where the staff is allowed to dress in era clothing to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the hospital. She had purchased a dress that apparently was not of her husband’s approval. It’s not that the mini-skirt was too short, exposing her long, slender legs or that it showed off way too much of his mother’s chest, of which she was much endowed. It was that at a ticket price of $9.99, the money spent was not in the budget. Instead of buying a 12-pack of Milwaukee’s Best for Cooper’s father, she bought the dress. And despite her husband already having a refrigerator stocked with at least a six-pack of beer, the lack of the replenished supply and the acquisition of the dress is cause for high crimes in the MacBride household. Now his mother cowers on the chair, clenching the dress as her husband continually scolds her. She occasionally wipes the tears and mucus from her face with the dress and pushes her long blonde hair behind her ears. She doesn’t make eye contact with her husband but rather hangs her head down as she tries to defend herself. But her defenses have long been destroyed. She now just weeps and waits for the assault to be over. She tries to work up the courage to leave and this time for good. But she won’t. She may find the courage to actually pack and make it to the garage. But as it has happened many times before, she will eventually succumb to apologetic pleadings of her husband. The younger Cooper can barely contain himself. Somewhere between where his father struck the first blow to his wife’s face and before she sat herself in the chair, the boy crawled out of his bed and changed clothes. He took off his pajamas and put on a pair of camouflaged pants and green t-shirt with the letters spelling ARMY on the front in black. He laid his sweater and hunting knit-cap on the bedside table. As he lay in his bed, he hoped that his mother would do it. He hoped that she would tell his father that they were leaving. And this time, it wouldn’t be the cheap motel on the highway for a couple days. This time, he hoped, that they would be on the road to New Mexico the boy and his mother had talked about. He imagined how the road-trip would be. They would eat at a Denny’s where he could get whatever he wanted; even if that meant eating breakfast during dinner time. At the end of their trip, they would check into a hotel where Cooper could swim in the pool during the day while his mother looked for work. These thoughts were pleasing and as the boy envisioned their new life, he hoped that this time his mother would have the courage to follow through. But all these wonderful thoughts came to a screeching halt when he overhears his mother say the words that she would always come to say. Behind the whelps of her sobs and in one inhale to try to make the onslaught stop, she mutters the words that will end the beatings for this moment. She swipes her tear soaked and sweaty blond locks behind her head and looks up and apologizes to her husband. In a weak attempt to appease her assailant she says, “I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll ask you first.” Her voice is cracked and strained. Already knowing that even asking his permission to purchase the dress would not have solved this problem, she says the words. The younger Cooper, still cringing in his bed suddenly has an impulse of anger and a bit of courage. He jumps out of the bed pulls the sweater over his head. He grabs the stocking cap and straps the boots over his feet. He moves to the study where he takes his Browning hunting rifle and some ammunition from its case. He then moves to the TV room where the battle between his parents had just finished. His father, barely able to stand, stares at his son. “What do you plan on doing with that?” he asks with a drunken slur. “You finally gonna be a man and stand up for your mom?” The young Cooper just stands in front of his parents as he loads a shell into the rifle. His father looks to his wife ready to start another battle, “Heather is this your doing?” He then looks towards his son again, “Well son, you’d better get on with it.” Cooper looks at his parents and wells up enough courage to speak. His voice is calm and collected, “I think I’m going to do some hunting.” He then slings the rifle behind his shoulder and places the cap on his head. He turns towards the front door and exits. After walking several miles east, he finds himself in a wooded area. It’s very dark, nearly so dark that he couldn’t see five feet in front of his face. Feeling tired and fatigued from the emotional drain, he slumps down against a tree and clenches the rifle. The thoughts running through his head eventually lead to the realization that he’s alone in the dark. A sense of fear runs through his body followed by a sense of euphoria. In this darkness, there’s no yelling or screaming. There’s only the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees and the sound of his breath slowing down to a more eased pace. The fear subdues and gives way to the euphoria. It is in this darkness where he is truly who he can be simply who he is. This complex thought left Cooper with a smile on his face as he fell into a sleep that will be one of the best of his life. As the light of the morning sun trickles through the towering tree tops, Cooper wakes up. Cooper considers retracing, at his best ability, his steps and head back home. Although his father may be gone to work and his mother taking a “sick-day” to nurse her wounds, Cooper realizes that this would be a wasted opportunity. While the darkness is now gone, there is still the calming of silence. The ambient noise of trees rustling and birds chirping are revitalizing. He decides to do some hunting. Cooper walks the trail that leads to small lake. He finds a spot where he can position himself and patiently waits for a target. He sits motionless for hours, all the while collecting his thoughts. By the position of the mid-day sun overhead, it appears to be around noon. He looks through the scope of his rifle across the lake to find a rabbit slowly making its way to the water. With a steady hand and his eye through the scope, he unwearyingly holds the sight on the target. The rabbit stops and perks its ears. Perhaps its keen sense of hearing heard the click of the safety from the rifle. Maybe the wild animal just has a sixth sense and is aware that danger is present. Cooper’s thoughts drift as he carefully pulls the trigger on the rifle. He thinks of his abusive father and his passive mother. He thinks of his sister whom shares the same beauty of their mother but the aggressiveness of their father. And as the snap of the rifle firing goes off, Cooper blinks, missing the visual confirmation of his kill. Certain that he missed from that range, he remains still. He has a great vantage point and there certainly isn’t any need to disrupt that. Even if he did miss, with time, there will be a duck or even another rabbit to wander past the crosshairs of the scope. So instead, he peeks into scope. On the edge of the water, the rabbit lays dead. Its blood is seeping into the lake from between the once perked ears. Again, the ambient noise surrounds Cooper and a smile runs across his face. He sits up from his position and takes a look around as a solitary thought riles through his head: This is home.
__________________
Code Name: One-Stop *IT1(SW/AW/FMF)* My B/S/T list. My Feedback Some of my written musings: Some G.I. Joe lore written by Dallas Martin Last edited by Sailor_Joe; 08-25-2010 at 05:00 PM.. |
08-25-2010, 05:12 PM | #2 |
Grave robber
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kreepy Kansas city
Posts: 5,802
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good stuff man good stuff
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08-25-2010, 05:36 PM | #3 |
The truth is liberating.
Join Date: May 2010
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 2,422
|
Thanks. I actually wasn't planning on doing a Low-Light story. But I somehow cruised through his file card and it reminded me that this guy probably has a crazy back-story. So I decided to put something together.
__________________
Code Name: One-Stop *IT1(SW/AW/FMF)* My B/S/T list. My Feedback Some of my written musings: Some G.I. Joe lore written by Dallas Martin |
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