This story doesn't start with a pop and a bang. It is the way I remember things right after Viet Nam. It is pure fiction. If you are looking for wham, bam thank you ma'am and 50 screws in the first two paragraphs, you may as well skip this. It is my longest work so far. Enjoy!
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May, 1968
The F-4 Phantom II fighter plane thundered down the final approach to Korat AB, Thailand. It had been a long flight in from Clark AB in the Philippines. Captain Robert A. Wilford taxied the big fighter into the maintenance slot and prepared to shut down the engines. A crew chief appeared on the ramp and assisted him with the shut-down procedure. He couldn't wait to get to the officer's quarters and take a shower. First, however, was the flight debriefing. It took 45 minutes to debrief and file his final flight reports.
The base taxi picked him up and took him to B.O.Q. (bachelor officer's quarters) where he checked in. Tomorrow, he would have to sign in to his new squadron, but tonight, he needed rest. Ablutions complete, he settled into the lumpy bunk, thanking God for air conditioning.
The wake up call came early in the morning. He hustled down to officer's mess and had a good breakfast. Food was one thing the U.S. Air Force did very well. He checked in with his squadron and was assigned a flight number. He looked at the mission board and saw he would be flying MIG CAP tomorrow morning. He checked in base ops for a preliminary weather report and then scooted over to the Officer's Club.
A live band was playing in the lounge. Waiters hustled drinks and food around to the men gathered there. In just a few minutes, he was introduced to 12 or 13 of them, all pilots and all with lots of combat experience. Several of them would be on his mission tomorrow. Knowing he would need his wits about him, he left early and went back to B.O.Q.
Bob Wilford was one of those guys who wants a family but doesn't want a woman around to screw things up. Little did he know about the curve ball that fate was going to throw at him. He had a plan to acquire a family without the services of a wife or mistress. He wasn't gay, he was just very jealous of his territory. His plan included the buying of a few children, the hustling of them through immigration by hook or by crook and settling down with them in the States after his tour of duty. He already had a good job with a spray plane operation lined up in Washington State. He already had the money saved and was ready to start his little plan at the earliest opportunity.
He would have started the next day, but unfortunately, the war got in the way. He was guarding a herd of bombers over North Viet Nam most of the day. When he returned he found that he had 2 days off.
He went to the town just outside the air base and rented a large villa. Now all he had to do was populate it. The surrounding area held many small villages that struggled along in abject poverty. He spent all his time off for the next 8 months searching these villages for young children to populate his home. He could easily buy them for $40.00 each. Since they were all girls, he got them at rock bottom prices. At the end of 8 months, he had bought and subsequently adopted 5 girls ranging in age from 14 to 17. He had no evil intentions. Sex was not on his mind. He just wanted a family. Time marched on and he managed by hook and by crook to get all of them immigrant visas to the U.S. It took some bribery and some pressuring, but he got it done.
His year long assignment in Thailand was up and so was his time in the service. He bussed his little family to Bangkok, got on an airplane and flew to Hawaii. He mustered out at Hickam AFB, on the first of June, 1969.
7 days later, he reported to his new boss at the inter island airline in Seattle. He pre-registered his kids in school and sent them to an English language course at the local junior college. 10 days later, he bought a large house on Vashon Island. It was quite a ways to SeaTac but it was in a very nice neighborhood and provided maximum safety for his girls. He soon started work and it wasn't long until he was promoted to senior pilot. The work was tiring and tough, but he would do anything for his girls. They loved their daddy and he loved them.
He had his usual bunch of groupies that hang out around airports hoping to snag a pilot and several of them stayed all night with him. His girls knew why they stayed. Thailand was like that.
Life was good. As time marched on and his girls learned English and became adept at social skills in the States, it became apparent that all 5 were going to be drop dead gorgeous. Bob knew that this would be trouble, but he had no idea how much or what kind. The three oldest girls Meridee 17, Jessica 16 and Kari 16 had been raped by the village boys in Thailand. Bob had gotten the other two, Robie 15 and Chelsea 14 out just in time to save them from a similar fate. They were now all one year older.
Meridee was graduating from high school in June. She had an academic scholarship to the University of Washington. At 18 she was beautiful and smart but she wouldn't date the boys because of her past bad experiences.
Jessica and Kari were graduating the next year. They, too, didn't date because of the rapes in Thailand.
The two younger girls had only remained virgins because they could out run the Thai boys. They were afraid of all men except their daddy.
Bob was worried about them and kept trying to get them into at least mild social situations but they weren't buying it. "We're happy with you, daddy," was their only reply.
July, 1973
Meridee had graduated that June with a degree in nursing. She was at the top of her class and so snagged a really good job at a hospital in Seattle. She had offers from hospitals in 5 other states, but she refused to leave her daddy.
The other girls were in college now. There would be a steady stream of graduations over the next 4 years. Bob thanked god every day for their brilliance. All of them had scholarships to UW. If they hadn't, it would have cost him $100,000 a year to keep them in school. That would have severely strained their budget. Now, their futures were assured at minimum cost.
August, 1977
All the girls were now college grads. All of them were employed in good jobs making lots of money. In the Thai tradition, it all went to the family. Due to the inflow cash, they were looking for more impressive digs. Houses in the two to three million dollar range were not above their means.
Bob was on the downwind leg of an approach to SeaTac. His twin turbo prop inter island aircraft was running great. As he turned base over the water, he heard a loud explosion coming from the rear of the airplane. It shook and shuddered and headed for the water. He alerted the passengers (4) to the possibility of a crash and tried to regain control of the crippled aircraft. He just managed to 'pancake' it into the water. The wings broke off as he headed for the passenger's cabin. The stewardess was doing her best to get the passengers out. Bob grabbed a couple of life jackets, roughly put them on the last 2 passengers and threw them out the open escape hatch. Making sure that there was no one left in the sinking plane, he jumped into the icy waters of Puget Sound. He herded the passengers away from the sinking craft. He heard the roar of the rescue boats approaching fast. He passed out.
The blackness in his little world slowly gave way to white walls of the hospital intensive care unit. All five of his girls were staring down at him, crying. "It's OK," he tried to say, but his mouth was not working.
"Please don't try to talk, daddy," begged Meridee, "You'll be good as new in no time."
Bob knew it wasn't the truth and he feared the worst because of his girls. Deep down he knew they could take care of themselves, but he had wanted to be a grandpa and play with his grandchildren. Darkness closed in on him again and his last thought was, "Well, here I go."
The girls were crying profusely, but they knew better than to badger the doctors. So they just cried and waited, thinking the end was near.
2 weeks later the doctor came out of Bob's hospital room and said, "I don't know why, but he's still alive. In fact, it looks as though he may actually recover."
The little girls, now young women, were elated. They hugged each other and excitedly chattered among themselves. Then they filed into the room to see daddy. He looked terrible. He had tubes and pipes running out of every body orifice including some that weren't there before. An oxygen mask was strapped to his face. It was hard to tell it was daddy. He was still unconscious. They filed back into the hall.
"OK," said Meridee, "Let's set up a rotation so someone is here all the time. We've got to help daddy!"
And so, the young women shouldered the task of assisting their daddy, knowing that it would be a long time before he would leave the hospital.
December, 1977
With Christmas bearing down upon them the women were making plans to have Christmas in the hospital. Those plans changed on December 15.
