He Stopped Loving Her Today

He stopped loving her today. They placed a wreath upon his door...Nothing speaks to my heart like old George Jones tunes. This is the story of Dave and Amy and Dave's little brother Doug.

Dave and Amy grew up in a small town in the woods of east central Minnesota. Their homes were about a quarter mile apart. Their parents best friends. The dads a bit more than the moms. Both dads got in hot water with the law in their senior year of high school in 1951. They and a couple more of their friends were given the choice of a year in jail or join the military. All 5 joined the army, went to basic and advanced infantry school together, they all went to the same platoon of the same company in a common battalion as replacements in Korea. 20 months later 4 came home more or less in one piece. Tommy left 6 months earlier in an aluminum box. Dave's dad Mark married his high school sweet heart Brenda, they had three kids, Dave, Doug and Susan (never call her Sue). Amy's dad Phil met and married Cathy. There were complications (an avoidable infection) after Amy's birth and Amy was an only child and spoiled.

Dave and Amy were less than two months apart in age, with Amy being older. Something she lorded over Dave until high school, that he never let her forget after. As kids they rode the bus together to school, played together, basically were in each other's hip pocket from the time they could crawl. When Doug came along 2 years later, he got to be the third wheel in the grouping. It was a good childhood. Lots of sunshine and happiness. Fishing trout in the creek, catching fireflys at night, wishing on falling stars. Snowball fights and sledding and ice fishing and school. No monsters or molesters or evil assholes ever intruded. Life was perfect.

Nearly everyone in this small town was employed at one of the mills in the next town over. There seemed to be a decent job waiting for everyone once they got out of high school. Dave went to work in the paper mill his dad worked in. Doug followed in due time. Dave proposed to Amy, the date was set, plans were made. Problem was there was this thing called Vietnam going on. There was a local draft board. Dave had a high number, Doug did not. After talking with his dad, Amy, the moms and Phil, Dave volunteered to serve. This gave Doug an exemption, (at least that's how I was told it worked). Because he volunteered Dave was allowed to pick an MOS (military occupational specialty). Not sure what it was but it involved handling paperwork. He was assigned to an artillery battalion as a company clerk. Once he got in country he shuffled paper for three months before the company commander's driver rotated home.

Because Dave could drive a stick he got made the new driver. He was just under 60 days from rotating home when his vehicle caught a rocket while they were in a convoy from one shit hole to another. The company commander and the radio operator died instantly. Dave was blown out of the 5/4 ton ammo carrier and his left leg below the knee wasn't. Dave was lucky, sorta, besides his left leg he caught some scrap metal down his right side that didn't hit anything important, lost his right ear, had all the hair burned off his head and some burns on his face. Just by chance he was on the ground less than thirty seconds when someone wrapped a belt around his left leg just above the wound and kept him from bleeding out. He was medivaced, got patched up, shipped to Okinawa, then on to Tripler Army medical on Oahu.

While he was in country Dave sent and received mail to and from Amy almost daily. Once he was wounded he didn't get mail for awhile. Had just started getting it again and he was off to Hawaii. Again it was a week or so before it caught up to him. But instead of getting 5-6 letters a week all he got was 2 and sometimes 3. Dave figured some of his mail got lost, a common thing for guys in his situation. Problem was the number of letters just kept dropping off. By the time he was healed enough (about 4 months) to take leave and go home it was down to 1 short letter a week. By that time the medical board had decided to discharge him (a forgone conclusion) so he was flown to San Fran to out process. Once that was done he flew to Minneapolis.

Now during this whole time he was aware that the tone of everyone's mail had changed. Especially that from Amy. Dave thought it was her being unsure of things because of his wounds. He had resolved to prove to her that he was still the guy he always had been. A bit more challenged now but together they could do anything. Dave had called his folks to let them know when his flight was coming in. His mom couldn't talk for crying but dad was dad and said he'd be there to meet Dave. Dave asked that Amy be told and Mark assured him everyone would be told.

When Dave got off the plane he was surprised that only Mark was waiting for him. No marching band, no big group of loved ones, not even his fiancé, just his dad. When Dave asked where everyone was and why they weren't there to meet him, Mark replied "they are all waiting at the house."

The 2 hour drive home was mostly quiet. Dave had a feeling that he wasn't exactly welcome. when they pulled in the drive that feeling was magnified. No one was waiting outside, no banners or signs. Once Dave managed to get on his crutches he went to the door. He had to open it himself, no one waiting. Once inside his mother saw him, started crying and ran upstairs out of his sight. The commotion drew Doug from the kitchen, followed by a very pregnant Amy and her folks. Dave heard a rushing sound and blacked out. When he came to he was on the couch. The women were all crying, Phil was swearing at Doug, Mark was trying to calm everyone down.

Dave sat up and cleared his throat but that didn't catch anyone's attention so in true Army form he yelled "What the fuck is this shit?"

The women ran into the kitchen. Phil poked Doug in the chest and said "You have to deal with this" and left the room as well. Mark and Doug turned to Dave. Doug started some incoherent bullshit and Mark told him to "Shut the fuck up".

Mark then told Dave that a few days before Dave was wounded his younger brother and his fiancé had gotten drunk and ended up in bed together. When they got word Dave had been wounded they felt guilty, got drunk and did it again. They continued "consoling" each other for almost 6 weeks before anyone else figured out what they were really doing. By that time Amy was pregnant. Everyone decided to keep that from Dave until he got home.

Dave was more or less in shock. He dimly remembered tearful apologies from Amy, her mom and his own mother. One thing he did remember clearly was that Amy and Doug were going to get married "for the sake of the baby" and that his mother expected him to be civil about it.

Dave sat in his old room for almost a month. Only time he left was to use the bathroom. Mom brought him his meals and couldn't or wouldn't look him in the eye. Mark brought him a bottle of Jim Beam every night. Dave and his dad sat in silence and drank. After just over 3 weeks his mother told him if he wanted to eat he needed to get his ass to the table like everyone else. Mark told him no more bottles, he needed to get his shit together. First meal Doug was there. When Doug reach across the table for a bun, Dave tried to stab him in the hand with his table knife. Doug swore at him, told him he didn't deserve Amy and left the house. It was the last time Dave and Doug were in the same room for decades.

It took Dave nearly 2 years to "get his shit together". He was invited to, but did not attend the wedding. He got drunk the night his niece was born. He did not attend her christening. He stopped going to church because Doug n Amy were there. He argued with his mother so much that once he got on at the mill in personnel he moved to Cloquet where the mill was. The apartment was small, the building noisy but it was away from his family. He missed most of the family gatherings at holidays for nearly a decade. It was about this time he met Mary in a bar. Mary had been a pretty girl once, but between her drunk and abusive ex husband and a bad car wreck, not so much now. Mary had facial scarring and her right arm was gone 5 inches below the shoulder. The car had rolled, her arm went out the window and the car rolled on it crushing it. Her ex husband was driving, drunk at the time, he was ejected from the car and it crushed him as well.

Mary wasn't Amy, never would be. Dave and Mary shared the aftermath of broken bodies, betrayal by loved ones and bad ends to relationships. Theirs was a friendship of common ground, a love of a fellow wounded soul. There was enough passion for 2 children of their own but it wasn't what either had had before. Mary knew that Dave still loved Amy. She saw signs of it in him every day of their lives together with the exception of the last 6 months. She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer that had spread basically every where. She passed just shy of her 48th birthday.

Doug and Amy had 4 children by the time Dave and Mary tied the knot. Dave and Mary had a very quiet civil ceremony. Dave's best man was another Disabled Veteran, Mary's maid of honor her older sister. Mary basically didn't have anyone else (her folks passed when she was 16). Dave didn't tell anyone, not even his folks. They were married in late October, Dave made the very rare call to his folks to find out if Doug and Amy were going to be there for thanksgiving. They weren't, they were going to Amy's folks in Arizona. Phil and Cathy had moved about 2 years prior to get away from the cold. Dave and Mary showed up for dinner and shocked the hell out of everyone by being married. Dave's mom approached Dave about maybe reconciling with Doug and Amy. Dave said hell hadn't frozen over yet.

Dave and Mary had a fairly good life. When she passed he truly mourned her. He never so much as dated again.

Doug and Amy stayed together despite his being a serial cheater. Doug just couldn't keep it in his pants. They put on a good public front but there was lots of screaming and yelling. Doug blackened both of Amy's eyes one time. She had told him about an affair she had with a coworker as revenge for his fucking around. Doug didn't go to jail for it. His dad told him if it happened again he'd be a swamp mystery and Doug believed him. The last 15 plus years of his marriage to Amy they slept in separate rooms.

Over the years Amy would see Dave at one function or another. There was always a wistful look on her face when she thought no one was looking.

When Dave's mom passed 8 months after his dad, she left everything to Dave. By this time the gulf wars were ongoing and what Doug had done to the brother who had gone to nam to get him an exemption, wasn't forgotten and was generally despised. Both Doug and Amy found themselves growing more and more isolated. Small towns have long memories sometimes.

Right up until this morning Dave loved Amy. He would tell you she was always on his mind. That he often thought of what might of been. This morning a little girl chasing a toy ran out in front of Dave on his way to Walmart. Dave braked and swerved and missed her and then hit a light pole so softly that it barely damaged his pick up. When a neighbor of the child checked on him he wasn't breathing and his right hand was pinned over his left chest between his body and the steering wheel. All indications are he had a massive heart attack. Dave was just an average guy. He lost the love of his life to his shithead brother and never really got over it. At least he stopped loving her today.

God but I'm going to miss you dad...