The next evening
James got a surprise at his small apartment. He answered a knock at the door to
find Major Peter Kemp standing outside. James knew his surprise had to be
obvious, but he quickly invited Peter inside. Once inside Peter wasted no time.
He spoke before James could ask what brought him by. James knew from his voice
that coming here had been very hard. Peter tried to smile as he spoke. "I
hope you won't mind, but I thought maybe we had best do this in private and
after hours." James shrugged and motioned Peter to take a seat as he
replied. "You are always welcome to see me anytime, but I hope you won't
feel a need to wait until after hours if something is troubling you. Now let's
hear what brings you to see me and see if we can get it worked out." Peter
actually laughed. Then he gave James a genuine smile as he spoke. "Sir, I
hope it can be worked out, but I don't see how. I know how I feel about you and
I have no doubt that you feel the same about me. If I had known in time, that
you were to be my new commanding officer, I would have tried to change my
orders, but I didn't know until it was too late. I came here to see if we could
arrange things without too much disruption and get me reassigned."
James let out a long
sigh and then stood up. Peter started to do the same, but James waved him down
as he spoke. "Would you care for a drink? I don't have much to offer. A
beer, some wine, or a soda is about it. I haven't had time to get much. In fact
I still haven't received my personal things yet, so you are lucky this was a
furnished apartment." Peter was looking at James like he was seeing a
monster. James laughed when he saw the look on his face. "Relax Peter, I
am not a monster. Just because I am a Christian doesn't mean that I can't have
a drink sometimes. Frankly, I could use one right now. How about a beer? Then
maybe we can work this out." Peter nodded. James brought in the beer and
resumed his seat. After lifting their cans in a silent toast they both had a
drink. Then James leaned forward and spoke. "I want you to understand something
before we go any further. What I think and feel about you is up to you. I have
seen your record. You are a top pilot and a fine officer. Your record shows
only a couple small issues very early in it and I doubt they will matter much
to your career in the end. You did what you believed to be right at the time
and took the punishment for it. It is done and over."
James laughed and
leaned back in his chair. "Trust me I have done things that were a lot
worse to some folks. I was lucky to have been punished for most of them off the
record, but I still did what I believed to be right and was ready to face the
punishment if I had to. I respect that you did that too and I respect you for
doing it. Peter, the only one who has a problem here is you and it is up to you
what we do about it. I didn't like you at the Academy, but I gave you my
respect while we were both there. I may not like you now, which will take some
time for me to decide. I will give you my respect though and I will treat you
as the officer you are now, not the cadet you were then. Now I have said my
say. What do you have to say?"
Peter Kemp was
staring at James in clear disbelief. After a moment he looked at the can in his
hand and then shaking his head he took a long drink before he replied.
"Sir... sorry, James. I don't really know what to say to that. I just
remember how things were at the Academy. It is hard to believe that you have
forgotten that." James burst into laughter and spoke while still laughing.
"I haven't forgotten it, but I wouldn't change it either! Look, I know it
is hard for people to understand who haven't accepted Christ, but you just
can't hold a grudge once you do that. Once you are forgiven you find it very
hard not to forgive others. Oh, it may take some time and you may not want to
do it, but you just can't avoid it. Christ won't let you avoid forgiving
others. I know that my faith is a real issue for you. I am truly sorry about
that, but my faith doesn't have to make us enemies. I had planned to give it a
few days and then announce to the entire squadron who the new flight leaders
will be. I think you need to know right now that one of those spots is yours...
if you want it. Peter you are a great pilot and a fine officer. You are a
leader and I know now that I can depend on you. It took a lot of courage for
you to come here tonight and face someone you think of as an enemy. I need
someone with that kind of courage. We may not agree and we may never be close
friends, but I think we can fly together and if needed fight together. I need
your experience and your help. I hope I will have it, but that is something
only you can decide. I just ask that you not think about our past so much. That
is done and finished. It's over, if not forgotten. For now let's focus on the
future and make it something we both want to remember. Sorry for interrupting
you, but that just struck me as funny when you thought I could forget the
Academy."
Now it was Peter who
started to laugh. Finally he stood up and after a moment extended his hand to
James. As they stood there together shaking hands as if meeting for the first
time he spoke. "I think I will need to call you Sir for a while before I
can be comfortable calling you James. Anyway, I think I would like to see if we
can fly together, sir." Then he grinned. "I wasn't expecting a warm
welcome tonight. I certainly wasn't expecting a beer and a laugh, but I thank
you for both. I don't know if I can put the past behind me, but I will try. I
think I need to take a walk and do some thinking. See you in the morning,
sir." He had turned and walked out before James could say anything more.
James stepped over to the door and watched him walking away. That had gone
better than he had expected it to go when it had started. James hoped that
Peter could put the past behind him. He was a great pilot and he was a leader.
Peter had been a leader at the Academy and he had apparently remained one.
James could use that kind of leaders with so many young inexperienced pilots to
deal with.
The remainder of the
week was fairly uneventful. They were all flying back to the United States to
pick up their new jets and to get ready to meet the new squadron. James still
hadn't told anyone except Peter what he was planning. Peter had come by his
office to talk to James. That had been an interesting talk too. Peter had made
it clear that he wanted to fly with James and was looking forward to it. He had
made no promises, but he had been sincere when he said he would do his best to
be a valuable part of the squadron. The others had also stopped in individually
to talk with James. Most of those visits had been a first step towards learning
about each other. Shanna had just talked over old times and caught up on things
with him. He had enjoyed that, but it made him start missing Sarah more. James
would have just over a week to meet the rest of his new squadron and get them
ready for the move to Germany. A lot of the prep work for the move was already
done, but there were still a lot of details to deal with. James was just glad
he had these old friends along to help.
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