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“Oh my god” Natalie said “that’s so sad” she said.

“So did he write you everyday?” Vicki asked.

“Oh he did, and I wrote him every day” Lizzie said to her “your father wrote him quite a lot too.”

“Sounds like they were close” Natalie said.

“Picture Bradley and Neilson back in the 60’s” Brian said to Natalie.

“Oh god you poor thing” she said to Lizzie, they turned to look at her in offense.

“So how long was he in basic?” Brian asked.

“A month or two” Lizzie said to him “I’ll never forget the day he came home, school was almost over for the year, I was hanging out with your grandfather at the store, he was in yet another one of his anti-war rants..”

Lizzie paged through a teen magazine, rolling her eyes as Jimmy prattled on about the war.

“I’m telling you this war shouldn’t even be happening right now” he said putting the records into the display.

“Yes you have made your point many, many…many times” she said irritated “Can we talk about something else please? Have you heard anything from Tommy?” she asked.

“What he didn’t write you this week?” Jimmy asked.

“Did he write you?” she asked.

“Been a little busy here, not a lot of time to check the mail” Jimmy said to her.

The bells above the door jingled as it opened, Tommy stood there in his dress uniform “Isn’t anyone going to welcome me home?” he asked cracking a smiled.

“Oh my god” Lizzie said throwing her arms around him “You’re home! You’re really here” she said happily.

“Told you I’d come back” he said smiling at her.

“Welcome home soldier” Jimmy said Tommy.

“Hey there Jimbo” he said.

“Please tell me you’re back for good” Lizzie said looking up at him with pleading eyes.

“Well uh…” Tommy said nervously.

Jimmy looked at him warily “They’re sending you over there aren’t they?” he asked.

“Yeah…I’m going to Vietnam” Tommy said.

“When?” she asked.

“I ship out in two weeks” he said, they looked at each other solemnly “Hey guys, come on, everything will be fine, I promise” Tommy said to them.

“Two weeks?” Lizzie asked.

“Yeah, I know that’s right before your birthday and everything but…”

“No, I know” Lizzie said.

“Guess we better make the most of it while we can huh?” Jimmy asked.

“Right, I mean the Memorial Day parade is in a few days and the carnival…” Lizzie said.

“Oh yeah” Tommy said to her “I’m coming home guys, I promise” he said to them.


“What was the carnival?” Bradley asked.

“Every year they have this big parade for all the military serviceman and a summer kick-off carnival” Vicki said to him.

“They’d been having them for years, I grew up going to the carnival too” Lizzie said to him.

“And then at the end of the night they’d have this amazing firework show” Vicki said to him “It was pretty cool to see” she said.

Harry limped into the living room “I hope you’re happy” he said to Bradley irritated.

“Not really, you’re still alive, I thought I told Adam to kill you?” Bradley said to him.

“He tried to!” Harry said angrily.

“Must be losing his touch” Neilson said.

“What’s going on in here?” Harry asked.

“Hello Harry” Lizzie said to him.

“Oh hi…Bradley’s grandma” Harry said to her.

“I’m just helping Bradley out with his project” she said.

“Oh yeah? Did he tell you he had three weeks to do it and is just starting on it now?” Harry asked.

“Adam!” Bradley barked towards the kitchen.

Adam hurried into the living room “Thought you could get away did you?” he asked Harry “Oh…hello…Bradley’s grandma” he said upon seeing Lizzie.

“Hello Adam” she said “Would you two care to join us?” she asked.

“I will” Harry said quickly taking a seat on the floor.

“Well as fun as it sounds…I’m not really into the whole…story time thing so…” Adam said as he turned to leave.

“Sit down, shut up, and listen” Brian said pulling Adam down.

“Now where was I?” Lizzie asked.

“The carnival mom” Vicki said to her.

“Oh right, well anyways, my heart stopped when I found out that Tommy was being sent to Vietnam, he told me everything would be okay but…some part of me was just scared beyond belief that he wouldn’t make it home…turns out I was right” Lizzie said to them all. “He was due to ship out the day after the carnival, so that night we made the most of what we could, we went to the carnival, played games, went on rides, it was perfect” she said to them.

Fireworks boomed overhead, children ran around with sparklers in their hands, tears filled Lizzie’s eyes as she watched the colors explode over her.

“Here you are, I’ve been looking all over for you” Tommy said approaching her “Here, I got your funnel cake” he said holding up a paper plate.

“Thanks” she said sniffling.

“Hey, come on, don’t cry” he said to her.

“I’m sorry I can’t help it” she said.

“I just keep thinking of what can happen over there” she said.

“Listen to me, nothing or no one is going to stop me from coming home to you” he said lifting her chin up.

“You promise?” she asked.

“Cross my heart” he said to her.

“You’ll write me?” she asked.

“Every day” he said.

“I love you” she said.

“I love you more” he replied, they kissed as more fireworks flew high into the sky, exploding loudly.

“That was the last time I saw him” Lizzie said.

“Really? He didn’t come home even on furloughs or anything?” Harry asked.

“No” Lizzie said to him “The war was so intense at that point they weren’t letting anyone come home for any reason whatsoever” she said.

“He wrote you though right?” Natalie asked.

“Every day” Lizzie said to them “In fact…here are the letters we sent back and forth to each other” she said digging into her purse and taking out a stack of envelopes.

“Wow” Bradley said.

“Amazing, how’d you get these?” Natalie asked.

“They sent Tommy’s belongings home after he was killed, his mother was nice enough to give them to me” she said. “I will never forget that summer...ironically they called it the summer of love” Lizzie said.

“Right, that’s when The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper” he said writing something down.

“Very good” Lizzie said to him.

“That you remember?!” Brian asked.

“How do you forget about something like that?” Neilson asked “That album is legendary” he said.

“Yes but unfortunately for me, it was no love fest” she said sadly “It started out okay, my parents threw me a big party for my seventeenth birthday, not that I could enjoy it” Lizzie said to them.

Lizzie sat on her front porch steps, an envelope in her hand, music played from inside as her friends mingled amongst themselves.

“Hey, birthday girl” Jimmy said approaching the stairs “I miss the party?” he asked.

“No, you’re just on time” she said to him.

“What’s that?” he asked sitting next to her on the steps.

“Birthday card from Tommy” she said to him.

“He found one in English?” he asked.

Lizzie laughed lightly “His mom dropped it off for me I guess he got it before he left” she said to him.

“Ah” he said “You hear anything from him lately?” he asked.

“I got a letter yesterday” she said “You?” she asked.

“Same” Jimmy said “So…should I put this inside or…?” he asked handing her a present,

She tore the paper off and gasped as she saw a copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band “You told me you there was no more coming in!” she said hitting him.

“Happy Birthday Lizzie” he said, she hugged him tightly.

“Thank you” she said.

"Be careful with that thing, it's the last copy in the state" Jimmy said.

"I am not letting it out of my sight" Lizzie said to him "thank you so much" she said “We need to play this right away” she said as they went inside.

A record needle scratched as she pulled it aside, taking a record from the turn table. She pulled the large black vinyl circle from it's protective covering and set it on the turn table. She then pulled the needle over and set it down. It began to spin around the opening noise for the title track began to play and soon the song filled the room.

"It was twenty years ago today Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play They've been going in and out of style But they're guaranteed to raise a smile So may I introduce to you The act you've known for all these years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band..."

“Damn, gramps was smooth back in the day” Bradley said smirking.

“That should’ve been a big hint of just how much he liked me, he held that record for me for weeks and got docked a whole week’s pay for doing so” Lizzie said.
“But, like most good things…they eventually come to an end” Lizzie said.

“Mom, if you want to take a break before you get into this part…” Vicki said to her.

“No, it’s okay” Lizzie said to her “The summer was ending and, I was about to start my senior year of high school, I hadn’t heard from Tommy in weeks, I just figured he hadn’t gotten time to write, he was fighting a war after all” she said “Little did I know…it was much worst” she said.

Jimmy bounded up the steps of Tommy's house, Tommy’s records tucked under his arm, Tommy's mother wiped her hands on her apron as she opened the door.

"Well Jimmy" she said smiling warmly at him.

"Hi Mrs. Porter" Jimmy said to her "I’m just bringing Tom’s records back" he said.

"Oh well come on in, actually as long as you're here, could you help me with something?" she asked.

"Sure" he said.

“I’m making a cake and the dish is way up on top of the cabinet there, would you mind?” she asked.

"Not at all" he said.

"Right up there" she said as they walked into the kitchen, she unfolded a small ladder, he climbed up and pulled the cake dish from the cabinet top.

“There we are” he said handing it to her.

“Oh thank you, I don’t know how I’ve been getting anything done without Tommy around” she said when the doorbell rang "Oh” she said scurrying to the front door "Can I...help you?" she asked seeing two soldiers standing on her doorstep.

"Eleanor Porter?" he asked taking his hat off.

"Yes" she said.

Jimmy watched from the kitchen doorway.

“Is your son Thomas Porter?” the other asked.

“Yes, he is, is something wrong?” she asked.

Jimmy stepped closer to the front door, the soldiers’ words seemed to become more faint as he got closer.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this…” they said to her, He could see one of the soldiers hand Tommy's mom something shiny and metal, they tipped their hats to her and left the porch. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, Jimmy rushed to her side as she sobbed, he looked to see Tommy's dog tags dangling from a chain in her hand, he looked around bewildered as Tommy's mom fell apart before him, His face crumpled in sorrow and he began to sob along with Tommy’s mother.

He walked absently up the street, the faint sound of music began to fill the air as he got closer to Lizzie’s house. Lizzie laughed, her freshly painted toes propped up on the porch railing, Josephine sat on top of the banister as a record player played loudly next to them, magazines spread around. He wiped the tears from his face and took a deep breath and climbed the porch steps.

"Hey Jimmy" Lizzie said to him.

"Hey Jimbo" Josephine said to her "Whoa, what’s with you?" she asked.

"Uh...Josie, I need a minute with Lizzie...you mind?" he asked somberly.

"Sure, I'll go grab a soda."

"eGt me one" Lizzie said as she went inside "Hey, are you alright?" Lizzie asked standing up.

"Lizzie I...I uh sort of have some bad news” he said as tears began to well up in his eyes.

“What? What happened? Is it your parents, are they okay?" she asked.

"It's Tommy" he said, tears welling up in his eyes as her face fell.

"What about Tommy?" she asked nervously.

"I’m so sorry…I’m so sorry Lizzie” he whimpered.

"No…what happened? What happened to Tommy?!" she asked.

"His unit or platoon or whatever…there was an ambush and…he was killed in action” he said quietly.

"No...no, it's not true, it's not true, he's not dead, he's not dead, he's coming home and when he does, we're going to be together for the rest of our lives...." she said rambling as Jimmy pulled her close and held her tightly.

She fought against him, trying to push him away when her knees gave out and she fell to a crouching position, sobbing openly as Jimmy tried to soothe her.

"No!" she screamed in agony "No" she choked shaking her head. Josephine watched from the screen door, covering her mouth in shock, Jimmy looked up at her, Lizzie still weeping on his shoulder.

Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down