Coming Home (#Wattys 2017)

6; Just Like Old Times

The next day Harrison found his wife at the shooting range testing out different sniper rifles. He stood behind her, holding a pair of binoculars up to his eyes as she nailed a target nearly a mile away.

She turned around when she heard his clapping. "Nice shot sweetheart."

"Let's see you do that."

"Me? Never."

Carrie laughed. "They never thought I could do it either."

He recalled back to their first training camp during hell week. The commander had told her after she'd nailed 10 shots from over a mile away, "being good against a target is one thing. Being good against the living is another." She promptly nailed a bird in mid flight to prove him wrong. That commander never said anything else to her again.

Eventually, she'd become so precise, they gave her a position on overwatch for their fourth tour. There was no one else he'd rather have watching his back than her.

"Let's see you try," she encouraged, making room for Harrison by her side.

He moved two other sniper rifles out of the way to lay next to her. "This isn't going to be good."

Carrie handed him the gun. "You're going to do fine."

Harrison adjusted the scope on the target so it was clear. One he had the center of the target lined up in the crosshairs, he took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The shot hit the target, but was wide right. It still would've been enough to severely wound someone, but not enough to kill them.

"That wasn't that bad."

He bit his lip. "It was bad. You can admit it."

She smiled. "Seriously, it wasn't that bad."

Harrison handed her the rifle back. "Show me up."

Carrie began to adjust the sight. "Alright, if you say so."

With the butt of the gun rested firmly against her shoulder, she lined up her shot. Harrison held a pair of binoculars, ready to see another perfect shot when she suddenly moved the gun.

"What?"

"Watch this."

There was a rattlesnake making its way out into the shooting range. It couldn't be that far from the targets. Once he adjusted the binoculars, it appeared that the rattlesnake was chasing some sort of rabbit. She pulled the trigger and immediately the rattlesnake became still.

"That rabbit can thank me now."

"It sure can."

After a few more shots, Carrie called it quits, deciding she liked the camouflage painted rifle she'd been using the best.

As they made their way back to base, he asked, "I wonder when we'll be leaving?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But I do know I don't want to go."

He put an arm around her. "It's going to be okay. We're going to take care of him then come right back home to B."

✎✎✎

After lunch, Harrison challenged Carrie to the obstacle course before they were scheduled for a practice run on the compound.

Standing atop the starting tower, Carrie wasn't sure she was up for this. "I don't know about this."

"Come on. Let's make it a friendly competition."

"Fine. On three."

They both counted up to three before they began. The first obstacle was a 10-foot drop off the starting platform. Both of them landed at the same time and were off to the next obstacle, a 10-foot wall they had to climb with small ledges for their feet and hands.

Carrie made it over the wall before him and was off to the mud pit. She dove into the mud with Harrison beside her, careful not to snag any clothes or her hair on the barb wire above.

Next they had to run along a very thin plank of wood for 30 feet. If they fell off, they'd fall into an ice cold pool of water. She was still ahead of him after they jumped off the planks.

Then it was to her favorite obstacle, the bars. Each bar was five feet apart, far enough that a person couldn't swing from bar to bar. They would have to build up momentum then jump. Lastly was the rope climb. As she reached the top and rung the bell, she looked down to see Harrison halfway up his own rope.

They met back at the bottom. "How was that for some friendly competition?"

Harrison smiled, still out of breath. He wiped some mud off his face. Both their tank tops, combat pants, and boots, were soaked with mud. "Come on, let's go get cleaned up."

✎✎✎

Once the sun set behind the mountains, they completed a practice run of the raid on bin Laden's compound. It took less time than everyone expected to safely search the compound and find their fake bin Laden. Everything was executed perfectly, from the helicopter landings, to securing the compounds borders and taking out bin Laden. The liftoff also took less time than expected. They beat their target time by 15 minutes.

After the practice raid, Harrison and Carrie were allowed to call Billie. Cell phones were normally prohibited in the military, but not on Sundays when they were allowed to call their families.

Billie would sure be surprised getting a call from her mommy and daddy. Carrie heard someone pick up the phone on the other end. As soon as she said hello, she was interrupted by, "MOMMY!"

"Hi B."

"Are you and daddy back already!? Are you coming home real soon!?"

She took a deep breath, not wanting to break the news to her daughter that they hadn't even left yet. "No B, daddy and I leave in two weeks."

Billie seemed heartbroken. "So you and daddy won't be home for a while?"

"I don't know B."

Carrie put the phone on speaker so Harrison could hear. "Hi Billie."

"Hi daddy!"

"What have you been doing with grandma and grandpa?"

Billie rambled off all the things she'd done with her grandparents, like going shopping, going to the zoo, or going out to dinner.

"B, you wanna hear something funny?"

"Yeah mommy."

Carrie smiled. "Your daddy and I did the obstacle course today and I beat him by a lot. I smoked him."

Harrison's face was priceless. "Sweetie, don't listen to your mommy on that one. She barely beat me."

Billie laughed. "I believe mommy."

"Good girl."

"That's all lies. Just lies," he teased with a laugh.

"Well daddy and I have to go. Be good for grandma and grandpa. Daddy and I love you."

"I love you too mommy and daddy."