long time no see

The plane ride back home is fairly the same, nothing really new, but the view is still just as amazing as ever. While I sit in my seat, General White has already left his, the brief case is also gone too, I wonder where he could have gone, but honestly I shouldn't go spying on some else work, and so I leave it, as I continue to watch the clouds go by.

After some time I do decide to get up from my seat, when I get to the front section of the plane, I see only the flight attendance, and no General White. Finding it odd I decide to head up to the pilot deck, where I assume he might be.

When I get up there, I do find him, but he's talking in code on the radio, to who I can only assume to be the base leader for the base around my town. Once he finishes, he turns towards me, "looks like the first part of my mission is done, now I just have to get there and finish the second part of the mission."

When I ask him on what the mission is, he puts his hand up, "I'm not allowed to say what the mission is, or what it involves, I can only say that if it works, this war will be in our favor after some months in." The thought of fighting defensively makes me realize that the enemy is definitely stronger then the empire.

"Then if I may ask General White, what's our numbers compared to their numbers right now." His face slowly drops, as he slowly brings his hand to his face and sighs, he muttered out a number, " it might be, at this point, one to five numbers."

Those numbers are extensive, so much so that I quickly realized how much of a problem this war is about to be. When I hear the call for everyone to go back to their seats, both me and General White go back to our seats, "now Daniel once we land, I ask one request of you, and that request is to have as much fun as possible with your weeks off base, since even I don't know what will happen in three weeks time."

Smiling at him I tell him that I will definitely have fun while I'm off base, which makes him relieved that I said that. Then only a few minutes later after our conversation, I hear the planes wheels touch the ground, as we now slowly roll into the airfield hanger after landing.

"Alright Daniel, I'm off from here, now remember to say hello to your grandfather for me as well, also enjoy your time too alright." With a nod, and a exchange of hand shakes we both part ways, as I take a vehicle ride to town, where I plan to first visit Mama's Diner, if it's still open.

While on our way to town, I notice a lot of military trucks and equipment, parked in the airfields vehicle parking area. "Where are all of these trucks heading off too?" The driver of the taxi looks at the equipment and shrugs, "I don't know young sir, all I know is that it's being taken somewhere else."

The equipment goes for some distance, even an area where there were once trees, has now been flattened and had a section of road installed there to hold the over flow of equipment. The underlying problem of not using our railways is starting to show itself, "well let's hope wherever it's going it will find its way there."

While we continue to drive, I can see the town just ahead of us, it hasn't changed much, that's a good thing I tell myself. However I'm a bit shaken when I see some of the old places I used to visit while I was still here closed, because of the impending war approaching.

When I tell the driver to head for a place called Mama's Diner, he immediately knew where I wanted to go. Then only about ten minutes later, "ok young sir we are here." When I step out I had him the pay for the ride, along with a thanks, once I close his door, he waves bye to me as he drives off.

The diner brings back memories of me and my grandfather always hanging out here, sometimes just talking about how things in the world are going. "Well let's go in and say hello." Once I pick up my brief case's, I open the door to see the owner.

"Hello Daniel it's great to see you, it's been a while, so how's everything going?" The story is long, as we both sit down at a table, she shares that my grandfather is doing well, since he still comes in for his breakfast meal. "Well since I'm here mind if I use the phone?"

She let's me go and use the private phone in the back, once I get to it I put the money in needed to operate it, then I dial my grandfather's phone. Eventually I hear the click of the phone on the other end, "this is William speaking, who is this calling?"

"Hey grandfather, it's Daniel how's everything going?" The stun in the gasp he makes is easily heard, "Daniel is that you, is this a call from base, if so, it's nice that they got some free phones over there finally." When I finally get around to telling him that I'm off base, and that I was currently over at Mama's Diner. After hearing that, I hear a swift click of the phone, as the line goes dead.

"Well looks like he's making his way over here as quickly as he can." While I talk with the owner for some time, I learn that the diner now gets very busy during dinner hours, thanks to the near by base that construction on it started a week or so after I had left.

"So is there any possibility that I can get the breakfast I would a few months back?" She smiles then gives me a thumbs up, "for you Daniel, I can prepare that meal fully with no problems, just give me a bit of time alright." She walks into the back to prepare the food for me, I take a look at the clock on the wall, as it now says it's an hour past noon I wonder when grandfather would show up.

Then as if on thinking it, I hear the bell to the door announce its opening, when I turn back to look I see grandfather there, look at me with a smile on his face. "My how time passes by, it's nice to see you again Daniel." The warm hug I feel once he finally gets to me expresses how much he had missed me, even if it had been only for some months, it will be a lot longer at some point in time until he will see me again.

"Same here grandfather, it's nice to see you again, so tell me how is everything with you going." While we sit down, and as I wait on my food, he tells me a few things that even caught my attention, such as possibly sighting an enemy spy group in the forest up by his house.

"That's very far past their borders, so what did you do grandfather?" He gives a small smile, "well I just got rid of them the only way I knew how, and the only way that was best." The idea of him still being able to kill a group of spy's is incredible, even at his age.

After we both end our conversation there, I see the owner of the store bring out my food, "this is for you Daniel, and again welcome back for even just this short amount of time." Thanking her with a smile, I turn to my food, as I take a bite, it still tastes absolutely amazing compared to all the food back at base.

When I finish eating, I wave bye to the owner of the store, as both I and my grandfather take my packed belongings and fit them into the back of his vehicle. While we drive to his house, the ride there feels nostalgic, seeing the snow covered feild, the river, now no longer flowing frozen over, I think to myself how much I actually missed these sights.

When we arrive at the house, I tell my grandfather that I can carry all the bags, however he insisted on helping me at least carry one of the three, so I let him. Once inside, we take my bags to my room, surprising to me, it's just how I left it, but with a small layer of dust collecting on everything though.

"Well Daniel, I hope you don't mind, uh I was gonna clean it up a bit, but just ended up leaving it as is, I hope you don't mind?" Other then the dust layer over everything, it does make me happy to see that it's all in its original spots, "thanks grandfather, please don't worry it doesn't bother me how it is."

With everything said he drops my bag at the door, allowing me to set my stuff where I want it. While I do that I have a small smile go across my face, "well it sure does feel nice to be back, now who's first to visit tomorrow?" When I finally decide on who to visit tomorrow, I let my mind wander a bit, as I reminis over what I liked about being on base, compared to home, the answer was simple, having friends there for you that's what made base feel like a home too.