Approaching, 2006

Patar, summer, 2006

Brandon is 28 and Ilila is 27

Summer meant another intensive round of boot camp for the ROTC recruits. Thankfully, Brandon's budget was increased and he was able to hire a drill instructor. Stephen Liew came from Pahala Shore, his girlfriend, Nailah Harris, was lucky enough to find a position as an intern with Stern and Clerks while she finished law school.

Brandon was able to learn all this from chatting with the young man, who was close to his age in fact. Brandon didn't mind knowing the personal details of the recruits' lives, it helped him to connect with his troops and provide morale when needed. Try as he might, Brandon was not the over the top in your face leader, but he could morph into one when necessary.

He stayed around for a bit to observe Sgt. Liew in action with the ROTC teams. Today, the top tier team, Pvt Herendez and Pvt Barchlet were scaling the wall. Brandon knew that the duo had the potential to make it to the top, if they didn't let their relationship get in the way. Unofficially, it was frowned upon for recruits to get involved with each other, however the two privates didn't allow their relationship to get in the way of training and unless you had eyes and ears everywhere, like Brandon did, then you wouldn't have known that they were dating. He knew that it was serious when Pvt Herendez approached him with the request for a new teammate to avoid conflict of interest. Brandon admired the young man for his honesty and promised to think about it.

Brandon had a lot to think about. His new position as Security Director for the County meant that he was often spending hours in his office, planning military tatics and chatting with other base commanders, including his brother, Bruce, stationed in Simmington Hills. Bruce and his wife, Greta, were still settling into the hood, but from what Brandon could tell, they loved the place.

He sighed as he looked at Pvt. Herendez's file. The young man was having trouble concentrating in university and Brandon feared that he would be kicked out soon. His grades were decent, but the motivation wasn't there. If Pvt. Herendez wanted to be an officer with the military, he would at least need to obtain his associate's degree, which meant only one more simyear of school.

In the summer, Ilila would sometimes arrive to pick him up after hours to make sure that he made it home safetly...or that's what she said.

Sometimes they didn't make it home until much later, which was a delight. The couple had finally decided to start trying for a baby, they felt that now was a good time to expand their family. No news yet, but they had just started.

"I can handle dinner, you don't have to stand over me." Brandon sighed.

"I know, but I think your choice of seasonings is interesting."

"I have this weekend off..."

"That's great. Are you going to relax at home?"

"I was thinking that we can go to a nice cabin for the weekend."

"Really?"

"Really."

The trip would be much welcomed as the couple had recently become so busy. Brandon was busy studying for his advanced degree. The military wanted him to be a general, like his brother Bruce, but Brandon lacked the credientials necessary in Apple Valley for the position.

Ilila also was studying, Johan had approached her about becoming a principal one simday in the future. She would need some additional skills and was enrolled in summer courses to gain those skills.

The weekend trip was "over before it began" as Ilila liked to say.

They enjoyed the few days of dancing by the fire,

or getting toes stepped on by the fire,

and being pampered,

but the approaching blizzard cut the vacation a day short.

They used their extra day to spend time at the Apple Festival enjoying the booths,

delicious coffee

and great performances.

Ilila even entered one of the cooking contests, however if she had known that longtime champion and new found friend, Ginger Grey was also entering the contest, perhaps she would have entered something besides a chunky chef salad.

How can salad stand up to Ginger's famous Lamb Roast. Just the smell of it was causing her stomach to growl. Even Ginger was bragging about her last winning recipe.

Next time she was entering a dish that had at least spent time in the oven and maybe then the defeat wouldn't be so harsh.