The Whittaker Saga

For Anna and Johnny, Carls presence is a welcome help. Farm hands are good, but having a family member you trust is better. Suddenly the two find themselves having the time to sit down in their rocking chairs just talking to each other. For Carl, the change of pace is welcome. The hard physical labour and time with the horses helps him forget - at least for the moment. Yes he still has nightmares at times, and is filled with guilt about leaving Chi behind, but as long as he keeps busy, lets his muscle work until they ache, he can push the dark thoughts to the back of his mind. And being around Anna and Johnny, sharing dinner outdoors after a full day of work and hearing them share stories from their own life, is its own reward as he tries to wrap his head around what he's been through. When he left solders that went to Vietnam were called baby-killers, spat on and abused. Now people tied yellow ribbons around trees and called for the return of POWs. What he cannot understand, is h...

As the Paris Peace Accord take effect, and the policy of "Vietnamisation" is declared finished, it's time for the US troops to return home. For Carl it's with mixed feelings he sets on packing - as he know his time with Chi is up. "I will work to get you over from home," he promises. Only a few days before has she told him that she's pregnant. "You can't possibly know that's yours," his CO has told him bluntly. "So no, it makes no difference. For all you know she's not even pregnant." Carl might be naive, but he's not stupid, he knows it can be someone else's, but he also knows it could be his. What if he's leaving his own child behind? But in this he has no say, and any promises he makes are weak at best. He cannot make the government accept Chi, he cannot prove the child is his, he can send money but he has no way of knowing if it reaches her or not. "I won't forget you," he tries to console th...

As the US is ramping up their exit strategi from Vietnam, Carl is becoming obsessed with Chi. It's not that he, by now, has not figured out what she is doing, but knowing does not make a difference to his heart. Not when Chi looks at him with such sadness in her eyes. "Why do you do this?" he asks her one night. "Have daughter and mother. Husband dead. Village no food, so I go to town, but no jobs. This is only job, so I take it and send money." Hating what she has been forced to do, Carl starts giving her extra money, starts finding reasons to see her outside of her "work", and find himself falling deeper. "You take me to America, soldier?" she jokes when he tries to see her during the day, at first joking, then as the weeks passes more seriously. Carl hates saying no, so he says he'll try. Then he says yes. He pretends he doesn't know deep down it's a lie. He even tries to make it happen. But his CO just laughs at him when he br...