Deep Divide

Within the next five years despite being in a half weaken state, Jeffrey knocks out one soldier and fires his rifle while escaping. He ran from the house, holding his wounded leg. A chopper appears flying and Jeffrey waves to the pilot, making it land on the ground. He quickly ran to it and jumped inside.

One fellow soldier tended to Jeffrey's leg, wrapping a bandage around his knee. During his brief recovery, Jeffrey soon discovered that it was not over yet. He quickly gets up holding a rifle and fires at various locations in the jungle from the helicopter.

Flying back home, Jeffrey could not wait to see his family again. After taking about four buses and a taxi to his home, Jeffrey was relieved that his home remained where it was before leaving. He rings the doorbell with Velma answering it. She instantly recognized as him as the husband she hadn't seen in the last five years.

“Oh my goodness.” She said like she had seen a ghost. With their children, Jacqueline now at age five, Richard at age seven and Frances at age eight, they feel like he is a stranger to them. Mostly Jacqueline because this was her first time meeting him. She happened to be more shocked than her siblings. She was told many times before that he might have been dead, but seeing him for the first time made it harder for her.

The next morning after returning home, Jeffrey drove to his parents home. His first thought was being welcome back with open arms but he was wrong. He couldn't look straight at his own father, Edward. Edward Martin was in the Pacific Ocean Theater for two years and briefly held in capacity before he had Jeffrey and Caroline. The two found it hard to bond with each other as he started to drink after Caroline was born.

Realizing that Edward had a hardened look the entire time and was drinking whiskey before, Jeffrey knew he was bothered by the visit, but didn't say anything about it. It was his mother, Francine, who was happy to see him but was scared after finding out about his situation. Jeffrey assumed that Edward thought he was dead too.

“I didn't even know you were missing.” Edward said now knowing his son was lost in the Cambodian jungles. Instead of having a conversation with Edward, Jeffrey left and drove back home without looking back as Edward threw a empty bottle on the floor.

However, it was Caroline who was more than happy to see her only brother.

"When I heard about what happened, I kept waiting for my big brother to come home." She said after entering the house.

At his house a week later, Jeffrey is searching through a box of his belongings and a piece of paper falls out. He notices it and reads it.

“Dear Velma, I'm sorry about your loss and I wish I didn't had to go.” He stopped reading the letter knowing what it meant. Then he goes to the closet and finds a Army dress uniform that belonged to someone besides him. He smelled the uniform, sensing that Velma had washed it.

While waiting for Velma to come home after work that night, Jeffrey poured himself three glasses of scotch. Velma enter the house, seeing Jeffrey sitting in the kitchen.

“What is the meaning of this?” He asked holding the letter.

“Where did you get that?” She asked suspecting that Jeffrey knows something. As he handed the letter to her, Jeffrey look at Velma sternly.

"Who is this guy?" He asked.

“He's just an old friend. We did spent a couple of years together after he came back from Laos.” She calmly stated.