Hilson drove Kyle to the airport in Alburquerque. He boarded his flight and set up a surprise for his mom. The flight was short, and before he knew it, he was back in California.
Heath picked Kyle up from the airport, and they made their way to Kyle's mom's house.
"Thanks for getting me, Heath."
"Yeah, man. How's Air Force life?"
"You would know if you came with."
"My bad. That was the plan, but Government and Econ fucked me."
Heath and Kyle were slated to join together using the "Buddy System." They would have gone through basic and tech school together and even been assigned the same first duty station.
"…I don't think you should join," Kyle said.
"Word?"
"Just finish your degree, and if you wanna join, do it as an officer. You'll be treated better that way."
Heath contemplated what Kyle had just said.
"Anyway… anything change since I left?"
"Same ol', same ol'."
Kyle remembered something Sergeant Long said: you go back home, and everything is exactly the same. The people. The places. What the people do. Nothing changes, but the training changes you. To go home means you go back into the life you escaped.
That's exactly how Kyle felt. The place didn't change at all.
Heath pulled up to Kyle's mom's house, and Kyle had a plan to prank his mom. He was going talk to her on the phone while Heath rang the doorbell. Kyle's mom would open the door and let Heath in. Kyle would pretend to still be in Texas. While she's distracted by Heath, Kyle would pop into the house and hang up when she saw him.
Kyle dialed his mom's phone. It rang.
"Hi, Kown," Leah said.
"Hi, Mahk."
"How are you?"
"I'm fine."
The conversation went on for a little bit. Enough so that Heath could make his way to the door and ring the doorbell.
"One second. Somebody is here."
Leah spoke English well enough to understand, but she was always a little off grammatically. She made her way over to the door and peered out the side window to see Heath.
"Oh! Heath here," said Leah.
"Hi, Mrs. My."
"Hi, how are you?"
"I'm fine…"
As Heath distracted Leah, Kyle snuck in and stood tall in front of his mom. She looked around confused.
"Why he hang up..?" asked Leah.
"…"
"The phone call from Kyle."
"…"
Kyle was bewildered. Did his mom not recognize him?
"Mahk…"
"Oh!"
"You don't recognize your own son?"
"Your hair gone!"
Apparently, with a high and tight haircut, Kyle was so unrecognizable, his own mother wasn't able to tell it was him even when he was standing in front of her. Kyle thought that it was probably because she had bad facial recognition.
After the initial surprise, Kyle spent a week at his parents' home. His father, despite not showing any pride in him, was warmer and more receptive than he had ever been. He even offered to give Kyle a car, an old 1987 Toyota Camry he used to drive. Kyle's father wanted to give it one more check before Kyle took off to Northern California with the car.
He still had a timeline to keep. Kyle walked out of the house with bags in tow. His father, Garett, was looking under the hood of the Camry.
"Looks good," said Garrett.
"Thanks, Pa."
"Take care of her. She'll last you another 50,000 miles at least."
"Will do."
Kyle said goodbye to his parents. His siblings weren't home. They were probably at school. The ones that still lived at home anyway, and it's not as if he'd never see them, again, but he wanted to say bye.
Kyle had one last stop before heading up north. To the local Jack-in-the-Box for lunch with Heath.
"Sup, Heath. You order yet?"
"Yeah, man."
"Cool."
Kyle ordered his food and had lunch with Heath.
"At least you're close to home, Ky. Coulda been in Kansas or something'."
"Yeah, could be worse."
Kyle always thought it was weird Heath insisted on shortening his already short name. Still, they were best friends. He glanced over at Heath. Still the same guy with a tiny fro.
Kyle took another bite out of his burger.
"How's Jeni?"
"…Oh… yeah… she broke up with me, dude."
"Shiet… my bad."
"You ain't know…"
Heath didn't know. It felt off. It was strange to sit in this fast-food joint. Kyle had to leave all over, again. Would it be the same when he came back to visit? Heath was supposed to be his best friend, but it almost felt like he knew nothing of Kyle. As if he had outgrown this place.
"Gotta head towards Vegas," said Kyle.
"You just said she broke up with you, man."
"Nah, not for Jeni. The guys I gotta head up with decided to drive, and I gotta meet them in Vegas."
"Nice."
They finished their meal, and Kyle made his way to his car.
"Yo, Jay and I will visit. Let me know when's good."
"Cool… I'll see you soon then, Heath."
They did their usual hand-shake which was more of a low-slap that slid off each other's hands followed by a snap.
Kyle hopped in his car and headed towards Las Vegas. He was running behind and didn't anticipate the traffic towards Vegas. Judging by the traffic, he assumed people used any excuse to gamble or drink.
Kyle checked in with the guys to see where they'd be. He had to since he only printed out a general route to Vegas.
"We're headed to a place called the Crazy Horse, My," said Hilson. "But, we're staying at a Motel 6."
"All right, cool. Which one? What exit is it off of?"
"The club?"
"No, dude. The motel."
"We're not there."
"I get it, dude. I'm stuck in traffic."
"Oh, we're gonna leave here after we have some fun and head a little ways outside Vegas for the motel," said Hilson. "Just stop at the first one you see, and we'll meet you there."
"All right. See y'all later tonight."
Kyle finally breached the traffic and made his way to the first Motel 6. He was about to check-in when he saw Fern walking out towards the parking lot.
"Yo! Fern!"
"Hey, My."
"I see you didn't fly after all. You're not with the guys?"
"I didn't want to go to a strip club."
That made sense. Fern seemed a little vanilla, but now, Kyle knew he was vanilla.
"What about you, My?"
"I got caught up in traffic, but strip club isn't my thing anyway."
"I got two rooms. You can put your stuff in whichever one."
"Thanks, Fern."
"I'll walk back with ya."
Fern walked Kyle to the rooms and handed him one of the key cards. Kyle unlocked the door, walked in, dropped his bag and threw himself onto one of the beds. He was exhausted and decided to turn in.
Kyle woke up after hearing some people enter his room. It was the guys after a night at the Crazy Horse. It seemed they were still semi-drunk or at least buzzed.
Avery, Burr and Hilson were staying in the same room it seemed.
"Burr, that chick kept calling you fly-boy. My fly-boy," Hilson said.
"She stayed on my lap all night!" exclaimed Burr. "But shit, Avery took his chick to the back."
"I did," agreed Avery. "I sure did…"
That was odd to Kyle. Avery had a fiancé back home. Kyle sat up and looked over at Avery.
"Staying true to your fiancé, eh?" asked Kyle.
"…we… broke it off."
Kyle was surprised. Avery had told stories of how much he loved his fiancé, but judging from what happened tonight, Kyle speculated Avery was the type to fall in love easily.
"Did she do anything?" asked Burr as he chuckled.
Avery glanced over.
"Two beers and a blowjob," confirmed Avery.
"What?!" shouted Burr. "How much did you pay?"
"$200," Avery said.
"Some expensive beers," said Kyle.
Burr and Hilson laughed at Kyle's comment.
"That's funny as shit, My," said Hilson trying to hold in another bout of laughter.
It wasn't really. At least, not to Kyle. He didn't have a lot of experience in dating or women, but the thought of paying for adult services repulsed him.
"I'm heading to bed," Kyle said. "We still gotta get to Reno and cut over to get to Beale."
"How much longer?" asked Hilson. "'Til we get to Beale?"
"Fern printed out our route from here at the Business Center in the motel," said Kyle. "A little over eight hours."
"Shit!" blurted out Hilson.
"Yeah," Kyle said. "Still a ways to go."
Hilson let out a yawn which quickly spread to Burr and Avery.
"Y'all must be tired," said Kyle. "I'm sure Avery is drained."
Hilson and Burr went into another fit of laughter. Kyle inadvertently made a sexual joke which made Avery turn beet-red.
"Yup!" exclaimed Hilson. "Funny as shit!"
The guys got ready for bed. They divvied up the sheets and pillows. Avery and Burr took the floor. Hilson and Kyle were driving so it made sense for them to get the better sleeping situation.
The next morning, Kyle noticed that August wasn't with them. The guys confirmed August decided to fly straight to Sacramento instead of making a road trip.
They made their way towards Reno with their MapQuest printouts and reached Beale Air Force Base the next day.
End of Chapter 6