Title: Touching Home
Sub-title: A Jack ‘Hundo’ Lane
Novel
Publisher: Tight Lies
Book
Blurb
Weary of war, Captain Jack “Hundo” Lane is looking forward to his
thirty-day leave before being redeployed back to Vietnam. He really wants to
see his grandfather, Pat Henry, and Annie, the little Thai girl he rescued from
the streets of Bangkok. Sending Annie home to Pat saved the innocent child from
a life of prostitution in her native land and is one of Jack’s proudest
moments. For a man so young, he has a good appreciation of the value of
touching home, getting back a sense of real life as opposed to battle life. He
loves the large farm where he grew up, the open fields, his private river
island, and the quiet peace he feels all around him.
At home, he reconnects with an old high school friend, but on the
first date realizes she has changed a lot in five years, mostly not for the
better. While grooming his horse one morning at the barn, he meets the county’s
new veterinarian. Dr. Sue Gore is not only a skilled and caring doctor, she is
a gorgeous, engaging woman. From their first date, Jack realizes he likes her
very much and has no interest in other women, despite the attention he is shown
by young women of his hometown.
Excerpt
Touching Home – A
Jack ‘Hundo’ Lane Novel
They rode in comfortable silence
for a while, enjoying the sunshine and serene countryside. Then Hundo chuckled.
“Well, what do you think?”
“That’s it?” Sue reined up next to
him and looked at the island in the middle of the Etowah. “It looks like the
river just split and ran around it.”
“I think that huge rock at the
point started the split.”
“How big is the island?”
“Almost two acres. Someday I’m
going to build a cabin on that high ridge in the middle.”
“I can see it.”
“Follow me down the bank, There’s a
nice place to ford across from those rocks.”
* * * *
“I can see why you like this place.
It’s so peaceful, quiet.” Sue sat on the blanket Hundo had brought with her
right leg folded under her and her left leg pulled up. She rested her left hand
on her knee and rested her head against it. Hundo smiled at her as she watched
him build a fire with a flint and steel. He sharpened two sticks, put hotdogs
on them, then stuck them in the ground at an angle so the dogs were over the
fire.
“I use to come here by myself when
I was in high school, sometimes to study, sometimes just to be alone.”
Sue looked around at the lean-to
built next to the huge rocks which sheltered it from the wind. She smiled as
she watched Hundo pull the cork from the wine bottle and then produce two wine
glasses out of thin air. He poured the wine and handed a glass to her. “Thanks,
where on earth did you have these?”
“In my saddlebags, they were
wrapped in the blanket.” He moved over to sit next to her, watching the fire.
“Do you want catsup and mustard on your hotdog?”
“Of course and in a bun.” She
patted his leg.
“Naturally.”
“You seem to be happier being
here.”
“I am. I’ve always felt truly at
home here. As I said I want to build a cabin on the high ground someday.”
“So it’s your get-away place.”
“I guess it is.” He handed her a
hotdog in a bun, cradled in a napkin.
“I don’t think I’ve had hotdogs and
wine before,” Sue said.
“Well, you have to have the right
wine.”
“Exactly.” Sue laughed.
After a few minutes, she looked at
Hundo. “What’s it like being in Vietnam?”
He thought for a minute before he
responded. “Hot, lots of humidity. The people are a small people, not many over
five-five or over hundred thirty pounds. You sweat weight off right fast.”
“I guess you’re glad your time
there is over.”
“I’ll be there again within sixty
days.”
“But you said you had already been
there a couple times.”
“I’ve been given an assignment
which requires I go over again.”
“But why do that?”
“It’s my job. Besides doing that
type of assignment is what leads to a quick promotion.”
“You’re very young to be a Captain.
Is that why?”
“I’m real good.” Hundo laughed.
“No—mostly being at the right place at the right time.”
Author Bio
Dick B. Long is a pseudonym for an author who was a career
military officer. He writes stories rooted in his own experiences from a very
young man through fighting in three wars for his country. He learned as a
teenager that women liked him and he liked them. He first began writing about
the women he had known in his life while he was deployed in Afghanistan. In the
early days after 9-11, his team did not have books to read, so he first wrote
his stories to give his men something to read to keep them occupied between
missions. The tales proved to be so popular, they were soon e-mailed throughout
the command.
Now retired, he has become a full time writer and is having a
ball. Readers are invited to contact him at his e-mail address to let him know
what they like and dislike about his stories—and what they would like to read
about next.
Email – dick.long@comcast.net
Website - http://dickblong.wix.com/dickblong
Twitter – Dick B Long@DickBLong2
Jack ‘Hundo’ Lane Books
Touching home
An
Occasional Warrior
taken
murder on marsh island
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