Travelin’ soldier
Two days past eighteen
He was waitin' for the bus in his army greens
Sat down in a booth in a café there
The day was beautiful. The sun was shining and a light wind was blowing through his hair. Spike sat at a dusty bus stop waiting for his bus to take him to his new life. A life he didn’t want and would love to run away from, but he couldn’t.
He grew up in a town a few miles up. His parents had moved there from England when he was 10, because his American mother was missed her home and mother. So they had packed their belongings and moved to the small town into a house near his grandma.
But soon after they had moved to Greenleaf, it all went downhill. His grandma got sick and his mother had to spend most of her time to care for her. His father worked in an insurance office, but never achieved the status, he had in England and he blamed his wife for dragging him to the US.
His grandmother had died on a sunny summer day and he hated himself for hoping that now everything would get better again. But sadly, he was mistaken.
Between caring for her mother for three years and fighting with her husband. his beloved mum had lost most of her strength. The doctors said it would be over quickly, that the cancer had already spread and 6 months after she had gotten the diagnosis, she kissed Spike good bye and exhaled her last breath.
The always strained relationship with his father couldn’t be smoothed out after her death and without her calming influence, father and son drifted more and more away from each other.
Spike was good in school. He tried to make his late mother proud and to not get in conflicts with his father. So when tragedy struck again at the age of 17, he felt more then lost.
When the police officer stood in the front door at 3 o'clock in the morning, Spike only registered the words “drunk driver”, “he didn’t feel a thing” and “it was over quick”.
His dad had left him some money, but he had to pay his father's funeral, there were still bills to pay from his mother’s various hospital stays and after he had paid off the mortgage for the house, he used the rest of the money to finish high school, which wasn’t all that easy when the grief transformed the shy William into the rebel Spike. When he realized that he might fail the last exams, he pulled himself together and made it to graduation day.
So now he sat here, just 18 and waiting for the bus to take him to an army camp. Not that he had a choice, though. No family, no friends, no money and so he thought joining the army would be a clever move. But then the war broke out and there was no going back.
He still had a few hours left and he didn’t want to spend them in a bus stop. He looked around and saw a little café, but what caught his eye was the blonde girl smiling at the customers.
Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair
He's a little shy so she gave him a smile
And he said would you mind sittin' down for a while
And talkin' to me I'm feelin' a little low
She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go
When the young man in an uniform entered the café, Buffy was directly drawn to him. He had cheekbones to die for, bleached blond hair and eyes so blue you could drown in them.
She had never seen him before and she could have made a happy dance, when he sat down at one of her tables. When she went to him to get his order, he stuttered a bit and Buffy had to smile at him. He was so cute.
She never had a lot of luck with boys and between school, trying to make some money to help her parents and her band practice, there was never a lot of time left.
But this boy could change that. She knew it and saw it in his eyes when she brought him his coffee and the way he tried to get her attention and a bit of her time.
He looked so lost and Buffy knew she had to meet him after her shift would be over. She felt his eyes on her as he watched her while she finished her shift and served the other customers. She felt herself blush when he complimented her on her beautiful smile and the way she was treating and caring for her guests.
She couldn’t wait for her shift to be over and when the time finally came she almost ran to the employee’s restroom to get rid of her apron. She took one last look in the mirror, set her bows right, checked her light make-up and made her way to her waiting soldier. Her soldier.
When she entered the main room of the café again, Spike was already waiting at the exit, nervously fidgeting and shuffling his feet. He saw her coming from the restroom. He gave her a brilliant smile and swiftly opened the door for them.
Her belly did a little jump, when she looked in his eyes, walked out of the door and just told him to follow her. She knew the perfect place to get to know him better.
So they went down and they sat on the pier
He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care
I've got no one to send a letter to
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?
They sat on the pier and watched the river flow. They told each other of their childhood and Buffy was fascinated when he told her about England, the way they had lived there and the house they left behind. How he had loved to play on the little playground down the street from their house and his favourite tree, a tall oak, he had climbed hundreds of times and carved his initials.
She had never left the States, let alone the state she lived in and she made up her mind to visit England when she graduated from High school or finally saved enough money to do something for herself. She didn’t tell him, that she hoped she would visit his mother country with him, but a little serene smile was on her lips, when she imagined walking on Piccadilly Circus with him.
She told him about her parents that loved her dearly, but couldn’t find work, that could provide for the entire family and she tried to help them with working in the café to make some money for the things she needed and to support her parents with the regular expenses. Even her younger sister Dawn tried to help and on the Saturdays assisted her Uncle Giles in the public library.
When she asked about his family he went still for a moment, but then he gave his heart a little push and for the first time he told someone how deeply the deaths of his family affected him.
After he had finished his tale, both of them had tears in their eyes and she held his hand tightly in hers. When he asked her wether she had a boyfriend and if she would mind, if he sent her letters from the camps he had to go to, so he wouldn’t feel so alone, tears where running down her face and she could only nod and take him in her arms.
They decided to use the little time they had left to learn as much about the other as they could and when the time for his departure came, they made their way to the bus stop with heavy hearts and holding hands, as if they never wanted to let go of each other.
Spike went to climb the steps to the bus and in a split-second decision Buffy hurried to him, jumped into his arms and kissed him good bye. She told him how much she would miss him and that she would wait for his return.
He peppered her face with kisses and promised to write as soon as he arrived at the camp, so that she would know where he was.
Only after the bus driver had called for the third time that they had to leave, they let go of each other and Buffy released one of the bows in her hair and gave it to him as a reminder of her.
She watched as the bus left and hoped to see him again soon, because within a few hours, Buffy Summers had fallen in love…
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone
When the letter says a soldier's coming home
So the letters came
From an army camp
In California then Vietnam
And he told her of his heart
It might be love
And all of the things he was so scared of
He said when it's gettin kinda rough over here
I think of that day sittin' down at the pier
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile
Don't worry but I won't be able to write for a while
When the first letter came from a camp in California, Buffy was ecstatic and almost driving her family nuts with her good mood and the way she told everybody at least three times how nice his letter was and she couldn’t wait for him to return.
She sent her answering letter back at the same day as his had arrived and she was anxious for his reply.
For the following 6 weeks they wrote each other 2 to 3 letters each week, and the more they wrote, the more they got to know each other and the longing to meet again multiplied.
She was worried about him, when he told her about the hard training he had to undergo as a freshman in the army and how he would often think about her to push the bad experiences out of his mind.
Nearing the end of his training, Spike was afraid about writing his next letter. They both had hoped that he might be able to go back for a few days after the training was over and before he was transferred to the next camp. But those hopes were destroyed when his next orders came. Vietnam. How could he write her, that they wouldn’t be able to meet again, before he had to leave to go in the middle of an ugly war?
Buffy had cried all day after she had received the letter with his news about having to go to Vietnam. Her family tried to console her, but nothing they said could stop the gut wrenching sobs.
She was anxiously awaiting every letter from him, after he was transferred to Vietnam, and the longer the pauses were between his letters, the more worried she got and every letter was just a short relieve of her fears.
He told her that it might get more and more complicated to write and that she shouldn’t worry, if she didn't hear from him for a while.
It had been four weeks already and she had yet to get a new letter from her soldier. Her travelling soldier…
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone
When the letter says a soldier's coming home
One Friday night at a football game
The Lord's Prayer said and the anthem sang
A man said folks would you bow your heads
For a list of local Vietnam dead
She hated those Fridays. She tried to get out of having to play at those games, but there was no replacement for her.
She still hadn’t heard from Spike and she was worrying more and more. She didn’t even know, if he had arranged, before he was transferred to Vietnam, for her to get a notification, should something happen to him. So just like the Fridays before, she slipped away from the band and hoped, wished and prayed, while she hid under the stands, that his name wasn’t on the list.
But her prayers weren’t answered this time, when the man announced “Fallen in the line of duty, William Pratt.”….
Cryin' all alone under the stands
Was a piccolo player in the marching band
And one name read that nobody really cared
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair
Crying and clutching her bow to her chest, that was how her parents found her after the announcement. They had been in the audience for the football game and when they had heard the name they knew their daughter needed them.
Her father cradled her in his arms and carried her home, where they awaited the return of her soldier, to be buried on the same cemetery as the rest of his family.
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone
When the letter says a soldier's coming home
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone
A few years later a beautiful woman was walking down Piccadilly Circus, visiting Trafalgar Square and in a small neighbourhood she went looking for a long forgotten playground.
Behind a big rusty gate she found swings and slides overgrown with ivy and other plants and in the back, there were still tall oaks. On one of them she found a big star with the letters “WP”.
She reached for the lowest branch and took a little bow out of her pocket and put it around one of the smaller twigs. With a last kiss to the initials she whispered