G Hopf - The End

“No, we’re fine; I just need to know next time. Had I not checked the voicemail, I never would have known. Just promise me you’ll give me some notice next time.”

Gordon stood up and walked over to Samantha. He softened his voice, “Absolutely, honey.”

He bent down and gave her a big hug and kiss and whispered into her ear, “How about I apologize more upstairs?”

Samantha, a bit stubborn, pulled back and said, “You know I have things to do.”

“All things can wait,” Gordon said, even softer, knowing his wife too well. He followed up with a proposal, “How about I help you with your stuff later if you help me with my stuff now?”

Samantha raised her eyebrows and smiled mischievously, “Deal!”

She grabbed his hand and they both ran upstairs.

“Someone’s at the door!” Hunter yelled excitedly.

“Go ahead and get it; it should be your Uncle Sebastian!” Samantha said from the kitchen. She was too busy preparing a salad to go to the door.

“Gordon, I think your brother is here!” she called out to Gordon, who was in his office working. Samantha loved Sebastian but didn’t always like his visits. It wasn’t Sebastian’s fault, but just having him around made Gordon act differently. She knew that Gordon would be very distant in the days after Sebastian’s departure.

“Uncle Sebastian!” Hunter screamed as he opened the door. Hunter and Haley loved his visits; they always had the best time when he was around.

“Uncle Sebastian, Uncle Sebastian!” Haley screamed as she bounded down the stairs.

Sebastian stepped inside and picked up Hunter. Haley made it down the stairs and grabbed his leg.

“Hey guys, how are my favorite niece and nephew?” Sebastian asked. He squatted down and picked up Haley with his other arm. He walked into the kitchen where Samantha was still rushing around, preparing dinner.

Sebastian was tall and, as they say in the Corps, “lean and mean.” He and Gordon looked very similar; there was no mistaking they were brothers. The major differences came from their seven-year age gap: Gordon was slowly getting a widow’s peak and a bit of gray on his sides. Sebastian had a full head of thick brown hair and no gray. While he was a hard charger, he didn’t go for the flat tops or high and tight haircuts; he liked his hair and made sure it was just regulation or longer if he could get away with it. Sebastian always had a smile on his face and took life more lightly as opposed to his brother, who had a more serious and stoic persona.

Sebastian wanted to have kids himself one day, but for now he enjoyed the life of a single Marine. He still had the adventure bug, and with the Corps being tough enough without a family, he thought it not fair to start one. So for now, Sebastian took what family life he could get with his brother’s family.

“Hi, Samantha!”

“Hi, Sebastian, how are you?” Samantha replied, looking flustered trying to get everything finished. Samantha was a perfectionist and needed everything to look perfect for guests. She stopped for a few seconds to give Sebastian a quick hug and peck on the cheek, though. “Gordon is out in his office finishing up a project. Go ahead on back.”

“I think I’ll do that—” he looked down to the kids in his arms and raised his eyebrows, “But first I have a couple of monkeys on me that need to see what Uncle Sebastian got them.”

Both kids squealed, “Presents!”

He let the kids down and squatted so he could look at them eye to eye, “Go out front and you’ll see two bags on the table out there. The green one is Hunter’s and the pink one is—”

“Mine!” Haley cried out, already running to the front door. Hunter did not hesitate either and took off.

Sebastian stood up and approached the kitchen island, “Wow, something smells great! I’m hungry.”

“I hope you are, we have tons of food and Gordon ran out a bit ago and picked up your favorite tri-tip.”

“You guys are great, thank you,” Sebastian said looking at Samantha, happy his brother had found such a wonderful wife. It made him smile when he thought about how much his brother deserved this life, especially after everything he’d been through.

Samantha had the TV on in the background as she cooked; it was really the only time she could catch up with the news. Her two kids were a full-time job, demanding more than a fair share of her day.

On the TV, Bill O’Reilly was interviewing the Republican speaker of the house, Brad Conner, and Democratic California representative, Shelly Gomez.

“The president is clearly failing in ensuring our country is safe. Allowing Iran to manufacture nuclear fuel and only slapping their hands will not keep us safe. The Iranian regime cannot be trusted. We need—”

“—need what, Mr. Speaker, another war?” Rep. Gomez shot back.

“We must keep everything on the table and we need to project strength, not telegraph the fact that he will not use force.”

“Speaker Conner, you are a proponent of pre-emptive strikes. Do you favor striking Iranian nuclear facilities if we had solid intelligence that they were making nuclear weapons or selling weapons-grade fuel to terrorists?” asked O’Reilly.

“Bill, Iran is a terrorist state. To answer your question more directly, yes I would.”

“Ms. Gomez, what say you?” O’Reilly asked quickly.

“Mr. O’Reilly; we must always keep every option on the table. However, we cannot sidestep diplomacy and we must ensure that we have exhausted all attempts at a peaceful solution.”

“So you would favor a military strike?” O’Reilly asked her directly.

“What I am saying is that we should never pigeonhole ourselves into one solution.”

“It’s a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, Ms. Gomez” O’Reilly shot back.

“Mr. O’Reilly, diplomacy is more dynamic than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer,” Gomez challenged, looking agitated.

“I understand that, Ms. Gomez. Let me make the question clearer. If you exhausted all diplomacy and the intelligence stated that Iran would develop a weapon or was prepared to sell weapons-grade fuel to a known terrorist group that would use it as a dirty weapon, or even worse they were to sell a nuclear weapon, would you support a military strike?”

“I think you have to define, ‘exhausted all diplomacy,’” Rep. Gomez answered.

“Really? Really? Ms. Gomez; you can’t answer that question?” O’Reilly pushed further, looking a bit disgusted.

Speaker Conner interrupted, “I can answer the question, Bill. Yes, I would strike them and strike them hard. Bill, Ms. Gomez is aware of the threats, the real threats that our country faces. She is in the briefings, she knows. But what do she and her colleagues do? They vote every time to weaken our defenses or to not fund projects that can harden our defenses.”

“Mr. Speaker, what is one threat that faces our nation that most Americans are not aware of?” O’Reilly asked, looking to wrap things up.

“What I fear the most is a rogue nation or terrorist group attacking us with an EMP or an electromagnetic-type weapon. We are not equipped for this; it would destroy our entire power grid. The Iranians, for one, have stated their awareness of this weakness and want to exploit it.”

“There you go again Mr. Speaker, spreading fear,” Gomez disdainfully accused.

“Fear? Ms. Gomez you have seen the reports regarding this specific threat. Even some in your own party realize the threat and have courageously put forth bills that never made it out of committee. I am now pressing Congressman Markey to put forth the same bill again. I will work hard to ensure the bill at least gets the up or down vote it deserves,” Conner spat back, obviously irritated.