My next several posts will feature a sample chapter from each Rainbow Arc of Fire novel, in order. These are sections of chapters or passages from each novel that I feel were especially influenced by the poetry I wrote in the previous decades. The chapter below from the first novel occurs after Greg has acquired his superior ablities. He sees the world about him with new eyes, in new ways. He has returned to the place where his life took an unfortunate direction fifteen years earlier, and he means to make a difference when he was unable to earlier.
Chapter Twenty-one
Especially in the early 1950’s, this pristine wilderness that soon enough was built up into the various U.S. Air Force Academy structures, traditions, and facilities must have been incredibly beautiful, vitally untouched as it was back then. So much is pristine still, and virtually unoffending, as it nestles into the wide landscape as Greg exits the freeway.
The several Academy roads are meticulously paved, the shoulders perfectly manicured. Pines and shrubs and thick, wild brush loiter everywhere, unmoved and undisturbed these many years.
The hills here roll massively upward at a slow grade until, finally, Rampart Range rides straight up to the sky. One can almost hear the ancient, volcanic eruptions that pushed these heights up through the Earth’s crust to where they now reside, triumphant.
Yet the stillness of an airless moon envelops this entire locale. Dark clouds can mass silently behind this protective range of mountains until the heady gray formations push themselves up over the tops of the various peaks; and a thunderstorm, fully unfurled, rages on an otherwise peaceable summer’s afternoon.
Nature is allowed far greater leeway here. Headlights that are flashed during the day at oncoming cars are intended to warn of deer docilely gathered ahead, for wildlife is fully protected here.
No matter the phantom pain that Greg still feels, as if from a severed limb, he has always loved this place. Arriving as he has before too many unknowing tourists invade for the day, he turns the hood of his car toward the Overlooks.
From this remarkable vantage point, the several athletic fields that spread out below currently lie fallow in their off-season. Graduation having occurred several days earlier, the doolies, the new Academy freshmen, are not due to arrive for a few more days yet. A number of cadets are still in residence, however, in numerous summer programs....
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