Against all odds, Brent Kingman is alive. He survived the atrocities in Vietnam, and he returned to his family home at Kingman Ranch. His loved ones surround him, including the love of his life, Jamaica Phillips, who he saved from the claws of death twice since his return home. They plan to marry, but fate intervenes, as Brent finds himself falling victim to malaria, among other unidentified illnesses picked up overseas. Brent's illnesses cause hallucinations, which take him back to the horrors of war and beyond-to a time when he was a little boy, seeking solace from his father. Time and again, Brent asks his father to "Keep the Boogeyman away." Sam Kingman is devastated to see his son so weak and ill, after all he went through in Vietnam. Why do they deserve this? Why does Brent deserve what looks like punishment? The Boogeyman is part II of the Kingman-1971 series, following part I, Jamaica. The Kingman family has suffered much, but young Brent Kingman has suffered the most. He survived the war, only to return ill and unable to adjust to normal life. As the hallucinations threaten to take him under, his family and loving fiancée must pull together. Together, they will keep the Boogeyman away. They're the only ones who can.

KINGMAN - 1971

Part II: The BoogeymanBy Gary Reeves

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2011 Gary Reeves
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-5577-8

Chapter One

THE BOOGEYMAN

Sam watched from Brent's room while Anna and Jamaica walked toward the stables then turned his head to watch Doc remove a stitch from Brent's side. Elaine busily prepared a large syringe of antibiotics, before injecting it into the I.V. Sweat immediately began pouring from Brent's body.

"Little sting." Doc warned Brent, as he cleaned the area of the large wound in the young mans side.

"It makes me want to pee." Brent complained, "When can I take a shower?"

"I hope it's soon." Doc replied, "You can probably take a bath in a few days."

"Shower Doc." Brent argued, "I want a shower."

"Hold still." Doc ordered, "You wiggle worse now than you did when you were 6. You'll be too weak to stand in a shower."

"Okay." Brent acknowledged and tried to lie still, "This stuff you guys are giving me makes me sweat. I feel like crap."

"Talk to Phil, or complain to Brenda." Doc retorted, "But if you want to get married on Sunday, I advise you do what we tell you and let us be the doctors."

"What are you doing here, Dad?" Brent yawned, "Am I that sick?"

"You're pretty sick." Sam replied trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

"I hate this crap." Brent complained, "It makes me so damned tired. I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"You're home, Brent. You don't have to fight the medicine." Sam told him softly, "Just go with it and get some rest."

"Is Jake okay?" Brent worried, "How can I protect Jake?"

"The medicine's made him just a little irritable Sam." Elaine told him while preparing another syringe.

"Jake's worried about you." Sam told him, "Mom took her for a walk. I give you my word I'll make sure she's protected and taken good care of. Kuba's with her and your mother right now."

"What the hell am I doing to her Dad?" Brent asked, "I feel like I'm saddling her with an invalid. Maybe I should call the wedding off."

"Maybe you should," Sam agreed, "If that's what you really want to do."

"I don't want to do that." Brent sighed, "I love her."

"I know." Sam replied.

"I just worry I'm not good enough for her." Brent confessed, "What if this kind of thing keeps happening? What if I get crazy and tell her stupid things? What if I hurt her? I wouldn't ever do a thing like that on purpose, but ..."

"I know what you mean." Sam assured him and wiped the sweat from his face and neck while saying, "Sometimes we say things we don't mean. It's all part of it. They don't just see us when we're at our best. If we're lucky enough to have someone like your mother or Jake, they remind us we're not the big shots we think we are. They married us for who we are, not what the world thinks. I guess they see something in us no one else does, including ourselves. I'm awfully glad your Mom's around to remind me I'm not Big Sam Kingman. I'm just Sam to her; the guy she loves and cares for, especially when this kind of thing happens. Jake's that kind too. They're rare gems. I think the hardest thing I ever had to accept was that your mother's a lot stronger than I am. I don't say it a lot; but it's true."

"Excuse me, Sam." Brenda said politely and looked Brent over carefully before telling him, "We're going to put you to sleep for a little while sweet prince."

"You're awfully pretty, Aunt Brenda." Brent sighed, as she pushed the contents of a syringe into his arm, "Do you want to marry me?"

"The answer's the same as it was when you were 4." Brenda replied with a warm smile while taking his pulse, "I'm already taken. Besides, she's a lot younger and prettier than I am."

"Yeah!" Brent exclaimed, trying to keep his eyes open, "She means everything to me you know?"

"Yes I do." Brenda answered while checking the area where the needle penetrated his arm.

He soon turned his head to the side and closed his eyes while saying, "Don't let the boogeyman get me, Daddy."

"I won't." Sam said and patted his hand.

"He's a little loaded, Sam." Brenda told him, "He should sleep for several hours. He's pretty sick."

"Shouldn't we have him in the hospital?" Sam worried.

"Yes, we should." Brenda replied, "But I don't want anyone to know what we're treating him with. Right now he needs her a lot more than a hospital. So I guess that leaves it up to us. You were right, he was involved in some really classified work after his first year. Phil should have the details when he gets back. He just called."

"Is Jake in danger?" Sam asked with concern.

"I don't think so." Brenda replied, "He was pretty crafty about the way he talked about things. They had their own little language, written and oral, for communicating personal things? It took me a pretty good while to figure it all out. They'd been communicating that way for a long time before he left. I believe it's part of the stuff she hasn't figured out that he wrote. You can thank the kicks to the side of her head for that."

"Love finds a way." Sam shrugged.

"Love finds a way." Brenda agreed with a smile and admonished, before leaving the room, "Keep the boogeyman away from him, Sam; he's a good boy."

Chapter Two

JENNIFER

Sam walked over to the filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. He was surprised to find it full of 9 by 12 pads filled with sketches, all neatly arranged by month and year dating back to the time Brent was only 7 years old. He had always thought Jennifer a source of irritation to Brent, but quickly learned she was more a source of fascination. The style in the early pictures was clearly similar to both Sam and Anna's, but by the time he was 13 he had developed a style of his own that somehow made the images come to life. It had a depth evoking feeling and expressing emotion. Once he developed his own style, he redid several of the first drawings and began exploring his memories.

Jamaica seemed to be incidental in earlier drawings of Jennifer, Anna, Carol and Alicia. Sam spotted a pad with `Sadness' written on the cover in bold block letters, took it out and opened it. The very first picture showed Carol and Ken's agony over the loss of their daughters, so well, it took his breath away. A little note was scribbled in the corner he had a hard time reading through the tears in his eyes. The next several pages were devoted to the tiny children. The final drawing showed Ken and Carol holding each other while two little angels looked down on them from a cloud. He had drawn the picture in June 1963. It finally occurred to him what the note had said, `I just want to see them happy again.'

Sam had always thought Brent was too young to understand the depth of the pain of those times, but quickly learned it had a profound effect on him. Another picture showed Anna taking care of Sam when he came down with pneumonia a few months after he had gotten home from Korea. Brent managed to show her exhaustion and Sam's pain. A frightened little boy sat on the foot of the bed obviously wondering if his Dad were going to die and whether or not he had caused him to get sick. Remembering the pain of the ordeal, Sam rubbed his side where the most pain had been. There were other drawings in the pad; scenes of sorrow and confusion, often evoking a myriad of feelings and emotions. The title had been correct, `Sadness.'

"The sketches you're looking for are in the bottom...