Annie Blackhawk: a Texas Heat Book

Wheels on the ground and as soon as the plane stopped it would be her boots. Home. Seems like forever. Seems like yesterday. Not for the first time Annie wondered if everyone would see the same girl that left home at the young age of seventeen. Or if they would see a combat weary Navy Vet. What will they see? Will they see me? She asked herself for perhaps the thousandth time. The captain came over the speaker thanking the passengers for flying with the airline. She watched as one of the attendants walked toward her and her senses started tingling. Fright - no reason I should be frightened. Flight - not a damn option. Fight – always an option for her but nope she’d been there done that. So, she just sat there with her senses tingling.
Then the captains voice came over the speaker again, and his words were clear. Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask that you remain in your seats as we pay tribute to Chief Petty Officer Annie Blackhawk.
The attendant smiled and said, “Chief I’d like to personally thank you for your service.”
Not knowing what else to do she stood up and grabbed her bag from the overhead and moved out from her row and started up the aisle. The captain continued, Chief from all of us here on this plane we thank you for your service. It has been an honor bringing you home. Annie blinked a few times refusing to let her tears fall. For the last nine months she’d cried enough tears to last her a lifetime. As she walked up the aisle several people reached out and touched her, others smiled and nodded their heads. Near the front of the plan she stopped walking. An elderly man stood up and turned to face her, that’s when she saw his cap he was a World War II veteran. He raised his hand and saluted her. She dropped her bag and came to attention and saluted him, no longer trying to keep her tears at bay. This man and hundreds of thousands like him had fought a war that saved a nation and changed the course of the entire world. She held her salute until he stepped back and smiled at her. Then she picked up her bag and began walking again and as she did the passengers stood up and applauded.