Songs from Orion by John Eckalbar Songs from Orion © 2006 by John Eckalbar All rights reserved Permission to reproduce copies, except excerpts for reviews, is prohibited unless given in writing by the author: John Eckalbar Chico, California (530) 343-6791 [email protected] Songs from Orion is posted on the Forum page of the Heidelberg Graphics Web site: www.HeidelbergGraphics.com in Chico, California, for the enjoyment of readers. It may not be copied or reprinted except for personal reading. Several people deserve thanks for their help on this project. My wife, Anne, my sister, Mary Glazer, and my friends Laurence Boag and John Elstrott all read early versions of the manuscript and got me to believe that I should stick with it. My great friend David Crosby did the same, and I doubt that I would have kept at it except for their encouragement. Ernie Brace, a POW captured in Laos and released in Hanoi, was kind enough to read the sections on the MIA/POW experience. Capt. Zeke Cormier and Mr. Joe Ciokin arranged for me to fly out to the USS Constellation and the USS Carl Vinson to see what carrier catapult shots are like. And my son, Walter, both inspired and proofread the sections on wrestling. The Songs of Orion Preface ............................................................................................................................... 6 The Spirit of Orion........................................................................................................... 14 Martin Landry.................................................................................................................. 22 Dreams of the Innocent.................................................................................................... 30 The Music Lesson............................................................................................................ 33 A Star in the Broken Sky ................................................................................................. 37 Jack Landry...................................................................................................................... 41 When the Music Came..................................................................................................... 49 Into the Big League.......................................................................................................... 53 Sittin’ In........................................................................................................................... 56 Press Conference.............................................................................................................. 63 The Bong ......................................................................................................................... 70 I Like It Like That............................................................................................................ 82 Song Writer...................................................................................................................... 96 School Days................................................................................................................... 103 Who Done It?................................................................................................................. 119 A Quick Trip to Canada................................................................................................. 123 The Fighter Who Just Won’t Quit.................................................................................. 124 The Lottery .................................................................................................................... 135 Crayfish.......................................................................................................................... 148 Even in the Rising Air.................................................................................................... 159 A Letter From the USS Corregidor................................................................................ 162 Boulder .......................................................................................................................... 165 Hello .............................................................................................................................. 171 The Smile of a Yearling Child ....................................................................................... 180 On the Road ................................................................................................................... 193 Songs of the Dark .......................................................................................................... 200 The Wait ........................................................................................................................207 Dear Mrs. Landry........................................................................................................... 216 The Amber Waves of Grain........................................................................................... 226 Tricycles ........................................................................................................................ 231 Voyage of the Damned .................................................................................................. 236 Somewhere Deep Inside ................................................................................................ 251 Heavenly Digital............................................................................................................ 290 So Long, Isaac................................................................................................................ 305 The Sin We Both Loved ................................................................................................ 326 The Seed ........................................................................................................................349 A Sprout......................................................................................................................... 361 Details............................................................................................................................ 372 Avarua............................................................................................................................ 388 The Tangaroa ................................................................................................................. 391 Aitutake.......................................................................................................................... 406 Back to Rarotonga ......................................................................................................... 419 Taveuni .......................................................................................................................... 460 The Song of the Pouring Rain........................................................................................ 481 Where Water Meets Sand [or it’s there] ........................................................................ 496 Epilogue: Through the Eyes of an Angel....................................................................... 500 Preface I sit on the veranda of my brightly painted little house in the lush green hills above Avarua, and I look out at the tiny harbor and the endless blue-eyed Pacific beyond the seawall. A boat motors out of the harbor, turns into the wind, and raises its sails. Two native Polynesian boys clatter down the hill toward town on an ancient bicycle. Laughing as they bound through the ruts in the cobbled road. Seagulls and frigate birds hang motionless above me, like kites keeping watch in the on-shore breeze. There are many worlds on this planet. I am exhausted from the emotional and physical strain of the past few days, but I still have the presence of mind to appreciate the idyllic tranquility of this scene. The tropical air is moist and fragrant in the morning sun. It feels like feathers being drawn across my skin. I close my eyes and listen to the shrieks of the sea gulls. For a moment I think I hear a stock-car race in the distance. That’s improbable on this placid little island. I open my eyes to look for the source of the noise and see that it is bees at work behind me in the hibiscus. The dog that walked me home last night, uninvited but welcome companion, lies stretched out beside me. Together we soak up the sun’s life-giving energy. I feel it’s warmth, like a massage, working out the tension that has accumulated in my shoulders. The dog raises his head and looks around, as if he is trying to remember how he came to this place. In a way, that is my project now, too. It’s hard to believe that I can sit in such a peaceful setting, pencil in hand, quietly assembling my thoughts, while just beyond the horizon a desperate air and sea search is underway for my friend Martin Landry, who disappeared a few days ago in his sailboat somewhere between here and Fiji. Yes, I am talking about the Martin Landry. Former right fielder for the Los Angeles Evaders and rookie of the year in 1965. The one whose off-hand remark in support of Muhammad Ali’s resistance to the Vietnam War caused a firestorm of angry reactions that ultimately drove him from the game. The same Martin Landry who surfaced a few years later, in the wake of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, as the singer/songwriter who wrote and performed the multi-million seller “Who Done It?” The same Martin Landry