Horizons of Heroes Read online

  He returned for a meeting with his curriculum advisor.

  The advisor, never looking at Cameron, seemed hell-bent on ensuring that Cameron flunked out of the university. He again assigned him challenging courses. “Cameron, you want to get into the business school and the only way you can do it is by getting good grades in calculus, micro and macro economics, plus statistics. You can only take one economics course this quarter so that means that you’ll have to wait another quarter to get into the business school.”

  “Okay,” said Cameron, “If you can assign me this insane workload this quarter then I’m going to take both economic courses so I can start business school next quarter.”

  “You can’t do it, Cameron.”

  Well, here’s my 4.0 GPA report card and I will do it.

  The advisor seemed overly pleased to sign off on Cameron’s quarterly courses.

  It was now Cameron’s do or die moment. He had to pass all the courses to get into business school or his dream of graduating from college was over.

  When Cameron came back to his apartment, he received a call from Big El. “Hey buddy, any Camels out your way?” Camel was short for Cameron and Big El. When the names were combined, it meant that they could never be beat.

  “Dang straight,” replied Cam. “How are you, buddy?”

  “I had to pull a Camel nearly daily to get a job on the local police force,” said Big El. My friend Baroni says that he can get me a job with the state police here in Rhode Island in about a year, maybe less, if I do well here. I have been attending police training school nearly every day learning the ropes. They are so serious over there. I had to cut down on partying and drinking so I could pass successive tests. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of all the fun we had. Cam, I just look forward to crossing this next hurdle so we can get back together.”

  “How’s Susan?” Cam inquired.

  “She is so understanding, passionate, and loving. I’m so lucky. That’s why I called you, Cam. I’m a really lucky guy to have her and I am going to ask her to marry me. Susan my fiancée, doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? Speaking of rings, I hocked every asset I have to buy her a big ring and I’m talking a massively enormous diamond ring.”

  “Sounds like you may have to work overtime or take on a second job to pay for that ring,” Cam suggested.

  “Great minds think alike! That’s exactly what I had to do to afford the ring that I want to buy her. I am working all the overtime I can get.”

  “Hey buddy,” said Cameron, “call me after you ask Susan to marry you. I want to hear every detail. Congratulations!”

  “How’s Abrianna?” asked Big El. “Did you see her after you left us?”

  “She was more beautiful than ever. She said to say hello to you with a warm hug from her.”

  “Dang Cam, She is so fine.”

  “It’s funny that you mentioned her as I was thinking about calling her and inviting her to come out to see me.”

  Cameron then told Big EL about seeing the girls in Canada. “Big El, why did you make me tell Trista that you were dead? I felt so weird listening to her agonizing screams of pain and her candles floating on water to wish you a bon voyage to heaven.”

  “Hey, I really appreciate it. Thanks. I actually no longer feel her spirit close to me which makes it so much easier to ask Susan to be my wife. You know, I never did a thing with that girl but she wanted me in the worst way and I just wanted to have fun. I think she must be skilled in dark magic as she had a spell on me.”

  Cameron then told Big El about Amy’s father. The trip to paradise had turned into a disastrous journey through bigot land.

  He also told Big El that he’d met with his old girlfriend Sharon and it was 100 percent, make that 200 percent over.

  “You will find Ms. Right, Cam,” said Big El.

  Back on campus, Cameron ran up each of the 2,000 steps carrying a full backpack of textbooks. Things were going well until he sat down to start his calculus class. He looked around the large classroom filled with nervous students. The professor walked into the class and placed his lecture notes on the lectern. He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to calculus I. To pass my class you will need a thorough understanding of the theorems of calculus, derivatives, antiderivatives, integrals, sine, cosine, tangent, and velocity.” As the professor continued, Cameron’s eyes dazed into a thick gray fog as he didn’t understand one word. He was totally lost by the time the professor talked briefly about the wrapping formula. In less than three minutes, Cameron felt his college career slipping away. He stood up and walked out of the room. There was no point in wasting time if he was going to fail calculus. As he walked to his car, he wondered what he would do for the rest of his life. He was really sad. In spite of a 4.0 point GPA last quarter, a stellar military career as perhaps one of the nation’s great spies, he had failed. His father and all the other Tuskegee Airmen had received college degrees and Cameron apparently did not have the mental skills to pass calculus. He thought about Gold Key No. 3, get a college degree or go to prison. He now awaited a not so bright future. Then he thought about Gold Key No. 2, you can achieve anything you desire if you are prepared to work for it. Last, he thought about Irene and her tarot card prediction. His agony was building as he continued to walk farther from the calculus class. He wondered what life could have been, had he not encountered bitter racism at Wilder University and received his degree there. Calculus on the other hand was an equal opportunity class meaning either you get it right or you get it wrong, but there was no gray area for racism. Cameron pondered whether calculus was indeed necessary for a business degree or if it was adopted to hinder women and minorities from being admitted into the business school. Nothing mattered now, as it was over.

  Cameron walked past the last building before the pathway down to his car. He noticed a very small sign near one of the windows on that building. It barely caught his attention. He stopped and walked back to that sign. It read “tutor services for students in need of class room assistance. Cameron needed a tutor!

  Cameron walked inside the building and asked the receptionist if they had a calculus tutor.

  “Yes. Darlene Thomas is our calculus tutor. She’s in now. Would you like to meet her?”

  “Absolutely,” said Cameron.

  Shortly, Darlene walked up to Cameron. This woman was so beautiful that Cameron thought she must be Darlene’s assistant. She was drop dead gorgeous.

  “Hi, I am Darlene and I understand you would like some assistance with calculus.” She spoke very professionally and stayed on the subject of calculus. “Cameron, calculus is really easy and if you allow me, I will help you break it down.”

  “I’m all yours. When can we get started?” asked Cameron, trying to fight his urge to flirt with her. She was a tall brunette and very sexy.

  “Let’s start tomorrow and then we should meet each morning before your calculus class.”

  Cameron had never had a tutor before. Now he had one of the smartest and most beautiful lady who could help him pass calculus.

  “Oh, I forgot to ask you,” said Cameron, “do you charge by the hour or by the quarter?”

  “Neither,” said Darlene. “NU is paying my salary as they have learned that a large pocket of the student body requires assistance with calculus and other courses.”

  The next day was the first tutoring session. Darlene said, “Cameron, stand up.”

  Cameron stood up.

  “Now shake your entire body really hard. What you are doing is shaking off the misconception that you may have about calculus.” Darlene then continued her lesson explaining the elementary principles of calculus. She made calculus seem easy.

  Cameron’s smile soon returned. He was finally understanding calculus. Each session was more beneficial as he could speak and write calculus formulas. Soon, he became the first person in the class to raise his hand and answer the professor’s questions.

  Cameron’s positive classroom energy spil
led over into all of his other classes. He threw himself into all of his homework assignments including microeconomics and macroeconomics, with more than average enthusiasm, and found himself in the library not only studying the weekly assignments but preparing for the next weekly study assignments. The library became his new home. He was a natural in his statistics class when the professor asked what was the probability of a flipped penny landing on heads.

  “Fifty percent.”

  “You sir, are correct,” said the professor. The professor smiled as he immediately shifted to what Cameron called tough statistics. Specifically, when to use and apply the empirical rule to help you decide whether a sample of data came from a normal distribution. Statistics appeared to be an excellent tool for forecasting voter approval and disapproval, and other probable outcomes, but Cameron decided to use it to personally help him from that day forward. Then the light bulb came on. College courses were simple tools to help him expand his accomplishments at work, at home, and along the journey of life. This realization was key to Cameron’s newfound interest in his classes.

  Each day Cameron beamed with enthusiasm and he thanked Darlene for her tutoring sessions. The seeds of learning had sprouted and he was growing in the right direction.

  Cameron elected to turn out for spring football. He visited the dean of the law school to obtain a legal opinion on how much football eligibility he had after playing one year at Wilder College. He was disappointed when he learned that he only had one year remaining. He thought the dean had made a mistake and asked him to review his decision.

  “Sorry,” he said, “only one year left.”

  Well, one year was better than none. He loved football so he tried out. He lifted heavy weights in the large weight room with the other football players. He thought it was odd that none of the players in the gym laughed and none of players inspired others to lift heavier weights. Cameron ran 10 miles every day including running up and down the stadium steps and the 2,000 steps from the parking lot.

  In the evening, before he settled down to do his homework, Cameron taught karate class for minority youth in central district of Seattle. Cameron enjoyed showing his students basic Karate skills. They in turn were mesmerized each time Cameron went through his katas, which were precision blocks, kicks and punches.

  The combination of football and karate conditioning resulted in huge biceps, shoulder, leg, neck muscles and amazingly fast speed. During time trials, Cameron learned that he was the second-fastest player on the team. He was second only to the quarterback. Normally running backs were the fastest. Cameron had blazing speed, perfect for a wide receiver.

  When his second quarter came to an end, he received the following grades: A+ in calculus (the highest grade in his class), A’s in microeconomics and macroeconomics, and an A in statistics. Cameron had received a 4.0+.

  He walked over to Darlene’s to show his grades. How lucky he was to see that little sign on the building. How lucky he was to have Darlene as a tutor. Was it luck? Was it divine intervention? Was it both?

  Darlene, “here are my grades.”

  “Very nice, Cameron, very nice,” she said.

  “May I hug you?” asked Cameron.

  “Of course,” she said.

  Cameron hugged her. It was a nice, but there was no spark. It wasn’t a love hug. It wasn’t a sad hug even though he knew he may never see her again, it was a genuine thank you hug for without her help he would never have been able to get into business school. “Thank you,” he said with a tear of appreciation forming in his eye.

  Cameron was thrilled. He had now been formally accepted into the business school. His parents were overjoyed to hear the news.

  He picked up the phone and called Big El. “Hey buddy, what’s going on?”

  “I found that two-carat diamond ring for Susan. It’s huge and very expensive. I didn’t even have to reach out to the Mafia for assistance this time. I paid every penny of it myself.”

  “Have you picked a day yet?” asked Cameron.

  “No, I’m going to ask her in about three months,” replied Big El. “Baroni is encouraging me to get that state patrol job and I think that will be a perfect time to start our new life together.”

  “Awesome Big El,” said Cameron.

  Cam updated him on his endeavors with football, karate, and his progress through his university courses.

  “Man, I wish I were there with my bola bag and toilet plunger to cheer your team on,” said Big El with a laugh.

  “So what’s up with Abrianna?”

  “She called and sent me several letters. She plans to come to Seattle this weekend, now that the toughest courses are behind me. I think she will be here for about a week.”

  “Good luck. You are the only guy I know that is dating a New York high-fashion model. She’s extremely foxy, you lucky dog.”

  “Hey,” Big El inquired, “Have you heard from any of our friends from the service?”

  “Yeah,” said Cam. “Our pal Art, who became a sexual conquest of a passionate cougar senorita in Acuna, Mexico, married Susie. They have a baby boy and live in Baltimore. I wonder if he will bring all of Susie’s family to the United States.”

  “Maxwell married his high school sweetheart. No kids yet, but I heard that he is working as a mechanic in an auto repair shop. He told me that when I talked to you, to be sure and tell you that when I stabbed him in the hand, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He got out of the service during Vietnam and he ended up marrying his dream girl. Big El, when I accidentally stabbed Maxwell, it really shook me up. Can you imagine putting a knife clean through one of your good friend’s hands?” said Cameron.

  “I got a card from one of my Philippine service friends who you never met. I called him GW for his passion for golf and women. He got a job as a warehouseman in Southern California. He said he was thinking about going back to college and had recently been accepted at Ohio State University. He still plays golf and said his poker game has picked up tremendously as he doesn’t have to face me at the card tables. He also said that he stays in touch with Baudin, who also played on the Cobra football team in the Philippines. Baudin got a job with the Secret Service and is now guarding high-ranking diplomats,” explained Cam.

  “Oh, I received a letter from Michael. He said the wine yield has been fantastic. The sun shines brightly in Southern Italy and he misses us both. He said any time we come back, our ole’ villa will be emptied and ready for us.”

  Abrianna arrived in Seattle. To Cameron it felt like the most expensive magazine in the world with a hot breeze on it’s pages opened and the most beautiful model ever walked out of the pages and came to life. The hugs, the kisses, the sweet smells, the sexiest woman had arrived in Seattle. Her six-foot tall frame, long slender legs, braided ponytail, beautiful lips, perfect fingernails, and soft black skin were so seductive.

  “Cameron, I missed you so much. I love you and never want to be separated. Just kiss me for a long, long time,” she said.

  They stood there kissing until a young lady asked, “Are you both movie stars? I know I’ve seen you both before.”

  They laughed and asked, “Would you like our autographs?”

  Cameron took Abrianna in his car back to his apartment with the swimming pool. Even though it was a little cool outside, she put on a bathing suit and laid next to the pool. Cameron swore that the pool was only used by a few people at a time, but it now seemed that everyone in the apartment building was wearing their swimsuit and sitting by the pool. Many of them scoped out Abrianna’s sexy body and Cameron’s twelve-pack chiseled abs. Even though Abrianna and Cam were black, discrimination can’t compete with sexy bodies. The couple nearly brought the pool to a boil. They both laughed at all the commotion.

  They enjoyed their days together. Cameron showed her the many highlights of Tacoma and Seattle, from the awesome views at the Space Needle, to watching killer whales from the ferry, and viewing the tremendous height of Snoqualmie Falls.


  Cam then took Abrianna to meet his mother and father. Interestingly, neither of his parents said whether or not they liked Abrianna.

  He even took Abrianna to watch him work out with his karate students. She had seen him teach karate in Italy and was happy to see his passion for Karate continue.

  Cameron knew something wasn’t right in his relationship with Abrianna when they were in Queens, New York. He couldn’t get past Gold Key No. 8, on real love. So if it wasn’t real love, he knew it had to be a play date or lust date. Darn, he really liked Abrianna.

  Later that night, Abrianna said, “I think I will stay with you, if that’s okay. I will send for my clothes and I will get a job tomorrow as an administrative assistant or even a model if I can find the work. I will help you with the rent and I will take care of you until you finish college. I love you Cam. I want to be that special person in your life forever.”

  Cameron looked her in the eyes and said, “I think I want that too, but first I must finish college before I can commit to anything. Why don’t you head back home and pack up all your things so you don’t forget anything?”

  “No Cam I do not want to leave.”

  “I know, but I have a tremendously difficult quarter with all my courses, plus football and Karate. So, it makes more sense for you to go back home and get organized.”

  “Are you sure Cam?” she asked.

  “Yes, it’ll only be a month or two.”

  “Okay.” She kissed Cameron passionately. After extending her trip for two full weeks exploring Washington, Cam took Abrianna to the airport and gave her one last kiss, knowing he may never see her again.

  That evening he called Abrianna to see if she had arrived home safely. A man answered the telephone and Cameron could tell that Abrianna was near the phone.

  “Hello, is Abrianna there?” asked Cameron.

  “Who is calling?” the man asked.