It was October when I flew out of O'Hare on the way back to Belle Vernon (Beautiful Green), Pennsylvania. I had been to Orlando for Navy bootcamp, and then to Great Lakes where I lived in on Clayton Street, just above "The Ravine". I would often go down to the famous lighthouse, listen to the passing of the trains, the whole while remembering my home town. After two years at the recruit training center, I began to become callous, hardened, forgetful. Vietnam was happening, my twin brother was already on a Destroyer Escort and over there. Every day seemed to be filled with uncertainty, and soon I began to question the value of life and living. There were drugs, alcohol flowed like a stream at the base, and spiralling on the coattails of this uncertainty were the hopeless dreamers, the wanna-be extroverts, the, you-know, party crowd.

Was this all there was to life? Living, playing, finding and losing touch with those who meant a lot to me? I needed a miracle and that miracle was Ray Bradbury.

The time had arrived for me to leave Waukegan. It was October and the rapture of the Lonely One had not found a way to save me. As I closed the door to my house on Clayton street, two leaves, like mice, scampered past me toward The Ravine. I felt like I was missing something, but I didn't know what it was.

At the airport, my life changed. I grabbed a copy of Dandelion Wine not knowing anything about Ray Bradbury. Yes, I was so busy living life, being too reckless and carefree to notice Mr. Bradbury's works were passing me by.

The trip home was fast, the book ... incredible. I had to write to Ray Bradbury and tell him about it. I still have a copy of that letter. His letter arrived and a friendship grew over the years. Halloween became special. It meant I could write to Ray, and he always was kind.

What I gleaned from his novel, Dandelion Wine, sustained me and protected me from the damage the Navy had done. But to be fair to the Navy, it was through it that I learned to appreciate Ray Bradbury. As I travelled extensively, I began to realize that the heart can hold much more than the anquish and pain it must endure at the expense of the world around it. The heart can hold onto Ray Bradbury ... and that, if it were only that, would be enough to sustain it through anything.

If you are reading this ... I love you, Ray!

Bob Cain
Tampa

Please forgive any typos or double infinitives, please forgive my glittering generalities and poor use of thematic motif. Just read and know that this is from the heart, please. RC

quote:

Originally posted by Robert Raymond "Bob" Cain:
What I gleaned from his novel, Dandelion Wine, sustained me and protected me from the damage the Navy had done.

So beautiful and so true, Bob. The military also tried to have their way with me and my mind, but I would have none of it!

Been to Great Lakes, by the way.

Motif is a good word.

Doug Spaulding, USN

Thanks Mr. Spaulding. Do you remember Waukegan? Have you been to the Grand Ave Park, sans, RB's Ravine? The Navy was so bad, BECAUSE of Ray. Bob

I meant that what the Navy did was so Kafkaesque compared to the lyrical beauty that is Ray Bradbury. Without his light, we do not understand the dark ... now, do we?

.
.
. "Bob" Cain... if you go to my website, (listed below) and click on the BRADBURY icon there,
you will find photos of Waukegan under the sub-title, BRADBURY TOUR...and see the old ravine as it appears today.

quote:

Originally posted by Robert Raymond "Bob" Cain:
Thanks Mr. Spaulding. Do you remember Waukegan? Have you been to the Grand Ave Park, sans, RB's Ravine? The Navy was so bad, BECAUSE of Ray. Bob

Not Green Town, no. Unfortunate. The Navy wouldn't let me get any closer than Great Mistakes, or Great Lakes, as it is called by some.

Many things are bad I fear, because of Ray - what can outshine his wondrous light? Few things, I submit.

The military for me is a job, not a way of life. I get out in about a year and hope to break into The Show Business by way of writing and film. Am writing a screenplay treatment of Dandelion Wine right now, to show to RB in hopes of getting the screenplay job when it's optioned.

I must be in love with what I do, and the Navy is not it!