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    The Nha Trang Album
    The Nha Trang Album
    The Nha Trang Album
    Ebook161 pages2 hours

    The Nha Trang Album

    By Barry Miller

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    About this ebook

    The album was recorded in Vietnam in a small Quonset building at a U.S. Army hospital where Kid Grayson was recovering from his wounds. The band was Kid Grayson, lead guitar and vocals, Bumper Goode, lead, rhythm, vocals and a small group of musician/Army grunts playing and forgetting all the evil they had seen in The Nam. A GI recorded the session on a reel to reel tape. The tape made it back to the states and now a young writer/guitar maker, Smokle Bramblett from Nashville has heard it. He makes it his mission to get this band together and start a tour. Smoke doesn't know that Kid Grayson, now home from Nam is still running from his demons, from the bottle, from the mountains back in Eastern Kentucky and from the men who want him dead.
    Frankie Forte is a hit man sent to take care of Kid because he may have info that can hurt the mob. Frankie runs up against Harold Ashford, Kid's step father, the sheriff of Town #3. He finds Isom Holland, a man who wants revenge on Kid Grayson. We see Doyle Sizemore, the patriarch of a family of misfits that changes the lives of all that live in Town #3. And we see Kid Grayson, grown old before his time. Kid Grayson, a legend on guitar, who makes a final journey to the mountains where he will find the men and demons waiting for him.

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarry Miller
    Release dateNov 15, 2014
    ISBN9781311125545
    The Nha Trang Album
    Author

    Barry Miller

    Barry was born in Indiana. He served 3 years in the Army where he was stationed in Germany and Vietnam. He has been playing drums since he was 12. He wrote his first story when he was 13. He is still playing drums in a big band in Lexington, KY and he continues to write.He has a BA from The University of Cincinnati and has completed many life courses from playing in "honky tonk" bars and clubs.He is married,and he has successfully helped to raise one daughter.

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      Book preview

      The Nha Trang Album - Barry Miller

      CHAPTER ONE

      KID GRAYSON AND THE NEW MORNING

      Kid Grayson sits on the backstage of the Woodstock Festival crying as his friend Jimi Hendrix closes out the show. Kid doesn't know why he is crying. Maybe he cries because he is drunk on Jack Daniels. Maybe he cries because he he made it back from Nam alive. Some of his buddies didn't. Maybe he cries because he hasn't slept for two days.

      His name is Grayson Mayfield, but he is known as Kid in the music world. He is the hottest new thing, the new buzz. The rumors, some true, some told for the sake of a good story, tell of this kid from the south somewhere who played on stage with Jimi down in Nashville. The kid played with Jimi and he took all that Jimi gave him and then gave some back. When they left that Nashville club they were friends.

      Kid has been at Woodstock for two days hanging out with his lady KD. It is Monday morning and the sun is a brand new one. Kid reaches for his friend Jack Daniels to help celebrate the day. He keeps Jack in the right pocket of his field jacket. The jacket has warmed him and kept him dry when the rains came to Woodstock. Like the bottle, the jacket is his friend. It is his curse too. The jacket reminds him of the scent of Nam. Each time he touches it he is pulled back to the Red Ball Trail, where he ran from the NVA patrols. He is taken back to the night he spent in the hole with his friend Rooney. The jacket reminds him of the next morning when Rooney crawled out of the hole and was caught then tortured and killed by the VC.

      The jacket with the bad karma is part of Kid Grayson. The scar on his left leg is a part of him too. It was put there by a round fired from a passing chopper. It was an American chopper, US Army. They called it friendly fire. Kid calls it a dumb ass move by a GI who didn't have his mind focused.

      As the sun warms the ground it brings a steamy haze from the ground. The haze covers the crowd like a heavy wool blanket. Kid looks out across the crowd, getting himself together. He feels ashamed that he is crying. In front of him, just ten feet away, stands Jimi. Hendrix playing is like an electric storm he is barely able to control. Kid tries to catch every note but his mind isn't right.

      Kid wants to stand to get himself together, when Jimi comes off the stage. He can't. He looks down at his feet. Are they working? He wonders if they are even attached to him. He stares, fascinated at the sight of his toes removing themselves from his foot. They move in slow motion. Kid laughs out loud. He glances over to KD but she is focused on Jimi.

      Kid looks down again to see the stage moving. It's wood is changing to deep blue water. Jimi is playing The Star Spangled Banner and Kid should be enjoying the magic of this moment. Instead he is hanging on to a small shred of reality.

      Enjoy the ride Kid, the girl said. She was dressed in bell bottoms, with bright flowers embroidered on the back, across her butt. The flowers moved in a gentle way when she walked. She wore a buckskin jacket, with the top buttons left open. Her bare breasts brushed against Kid's face as she handed him the little pill just after midnight on Monday morning. He took it because he was drunk. He had no problem adding to the buzz.

      KD is standing behind Kid. She puts her arms around him. It's cool Baby. It's all good. She kisses him on his neck. She steps around to face Kid and her eyes are glassy, as if coated with a thin coat of plastic. Kid wants to say something to her, but the stage is moving under his feet. He reaches out for KD as the stage throbs under him. In a panic he looks down to see the wood transforming into thousands of maggots. Kid falls on his hands and knees swatting at them as the stage tilts. He is falling. He hears a voice that sounds like a woman calling for him. He isn't sure because the stage has changed again back to the blue water coming at him in huge waves. The waves come at him, pulling at him with great force. He reaches out for help but KD is gone. A giant wave hits him, knocking him down, taking his breath away. With all of his will Kid struggles to lift his head from the broiling water. Mercifully the water vanishes, replaced by tall grass. Like the water the grass moves, whipping his face and bare arms. The wind gains more force, whipping at the grass. Kid rolls to one side trying to get on his feet but the grass and wind press him down.

      From the distance something is coming toward him, some sort of machine. Kid rises up to see over the grass. Coming at him, low and fast is a Army chopper, like the ones he saw everyday in Nam. It is dark green and covered with mud and what looks like blood splattered all around its smooth fuselage. The power of the chopper's blades makes the grass move in spastic ways. Kid feels the grass cutting him as it waves about. Kid sees a man wearing shredded fatigues leaning out from the chopper. A leather strap is all that holds him on the machine. He is aiming an M 16 at Kid. He is laughing. He fires the M 16, on full auto. A tight group of rounds whistle around Kid's feet. Kid does a spastic dance to dodge them. The firing stops, but out of the grass a Vietnamese woman approaches Kid. She wears a red necklace. Kid stands to get a better look at the woman. He tries to speak to her but his voice comes out muted and slow like a 45 record played on 33. As she approaches Kid, the red necklace changes into a gaping wound that oozes bright red pearls of blood. Kid wants to help this woman. As he approaches her she pulls a machete out of the basket that she carries like a pouch under her arm. Kid slips to the side and the blade slices through the thick grass like it was newly baked bread.

      Kid runs away from the woman as the grass slaps at his face. It cuts him on his arms and legs. No matter how fast he runs, or how far, the grass consumes him. He runs on, but he his lunges aren't going to last. He feels them burning bright hot as his heart pounds like it was coming out of his chest. He has to stop but he fears the grass. But again, mercifully, the trip takes him to a lake. It is a calm lake with a mirror surface that invites Kid to touch it. He feels the calmness of the water as he kneels to put his hand into it. He takes a deep breath as he looks out over the calm water. The water begins to churn into a whirlpool. Out of the center of the whirlpool a man rises. He points at Kid and laughs as if he knows the joke that is being told. He waves a pistol in his right hand, moving it back and forth, like he is scanning for a target. Somebody is moving from behind Kid. He turns to see the Vietnamese woman swinging her machete. From out of the lake a man rises and is approaching Kid. Dark green moss drips from the man as he draws closer. Kid knows this man.

      Isom Holland! Kid shouts. He turns to see the Vietnamese woman standing only an arm's length away. She brings the machete up to swing it across Kid's neck. Kid runs.

      He sees an unpainted barn and a car sitting beside it. Kid runs to the car. Before he opens the door to get in he runs his hands across the roof. He needs to see if the car is real. The roof is warm to the touch, so Kid gets in the car.

      The interior is a dark brown, faded from many summers of sitting out in the barn lot. He sees the chromed horn ring and the chromed dashboard with its white pearl buttons on the radio. He runs his hands across the cloth seats. They are warm and smell of old grass and sweat. It smells like the farmer that owns it. The car calms Kid because it is the same make his Uncle Royse had back in Kentucky. It is a 54 Chevy, a car that is very familiar to Kid. He learned to drive in a car like this. Kid presses the starter button, and the Chevy responds as if it has been waiting for him. The sound and the vibration of the engine makes him smile but the smile doesn't last. The grass outside the car is undulating in a pattern of terrifying logic. A machete blade rises out of the grass.

      Kid rams the gear lever down to first and the Chevy jumps forward throwing mud and cow shit behind its wheels. As he steers the car out of the farm lot Kid sees a man running from the house. Kid doesn't think about this too long. He needs to move far and fast.

      CHAPTER TWO

      ISOM HOLLAND

      The waitress is rough looking. She wears too much makeup trying to cover up the remnants of a hard life. With her well rehearsed fake smile, she brings the special of the day to the man sitting at her table. As she approaches him she sees his stringy hair and his strong body odor make her want to back away.

      Here you are honey, she says as she places the hamburger plate in front of the man. Grease drips from the plate on to the table. Just the way you ordered it.

      You havin a bad day? He looks up from the paper he has folded in half on the left side of the plate.

      Ain't no different than the other ones.

      Today's my birthday.

      No shit. How old are you hon?

      Hard to say. How old you think I am?

      She puts her hand on her hip and studies the man for a second. She wants to say she doesn't give a crap. She wants to tell the man he is ugly as sin and he needs to wash his hair. All she says is, About thirty five I'd say.

      He takes a bite of the burger. Catsup drops out of the bun and on to his faded t shirt. She watches the catsup drip down the shirt. There is a faded logo on the t shirt, something about the Indianapolis 500. She thinks the man may be a mechanic.

      You a prize. You know that? he wipes the catsup from his shirt with his fingers. You like it here?

      I love it. You kiddin me? This is the goddamned Ritz. Stick around. Old Elvis might walk in! she laughs. Her voice sounds like tin cans hitting together.

      Sorry baby. The man studies her for a minute. She isn't that bad. A couple of beers would fix most of her problems at least on his side of it. You read about that mess in Hollywood? He points to the paper on his table. The headlines read, Massacre in Hollywood!"

      What a piece of work that was. That was pure genius evil! You know what I mean?

      She studies him for a minute. She is deciding if she needs to call the police or ask him to leave. She looks back at the bartender who

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