last road trip

The Last road trip 

Jonathan picked up a few bottles of beer and put it on ice Coleman, carefully placing it in the trunk of his car.

         Meanwhile, Jack was playing with Ricky the family dog ​​with a listless and depressed face.

 He was sad that his brother was going to leave them again for an indefinite period of time because of his duties as a soldier. Jack was 19 years old and his brother was seven years older.

Jonathan reached the backyard and said energetically, "come on Jackie get up, I just placed everything in the car, Let's go."

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Jack said depressed.

Jonathan, who after years had become accustomed to this numb face of his brother when he returned to the army.  

Jonathan grabbed Jack by the shoulders as he walked past him and pulled him in front of himself "Look, it bothers me as much as it bothers you, so at least let us have the last day we can be together and have a good time,hm?”  

"Why? Because you know it may be the last time and you want to leave me a good memory of yourself ,hmmmm?" 

Jonathan said in surprise, "What is this, haven't I always returned? Let's forget everything altogether. We are going to have a short road trip and enjoy it to the fullest, okay?"

"Whatever you say," Jack glared at John. 

Jonathan said goodbye to their mother and father while they kept giving him constant warnings about taking care of themselves, and Jack, who was leaning beside the car, waved to them. 

 Their plan was to arrive at Jonathan's dispatch base tomorrow morning, and since the road was deserted, beautiful and at night the galaxy was easily visible to the naked eye, it was a unique sight so Jonathan suggested that Jack come with him to the base and Then come back with his car. 

 They were about to get in the car when Ricky threw himself from the backyard fence into the front garden and panicked and fell to Jonathan's feet with screams. He jumped this way and that way, pulling the trouser leg of his pants, as if he was doing everything he could to prevent him from. Jonathan hugged him and he calmed down a bit.

 Jack was very surprised because Ricky had never had a good relationship with Jonathan in fact his presence or absence did not matter to Ricky and this behavior was horrible and terrifying to Jack instead of kind and sweet. 

 Jonathan said with a loving face, "you know what, let's take Ricky with us? This way you wouldn't be alone tomorrow when coming back home.”

Jack, who was engrossed in his thoughts and busy with his innate talent, that is, he began to think of a simple parable and relate it to the most irrelevant things, and this would take even an hour or more if there was no one to bring him out of it. 

Jonathan burst out laughing, and Jack said to himself, "Ha? Yes? Did you say anything?"

Jonathan laughed, "I said we can take Ricky. Are you not alone when you return tomorrow? What do you think?"

"Yeah, I think it's great," Jack replied, as if awakened from a hibernation.

All three got in the car and after about an hour were out of town when it was getting dark. 

 All the while in the city and traffic, Jonathan was grumbling about how hot and scorching this summer was,so that maybe Jack had to talk and get out of this sad, cold state, but only brief answers were Received.

Nothing was said for a few minutes, only the sound of the old Mustang engine and the squeak sound of the radio. Jonathan was constantly thinking about how to persuade his little brother to speak when suddenly a spark of thought came to his mind. A philosophical discussion, Even if it rained down rocks from the sky, Jack would not let down a philosophical discussion, and he thought to himself how to start a discussion. It was in these thoughts that the song HOTEL CALIFORNIA from EAGLES played from the radio, a devilish smile filled Jonathan's face. What could be better than this, an old song that almost every thoughtful person had an interpretation of. 

  So he excitedly raised the radio volume, Jack, with his hand under his chin and staring at the cactus that passed by him one after the other, he changed his position and set straight, as if showing a little interest in hearing it.

 Jonathan waited til the middle of the song, then took a wise face, "Hmmm ... Jack? If you are so interested in philosophy, what is your interpretation of the Hotel California? I personally think the whole thing is about addiction, and if you get stuck in it, there's no way out.”

Jack looked at him eagerly but a little indifferently and wanted to start talking (Jonathan was excited that his operation was successful, like a child, but he could barely control himself).

Jack began, "Well...hm, I think he means life and our world in general, first he's going for himself on a road that's dark and doesn't know where he is until he sees a light farther away from himself or the hotel itself and he's tempted to come in, I think it's the best metaphor for not knowing where we were before we came into this world or what we were at all. But we found a way to get into this structure that we are now, we ga… .” 

Jonathan jumped in the middle of his speech and said in a joking tone:" Well, We were inside Dad's back." And he laughed to himself.

"can you remember anything from then?" Jack said contentedly. 

Jonathan: "I was joking, keep going."

Jack began again, "What was I saying?" Aha, that we were free, not the concept we have of freedom now as human beings, it is a completely deeper concept of freedom. I think it would be better to say that We weren't captives of any kind of existence until a tempting opportunity called physical life appeared and we are exactly trapped. We fell into it and preferred this captivity of the body to that freedom beyond imagination. Although the singer says to himself, I thought this could be heaven and hell, we did not know what exactly it was, but nevertheless we accepted this risk.

And then I think it likens the world to a mess that is beautiful, but it's chaotic and everyone welcomes you after you come and they refer to you as a surprise. Then in the middle of the song there is a sentence that says 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own devices'.

I think this has two meanings. One is that we ourselves wanted to be imprisoned here, and the second, which is more interesting, is that we are imprisoned here only because of our own thought or mind (said with excitement and spark in his eyes), that is, if we open the boundaries of our inner self, mind, whatever, we will be free again. 

Jonathan was confused: "Hmmm."

Jack continued "And the monster they could not kill, I think, could either be the advancement of technology or the carnality of greed and ambition," 

Jonathan with regret of starting this conversation: “why technology?"

Jack, who seemed to be waiting for such a question: "Because the advancement of technology, along with its undoubted goodness, is moving forward like an unstoppable monster."

Jonathan wonders, "is that bad”

Jack: " Right now I don't think so, but with this gesture of this monster, one day we will get to ourselves and see that everything is artificial, imagine it, John!" "Artificial tree, artificial bird, (glanced at Ricky in the back seat and laughed) even artificial Ricky." They both laughed out loud until tears welled up in their eyes. 

Calm down a bit and the silence of the desert spreads again. A moment passed in silence. The air was completely dark and a little cooler, so Jonathan turned to the side of the road and said, "We will camp here and leave at sunrise tomorrow."

Jack nodded in approval.

Jack walked around a bit with Ricky and seemed to feel better, and John set up the tent and started a nice fire. 

They were both sitting by the fire drinking beers that were still incredibly cool, Jack completely immersed in watching the starry sky and the galaxy clearly visible.

Jonathan: "See, I told you it's worth it."

"Yep… was really worth it," Jack said with a smile.

Jack couldn't stand it and finally asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Jonathan wonders, "doing What?"

" This Game of being a soldier.," Jack said, half-nervous.

Jonathan: "Game! Is that what you call it?"

Jack: "Well then what is it?"

Jonathan nodded proudly and stood up. "Certainly, in your opinion, it may be a game, but I consider it a duty, an honor not only to defend our country, it is beyond a sense of duty. Its sense of humanity.”

Jack nodded in surprise, "What has humanity got to do with it?"

Jonathan turned his back on Jack and said in a sad voice that was not like his at all: "You do not know what is going on there, terrible Jack, it's terrible, there is no one to protect them. People who themselves do not know what happened to them, once i remember  We were passing through the middle of a small village. A young woman jumped in front of us and did not move. We did not understand what she was screaming about, so our translator came and translated her,do you know what she said?”

"No, I don't know," Jack reluctantly said.

Jonathan rubbed his eyes and stared at the sky: "she was saying that those bastard terrorists has steal her 7 year old child and she was begging us to bring him back, and this isn't the sad part of it, the real sadness is this was usual for us (he opened his hand and looked up at the sky with a sharp tone and shout) Is this the same human being that the angels Bowed before it? Is this man the greatest creature among all?(The sound of his screams shook the whole desert) what kind of human is that to separate a child from his mother's arms and give him a gun to be a soldier? (He lowered his head and said) "What kind of human being does the cry of a loving mother become normal for?"

 He turned and looked into Jack's big, surprised eyes and sat on his place beside the fire, saying, "that's why I do this game.”

Jack opened a beer and handed it to him, asking suspiciously, "I'm asking something. Tell me the truth."

"What?" Jonathan said in surprise. 

Jack's eyes widened as if to take a confession out of John, "is This time the mission given to your squad more dangerous or with a much higher risk ? That you behave as if you are walking on a gallows?”

A moment of great panic and anxiety took over Jonathan's whole being, Jack seemed to notice, but John quickly controlled himself and said with a smile, " where do you get these thoughts from, if, if,If I am given such a mission one day, you can be sure that you will be the first to know." Jonathan knew well that his chances of returning alive from this upcoming mission were less than 10 percent, yet he did not tell anyone about it. 

"Really?" Jack asked.

Jonathan: "Definitely!"

Jack was absolutely sure that his brother had lied to him, but he still wanted to believe that it was not a lie. On the other hand, Jonathan was sure that Jack knew he was lying and would not come to terms with it, they both closed their eyes on the truth for The night that was probably their last meeting will pass in peace and joy, even if it is a lie. 

The next morning they got up at dawn and went to the base, which was a few miles away.

Get off in front of the main door of the base to say goodbye to each other, hugging each other tighter than ever. 

Jack leaned against the car and watched his brother, who was wearing army uniforms, walk away, thinking to himself that he hated all military uniforms, all wars, all weapons.

Jonathan turned back at the front door and called Jack a few times to get out of his thoughts. Jack came to his senses and looked at him in surprise.

Jonathan, who had caught Jack's attention, made the usual gesture with a loving smile as he said goodbye, took off his hat, bent his arm to his chest, bowed halfway, and then entered the base.