A Struggle for Normal

<P class=MsoNormal style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in>As the California Limited sped southward through the long flat <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags /><st1:place><st1:PlaceName>San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> Thomas O'Roark struggled to stay awake.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>One moment he was scrunching around in the unrelenting mohair seat his head bumping against the mahogany window frame trying to get comfortable; the next he was sitting up massaging the bullet wound in his leg attempting to ease the pain. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office /></P><P class=MsoNormal style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in>When the train lurched through a switch block he rubbed his eyes awake and leaned forward to stare through the window streaked with rivulets of moisture and partially blackened by smoke blown back from the big <st1:place>Baldwin</st1:place> four-eight-four locomotive.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>The view into the gathering dusk revealed a seamless green landscape of winter wheat pock marked by an occasional vineyard or orchard the limbs of its vines or trees barren and scraggly in their winter dormancy.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>Here and there a lonely farmhouse and wisp of fireplace smoke offered the only evidence of life.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>In the distance the familiar snowy carapace of the <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Sierra Nevada</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Mountains</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> was hidden by a mantle of gray tule fog settling inexorably toward the land.</P><P class=MsoNormal style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in>Thomas was returning home from the Great War battered and disillusioned his once youthful patriotism broken on the reality of mortal combat.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>His muscular young body had been ripped open twice leaving him with a jagged shoulder scar and a leg wound that would impact the rest of his life.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>He had killed and seen his close comrades killed.</P><P class=MsoBodyTextIndent3 style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal> </P>