My apologies. This turned out longer than I thought it would. Everyone wanting to read the whole thing, start at the bold title below. But here are the Cliff's Notes for everyone/anyone else.
1948- Born
1966, age 18- Joined army
1986, age 38- left army, went to College
1990, age 42- graduated (slightly accelerated course study plus CLEP,) began teaching.
2012, age 65- retired.
2013, age 66- present day; became librarian at the Charter School.
Bran Roark, The Life And Times Of A Librarian
One could say that the man now known as the Charter School's librarian has lived three lives. All three of these lives have made him the man he is today, so we must go through each in turn to understand how he came to begin life again at the school.
Bran was born in 1948, the eldest of three children born to Malcolm and Keira. Malcolm was a coal miner, a fair man who instilled the virtues of hard work for honest pay in his children; Keira was a gentle woman with a quiet sense of humor, who taught her children to smile every day at life's little miracles. Bran was studious, helping his brother Edan with his schoolwork every day, until Edan was old enough to assist their sister Muriel with both Catechism and arithmetic. Both boys hunted regularly, supplementing the table with wild game; Malcolm, however, was adamant that school came first for all three. He wanted his sons to have an education, a better life; his life was one of toil and hard labor, a lot he would NOT allow to fall upon the boys.
Bran's graduation from High School in 1966 was marked with news of conflict oversees. Vietnam was erupting in violence, and the draft was in full force to shore up the ranks of America's standing armed forces; everyone spoke of the coming conflict as "when," not "if." Both Bran and Edan were fit and healthy; one of the two was bound to be drafted. Bran enlisted, as the recruiter assured him that if one brother would serve the other would become ineligible for the draft (a false claim; there is a "sole Survivor" policy, but for it to be in force Bran would have to die in combat.)
Bran's second life began then at 18, in the U.S. Army. Bran's work ethic carried him through boot camp with flying colors and command of a squad, and his experience with a rifle led to marksmanship certification. His first active wartime service was Vietnam. Bran went from boot camp directly to the front lines, and two tours later (1970) he was given a brief leave to attend Malcolm's funeral; the Roark patriarch succumbing to Black Lung. Bran went home, and then went back to Vietnam just in time for the Cambodian Campaign of 1970.
Edan's letters from home kept Corporal Roark in good spirits. While Bran had fought and bought his brother's freedom, Edan had completed medical school and met a girl! Keira's letters told a clearer tale, of Sofie setting her cap for the oblivious Edan and pursuing him; according to their mother, Sofie had fallen in love with the top of Edan's head over the top of a copy of Grey's Anatomy. Two tours later, Bran had an extended leave to return home and stand as best man to his younger brother's groom. Edan and Sofie were married in 1974, with Muriel conspicuously absent. (Bran would later learn that his sister was in jail; her protests of the war her eldest brother fought had turned violent.)
Sofie and Edan went to the Bahamas for their honeymoon, but a tragic parasailing accident ended their life together...together. Devastated, Bran reenlisted; his promotion to Staff Sergeant was met with no fanfare whatsoever.
1976, Korea, border incident. 1978, Zaire. 1980, Sinai peninsula; Operation Bright Star. 1981, Libya. Every year brought further conflicts, from which Bran emerged alive and well... mostly. Over his twenty year career, he was decorated three times with Silver Stars and a cross for distinguished service. Lebanon, Egypt, Grenada; a stray bullet added a purple heart to his numerous decorations, forcing him to take a stateside assignment at Fort Bragg, training new recruits to be soldiers like him. A final letter from home ended First Sergeant Roark's career- Keira was dying. Bran retired.
The cancer had taken its toll, ravaging Keira's liver, lungs, and pancreas. Her eldest child brought out the same quiet joy she always lived by, though, and she smiled again when Bran came home, this time to stay. Conflict on three continents and a constant dance with death did not prepare Bran for this fight; he watched his mother slowly shrivel and die, and he was powerless to stop it. Three months after he moved back home, Bran buried his mother. Muriel attended in matching bracelets, chained together, with an armed correctional officer in close escort.
Muriel's fifty-year incarceration had scarcely begun. She told of her time with an anti-war protest group, of the situation getting out of hand, of the bombing. Muriel had turned on her cohorts, testifying against them under the condition that she got the same judgement as them all; the blood of innocents was on her hands, and she stated her intent to serve every year of her sentence in penance.
Thus, Bran began his third life, the one his parents had intended for him years before- College. He began in 1986, majoring in English, with a focus on literature and library sciences. Four years later, First Sergeant Roark became "Mr. Roark."
He taught English for twenty years, reaching students that other teachers had long ago given up hope of educating. Keira's bottomless reserve of joy inspired him to see the best of all his kids, Malcolm's steady resolve showed him patience, and Edan's love of learning came through in every lesson plan. Muriel showed Bran all about taking ownership; every child in Bran's class was "MY student," "MY pupil;" First Sergeant Roark firmly informed Mr. Roark that every failure was his own, that a single child he couldn't teach meant failing all of them. His tactics were often dirty, his methods proven; parents knew the moment their children's grades slipped below a B-, and those who dropped to the C level got extra counseling after school. The one D+ student had suppertime visits for a week until he understood what Mark Twain was getting at with Huckleberry Finn; the girl who had a D- at midterm refused to say what happened, but her final grade of a B+ got her a gift of Dante's Divine Comedy.
Muriel died in 1993, her liver failing after a bout with Hepatitis C. One of Muriel's former comrades had contracted the disease and poisoned a shiv with her blood; Muriel's death occurred within a week receiving the shallow cut.
Union rules forced Bran's retirement in 2012 at the age of 65. After two months of doing nothing, Mr. Roark dug until he found a loophole in the union regulations; he couldn't teach, but there was absolutely nothing preventing him from working in a school library.
*Present Day*
Bran is quiet, but friendly, greeting students and faculty alike with a smile. He dons his uniform on Veteran's Day, but refuses to talk of his experiences (calling them "things that happened a lifetime ago" and changing the subject.) Mr. Roark rarely speaks of his family; the rare occasions when he does are marked by the absence of his trademark smile. His standard clothing is dress slacks, a turtleneck, and a blazer or sport's coat; he carries a walking stick, barely leaning on it except when the weather is bad (he has a metal plate riveted his right femur.)
Edit: One last note: he has not touched a firearm since he left Fort Bragg.
