Post by crushedhat on Jul 7, 2016 1:26:03 GMT
6 December 1941, evening (continued from Grass Skirt)
Arriving at the Grass Skirt, Jones finds the others are already there. Present are the rest of Bristlemouth’s radio team: RM1c Harry Myers and the newly minted RM2c David Wanabe, along with David’s best friend, SM2c Clark Mars.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Adam interrupts the guest of honor’s taking a drink. Fingering the brand new chevrons on David’s sleeve, Jones says, “Before you can wear these they’ve got to be properly baptized. Bourbon. And I mean the good Kentucky kind. And make it a double, straight up,” Jones tells the waitress who’s come over to take his order. Reaching into his pocket he pulls out a set of PO2c stripes and, when the waitress returns with his drink, drops them into the glass. Handing it to Wanabe he tells David, “Sink or swim.” As his friends watch David downs the drink until only the chevrons remain in the glass. His actions elicit cheers from the onlookers. “Now you can officially wear the rate,” Jones tells Wanabe.
Noticing Clark’s attention focused on the derriere of the retreating waitress David not so subtly reminds Clark that his friend is currently dating his sister. “Cathy’ll be along as soon as her shift ends.”
“That reminds me,” Harry Myers begins, “How’d you guys end up with names like David and Cathy instead of…I donna know…Miko and Jiro?”
“My parents wanted us to fit in and grow up as real Americans.” David laughs as he answers.
Puzzled by the laughter Harry asks, “What?”
“For all their desire to have us fit in, they still don’t understand why I joined the Navy rather than the Home Guard along with most of the neighbors. And they definitely would be upset if they knew Cathy was seeing you.” The last is directed at Mars.
Turning red, the young sailor admits, “My folks wouldn’t be any happier about it than them. But hey, I’m my own man, or within a couple of years of it anyways.” The others break out laughing, none recognizing the irony that they are in positions where they may be asked to kill or die for their country and yet are legally barred from independently making major life decisions.
The young men’s reverie is momentarily disturbed by a shouted, “Hey, guys!” David’s sister, fresh from her shift at the hospital and still in her candystriper outfit joins the group. Hoots go up as she unabashedly drops into Clark’s lap, erasing any thoughts he may have been forming about the waitress.
“How’s school going?” Clark asks, trying not to blush anew.
“Is that really what you want to talk about?” Cathy teases. Then, knowing that Clark, a highschool dropout, is insistent upon her graduating, Cathy begins to tell him about her classes while the others buy her brother another round.