Billy drove Jake up to Minneapolis to the armed forces examination and entrance station about a month and a half later. It had taken that long for the swelling in Jake’s face to go down, as well as for him to quit pissing blood. He had gone first to the marine recruiter but his options were limited with them. Grunt or engine mechanic. The navy offered him damn near anything he wanted so he had picked Gunners Mate as his military specialty. The Morrow family had always had a thing for guns. His recruiter had run off a copy of his fake high school diploma and didn’t give it a second look. A week ago he had gone to Minneapolis to take his physical and get sworn in. Today he was leaving for boot camp. Dawn had cried like a baby when they left and it had dampened Jake’s spirit.
It hadn’t bothered Billy though. He had been smoking pot, drinking beer, and eating cheese flavored popcorn since they left the New Richland city limits, talking non stop about every guy’s ass he had kicked and girls he had screwed, starting from his time in the seventh grade. He had the orange powder from the popcorn all over his face.
They had stopped off in Faribault to take a leak at a shitty truck stop and when they came out of the can, Jake had noticed a large article on the front page of the local Faribault newspaper. He bought a copy and was reading it in the truck.
“Shit, Billy! Those guys who brought that retard to the fights got arrested. Some guy at the hospital saw him the next morning when he reported to work and thought that those attendants had beaten him up. They may have to go to prison if the charges stick.”
Billy roared with laughter. “Serves ‘em right, bringin’ a Frankenstein fucker like that to the fights. They better not think about turning in Don Lang to save their sorry asses. He’ll have ‘em chopped up and fed to the carp in the river that runs behind the nuthouse. You laid it on his ass, Jake. The big dummy came over after he knocked you for a loop and wanted to make sure you were all right. His head was swollen up like a pumpkin. Both of his eyes swelled shut and he couldn’t fight in the next match. I imagine that they had a helluva time trying to explain how that happened.”
This was the first time since that night that Billy had talked about what had happened. “I don’t blame you for any of it, Billy. I made the choice.”
“I know, kid. But it’s my fault, too. I’ve always been a sucker to try and make the quick buck.” He paused. “You know you don’t have to send any dope back if you don’t wanna. We just thought it would be a good way to make some good fast cash and to build up a quick nest egg. These local morons would shit their pants over the pot they have over overseas.”
“I want to do it. After I kicked out of football I felt just lost. I’m starting to feel alive again. When I started making some dope runs for you and especially when I got in the ring that night, that’s when I knew what was missing. That rush, man. God, I love that rush.”
Billy grinned, his teeth were orange colored and full of popcorn hulls. “That’s the juice, my man. When your heart is racing so fast that you think it’s going to burst out of your chest but everything is moving in slow motion. Your vision is so clear it’s like you’re standing outside on one of those winter nights when it’s crystal clear and about forty below zero. When ever we got into a fire fight, that’s what it was like. I never found anything to replace it when I got back. Drugs, biking, fighting, fucking, nothing was like that.”
The pulled up in front of the AFEES station. Billy must have averaged about eighty miles an hour driving up. It was only seven thirty in the morning. He had already drank almost a twelve pack of Old Style and had smoked about five joints. Jake could have spent the previous night at a local hotel but Billy had insisted on driving him up that morning.
“You gonna be able to drive back, Billy?”
“Shit, man. You oughta know me by now. A twelve of this bunny piss won’t come close to putting the zap to my head. I’ll stop at White Castle anyway and chow me down a bag of those sliders. They’ll soak up damn near anything.”
He reached over suddenly and hugged Jake.
“Take care of yourself, dude. Make sure you write Dawn. If you don’t, I’m the one who will have to listen to all of her bullshit about her poor little baby.”
Jake jumped out of the truck and reached back through the window and took Billy’s hand. The lump in his throat felt like a baseball. “I’m really gonna miss you guys.”
Billy threw the truck in gear and gave another orange colored grin. “Just stay away from the clap.”
Jake was assigned to the USS Bryce Canyon. Home-ported in Pearl Harbor which is located in the beautiful state of Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.
Boot camp had been nothing for him. He was a physical guy, so he liked all the running, pushups, sit-ups, and obstacle course crap. He even enjoyed the endless classes on everything navy. He was a squad leader and was voted the outstanding recruit of his company upon graduation.
Billy and Dawn had flown out for the ceremony, and they had rented a van and had spent Jake’s two weeks of leave, before he had to report to “A” school, on the beach in Baja. Billy’s body hadn’t seen sun like that in years and he got a world class case of sunburn. It was probably the most fun Jake had ever had with anyone in his family. Two weeks of drinking Mexican beer, playing in the surf, and laying in the sun. They fished every afternoon and grilled their catch that evening. At night they would get a big fire going and some American expatriates who lived down there year round would come over to swap lies and jam on Jimmy Buffett. Jake had never seen either Billy or Dawn look happier.
Jake had kept his nose clean while attending navy “A” school. He once again graduated at the top of his class and was awarded by getting the assignment of his choice after graduation. Pearl Harbor.
He loved Hawaii and being assigned to the Bryce Canyon. The Canyon was described as being a gray building that was tied to the dock. It was a destroyer tender, a class of navy ship that rarely went to sea. It was like being assigned shore duty but you still got sea pay. Jake had a rack on the ship, but only slept in it on duty nights or on the rare two day cruises the ship went out on. He threw himself into sports. The Canyon had a flag football team that Jake quickly became one of the stars on. The team made it all the way to the finals but lost a close game to the naval station team, 21-20.
Jake continued to pump iron. He had a workout he designed so that he would lift weights one day and do a boxing style workout the next. Rope jumping, heavy and speed bag, running, shadow boxing, and if could find anyone to do it, sparring sessions. He entered the Pearl Harbor boxing tournament and easily swept through the heavyweight division, winning a beautiful handcrafted trophy.
His success in sports also won him the attention of his immediate supervisor. Tony Hendrichs, a total sports junkie and the biggest marijuana dealer on the ship. Tony was married and lived off base with his wife. Jake began to spend many nights at their small house in Waipahu which was were he would package up the pot that he began sending to his aunt and uncle, several months after his arrival.
It had started off slowly then had progressed to where Jake was sending home a package almost weekly. Tony would find a pound of whatever quality dope was on the market and Jake would call home with the price. A couple of days later a greeting card would arrive with the cash in either fifties or hundreds.
Jake and Tony would wrap the pot up in a thick plastic bag wrapped in heavy tape with a car deodorizer inside. Place the bag in a shoe box, wrap it up, and simply take it down to the local post office and ship it off to Minnesota.
Tony would take his cut off the top, and every month Dawn would send Jake a copy of his bank statement.
Jake lived by a strict personal rule. No consuming of pot while on the ship or the base. For two reasons. Number one reason - He had the cover in place of being a jock, no one suspected him of being involved in anything close to being illegal. Billy had stressed the importance of a solid cover. But reason number two was the big one. Jake had fallen ass over heels in love.
A stranger combination there could not be.
He had met her one Saturday morning in the submarine base dining hall at brunch, the most popular meal of the week. Jake liked to get up early on Saturday to work out and then hit the chow hall for a huge brunch. He was balancing his tray covered with plates of eggs, fries, and burgers, while looking for an empty seat. The only empty chair he spied was across from a pale, black haired, kind of straight (and strange) looking chick, who was reading a book while she was eating.
“Mind if I sit here.”
She had looked up and smiled. “Please do.” To Jake’s horror he saw the book in her hand was a Bible. His family had never been big on religion, and in the navy, people who were religious were considered either narcs or Jesus freaks. Both to be avoided.
But the brunch had gone well. Her name was Sophie and she was the daughter of a Wyoming minister. She was a yeoman and worked in the chaplain’s office on base. The combination of that, along with the fact that she almost always wore a large silver cross with her civilian clothes, scared away the majority of horny sailors who would normally fuck a woodpile if they thought a snake might be in it, but were scared off by religion. She had been in Hawaii for just over three months and had yet to get more than a mile off the base. Jake had walked her back to her barracks room and wound up asking her if she would like him to take her down to Waikiki to see the beach. They were inseparable after that.
She had a double room in the barracks and Jake spent every night he wasn’t on duty with her. Her roommate lived off base with her boyfriend and rarely dropped in. Jake and Sophie didn’t share the same bed though. Every night when they got ready to hit the sack, Jake would roll out his sleeping bag next to Sophie’s bed. She was a virgin and would never think of sex until after marriage. A handjob was even out of the question.
Two daughters of ministers in his young life. One a total whore, the other a total virgin.
The news of this had stunned him at first but he quickly got used to it. Her calm, quiet manner seemed to keep him grounded and he had lost some of his inner rage. He didn’t however, let her in on the fact that he was mailing on a now weekly basis, pounds of Thai stick, Kona bud, Maui wowie, and Puna bud, to his relatives back in snow covered Minnesota.
A little more than a year later, Jake drove up to Tony’s house to send off another care package to his uncle Billy. They had scored a pound of weed nicknamed hash bud and it was probably the most potent pot Jake had ever seen. It resembled a thick moss that had grown around the branch of a tree and was positively gooey with resin. One hit and you were loaded for an hour. Tony swore he caught a buzz just wrapping it up.
Jake drove to the post office in Honolulu, dropped off the package, and drove straight to a phone booth.
Billy answered on the second ring. 38 Special was blasting out Turn it On in the background.
“Talk to me, bitch.” Quite the way to answer the phone.
“Uncle Billy, how’s it hanging. It’s on the way. I think you’re gonna really enjoy this.”
“I haven’t been disappointed yet.”
“Well, you might be now. I’ve got some more news.”
Billy immediately went into panic mode. “Are you all right? Has anything happened?
Narcs? Have you been followed? Jesus Christ! What in shits sake is going on?”
Jake was giggling. Billy had obviously been sampling his own product again. He sounded a tad paranoid. “Nothing’s wrong. Calm down,” he soothed his uncle’s jangled nerves. “I’m gonna ask Sophie to marry me and I just don’t want this hanging over us. I hope you understand, but it’s time to get out. I don’t want to hide anything from her and I’m tired of looking over my shoulder.” Billy didn’t answer. “Are you pissed?”
“Man, you just scared the crap out of me, that’s all. Of course I understand. You’ve got a nice little bank account all ready and waiting for you. Congratulations! Shit, me and Dawn will even fly over for the wedding. Have you got a date?”
“Not yet. I haven’t even asked her, but if she say’s yes, I was hoping for this summer.”
Jake was probably more nervous driving back to the base than he was before he fought the retard a couple of years ago.
He walked into the chaplain’s office with a dozen roses and a diamond ring that he had bought at the base exchange.
She said yes.