The night was cold; bone chilling cold that came out of Northern Canada. The wind whistling through the trees sent shivers down my spine as I sat trying to concentrate on the book that I was reading. It was no use. I looked out the window. It was inky black, with snow swirling about; all but obliterating the surrounding country side. I realized then that I didn't have much more time on this earth.
Looking back into my childhood, I tried in vain to find a purpose for my being where I was. I was born to good parents; kind, loving, and charitable. My Mother was a wonderful woman of slight stature. I inherited my body structure from her. My father was a military man, so we traveled a lot. I really didn't have many close friends until I met Randy.
Lovable Randy was cheerful, bright, and always eager for fun. He had a ruddy complexion from constant exposure to the sun, wind and weather. He was an outdoors sort of person. His sandy hair was always an unruly tangle. Randy was a perpetual motion machine. I think the only time I ever saw him completely still was when we visited the old hospital.
Hey! Mike!" yelled Randy. "Let's go over to the hospital and see if we can find some old bones or something."
"Oh, go on with you," I yelled back. "They closed that place up years ago.”
"Well, let's see anyway.”
"Oh, all right."
Off we went on our journey into the unknown. Little did we know then that we were in for the shock of our short lives. The World War II hospital was located in a large field, set back from the road. It was barely visible to passers-by, so we thought we would be pretty safe. Surrounded by chain-link fencing with barbed wire on the top, it was like an impenetrable fortress. We walked around and around the grounds, searching for an opening big enough that we could crawl through.
"Over here!" Randy finally shouted. He had found a small hole in the fence. It looked as though someone had been using it as an entrance at night.
We wriggled through the hole. Now that we were on the inside the grounds, we had to find a way into the hospital building. Again searching for an entry way, we snuck silently around the building. It was my turn for luck this time. I found a broken window leading into the basement.
"This must be where they get in at night," I said.
"Let's go!" Randy replied eagerly.
"Well, I don't know." I was usually more cautious than he.
Finally Randy talked me into it. Lowering ourselves through the window was very easy. Someone was using this building as a shelter to escape the warm tropical nights. Boxes were stacked neatly in a stair step fashion, leading to the window. We eased down, not knowing what we would find. The basement was littered with all sorts of debris. It looked like a disaster area. Remains of many dinners, hastily eaten, were strewn all over the floor. Apparently the people who lived here didn't care too much about sanitation. The stench was overpowering. The smell was of rotting wood and stale urine and rotten garbage. It was musty, damp and mildewed. All we wanted was to get out of there.
We had come looking for adventure only to find that we were too scared to do much of anything. There were stairs leading to the first floor. Up the stairs we climbed.
At the top of the stairs, we heard the sound. THUMP! Something fell on the floor above us.
"What was that?" Randy asked.
"I don't know and I don't want to find out."
"Don't be such a chicken. Come on, let's see what it was.”
I knew that it was pointless to argue with him. I figured that I had better stay close by in case Randy got into trouble. We started to look for a way to get to the second floor. We didn't see any stairs. The noise from above became even more mysterious. Still wondering around, we finally found an unlocked door. Wait! This door was locked the last time we checked it. The hinges creaked as the door slowly opened. We peered into the darkness inside. Nothing looked unusual. Slowly, we went into the room. At the opposite side of the room was another door that had no knob. It looked like a closet or possible a secret passage. The room was empty. It looked too clean for a room that had not been used for many years. That should have warned us to leave. As we continued to explore, Randy tried to open the other door. It swung inward and revealed another set of stairs leading to a third floor. It was so dark in there; we could only see two or three steps. Did we dare to go up or not?
Randy started up the stairs. Rarely did he quit something he had started. He was always looking for an adventure. I didn't want to be left behind, I followed him closely. At the top of the stairs was another door, this one opened easily. It opened into a hallway almost as dark as the stairwell. It was really spooky not knowing what we would find next. This floor looked like one of the ones that had been used for patient rooms. We looked into several of them and found nothing. Then we came to some larger rooms. They were tiled on the floor, walls, and ceiling. They must have been the operating rooms. We opened the last door with a lot of difficulty. It was if something was blocking the door. What was that over in the middle of the room? It was a pool of red, sticky liquid. It was fresh! It was blood!
"WOW! Let's get out of here!" yelled Randy.
"I'm right behind you!"
We took off out of that room so fast it was as if we were flying. We ran stumbling down the stairs. All we wanted to do was get out of there. Rounding the corner at full speed, we ran smack dab into him. He reached out one huge hand and caught Randy. He caught me with the other one. We knew we were goners now.
"Whoa, there. Where do you think you two are going?" he asked.
"We just want to get out of here."
"What are you doing here in the first place?" he asked.
"Just looking around. We didn’t do anything."
"Yea! We didn’t hurt anyone."
"Now boys, why do you say that? No one said you hurt anyone."
"Because of the blood."
"What blood?"
"The blood in that room."
"Oh, that. It’s just blood from a mongoose I just killed for lunch. "
By this time we were able to calm down enough to take a first look at our captor. He was a harmless looking old man with a kind face. He was huge! He stood at least 6'8" and must have weighed 350 pounds. His hands looked like they were used to doing hard work. Strong and callused, they looked as though they could break a person in two. He was dressed in ragged, soiled clothes. He needed a shave, a haircut and a bath but his eyes sparkled with humor. We knew that he was-going to be our friend. His name was Sam.
Sam started living in the hospital several years ago. He heard us and thought we were the authorities coming to throw him out. We had disturbed his preparations for lunch.
"How would you boys like to join me for lunch?"
I thought, still a little nervous, that we might be on the menu.
"No, I don't think so." I was not sure what to think about Sam. He seemed OK, but you never knew; he might be a killer or something.
Not Randy! He excitedly agreed, "Yea, Man, I'll stay if you're going to cook that mongoose."
I wanted to throw up!
We went back downstairs to the basement with Sam. The stench wasn't so bad this time. Sam started to fix lunch. He lit a small fire in a fireplace we hadn't seen the first time we were in the basement. He placed the freshly skinned mongoose in a skillet over the fire. Soon it was sizzling and crackling in the pan. Much to my surprise, it smelled delicious. I still wasn't sure whether I wanted any or not, but the aroma was making me hungry.
Sam rummaged around and found some potatoes and onions. He tossed them into the pan. My mouth was watering now. Sam, it seemed, was a good cook.
"Where did you learn how to cook like that?" I asked.
"It's a long story, boys. I was a cook in the Navy during World War II. I had to cook for a lot more than just three! Of course, I had a lot more to work with, too!
I remember the time we were steaming back into Pearl Harbor after a cruise. The seas were calm; almost like glass. I was on the bow watching the water stream by. A pretty sight it was too; white foam on deep blue water pushing out in a vee as the prow plowed through. It was early morning on Sunday, December 7, 1941. Out of the south came the drone of hundreds of planes. I thought it was pretty odd because I didn't think we had that many planes on the whole island.
Suddenly the planes loomed on the horizon. I knew instantly that we were in for a terrible time. The planes flew in formation. The pilot seemed to have confidence that they would completely surprise our Navy. They were right. No one thought the Japanese would ever attack the biggest United States Naval base in the Pacific. That would be suicidal. But here they were, streaking out of the blue sky; their bombs fell lazily from the bellies of their Zeroes. Bullets ripped apart metal as they slammed into the sides of the quit battleships. Smoke and flames soon filled the air. The screams of the wounded and dying pierced the morning, destroying the peace.
Suddenly a bomb exploded amidships of my ship. It broke apart and sank in an instant. Luckily, I was thrown overboard by the blast. The ship sank so quickly, there were no other survivors. I grabbed for a piece of floating debris. Oil slicks surrounded me; flames flicked at my face. I knew I had to get to shore or I would die. Bumping into broken and battered bodies of my friends and fellow sailors, I made my way to shore. Bombs and bullets still rained down around me. I don’t think I have ever been as afraid as I was that day.
I finally reached the shore. I looked at the devastation around me. It was unbelievable; so much destroyed in so little time. There didn’t seem as though there was anything left that wasn’t damaged in some way. I had to reach a command post. I had to let someone know I was alive. I also had to fight back some way. Not knowing where else to go, I decided to head for the docks. People were running and shouting
everywhere. There was mass panic and hysteria. No one had taken charge by the timeI reached Battleship Row. I stopped dead in my tracks! There was nothing left! The greatest Navy in the whole world was destroyed in just a few minutes."
"WOW! Look at the time," I broke in to Sam's great story. "Randy and I have to be going."
"Yea, I guess you're right. Sam, would it be all right if we came back some time for you to tell some more stories?"
"I suppose that would be all right. Just don't tell anybody about me.