«There's not much down there, is there?»
«If there was something down there, there would probably be fighter strips to protect it,» Captain James B. Weston, USMC, replied. «You have to learn to look on the brighter side of things.»
«Do you have any idea where we are in relation to where we are supposed to be?»
«We should be where we're going in about an hour, God willing, and if the creek don't rise. I have faith in Major Williamson.»
«And if the sainted Major Williamson has fucked up somehow?»
«He's not the sort to fuck up, Pickering,» Weston said loyally.
«Excuse me,» Pick said sarcastically.
«On the other hand,» Weston said, a smile at the edge of his mouth. «You are a bona fide—capital
F
—fuckup, having been caught in carnal dalliance.»
«Fuck you, Captain, sir.»
«You know where that word comes from, don't you, Mr. Pickering?»
«I have no fucking idea.»
«England. When the cops locked up some guy for what you were doing, they wrote 'F.U.C.K.' in the blotter, standing for: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.»
«My education is now complete,» Pick said. «Thank you so much!»
«Was she worth it, Mr. Pickering?»
«I am under orders, sir,» Pick said sarcastically, «as you well know, not to discuss the reasons I 'volunteered' for this.»
«We're no longer at Ewa,» Weston said. «And we're friends, right?»
Pick didn't reply.
«I'm curious, that's all,» Weston said. «If you're uncomfortable talking about the lady who got you in so much trouble, don't. Your silence will, of course, confirm my worst suspicions.»
Pick looked at him. It had been decided from the first day that Major Williamson would train Lieutenant Stevenson as his copilot, and Weston would train Pickering as his. They had spent a lot of time together, both in the cockpit of the Catalina and at Muku-Muku.
During that time, Weston did not join Major Williamson and Lieutenant Stevenson on their frequent tours of the various officers' clubs on Oahu. Soon Pick had come to the conclusion that Weston was depriving himself of that pleasure because he was aware that they were off-limits to him, and didn't want to leave him alone. Even though being left alone at Muku-Muku was not the same thing as being locked in a basement with nothing to eat and drink but bread and water.
Pick had long before decided that Jim Weston was a really nice guy, even if he, like Williamson, was obviously out of his mind for volunteering for an idiot mission like this one.
I
don't want this guy to think I did something really immoral, like getting caught with some sixteen-year-old girl
.
«I loved, Captain sir, not too badly, but rather unwisely,» Pick said.
«What does that mean?»
«In hindsight, she wasn't worth getting myself all fucked up like this, but at the time I was thinking with my talleywacker, not my head,» Pick said. «And she did have magnificent teats.»
«What was wrong with her? You said you weren't serious about her?»
«I was solely interested in carnal pleasure, the sinful lusts of the flesh, as they are known,» Pick said. «The beloved of my life having recently told me that she had no interest at all, thank you, in becoming my blushing bride.»
«You got a Dear John?»
«Delivered in person. She went with me to a hotel—you know the San Carlos, in P'Cola?»
«Yeah, sure.»
«And no sooner had I closed the door and started to open the champagne thanshe delivered the dear john in person. And then walked out the door, leaving me with chilled champagne, an untouched bed, and a badly broken heart.»
«You know the other guy?»
«I don't think there was another guy,» Pick said. «That's why it hurt. I think she just didn't like me, period.»
«So you were on the rebound when you met this other woman?»
«I was, in the best traditions of a Marine officer, looking out for the welfare of my men. She was one of the chaperones at a service club dance for the enlisted men, and I went there to thank her for saving my innocent men from the wild women and other sinful pleasures of Memphis.»
Jim Weston chuckled. «And?»
«Out of a sense of duty, I danced with the lady. Whereupon she told me—while rubbing her belly against mine—that, one, her husband was out of town a lot, two, that he was considerably older than she was and, three, that she was lonely. One thing, as they say, led to another.»
«So what happened?»
«She was well known in Memphis. There was talk. The admiral commanding Memphis NAS placed me under arrest, had me hauled before him, and offered me my choice of volunteering for this, or a court-martial.»
«That's hard to believe,» Weston said.
«Write this down. It is a court-martial offense to have carnal knowledge of any female to whom you are not joined in holy matrimony.»
«If they enforced that, three quarters of the pilots I know would be in the Portsmouth Naval Prison.»
«Not including you, sir! Please don't tell me that, and shatter my impression of you as the perfect Marine officer.»
«That's all you did, diddle this one lady?»
«I diddled her more than once, of course,» Pick said. «But, baring my breast, there were a few other little things, like being out of uniform, et cetera, et cetera, but nothing serious. And you miss the point. I embarrassed the Admiral.»
«Did the Admiral know your father is a general?»
«He said that was the only reason he was giving me a chance to volunteer.»
«Does your father know?»
«By now, I'm sure he does. But he probably thinks I'm doing the noble thing. I'm not sure if I like that or not.»
Turnabout is only fair play
, Jim Weston decided at that moment.
And I'm more than a little sick of people thinking I'm here because I'm being noble. And I think Pickering is entitled to know the real reason why I'm here
.
«Can I tell you something in confidence?»
«That you have had carnal knowledge of a female to whom you are not joined in holy wedlock? I'm shocked to the core!»
«I'm serious, Pick. I wouldn't want this to go any further.»
«Sure. My lips are sealed. Boy Scout's Honor.»
«I didn't volunteer to fly this bus to be noble, either,» Weston said. «But pretending to be noble was the only way I could get Williamson—who really is noble—to take me along.»
«I don't follow that at all, sorry,» Pick said. «You didn't want to volunteer, but you did anyway? What are you talking about?»
«I needed to leave where I was,» Weston said, «and the only way I could get Major Williamson to take me along—he thought I had paid my dues to the Corps with that year in the Philippines; and between you and me, so do I—was to convince him that I was just as noble a Marine officer as he was, eager to sacrifice all for the glory of the Corps. That was pure bullshit, but he swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker.»
«You were at P'Cola, right? They were going to teach you how to fly all over again, was the story I got from Charley Galloway. You didn't want to do that?»
«There was a girl,» Weston said. «Actually two girls.»
«Really? Two at once?» Pick said. There was a tone of admiration in his voice.