When Margie found out that her brother had joined the Marines, she called Wright immediately and demanded that he make Troy change his mind and join the navy instead. She thought her brother would have a better chance of surviving the war in the navy. Wright did not know Margie that well. He had met her only a few times during brief stays at Troy’s parents’ house. She was a couple years older than he was and she never really paid much attention to their college antics. The few impressions that he did get left him thinking she was a condescending snob. He had assured her that the Marines were just as safe as the navy since much of the war would be fought on the water. Troy of course had felt differently. He had joked that he would see more action than Wright and that all of the real men were in the Marines. He had been right about seeing more action. After boot camp, Troy had shipped out with the First Marine Division and within a matter of months he had landed on Guadalcanal. Wright remembered the last letter he had received from his friend. It described the brutal horrors of jungle warfare and the suicidal Japanese banzai attacks at night. Troy had even noted that he wished he had joined the navy with Wright. That was the last word he’d ever have directly from him.
The next letter arrived during his last week of OCS. It was from Margie. In it she bluntly informed him that Troy had been killed by a sniper in the Guadalcanal jungle. The letter went on to blame him for Troy’s death because he had not stopped him from joining the Marines like she had asked. Wright had not thought much of Margie’s comments at the time. She was being irrational and he was having a hard-enough time grappling with the fact that his best friend was dead and gone. Wright had felt sure that both he and Troy would survive the war and go into business together and grow old. Now that would never happen, and Margie still blamed him.
What did she know? he thought. She was still the little selfish snob he remembered. The fact that she was friends with Tee said it all.
Wright and the others sat there for a couple hours more listening to the music, smoking and drinking, and Wright got to know more about the Mackerel and her crew and her new captain. As the evening came to a close and the others finished their beers and got up to leave, Cazanavette pulled Wright aside.
“I don’t know what the story is with you and Tee’s girlfriend,” he said. “It’s none of my business just as long as it doesn’t affect your performance. But if anything needs to be resolved you better get it done quickly.”
Wright saw in Cazanavette’s eyes that he was being very serious. He no longer looked like a church counselor.
“Never mind what I was saying to these guys before.
I think our captain is going to want to go out as soon as possible, so be ready to get underway tomorrow.”
Wright nodded as he suddenly realized that the XO was much more aware of things than he had let on. He had told Wright to be ready. Wright only wished that he knew how to get ready.
Chapter 4
The submarine base theater was used for showing movies every night to the sailors living on the base. They would file in and forget their troubles for a few hours while enjoying a good western or sometimes even a war movie. It gave the men a few moments of feeling close to home when they were all so far from it. The smell of buttered popcorn and cigarette smoke filled the air, just like the theaters they took their girlfriends to back home.
The sub base theater, however, was also used as a briefing room for the submarine crews. Space limitations on board ship precluded a space large enough for the whole crew to meet, and the pier, with its working cranes and myriad of shrilling pneumatic tools, was much too noisy for important crew announcements.
The grumbling crew of the Mackerel shuffled into the theater at 0700. They could scarcely believe they had been called back to the base for a simple change of command ceremony. They knew it had to be something more.
Instinctively, several of the wiser ones carried their laundry bags at their sides in the event they should have to go back to sea today. They were the wise old salts. The rest were simply in a state of denial.
Like a lazy snake in worn blue dungarees, the eighty-six-man crew slowly filed into the first few rows of seats on either side of the auditorium. The alert ones grumbled as they made their way to their chairs. The others simply sat down in silence as their bodies detoxified from the alcohol of the night before.
Wright, in his fresh khakis, came in at the tail of the blue snake. He did not know where to go. He had spent the night in a rack on board the boat and his wrinkled uniform showed it. He had at least managed to shave and comb his hair in the Officers’ Club lavatory. He saw O’Connell motion to him from the front row where the other officers and chiefs sat. Wright went down to the front and occupied the seat next to O’Connell. He felt like every member of the crew’s eyes were on his neglected uniform until he saw that his was one of the better-looking ones in the place. This was, after all, a submarine crew, Wright thought, and uniform regulations must be stretched to make up for their cramped quarters at sea.
“You don’t look so bad,” O’Connell said with a grin. “Carl had to bang on my door this morning to get me up.”
“I feel like shit,” Wright said. “That rack was smaller than a crib.”
“Just wait until we get to sea, it’ll rock you to sleep like a baby every time.”
As Wright looked at O’Connell he caught Tee staring at him from several seats down the row. He had a lot of anger in his eyes.
“So, Rudy, what’s the deal with Tee and Margie?” he whispered to O’Connell.
“You mean your friend?” O’Connell said sarcastically.
“Yeah, my friend. Are they together or something?”
“I guess so. They’re engaged.”
“It figures she’d end up with someone like him,” Wright said bitterly.
“Do I detect a little jealousy, Ensign?”
“What, over that little snob? Hell no!”
O’Connell laughed out loud. “I think they met when we were in port a few months ago,” he said. “Tee got invited to some flag officers’ function — you know his dad, the admiral, has connections. Some of the new nurses on the island were there too. I guess she was one of them.”
“Do you know her?” Wright asked.
“Not particularly. She hangs out with us whenever we’re in port, but I’ve never really gotten to know her all that well. She seems okay.” O’Connell grinned and held his hand to his mouth and spoke under his breath. “Actually, I was thinking about warning her about Tee someday. His true colors, you know, which you were lucky enough to experience last night.”
So they were engaged, Wright thought. He wondered if Troy would have approved of someone like Tee for a brother-in-law. Troy always was protective of Margie, more so than Wright thought she deserved. Troy more than likely would have beat the shit out of Tee the first time he met him.
Wright looked down the row again to see Tee still eyeing him. Tee’s slightly twisted mouth gave his face a disdainful quality as if he loathed everything about Wright. Wright wondered what Margie had told him last night. Maybe she wanted Tee to enact her vengeance on him. If so, she had picked a perfect instrument. Tee was higher in rank and thus Wright would be subject to his ridicule at sea. And if he meant any violence toward Wright, Tee had a good thirty pounds on him. The ensign decided that he would have to be alert and watch his back at all times.
Lieutenant Frank Cazanavette stood at the front of the theater auditorium and took the report from the slim and scraggly Chief of the Boat — or Cob — Chief Machinists’ Mate Freund.