by Murray Pura
Gunny gauged the location of the sun. “We got just enough time to drop you back at the Taney. But we may spot someone else. In which case we’ll do whatever we can to pick him up. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Take the helm back. Get us home. Maybe we have enough fuel, maybe we don’t. Do your best. You’re a good sailor. Just remember. We’re the Coast Guard. And we’re at war. Every life we save is a victory. Everybody we recover is a victory.”
“Got it.”
Gunny slapped him on the back. “Take the helm. Get us to our berth.”
The sailor gunned the engine and began to steer the launch around Hospital Point. In a few minutes they were cruising through the inlet that led to the open sea. Flak burst overhead as AA guns continued to hammer the sky. Gunny went over to Harrison.
“How do your hands feel?”
“They feel good.”
“Good? You’re a crazy fool, Harrison. You could have been burned alive in that mess you jumped into.”
“Better me than you.”
“What?”
“You would have done it. I saw you taking your shoes off. I beat you to it because I went in with them on.”
Gunny gave a lopsided grin. “You ruined those black leather shoes of yours, sailor.”
“I’ll buy another pair. No one cries out like that man did without getting a response from me. I don’t care what I have to jump into.”
“Gunny!” A sailor called to him from the bow. “We’ve got company.”
Gunny and Harrison hadn’t paid any notice to a destroyer moving along the far shore of the inlet. It had swerved and was now headed straight across their bow. The helmsman slowed down their launch. In a few moments they were being hailed.
“Where from? Where to?”
Gunny gazed up at the officers and men at the rail. “We’re from the Taney. A Coast Guard cutter moored in Honolulu Harbor.”
“What brought you into Pearl on a day like this?”
“To do what we can. To help out.”
The captain smiled. “I saw that. Back and forth all afternoon. How many trips did you make to the hospital?”
“I can’t say. Seven, maybe?”
“Closer to ten. My math skills are pretty good. How many were alive?”
Gunny laughed. “My math skills aren’t that good, skipper. A dozen? Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen?”
“What if the enemy had come back for another run? You were sitting ducks.”
“They wouldn’t have wasted a bomb on us, sir.”
“A few machine-gun bullets would have been all it took.”
“Seemed worth the risk.”
The captain nodded. “You must be low on fuel.”
“We’ll make it, sir.”
“Let’s be sure of that.” The captain turned to a man beside him. “I think we can spare a drum, Mr. Gibbs?”
“I believe we can, Captain.”
A fuel drum was lowered in a net. The Coast Guard men secured it near the engine in the stern. Harrison waved up at the destroyer.
“Thanks, Navy!” he called.
“It’s the navy who thanks you, sailor.” The captain looked them over once again. “You’re all enlisted men.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You came out here on your own?”
“We were granted leave to do so—yes, sir.”
Suddenly the captain stood up straight and bellowed in a voice that seemed to carry right across Pearl Harbor. “Officer on deck!”
The other officers and sailors at the rail snapped to attention and saluted the men in the launch. The captain held the salute for several long seconds. The surprised Coast Guard men—Gunny, Harrison, and all—finally came to attention in their bloody and blackened clothing and returned the honor. Smoke drifted over them from the burning battleships as the AA guns still banged and thumped.
Finally the captain dropped his arm. “Godspeed. And if the enemy should come again, night or morning, make sure the Coast Guard lays into them with everything they’ve got.”
Gunny grinned and snapped off a final salute. “Aye, aye, Skipper.”
The launch moved around the destroyer’s bow and headed for the ocean. Off to starboard the sun hovered just above the horizon. Harrison watched as the smoke from the attack turned it the color of blood. Then he stared straight ahead where sea and sky met in a long line of gold.
“There’s something you don’t see every day, Harrison.” Gunny was at his elbow.
“What’s that?”
“The navy paying tribute to the Coast Guard. Shall we let the CO or second-in-command know?”
Harrison leaned on the gunwale as fine spray blew back over their faces. “Why spoil it, Gunny? It was for the men in the launch. The volunteers. And it can stay with them to the grave.”
“I was thinking the same thing. It was a hard day. And they did a marvelous thing on a hard day.”
“Tell the men that, Gunny. Tell them you’re proud of them.”
Gunny laughed. “Why spoil it, Harrison? They’ve been told that in a way far better than I could ever tell them. Any words of mine would just take the bloom off the rose. Or the shine off the sea to put it in nautical terms.”
Harrison nodded and folded his bandaged hands one over the other. “Aye, aye, Gunny. Let’s keep the day under our caps. All of it.” He fell silent, recalling the conversation he’d had at the hospital with the survivor from the Arizona:
I heard a lot of boats go by. I knew they were looking for survivors. But I was trapped under a piece of wreckage and it was all I could do to hang on and keep breathing. Finally I yanked my foot loose. It broke my ankle but I got to you guys.
Better a busted ankle than a drowning.
It would have been a drowning if you hadn’t jumped in after me. Thanks again, Harrison.
You mend up. That’ll be thanks enough. I’ll try and drop by Tuesday or Wednesday if there isn’t an invasion first.
That’d be swell.
Listen. I know you had a big crew. But a buddy of mine was on your boat. Maybe there’s a chance you knew him?
Slim chance. But you never know. What was his name?
Goff. David Goff.
What? Goff? The singer? Sure, I knew him. We messed together a lot. He mentioned he had friends in the Coast Guard and the air forces. Isn’t that something?…I wish I had better news to give you about him. I saw Dave in the water.
In the water? Maybe another boat picked him up. Maybe he got to shore.
He was floating facedown. The waves turned him over and I saw his eyes. I’m sorry.
THIRTY-EIGHT
No! No!” Becky began running across the runway toward the flames.
Nate grabbed her from behind and wrestled her down onto the concrete. She thrashed and yelled and bit and pulled his hair with a ferocity that made him cry out. But he wouldn’t let her go.
“Stop it, Becky! There’s nothing you can do! Either he walks out of it or he doesn’t! No one can pull him clear of that!”
“I can! I can! If you men are so afraid then let a woman show you how!” She almost broke free but Nate pinned her again. “I’ll hate you forever if you don’t let me go to him!”
“And burn up? Hate away.”
Tears began to streak down Becky’s face as she lay with her back against the concrete. “I can’t believe God is going to do this again. First Moses and now Christian. Why does he hate me? Isn’t that what the Amish would say? That he hates me because I love men like Moses and Christian with too much of my heart?”
“Beck—”
“He’s my husband.” She struggled with his grip. “Nate! Let me go to him!”
A jeep roared past with Billy Skipp shouting to Skinny. “Go right in there! I don’t care if we eat fire!”
“Yes, sir!”
Nate looked up. “It’s Raven.”
Becky pushed him away and sprang to her feet. The jeep was racing toward the fire engulfing the P-36. Smoke from
the still-smoldering P-40s rolled over it. A man was crawling across the runway.
“Christian!”
She began to run again. The jeep reached Raven. Billy Skipp leaped out to grab him under the arms. The P-36 exploded. Becky saw the fireball, saw Billy Skipp and Skinny get blown backward, heard the sound, and felt the heat like a slap to her face seconds after the blast.
Another jeep screeched to a stop in front of her. Her father and Nate were in it.
“Let’s go!” Jude barked.
She leaped inside and they sped to Skipp’s jeep. Skinny was up, trying to get Skipp to his feet. Jude and Nate rushed over to help, but Becky knelt by Raven and took him in her arms.
“Help me!” she shouted. “I have to get him to a medic! One of you help me!”
It was Billy Skipp and Jude who each took one of Raven’s arms over their shoulders and placed him in the jeep. Skinny was already behind the wheel. Becky jumped in and cradled Raven while they tore across the runway for the medical tents. The other jeep followed, Jude ripping through the gears.
The army surgeons wouldn’t let Becky stay in the surgical tent. She made her way back to the runway. Raven’s plane burned orange while wreckage from the P-40s glowed yellow in the darkness. She squatted down with her back to the wall of one of the hangars. The moon came up, about half-full. For a long time it was red in the smoke that drifted through the air. Then it rose higher and turned amber.
Mein Herr, mein Gott, in der Stunde meiner Brauche komme ich zu dir. My Lord, my God, in my hour of need I come to thee.
Unable to relax she got up and walked as close to the P-36 as she could, the heat penetrating like a knifepoint. Hands in her pockets, she turned and made her way into the black night that covered the island.
Too much death today. Too much death for a Sunday. Too much for a day on which you rose from the dead.
She did not think. She scarcely felt. Her feet took her to the Quonset hut—when her awareness returned she was surprised to see it only a few yards away. The sheet of paper with the crayoned writing was still on the door. She went inside, felt her way along the bed frame to the small table, fumbled with the box of matches sitting there, and lit the candle.
She lay on the bed for what seemed like only minutes…and then she awoke to a familiar voice.
“Hey.”
She sat up in surprise. The voice asked, “Remember me? The guy who married you?”
She stood to her feet. “You’re not supposed to be here. I left you in surgery.”
“Almost three hours ago. Did you think they needed to sew my head back on?”
A white bandage circled his forehead. He touched it. “Makes me look like that guy in the Spirit of ’76 painting.” He held up his left hand. Two of his fingers were taped together with a splint. “Broken.” He lifted a bare foot that was wrapped tightly in gauze and tape. “Sprained.”
“That’s all? A cut to the head? Broken fingers? A sprain? But you looked half dead!”
“You should have seen the other guy.”
“What other guy?”
“Boxcars. He got pulled out of his plane by a couple of hula dancers after he crashed on Maui. I’m not kidding. Two broken arms, two broken legs. One of the dancers refused to leave him when they brought him over here by destroyer.”
“Two broken arms and two broken legs! He probably needed her to hold him tight so he wouldn’t fall apart. You don’t appear to be in quite the dire condition he is.”
“Well. I’m lonely.”
She had her fingers to her eyes. She laughed. “You’re absolutely nuts. Does the doctor know you’re here?”
“Nobody knows I’m here. I told them I’d walk myself to the recovery tent, the same one we got married in. I did that and said hi to the guys. We all agreed it was not the place for me. Not on my wedding night. They suggested I take you to the beach. But as I went looking for you I realized all the beaches would be strung with barbed wire and dug up with gun emplacements. They’d be crawling with soldiers. So I thought you might wind up here in the Quonset. I prayed you would, actually. In Cherokee though. Not in German.”
“You prayed in Cherokee.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Becky knelt on the bed beside him and took his wounded hand in hers. “This has been a black day. Only the marriage was something good. And I thought I was going to lose that too.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I don’t know if using a chute would have been any safer than a crash landing.”
She saw burn marks all over his flight gear. There were large holes right through to the skin in some places. One cheek had been scraped raw. The knuckles of the hand she held were cut and nicked.
“I can’t believe you’re in one piece,” she said.
“I could say the same about you.”
Slowly she lay down beside him, still holding his hand. He kissed her hair and laughed.
“What’s funny?” she asked. “I just want a peaceful time now.”
“I’ve never seen your hair so greasy. It’s always clean and fresh even after you’ve been flying all day.”
“Pardon me. It’s been a difficult twenty-four hours even for a perfectionist like me.”
“As if I care whether you come with grease spots or not.”
“There is a shower set aside just for my use. And a latrine. Shall I go freshen up, Lieutenant?”
“No, you shall not.” He kissed her hair again.
She put a hand to his beard. “This is a bit heavier than the five o’clock shadow I prefer.”
“Shaving kit’s in the BOQ.” He swung a leg over the side of the bed. “I’ll only be a minute.”
She pushed him down. “It would be just like you to go and do it simply to annoy me. Stay here. I want a moment’s peace and quiet with my husband. I want to tell him something.”
“Tell him what?”
Becky laid her head on his chest. “Do you remember the first time we met?”
“When you wouldn’t shake my hand?”
“A few minutes before that. When you said seeing me was like a lightning strike.”
“I never said that.”
“You did too. Don’t tease. I want to be peaceful and serious.”
“Okay. I was hit by lightning.”
“At the same time it happened to you it happened to me.”
He lifted his head to look at her, but groaned and put it back on the pillow. “It feels like Zero bullets are bouncing off the inside of my skull.”
“I’m sorry, love, but my story will help. I was crouched down checking over my Piper. I straightened up and looked around. You were standing by Peterson’s hut. I know you were far away but I could see how blond your hair was and that your eyes were blue—I swear it. You were so handsome I felt like I’d been punched. I turned away as quick as I could because the last thing I wanted was to be attracted to you. Of course from that moment on I was. So I spent the rest of my time fighting it.”
He played with her hair while he stared up at the candle shadows on the ceiling. “We both got hit at the same time then. What does it mean?”
“God’s in his heaven and we’re meant for each other. Even on a day as bad as this.”
“A day as good as this. I got married today to a whole lot of beauty, you know. It’s still hard to believe. But here you are in my arms and God’s giving me the thumbs-up. I’m cleared for takeoff.”
“Oh, you’re cleared for takeoff, are you?” She propped herself up on her elbow. “What’s our destination?”
“Why, heaven. But this is heaven so I guess we’ll stay put and make the best of it.”
“This is heaven?”
“Remember that tune?” He began to sing softly. “It’s heaven in Hawaii…”
She put a small kiss on his lips. “Does that hurt?”
In answer, he brought her head down with his wounded hand and kissed her with all the day’s pain and fear and hope. He had no interest in stopping. When she tried to pull away to catc
h her breath he drew her back. Finally she put her hands on his chest and pushed, breaking the kiss.
“You’re crazy!” she gasped. “You’re supposed to be in sick bay and I can’t handle you. What’s going to happen when the doc gives you a clean bill of health?”
He pulled her back. “Could be a long marriage, baby.”
The candle burned down into a pool of wax, and the flame there lasted for hours before finally vanishing. The hut was completely dark.
A half hour before dawn Becky got up, dressed, kissed her husband on his bandaged forehead, and pried open the door as slowly and quietly as she could. There was still the smell of burning oil and rubber and metal in the air but she could also pick up the scent of the sea and the green jungle and the tropical flowers. She sat down with her back to the hut and thanked God she was alive and that the man she loved with all her heart was alive too. A line of scarlet traced the eastern horizon.
“Red sky at morning,” she said.
THIRTY-NINE
Hey. Hotshot. Want some coffee?”
“Mm.” Raven opened one eye. “What time is it? And who are you?”
“It’s oh-six-oh-five hours. And I’m your wife for the next fifty or sixty years.”
“Wow. Must have been some poker game.”
“Yup. And you won the jackpot.” She put the coffee mug in his hand as he sat up. “I have a plate of bacon and eggs from the mess too. I hope you like yours over easy.”
“That would be a good call sign—Overeasy.” He dug into the food. “This is great. You’re a terrific cook.”
“Thanks. I got up before dawn like the woman in the Bible—Ruby.”
“Ruby?”
“Yeah. The one whose worth is far above rubies. That’s what I call her.”
Raven’s blue eyes lingered on her as he drank his coffee. “You’re pretty crazy beautiful, Stardust.”
“Oh, sure I am. I’m a ball of grease is what I am.”
“Who notices? But have a shower if you like.”
“I will. After you have yours and you’re up in the air.”
He put an egg on a piece of toast. “Don’t rush me.”