A SEA STORY: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE U.S. NAVY RESPONSE TO 9/11.

by Joseph Pignataro

  Joe smiled and stood up straight.

  "Loud and clear, captain."

  "Honey, whatever you decide…we'll find a way to make it work…together."

  Joe sighed deeply. He shook his head and chuckled.

  "What?" she asked with a small laugh.

  "Steve fuckin' Ellison?"

  Toni began giggling.

  "Yeah."

  "You do know that that nerdy science geek used to eat boogers and glue in the first grade, right?" Joe asked with a scoff.

  "Whatever, Joe," she came back defensively. "You used to make out with Brenda Wicks!"

  "Oh, here it comes," Joe replied.

  "Yeah, that's right," Toni said with a laugh. "She used to make out with the whole wrestling team behind your back!"

  As Joe made it back to the table in the bar, Calen and Dominic were playing "quarters" as Sexton sat, eyes glassy and faraway, obviously one shot over-the-line. Joe comically waved a hand in front of Sexton's face and when he did not respond, the others howled with laughter.

  "Poor guy," Joe mentioned as he shook his head and smirked. "What the hell'd you serve up for this kid?"

  "Cement mixer, flaming kamikaze, rusty nail and a sex-on-the-beach," Calen announced proudly as Dominic began chortling.

  "Oh, Christ," Joe said with a chuckle. "He still got a pulse?"

  Dominic reached across and pretended to take a pulse, consulting his watch. Sexton's eyes cleared momentarily and he flared up, taking his wrist from Dominic's grip and looking angry.

  "Whoa, easy there, Tex," Dominic said as he laughed lightly.

  "Hey, Sexton," Calen asked loudly as he waved a hand to get Sexton's attention. "Yo, Alabama!"

  Sexton's eyes slowly unraveled and swung toward Calen.

  "There you go," Calen said as if he was speaking to a child. "Good boy." The other two began laughing aloud. "Hey, hey, Sexton…you ready for the next shot?" Sexton continued to stare in his direction, but didn't appear to really comprehend the words. "Hey, hey, Alabama! You with us, boy?"

  Calen waved a hand in front of his face again and Sexton belched.

  "Whoa, man!" Calen yelped with a belly laugh. "Damn!"

  "Hey, Sexton," Dominic yelled in his direction. "You ready for the Goldschlager?" Dominic waved a hand in the air and a cocktail waitress made her way over to the table.

  "Four Goldschlagers, please," he said as she leaned in close to hear him over the pounding music. The current singer on the stage was absolutely murdering Nirvana with a strange blend of English and Spanish. The waitress disappeared and reappeared quickly with four shots.

  The three coherent sailors took the shots in their hands and Dominic nudged Sexton.

  "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!" Dominic bellowed as he pushed the shot glass into Sexton's limp fingers. Sexton's eyes cleared again and he looked at Dominic.

  "What's this?" he said blearily.

  "Goldschlager?" Dominic said exuberantly.

  "What's in it?" Sexton went on as he slurred every word.

  "Uh," Dominic stammered as his face went blank and he raised his eyebrows.

  "Gold, uh…" Joe tried to help, "…and, um…schlagers?"

  Sexton eyes floated lazily over to Joe who was smiling and nodding at him.

  "Down the hatch?" he said to Sexton.

  "Down the hatch!" repeated Calen and Dominic together.

  They all downed the shot and Sexton gazed into the shot glass held in his fragile grip. Profoundly, he squinted and looked closely at the liquid before raising it slowly to his lips and tilting it quickly into his mouth. His friends applauded and gave him a few "atta-boys" before ordering another round of beers. As the waitress dropped off the beers, Calen quickly leaned back in his chair, winking at the pretty girl.

  "When do you get off, beautiful?" he sang in a deep voice. She ignored him with a smirky smile toward his friends and departed.

  "Wow, Wakefield," Dominic observed with a guffaw. "You really know how to charm the ladies."

  "She must be a lesbian," he stated as he leaned forward and grabbed his beer mug.

  "Oh, man," Joe and Dominic said together with a laugh.

  Dominic suddenly lifts his beer and puts a hand on Calen's wrist to stop him from guzzling.

  "Gentlemen," he said loudly, "here's to married life!"

  Calen's eyes narrowed and Joe stared hard at Dominic who was grinning from ear to ear.

  "You, son-of-a-bitch!" Joe yelled. "You did it! Didn't you?"

  "Did what?" Calen asked, seemingly confused.

  "Yup?" Dominic answered.

  "Kiss my ass!" Joe replied as he slapped the table.

  "Did what?" Calen reiterated with a howl.

  "He asked Emily to marry him," Joe said to Calen as he pointed to Dominic.

  "Who the fuck is Emily?" Calen asked as he put the beer mug down on the table.

  "Are you kidding?" Dominic responded with an annoyed look. "She's my girlfriend, you idiot!"

  "Fiancé," Joe corrected with an index finger raised in the air.

  "Drink!" ordered Dominic with a smile as they all raised their mugs. After slamming down the glasses, they looked over at Sexton who looked like he had a moment of clarity.

  "You got married?" he slurred.

  "Not yet," Dominic answered with a wide grin.

  "She said 'yes'?" he asked, barely able to keep his eyes open.

  "Yeah," he replied.

  "I gotta pee," he came back as the others began laughing.

  "C'mon, Alabama," Calen said suddenly. "I gotta go, too." Calen rose and helped Sexton to his feet before steering him toward the bathrooms.

  "That's great news, man," Joe said to his friend, as they were left alone at the table. "No wonder you were so damn happy today."

  "I wanted to tell you guys earlier, but I figured that I'd wait for the right moment."

  "That's awesome," Joe replied. "Now, little Rickie won't have to be born a bastard."

  Dominic's mouth opened and he nearly laughed as Joe's mouth opened at the same time in mockery.

  "You are such an asshole!" Dominic bellowed with a chuckle.

  "I know!" Joe answered in the same tone.

  The other two returned within a few minutes and it appeared that Sexton was a bit more aware of his surroundings. As the two approached the table, Calen scooped up a beer mug and knocked back the rest of its contents.

  "Sexton got rid of some excess fluids and now he's feeling a little better," Calen explained as he pretended to puke.

  "Ohhh, the porcelain goddess, huh?" Joe reacted as he looked toward Sexton.

  "What?" Sexton asked, bewildered.

  "Down on your knees, worshipping the porcelain goddess," Joe elaborated with a nod.

  Sexton narrowed his eyes as they searched the table. Looking up at Joe, he spoke.

  "What?"

  The others laughed and Dominic waved Joe off and told him not to bother trying to explain further.

  "Oh, by the way, Cal," Dominic said off-handedly, "I would like you to be my kid's godfather.

  Calen begins laughing loudly.

  "Shit! You gotta be outa your mind!"

  "Okay, then," Dominic conceded. "How about planning my bachelor party?"

  "That I can handle," Calen answered with a clink of his beer mug to Dominic's.

  After a couple more minutes of questions about Emily's reaction to the proposal over the phone, Sexton suddenly stood as the music had stopped.

  "Yo, Alabama," Calen called out. "Where you goin'?"

  "I'll be right back," he said slowly as he strode unsteadily toward the DJ's booth.

  "Oh, this oughta be good," Dominic mumbled as a smile spread across his face.

  "Should we stop him?" Joe asked good-naturedly. "I mean, it's only fair to the locals, right?"

  The other two chuckled as they watched a very drunk Sexton leaning over the glass and talking to the DJ who appeared to be having trouble understanding him. Finally, after a couple of minutes of going back and f
orth (and Sexton throwing in some body language to assist with the language barrier) Sexton took the stage and was handed the microphone by the DJ's assistant.

  "Oh, my God," Joe murmured with a laugh. "He's really doing it."

  Raising his cell phone, Calen began recording the stage area.

  "For posterity," he said as the others found merriment.

  "Hey, there, Spanish people!" Sexton began as his friends began hiding their faces in embarrassment.

  "Oh, Jesus," Joe muttered with a giggle.

  "As you can see," Sexton went on in a slurred speech, "I'm in the American Navy."

  The crowd jeered and showed their discontent at having had their entertainment interrupted by this loud, brash American.

  "Cantar o baje la etapa!" one of the patrons yelled out toward the stage. "Sing or get off the stage!"

  Sexton smiled at the patron, not understanding his words.

  "You know, I gotta be honest," he went on, undeterred. "I only joined the Navy 'cuz I had nowhere else to go."

  "Salen de la etapa!" Go off the stage, yelped another patron.

  "He is so fuckin' wasted," Dominic muttered with a chuckle.

  "Cantar!" another patron shouted toward him.

  Sexton suddenly pointed toward his table and announced, "My homies!"

  "Cantar!"

  "God, it's like watching a train wreck!" cackled Calen as they hid their faces in laughter.

  "I didn't join 'cuz I was an American!" yelled Sexton. "Actually, I never thought much about it…"

  "Pensar fuera del scenario!" Think off stage! the first patron shouted toward Sexton, drawing laughter from the other Spanish customers.

  "Never thought about it…" he went on. "…Until nine-eleven."

  The patrons' jeers began to taper off until there was an eerie silence in the club.

  "That's when I…I thought about it a lot," he said quietly. His three friends were silent as they listened, their smiles turning into serious thin lines on their faces. "Especially when I heard that other countries were saying that they were with us…that they were Americans, too…"

  Sexton stumbled forward at that moment, but regained his tenuous balance.

  "What I guess I'm trying to say is…" he said as he looked at his trembling hands. "It ain't about pickin' sides, ya'll. I might be just a country boy, but wrong is wrong. Four thousand innocent lives taken for no reason? That happens anywhere in the world and it's plain wrong. Am I right?"

  There is a long quiet as Sexton stares out at the crowd. One of the patrons stands up and raises a fist into the air.

  "Spain is with you!"

  A sudden uproarious cheer goes up in the club as the patrons begin to chant something in Spanish. Sexton smiles broadly and nods.

  "That's what I'm talkin' about! We need to love each other and help each other!" The cheers continue. "Any country in this world has something like nine-eleven happen and…everybody should feel it! Right?"

  "Love each other?" Calen repeats with a smirk. "Holy shit, Sexton's a hippie!"

  "I'm tellin' ya'll," Sexton went on, "this blowing each other up over some dang oil needs to stop! We all live here on planet Earth! All of us! All our different gods and beliefs! Even if Osama and ol' Gee-Dubbya don't see it that way!"

  The patrons begin standing and applauding Sexton.

  "The kid's deep," Dominic shouted to his friends as he smiled and nodded, applauding with the rest of the audience.

  "This pissing contest continues…" Sexton began again, "there ain't gonna be an Earth left to piss on, is all I'm preachin'!"

  "Did he just…" Dominic asked without completing his thought.

  "Sure did," Joe answered as he whistled loudly.

  "Know what? Let's sing a song." Sexton points to the DJ and the crowd cheers more loudly. "Hit it!"

  Suddenly, blaring through the speakers, Sexton's voice nearly drowns out Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping" as it plays loudly across the club.

  "We got knocked down, but we got up again," Sexton screamed, "you ain't never gonna keep us down…"

  The crowd dances and applauds as Sexton continues to scream the lyrics, his mouth excruciatingly close to the microphone. His friends make their way through the crowd and join Sexton on stage to help him sing. An assistant hands them a few more mics as they continue to sing loudly to the adoring Spanish audience. Sexton, completely oblivious to the fact that he spitting and drooling, continues to dance around the stage like an eighteen-year-old kid who's just had his very first drink.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Light 'Em Up

  The mess deck was not as severely crowded as normal today. Joe assumed it was because many of the crew had gone into town the night before and had gotten obliterated. Even though most of these people would have duty today, he figured that they would just attempt to get as much sleep as possible before having to actually drag themselves out of bed, shower, shave, get dressed into their uniforms, and stumble into the office. Joe had actually considered sleeping in, too, but something told him that the longer he stayed in bed, the more likely he was to be in a foul mood come duty time.

  "Hey, loser!" came Calen's voice to his ears as he looked up from grabbing a tiny box of Frosted Flakes and a banana. Joe looked at him and smiled.

  "What up, dick-swallower?" Joe replied with a laugh. Calen sidled up next to his friend and grabbed a tray. He began filling the tray with all manner of food; from cereal to a small bowl of grits to scrambled eggs to French toast and a couple of oranges. Joe looked down at his buddy's tray and shook his head. "How the fuck d'you ever pass the PT test? The way you eat, you should be like eight hundred pounds."

  Calen put a small piece of cornbread on his plate and reached for an apple juice and a hot chocolate.

  "I have great metabolism, Pigz," he explained as he popped the entire square of cornbread into his mouth. Fighting through the crumbs, he continued, "You check to see if the King of Karaoke is still alive?"

  "Dude, chew and swallow," Joe chided as he chuckled. "No, I didn't check on him yet. Besides, he's not my responsibility. Dominic, Jr., is Seputa's responsibility."

  They reached their table and sat down, Calen immediately digging in to his multiple plates and bowls. Joe looked on in feigned disgust.

  "My God, you're like some sort of animal when you eat," he stated with a laugh. "It's like watching Wild Kingdom." Through a mouthful of eggs, Calen replied.

  "Shut up! You're just jealous because you can't keep this kind of girlish figure."

  Joe laughed as he looked around and then spotted Dominic sauntering in slowly and deliberately toward the chow line.

  "Oh, shit, here comes Dominic."

  Calen looked up from his tray and nearly spit out food as he saw a wretched looking Dominic barely dragging himself along the chow line with a tray adorned with a glass of ginger ale and a couple of cookies. As Dominic looked around, his eyes appearing to bob lazily up and down in their sockets, he saw his friends and made slowly for the table.

  "Welcome to Hangover City!" yelled Calen. "Population: One!"

  As Dominic arrived, he started to pull out one of the cafeteria chairs and its metal legs scraped annoyingly across the decking. He winced in agony, touching his temples with his fingers.

  "Oh, my God," whined Dominic miserably.

  "What up, son?" Joe chirped. "Rough night at the temple?"

  Dominic sat and looked over at Joe with an irritated quizzical gaze.

  "What?" he said in a congested voice.

  "The temple of the porcelain god," Joe went on.

  Dominic suddenly understood the joke and faked a laugh.

  "For you information, I drink, but I don't puke."

  "Maybe that's your problem," Calen chimed in as he drank down his apple juice. When he drained it, his straw slurping up the last of the liquid with a loud sound, he continued. "I puke all the time when I drink." Both of his friends suddenly peered in his direction. "It purges the system and makes it all clear for the next drin
k."

  "You're a sick fuck," Joe attested as he dug into his own food.

  "Dominic, you check in on Karaoke-boy this morning?" Calen asked.

  Dominic hovered over his ginger ale and sipped as he shook his head.

  "Not my day to watch him," he murmured.

  "Every day is your day to watch him, Dom," Joe qualified. "That boy's probably dead in his bunk…choked on his own vomit in the night."

  Suddenly, Dominic looked up from his drink in a concerned way.

  "Do you think that's possible?" he said with a concerned voice.

  Then, as if in answer, Dominic spotted Sexton entering the mess deck and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Oh, thank God," muttered Dominic as he went back to his drink.

  The other two looked up and spotted Sexton as he zombie-walked to the chow line, took one long, half-interested look at the array of foods and hung his head dejectedly before moving directly and robotically over to the coffee machine to grab a cup of black Navy "diesel fuel."

  As he arrived at the table, blearily aware that his fellow seamen were snickering, he chose a seat and slowly eased into it, careful not to upset his head that spun relentlessly, or his stomach that churned like a washing machine full of dirty socks.

  "Morning," he managed in a weakened voice.

  "Good morning, sunshine!" yelped Calen in a loud and reverberating tone, making both Sexton and Dominic cringe. Dominic quickly picked up a butter knife and pointed it in Calen's direction.

  "Listen, ass-wipe," Dominic threatened. "I don't mind if you wanna tease the cousin-kisser over there, but please," he retorted through gritted teeth, "please do us all a favor and keep your voice down." Calen snorted in laughter.

  "My God, the 'Booze Brothers' are so wasted," Calen said toward Joe.

  "Hey, Sexton, I see you missed out on some fine Navy cooking, so…" observed Joe in a serious way. "I saved you some eggs – extra runny, of course – see, lookit 'em jiggle and ooze." Sexton turned pale. "Mmm, mmm, just like momma used to make, huh? Hey, Calen, you were just talking about the mating habits of the slug, right?"

  "Yeah, yeah," Calen played along. "The membrane is viscous and, uh, uh, gelatinous, in nature."