by Robert Lyon
Mike had slept okay but alone, something he hadn’t need to do since the trauma of losing the ship. Mike said, “The idiot’s will come to order, this court is in session, I the honorable Mike Elper presiding.” and he smashed the table hard with a stone in his hand.
Artimus stood up and said, “If it please the court, I would like to discuss the possibility of a plea deal with my lawyer, or advocate, or whatever we are calling Bruce.” Mr.
Deckly said, “Your honor I think that should be allowed.” and
Brosuer shrugged, “I’d like to hear it.” Mike said, “We’ll give
‘til midday. Court is in recess .”
Michelle came through the brush saying, “I got him, I got one, I got one.” Michael looked and she had blood on her hands and he said, “Oh god. Are you alright” Michelle pointed and said, “Over there…over there. I’m not sure if he’s dead.” Tim jumped to his feet and said, “Who!?” Michelle still too excited to communicate said, “I didn’t name him I going to eat him!”
Dave Miles stood up, obviously dizzy and said, “What the fuck
are you talking about?” Michelle said, “Boar stupid, I got a boar…help me…make sure he’s dead.”
They rushed over and there was a fair sized boar with
Michelle’s spear through its chest just behind a front leg. The boar was making a shuttering sound and trying to limp away.
Michelle yelled out, “For fucks sake kill it!” Michael ran over and grabbed its hind legs and pulled yelling, “Get a rock or something sharp!” Michael saw the blood and heard the sound of the boar as he pulled it back and he had to turn his head, but
Tim was a true harden redneck, he grabbed some line and hog tied the boar, pulled out the damaged spear and used it on the boars neck like an inmate in fulsome prison. Michael said, “Oh god, son of a bitch” but Tim didn’t hear him. Tim was in full on
‘hee-haw’ mode and the ‘general lee was flying through hazard county toward a pig-b-que’ to the styling of Waylon Jennings.
As the boar began what can only be described as a death spasm, Tim could be heard for a great distance yelling
“Woohoo!!” Michelle looked at him and said, “I killed him too.”
Tim said, “Hell ya, hell ya, you got him!” I was out fishing and wasn’t sure I had heard what I heard but the flying fish whistling through the air yelling ‘woohoo’ made me laugh. And then I saw
Hudlow waving at me from the beach yelling, “Hey Rob, they got him, they got him in a cage!!” I waved politely and he kept pointing with urgency toward the trial, he ran over and looked then strolled back and used his hands to focus his voice calling out, “Never mind he got out. I have spiders.” I called back, “Are you sure you don’t mean crabs?!” He called back, “maybe it’s crabs.” and then plopped down on his butt and fell back in the sand. I adjusted the sail and headed toward the next good spot.
Once I had hauled in I signaled for help to off load now much easier than it was when it was just a couple of logs.
Michelle ran up with a smile that just told me she was so happy daddy was home with the bacon and said, “Look what we got.” I looked over and saw mama had gotten the bacon and said, “Holy shit!” I gave Michelle a hug and she squeezed my jock saying,
“Fish is good too babe.” so, I grabbed her as and kissed her.
Joseph looked over and mouth the words silently, “You too?” I smiled and shrugged as Michelle turn and swaggered back to her kill.
We hauled the fish over to our smoking stand and I stood over the boar and said, “Don’t lose too much blood we’ll add it to the bread as blood sausage, fill the intestine with meat for real sausage which will last without spoiling longer, But I’m not sure
I can handle making haggis out of the lung.” Tim stepped up beside me and said, “I was just thinkin’ jerky” I looked at him and said, “Ya, that too. And we might need the leather from its hide.” Tim said, “Ya” Dave Miles said, “I don’t know anything about any of that, you guys just make it so we can eat it please.”
Chris Marcy stood talking with James Hudlow about the behavior of crabs, Hudlow stood there with his lips purse and his head cocked, Chris had been talking nonstop for ten minutes and had segued and diverted on tangents so frequently Hudlow thought he stepped on the remote control.
Mitch called down from the mountain top, “Artimus is headed over here.” Michelle said, “No fucking way are we accepting that guy as some kind of exile, Rob go talk to him before he gets all the way over here.” Everyone was very unsettled, we had seen some crazy shit go on over there. Our personal experience with that Captain was anything but positive, probably what made it so easy for us to walk away from everyone. I didn’t want to look the fool so I went far away from them to try a boiler, and now I was trying to make a large keel
hidden from them as well. So, I hastily made me way toward the clearing he would have to pass through to get to us and I was hoping it was swampy as it gets during high tide. As it happens luck was on my side and it was high tide.
I got to the clearing and Dave Artimus raised his hand and said, “Don’t try to cross, everyones been worried about trench foot.” he continued with a laugh, “I’ve been watching the women fascinated with their toes for days, I thought it was about their pedicures. But, I guess it was this huh?” I agreed and asked, “What can I do for you Artimus?” He winced with a grimace upon realizing I called him ‘Artimus’ and not ‘Captain’ he had recalled the circumstances on the ship were in an urgent situation the crew had called him just Artimus rather than
Captain and decided it fit then as it fit now. The illusion was lost. He said, “I need some help, I need something to appease those guys over there, I’m afraid they’re gonna’ get violent and just start taking things. So I took a collection of money and so long as they hold to what we taught them all their lives they will accept they don’t just take things without giving money in exchange.” I replied, “On this side of the island money has been a bitter reminder of how little we have access to. We’ve made
Chinese checker board and dominos to stay distracted and every time we eat the bread it’s a little celebration that we’ve gotten this far.”
Artimus replied, “I need a boat and a little extra food, and
I’ll get them back under control. Is it you over here?” I replied,
“It’s like a roman senate over here, If you can get them to gather grain from the north of the island we can increase the bread, the yeast we found is nasty smelling and doesn’t take hold perfectly but it works, as far as fish the boat and net and sails would have to be made first. We collect and haul all we can and there’s
always the risk of over fishing a spot and not being able to reach their next favorite hangout.”
Artimus said, “Well give me something now or it a falls down!” I replied, “Shit dude, the only thing I can possibly spare are our only set of dominos and we’ll just make another.”
Artimus said, “That’ll…” and choked up a little then regained his breathe, “I can see them behind you and I just want you to understand I haven’t forgotten where we are, the dominos…I might be able to work that angle.” Athena ran up behind me and said, “I got ‘em Rob.” and she ran over and gave them to Artimus and gave him a hug. Artimus held them in the small cloth bag we had made from plant fibers, examined a couple and held them up and choking up with emotion he held them up and said in a very emotional way, “Thank you…I’m..” he began to cry and finished his sentence, “…I’m gonna’ get this fixed.”
As he walked away he murmured to himself, “I can’t believe I forgot games…entertainment, games.”
As we headed back Tim asked, “Why the hell don’t they just start working?” Mitch said, “They don’t know how dude.”
As we entered our campsite, joseph and Tommi stood there and asked, “What happened?” Athena replied, “We need more dominos” I said, “We didn’t get to use them long because they had to dry in the sun…to
o small for the fire. I’m afraid we need to jump up to marionettes and fireside stories.” Michael asked,
“Where the fuck is any of this really going?” I replied, “I fell a tree to try and make a keel for a ship that can hold the provisions to get us all the way back to real life, but the wood has to be boiled or steamed to be bent. I’ve been doing it out of sight because I hate my failures being too public; give me some more time on that.”
Everyone was too stunned to respond or even dwell on the idea. Michael said, “So…I guess we make them a fishing boat now?” Michelle replied, “As soon as they start delivering grain.”
Artimus didn’t head right back to the landing site, “He looked at the only thing he had gained to offer but couldn’t help but to see the accomplishment of it. The cloth bag was made from plant fibers on the island and resembled burlap, the dominos were the standard rectangles divided in the middle with a line and divots that had been darken but also had a decorative pattern not unlike the plants of the island. He decided to embellish upon the design by using plants to stain the decorative design, maybe a little flare of color would add some leverage to whatever scheme he could devise.
As Dave Artimus added green, to the Japanese knotweed embellishments which he took for bamboo, and add red dots to the sorghum which took to be holly berries he sat thinking, “What the hell am I supposed to tell these guys?” He heard some laughter in the distance and realized it came from down the beach away from the landings as well as over the cliff like slope of the island directly across from the boiler site and decided to find out who was there.
Artimus didn’t want to be caught ‘deviating from mission’ so he was as stealthy as he could be. The majority of the black sailors had found a way to slip over to a secluded beach where they were playing what appeared to be lawn darts.
In Dave’s prior experience as a captain in the navy ethnic segregation was always a bad sign but so long as there was at least one Hispanic, or Pilipino, things seemed to work out okay, but that wasn’t the case here. Dave quietly slipped back toward the clearing in the tree line to face the rest of the music.
Artimus went over toward Bruce Deckly carrying the small bag and Atrisia saw it she called out, “Tell me those aren’t magic beans.” Artimus looked at Bruce and asked, “Did anything subside at all.” Bruce replied, “No, sir. I did my best but it seems at the very least they expect to strip you of your title and may want to incarcerate you for two weeks.” Artimus announced, “I have here a gift from the natives, a gesture of good will. They have provided us with the only entertainment they could muster, that being dominos.” Chief Dotle cried out,
“What the fuck are those assholes doing over there.” Artimus signaled his cabin boy and Robert Wildly thought to himself, ‘he said to defend the natives…’ so he interjected, “more than you’re doing over here jack ass, need I remind you they are providing the food!!?” Artimus rubbed his eyes and thought to himself, ‘That wasn’t what I was looking for’ then voiced loudly, “The natives are providing the food, but they abandoned their obligations to this crew. They are however…keeping us alive.” Koleson retorted, “So wha’d you get us honey bear?”
Artimus once again got that odd, twisted homicidal look on his face and dropped the small bag of dominos and sprinted at
Koleson tackling him and yelling, “I’m gonna give you a…” his dialogue continued but was all unintelligible gibberish.
As Dave Artimus was hauled kicking and snarling back to his cage Bruce Deckly tried to reassure him, “Dave it’s just not your day.” Becky Clarkson commented from near the tree line to Jane, “I think all that time on the water damaged his vocabulary, he doesn’t go into a homicidal rage, he goes into a homosexual rage.”
As four men held the cage door closed and it was secured with lashing and braces and pins, Artimus pointed at
Koleson yelling, “I’m gonna’ suck your fleeberson epchky cokosaflaaahhh!!”
There was a pause in the trial and those domino tiles sat on the judges table for three days, rations were delivered and as had become the custom both those at the landing site and those delivering the rations made a significant effort to show no signs of aggression, like feeding tigers in a cage.
Mike Elper waited to resume his role as the judge but was looking for more of a leadership position. He tried to get them to dig the trench necessary for the fire to cure the clay for the ‘evaporative distillation plant’, or boiler as we were calling them but the landings group was too militant. The existence of a chain of command was their first and only priority and the junior ranking refused to dig their own graves.
He tried to make a fishing net and was mocked for trying to make himself a dress. They demonstrated to him every way possible that they would not be led by a third class petty officer all while their captain sat in a wooden cage deliriously enraged.
He sat playing dominos with Eric Milson and as they played he said, “Yep, screw the fishing, screw the water, let’s just all starve or make those assholes do it.” using his thumb to gesture over his shoulder to our side of the island. Eric laughed as he placed a domino saying, “They aren’t in the military.”
Mike retorted with a snide fake laugh, “Ya, which does what?”
Eric responded, “Just relax. Look your just a third class, I was a third class once. You’ll understand once you make second class, you just have to start moving in that direction.” Artimus in his cage nearby violently shook the bars and said, “Ya, you might even make captain someday then they’ll cage you too.” Mike
said to Eric, “Well..? Your retirement plan is talking to you dude.”
Chapter Nine
Caging a man’s desires
Artimus has been in his cage waiting for his passive aggressive rage to subside for hours . The trial has been in recess so long some have lost interest or thought that it had become a game and lost its propriety.
Artimus has been requesting visitation time with everyone to establish his motives were pure and that he was still a good guy. He is massing social support and sympathy, with emotional ploy’s and romantic images of a Navy Captain valiantly fighting for his crew, his ship, and his station. Those romantic images had a back lash though, bragging to his own crew about the hard work they had done which earned him merit and credit and afford them only a bent back and a damaged social life. In speaking with more than one of the former crewmembers he placed himself working directly on a critical problem with a chief petty officer speaking directly to the third class or second class petty officer that actually did do the work.
For Dave Artimus former captain of DD-964 his cage had finally become a jail cell rather than the antics of a wayward crew, sleep deprived and malnourished.
Bruce Deckly acting as defense attorney fought in deliberations rather than the actual trial to determine reasonable and arguable charges. They narrowed it down to the captain simply did not know anything about the existing hazards on the
ship or it’s failing condition and judged him to be criminally negligent.
Having refused a navy achievement medal and sat in the captain’s chair as a reward instead, by the captains instruction for a day, by the squadron commanders instruction for three days, and by order of the department of defense upon calling for special deputization to ensure the legality of my being in that chair, for two weeks. I practiced a high level of paranoia; reading each and every instruction; designing work sheets for each department head, division officer, and work center supervisor. And through these efforts I found what, had I been ignorant of, could lead to a charge of criminal neglect and guarded myself with work sheets for the captains station as well…which turned mostly into ‘how-to’s’ as far as filling in standard forms. I found the job was nearly effortless, but also analyzing the captain’s usual way of doing things reflected the job gets much harder if you have a political agenda.
The criminal neglect Artimus was found guilty of, mostly regarded engineering spaces and equipment as well as material
state of various other systems throughout the ship. A preliminary conclusion was drawn as to the loss of the ship. First, that as a result of trauma no one fully remembered or understood what had happened. Second, the command as a unit failed to respond.
And lastly, the unit had not been maintained, either in material state and fighting ability, nor in personnel qualifications or training. Team building had developed into a tangent and become a means of bullying and molesting subordinates as a copping mechanism for the mutually assured failure dynamic built into the units’ social structure.
Artimus was ordered to surrender the title and entitlements of Captain, but Bruce managed to maintain Artimus’s station as
a commanding officer using the existence of the ‘natives’ as cause. It was as though there were two entirely different forms of chaos clashing together causing an apparition of order. Much in the same way legitimacy was derived from mob rule, once a situation or claim to ownership was deemed legitimate the basis of the argument became law and would apply to other circumstances where appropriate.
At the boiler site the wild boar had been strung up by its hide legs from a tree. We were making the sharpest cutting instruments we could. I had considered trying to make glass using the fire box bellows we had made from paper derived from plant fibers of the island and a new firebox shaped more like a kiln than the boilers were. The only example I had ever seen was at a renaissance festival.