Fighting Her Father's War: The FIghting Tomcats

by M. L. Maki

  CHAPTER 26

  GLORIA AND SAM’S STATEROOM, CHRISTMAS MORNING

  Gloria gets out of bed as Sam comes back from her shower, “I hope I don’t have to fly, my hands are numb from sewing.”

  “You worked hard. Are you okay?”

  Gloria bounces out of bed, puts on her flip-flops and grabs her robe, kit, and towel, “Yeah, I’m good. Don’t go down yet. I want to give you your gift first.”

  Sam grins, reaches into her locker and pulls out a beautifully wrapped package, “Okay, I’ll wait.”

  Gloria smiles, tosses her head, flipping her hair, and leaves. When she returns, combing her wet hair, she asks, “Okay, who goes first?”

  “You do,” handing her the box.

  “Watcha got me?” and opens the box revealing a nightgown and robe of deep emerald green shimmery silk charmeuse. Her breath catches as she slips them through her hands. “Oh, Sam, they’re beautiful. Oh my. Thank you,” and gives Sam a hug.

  Gloria then pulls two boxes out of her locker and hands them to Sam, “The big one first.” Sam opens the larger box and finds four bottles each of salon quality shampoo and conditioner, “I thought by now you’d be out. Open the next.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty low and this is really nice stuff. I’d never buy it for myself.”

  “That’s what gifts are for, open the other.”

  Sam does, and takes out a sterling silver chain with a Star Trek IDIC symbol in silver with one diamond inlayed, and a pair of matching earrings. “Wow! They’re beautiful. You’ve definitely captured my inner geek. I’m going to wear them today. Think I’ll get away with it?”

  “Yeah, no problem. There’s no way I’m wearing these beauties to breakfast. I would need a whip and chain to keep the guys away.”

  “No kidding, but that’s the idea. You’re the most feminine woman I know. They spoke to me.”

  “Thank you and Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas to you, too, honey.” Sam hugs Gloria, who asks, “We wearing PJs to breakfast?”

  HANGAR BAY 2, CHRISTMAS MORNING

  Gloria and Sam show up for breakfast in jeans and t-shirts. Sam is wearing her new necklace and earrings. Most are in working uniforms, although there is a sprinkling of crew in PJs. The girl ahead of them in line is wearing a pajama top with workout shorts. As they take their trays to a table, Eric waves them over to join him. He’s wearing Wranglers and a dark blue and buff double-breasted shirt. Thud’s in jeans and a red and white checked western shirt, and Swede’s in jeans and a hickory shirt. Gandhi is wearing a Gi, and GQ, as usual, is in pressed khakis. Sam shouts over the noise of a thousand voices all trying to be heard in the vast steel box of the hangar bay, “Merry Christmas, everyone.”

  Eric says, “You look nice, Sam,” then shuts up.

  “Thank you, Eric,” and looks him up and down, “You’re pretty sharp. I like the shirt.”

  Swede and ALL the other guys in view are looking at Gloria, “It’s jeans and a t-shirt, put your eyeballs back in.” She looks at Sam, laughing, “Guys.”

  Frank sees Sam’s jewelry and does the Spock hand salute, “Live long and prosper.”

  She smiles and returns the salute, “And you also.”

  Speedy dressed in khakis, sets his tray down, and puts up his hand, putting his middle and ring finger together, with the other two apart, “It’s more like, ‘live long and suffer’.”

  Sam says, “And Merry Christmas to you to, Jose.”

  They tuck in for some serious eating as they see Captain Johnson walking up to a microphone, “You still have time to eat. I just wanted to let you know that Santa is on final. Once he makes it to the hangar bay, we’ll start calling division officers up to act as elves.”

  Soon they hear, “North Pole, arriving.” An airdale chief walks up to the Captain and whispers into his ear. “I would like all division officers to come up here as soon as they are done eating. I’m told the big guy caught an ok three wire, and is making his way to elevator 2.”

  Just as they’re finishing, Holtz walks up, “I’ll take care of your trays so you can line up. A question, though.”

  Swede says, “Yes, sir?”

  “Um, we have a talent show thing. Can you guys lip sync, or something?”

  Sam stand up, “I can’t, but Gloria can. She has a beautiful voice.”

  Gloria gives her friend a dirty look, “Thanks, friend.”

  “You even have some sheet music, Gloria. I saw it on your desk. Did you bring your guitar?”

  Papa says, “Great, she plays guitar, too. Does anyone else play an instrument?”

  Frank says, “I think Jose plays the maracas.”

  Jose hits him on the shoulder, “No, mi Amigo, pero puedo tocar tambores en su cabeza.” Then, to Papa, “I will, if the lady wishes, play Spanish guitar. My singing, though, is not so good.”

  “What did you tell Thud?”

  “I told him, he was wrong, but I can play the drums on his head.”

  Papa says, “Okay, the Captain’s waiting, you all better get up there. I’ll see who else I can find.”

  As they go up, Gloria says, “Sam, you’ll pay for this.”

  “I know, but the look on your face was worth it, besides, you can really sing.”

  “In the shower,” lining up as the Captain motions them all into place. Then the elevator comes down.

  Sam says, “Okay, tell me, you never sang in your church choir.”

  “Of course, I sang in the church choir, and the school choir, and I soloed some. I had to do something to shut my mom up.”

  “Exactly, it’s not a shower thing.” As the elevator clears the overhead, they see a C-2 Greyhound with its cargo door closed, tail facing toward them.

  “It is now.”

  “You sing wonderfully, and the kids deserve a show.”

  “Okay,” The C-2s rear hatch opens up.

  “What do you know that uses a Spanish guitar?”

  “Patsy Cline, if that doesn’t tear them up, nothing will.”

  Away from the mike, Captain Johnson says, “Girls? Quit bickering. Did you get a lump of coal in your stocking?”

  They look up at him, “Sorry.”

  The rear ramp lowers and Santa is revealed. As the ramp hits the elevator surface, Santa says, “Ho. Ho. Ho. Merry Christmas. I bet you all thought I would miss you this year. Not a chance. You showed up on my list as soon as you arrived. There was a bit of turbulence passing over Adak, hmmm, might have been ack-ack, now that I think of it. Oh well, Tojo is already on the naughty list, but I have a warm spot in my heart for sailors, soldiers, airman and jar heads, um Marines. Are these the elves you promised me, Captain?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I have a lot of gifts. They seem kinda scrawny. Do you think they can get the job done?”

  “I think they can.”

  “Okie dokie. They aren’t dressed like elves, though, so, I’ll have to fix that, too. You just call out the divisions, I’ll get the right bags.”

  “Yes, sir, first division.”

  The 1st division div-o comes up and Santa puts a blue elf hat on his head and gives him a bag. The process repeats until all the division officers are lined up with gift bags and hats on their heads. Santa says, “Spread out some,” then, “Okay, without a stampede, all of you come sit or stand by your division officer.” It soon becomes very clear that the division officers need to spread out a little more. Then, when everyone has found their place, Santa says, “Okay, elves, deliver your presents.”

  Sam, grinning and wearing a green elf hat, pulls out a wrapped gift, “Sass, looks like this is for you.” Soon, she’s handed all the gifts to her people. They each have at least three, including Chief White and Sam. There are bags of cookies, pastries, candy, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Sam also gave each one in her division a miniature display F-14 with Black Knight markings that she’d bought before deployment.

  Joe says, “Oh my God, boss, these planes are so cool.”
>
  “Yes, they are. Santa must have made them in the workshop, because you can’t find them in the ship’s store.”

  When Heidi and Lori find their perfume, they tear up a bit and give Sam a hug. Gellar gets a Louis L’Amour novel, and Chief White gets a poster of the Grand Canyon. Sam’s given a personal gift to everyone in her division. When they have finished opening theirs, she opens hers. From ‘Santa’ is Scott’s ‘Ivanhoe’; from Eric is ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’ with a note: “I don’t know if you’ve ever read this, but I hope you enjoy it.” She looks up, catching his gaze, smiling. He grins back, holding up his gift from her, Shelby Foote’s ‘The Civil War in Tennessee’.

  It isn’t long before gift wrap is everywhere and all the gifts are opened. The Captain says, “Quit a haul, folks. Before we all go about our day, I would like to thank Santa for coming all this way, and ask that we all pitch in to clean up. Santa, if you can stick around a bit, I can have the crew install some counter measures on your sleigh.”

  Santa laughs, “Captain Johnson, you surely are a good boy.”

  CHAPTER 27

  TUNNEL FORWARD OF HANGAR BAY 1, 0950, 25 DECEMBER, 1941

  Lyle “Packs’ Boxter walks forward into the tunnel wearing khakis and carrying his Bible and Book of Mormon. Book runs after him, “Hey, Packs, you got a moment?”

  “I’m reading for the Christmas service, Book. Can’t it wait?”

  “Shit man, I just wanted to say thanks for the Cross pen set. It’s cool. You want to join me and some of the guys? It’s a stand down day and we’re playing Hearts.”

  “No, man, it’s Christmas. I belong in church.”

  “Okay, but how about later?”

  Packs shakes his head, “Thanks, Book, I appreciate the invite, but today is Christmas,” and walks away. Book watching his RIO leave, looks at the ceiling, then turns and walks back aft.

  VF-154 POWER PLANT OFFICE, 1000, 25 DECEMBER, 1941

  Chief White walks in to see Sam in her chair, feet up on the desk, a bag of cookies open, a cup of coffee handy, and reading the book Puck gave her. He shuts the door, gets himself a cup of coffee and sits down, putting his feet up. Lifting his cup in salute, he says, “LT, you’re coming along. It was a good thing you did for your division with the gifts. I think you handled Joe pretty well the other day, too.”

  “Thanks, Chief. I hope so, cookie?”

  “I know so. You out of chocolate chip yet?”

  Smiling, “No, here you go,” shoving the bag in his direction.

  “Are you worried about Carleton?”

  “I’m more worried for him. He reminds me of my mother, he just doesn’t know how to be happy.”

  “You’re a fixer, LT. Did you know that? It’s a good thing.”

  “Okay. I didn’t know that. I don’t know how to fix Book. Anything I do, he’ll just resent me more.”

  “That’s the thing about fixers, they make the world we live in a better place. They try to improve anything they touch. The problem is when they find something they can’t fix.”

  “Yeah, it’s painful knowing that whatever I do will just make it worse. It hurts.”

  “Do you know the Serenity Prayer? It was written for fixers.”

  “You mean St. Francis, that’s my grandmother’s prayer.”

  “No, Reinhold Niebuhr. He’s an American theologian who died back in…um, I guess he’s still alive. Anyway, he said, ‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.’ It’s the fixer’s prayer.”

  “I think I need that one plastered on my forehead.”

  “Just think about it. Do your best and don’t fret too much about the things you can’t fix.”

  “Okay, thanks, another cookie?”

  CHRISTMAS DINNER, HANGAR BAY 2, 1630, 25 DECEMBER, 1941

  After breakfast, the tables were set up for dinner. Arrangements were made to the dog watch so everyone could eat together. There’s a lot of buzz about the talent show after dinner and acts are squirreled away all over the ship perfecting their art.

  Good to his work, Santa stuck around for dinner, staying mostly to air-conditioned spaces. He wandered around talking to sailors and doing his best to make the holiday a jolly one. He did make a brief visit to number 2 engine room where there was a problem with his steam driven fire pump.

  Hangar bay 2 rapidly fills with crew in the uniform of the day. For Sam, Gloria, Eric, and Byron, it’s flight suits. As they get in line, Eric looks over the mess cranks, in their white aprons and hair nets, carving turkeys. “My God, we’ve driven the species extinct.”

  Gloria says, “I don’t think so, doesn’t the President parson one?”

  Eric replies, “Yes, true, but it takes two.”

  Byron says, “At least, we know there’ll be plenty to go around.”

  The array is staggering: turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, yams, cream corn, peas, biscuits, fruit salad, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and berry pie. They heap their trays, then grab something to drink: milk, coffee, soda, fruit or bug juice are on offer. Going to an empty table, Sam catches Dixie’s gaze. He’s sitting with enlisted crew. She smiles and he returns the smile, turning back to his conversation. Thud is eating with a pretty blonde officer.

  Gloria says, “My thighs are going to wobble for a week.”

  Sam peers at her tray, “You took one of everything?”

  “It was there.”

  Eric says, “God, this is good, but I think they forgot the sage in the stuffing.”

  As they eat, a young JG, with a guitar, mounts the stage built on a couple of tractors at the aft end of the hangar bay. He sits down in a chair, strums his guitar, and says, “Good evening, folks, I’m Johnny Cushman from nav. Department, and I love Johnny Cash.” He goes into a rendition of ‘I Walk the Line’.

  Gloria leans over to Sam, “I think we’re going to surprise some of the guys.”

  The next act is Ensign Sean ‘Irish’ Fitzpatrick from the Tomcatters. He sings the ‘Rose of Tralee’, in his soft Irish tenor, a few folks songs, and closes with ‘Danny Boy’.

  Gloria says, “Yes, and it’s time for me to get ready,” as the Eightballers go up on stage for a comedy skit.

  Sam says, “Remember, hon, it’s for the guys. It’s not a competition.”

  Gloria tosses her hair, “It’s ALWAYS a competition.”

  Next up is Captain Klindt and Commander Tucker. Tucker starts playing his guitar, and they mis-start the song, off time and off key. They stop and look at each other, “Shall we try that again, Tucker?”

  “You go first,” and strums the guitar.

  Klindt begins, “My reactor has a first name.”

  Tucker, “It’s N.A.V.A.L.”

  “My reactor has a second name.”

  “It’s classified as hell.”

  Then together, “We love to scram it every day, and if you ask us why, we say, ‘cause radiation has a way of screwing up our DNA.”

  The nukes go nuts, yelling and stomping their feet.

  Klindt says, “You’ll recognize the tune of this song as well.” Together;

  ‘Hello darkness, my old friend. The reactor lost the load again.

  The engineers run screaming, as the ship it stops steaming,

  And the sound that echoes through my mind, is the sound of silence.

  Then a diesel roars to life. It cuts the silence like a knife.

  The RO stands screaming. He wants to know what stopped the ship steaming.

  And the sound that comes to every ear, loud and clear, is the sound of silence.

  Who’s to blame we do not know. The silence like a cancer grows.

  We must run and fight and start the ship again, to purge the sin of the sound of silence.’

  The cheering is deafening, as the crew stomps and whistles.

  Next, Ensign Tabatha ‘Sweets’ Younger on electric guitar, Lt. Mike ‘Too Tall’ Mohr on bass guitar, and Lt. JG J
ames ‘Sugar’ Brown on drums from the Wizards, VAQ 133, are up. The do ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd, ‘Danger Zone’, and close with ‘You Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’, and are also much appreciated.

  Then Lt. Neyhi performs Tom Lehrer’s ‘Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Is His Name’. By now, everyone is done eating, the trays are put away, the tables are stacked and out, and the crew is standing in front of the stage.

  Neyhi bows to tremendous applause and cheers and steps down off the stage, walking toward Gloria, “They’re all yours, Lieutenant, knock ‘em dead.”

  “Thank you. Tough act to follow,” grinning at him. He gives Gloria a high five and joins the crowd. Gloria’s on acoustic guitar, Speedy’s on his Spanish guitar, ‘Gunner’ Harden on electric guitar, and Truman ‘Johnny’ Walker is on the drums. Gloria steps up to the mike, “Good evening, Carl Vinson.”

  The return cheers stun her a bit, and off mike, she asks, “Are we ready?” The guys nod, and she starts the beat. One, two, down beat, and she begins to sing ‘Walking After Midnight’ by Patsy Cline.

  The crew begins cheering before she even finishes. She waits for them to settle down and begins, ‘Sweet Dreams’. When she’s done, the crowd is rocking.

  She pauses again, then, ‘Hallelujah’. Gloria feels the words and her voice gathering power, then Gunner starts singing harmony. The power of the song washes out, over them all, lifting them up, giving voice to how they feel. As she finishes, everyone is swaying, some with tears on their cheeks. The music ends and there is silence. Then, ‘SING IT AGAIN!”

  Startled, she looks to Captain Johnson, who spins his hand in the air. Turning to the band, she nods her head, and begins. Many of the crew join in, filling the hangar bay with the sound of thousands of voices. At the end, there’s a deep silence.

  Chaplain Chandler comes up on the stage and Gloria hands him the mike, “Hallejulah, hallejulah. Thank you, Lieutenant Hoolihan, Lieutenant Harden, Lieutenant Gonzalez, and Lieutenant Walker. That was amazing. Will you accompany us in a few carols?”

  Gloria says, “Yes, of course.”