Dan's Story Pt. 01

Edgar: "Turn right." And they head out of town towards the base. When they reach the crossroads he grunts, "Turn right." again. They drive down a hard packed dirt road for a few miles when Edgar pipes up, "Swing left at the next opening and follow the track to the shore."

They follow his directions and top a rise on the track. There before them lay the blue Atlantic. To their left is a high bluff inaccessible from their location. Edgar explains it's a favorite local lovers' parking area. In the near distance off shore about half a mile lays a craggy island about half a mile long. Waves break over the rocks near its base but the island shelters the expanse of beach directly in front of them. There are about two dozen people in sight along the shoreline but no sign of Lorena, Jack or Sam. Edgar says, "They're probably down here to the right. There's a small cove there."

Clay swings the Volks out onto the beach and drives about a quarter of a mile. Sure enough, ahead of them they spot Sam's long frame in cutoffs splashing in the surf with Lorena's two kids. A bit farther on, close to the bluffs above the beach they see Jack's car. Jack and Lorena have a bucket and are washing the car ...and each other.

Jack calls to them, "Hey, park up here away from the tide."

Clay nods in the affirmative and drives up to park by Jack. They get out and Edgar goes to Jack's car trunk. He pulls out a bottle of beer and sits on a rock. "Who's got the opener?" he asks the air. Lorena goes over and opens his beer for him. She nods at Dan and Clay and looks to the trunk. They both decline. "Its too early", says Clay. "Maybe later." Meanwhile Dan pulls off his shoes and socks and rolls up his pant legs. He heads down to the water's edge where Sam and the kids are.

Dan: "Think I've found us an apartment, Sam." Sam nods and splashes the kids. They start splashing back and Dan has to duck out of the way or he'll get his uniform wet.

Sam: "Why don't you come in swimming? The water's really warm here because of the shallows out to the island."

Dan: "I don't have a bathing suit."

Sam: "You're wearin shorts, aren't you. What's the difference? There's nobody around anyway. You could skinny dip ...like in the pool at the New Carlton in Montreal; remember ...with Kay and Anne and yours truly. Those were the days! Anyway, come on in!"

Dan: (grinning) "I wasn't married then. Now it's different. Guess maybe you're right about the shorts though. Be right with you." He hops over the hot sand back to the car and strips down to his shorts. He calls to Clay, "Clay, you coming in with us to get wet?" He doesn't wait for a reply but heads straight back down to the beach and into the water with a long running dive. He comes up squealing, "Ye Gods, it's freezing. I thought you said it was warm!"

Sam: "It is for the Atlantic." Then adds, "Don't swim out too far. Lorena tells me that there's quite a rip tide created by that island and it could suck you out to sea. Tides low now and you could nearly walk out to the island but when she comes in it can get quite deep in pockets. Just keep your senses about you, that's all."

Clay comes gingerly down to the water's edge in his under shorts and his shirt draped over his shoulders. He tosses the shirt on the sand and steps into the water. He jumps back out and the kids laugh. Sam kicks the water and Clay gets wet. "Jesus, Sam. Stop that!", but this only sets the kids off and they start splashing him too. Clay gives up and wades into the water. By now, Dan has lowered himself again into the water up to his chin and starts swimming along parallel to the beach. Soon Sam and Clay join him. They splash and swim for a while then go up on the beach to dry out in the afternoon sun. Lorena comes down to join them. She has two long narrow short handled shovels in her hands.

Lorena: "Alright, you guys, what do you want to do? Gather driftwood or dig clams?"

Dan: "Clams?!"

Sam: "I've dug clams before so I'll take a shovel and show one of you how to do it, and the other one can go gather driftwood for a fire. Who has a coin?" Clay produces a quarter from his shirt pocket. Sam takes it and flips it in the air. As he catches it he says "Heads or tails, Clay?"

Clay: "Tails, I guess."

Sam: "You got it! It's your choice. Which do you want to do?" and he tosses the coin back to Clay.

Clay: "Gather drift wood, I guess."

Lorena: "You can go with Jack, he's heading off that way." She points.

Sam: (Handing Dan a shovel) "Come on, Dan, let's get some clams." And they head the other way passed Clay's shirt. As they walk a piece, suddenly water spurts up ahead of them a few inches out of the sand. "That's a clam!" says Sam as he bonds ahead and plunges his shovel into the sand, quickly raising a shovel full of sand. Water runs out of the sand on his shovel and the sand falls apart to reveal a round clam a little bigger than a dollar coin. It spurts a little water as Sam scoops it up and tosses it into a bucket they have brought along. "Anything much smaller than that and we'll leave him to grow up. O.K.? Hey! There's one! See it?"

Dan tries his luck but he is far too slow and fetches up nothing but sand. Sam says, "You really have to move and plunge that shovel deep or they'll get away. Try again." They look around. They move a foot or so and another waterspout appears. Dan dashes ahead and sinks the shovel into the sand. Nothing. Sam catches another one a little bigger. Dan spots another near his foot and digs frantically. He finds a really nice large clam this time and says the other two he missed on purpose cause he was looking for this big one. They laugh and continue along the beach.

Time they get back the sun's starting to set and Jack has a fire crackling on the beach. Lorena and the kids have dragged some bigger pieces of driftwood down by the fire for seats and she's put a large pot of seawater on the fire to boil. Into this she's plopping potatoes as she peels and cuts them up. She adds a few carrots, but mostly potatoes.

Lorena: "Sam, haven't you guys got those clams out of their shells yet?" She checks the amount of clams in the bucket. She selects the biggest on to a blanket and tells Sam to dump the rest back in the sand. She selects a knife from a box of old cutlery and pops open a clam, slides her knife under it and plops in into some rinse water. She swishes it around to wash it and chucks it into the pot. "Come on, Curley, I'm not going to shuck all these clams." She shows Dan how to do it and leaves him and Sam to finish. "Jack! I need some fresh water." Jack takes the bucket to where a small creek runs out of the dunes, rinses the bucket and half fills it with fresh water. Meanwhile Edgar is back from a walk down the beach and hands her his quarry. Its sun dried seaweed of a certain variety. Lorena rolls it in her hands and crumbles some of it. She first smells it, and then touches it with her tongue. Satisfied she sets it aside and nods to Edgar. He finds himself another beer.

By now the seawater soup is boiling violently and she shifts it in the flame to a cooler spot. It simmers and bubbles. She settles down with her back against some driftwood and rests by the fire.

Dan looks around and realizes that it has grown darker. The gentle breezes cause small breakers to sound out on the beach near them. The island is a dim shadow looming in the twilight and appears far out to sea. Something is floating in the water just down from them and Dan realizes its Clay's shirt. "Clay! Your shirt!" He points. Clay rushes down to rescue it and says, "Who was the dumb asshole who threw my shirt in the water?"

Sam, Jack, Lorena and Edgar all laugh while Dan stands dumbfounded, and the kids dance around calling out "The tide got your shirt! The tide caught your shirt!"

Clay looks sheepishly around and mumbles, "Sorry, everyone."

Next Lorena gets Jack and Edgar to drain the seawater off the vegetables and clams. She pours fresh water into the pot and puts it back on the fire. Now it's dark and a few insects fly in and out of the firelight. Everyone has beer and the kids have pop. They sit and chat around the fire and the bubbling stew pot. Lorena crumbles the seaweed that Edgar has given her and dumps it into the pot. She adds some chopped up onion and uses a long wooden spoon from the box of cutlery to stir the stew.

Clay has hung his shirt near the fire on a long root of driftwood. Jack goes to his car and comes back with a beat up looking portable radio. He tinkers with it and they soon have music. The moon starts to rise just by the island and it's a picture perfect postcard of a scene. Dan says, "I'd like to capture this moment so that I could cherish it forever." and Lorena responds, "Curley, you're a romantic at heart. Lucky is the gal that caught you."

Jack and Edgar guffaw and kid, "What mush...Ha Ha Ha!", but Sam and Clay simply stare into the fire. "Thank you." is Dan's simple reply.

Lorena starts digging tin plates out of the trunk and cutlery out of the box and soon everyone is enjoying a meal of 'down home East Coast' clam chowder and bannock she's brought from home. Appetites are keen on the open beach and soon there's nothing left but the empty pot. It's just as well, because the tide has risen close enough that they are occasionally splashed with spray. They start to pack up and a perfect evening comes to a close.

Dan's only recrimination is that he hasn't called Marie tonight, like he intended, to tell her of the apartment he's found. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

MONDAY: O630 HOURS

Some hubbub around the barracks wakes Dan, Sam and Clay to another day. Fellows are leaving for work, breakfast and some are just getting in. The Corporal has four more new people at the supply room and is issuing bedding, while a few are turning in bedding. They have been assigned permanent quarters by memo on the bulletin board. Also by memo, Dan, Clay and Sam are to report to the radar repair shop at 1000 hours. They wash up and go to breakfast.

As they're leaving the mess hall, Dan takes a few minutes to use the payphone and call Marie. It's nearly 0730 so it will be 0830 for her. She will be just leaving for work and won't have long to talk, he reasons, so that will keep the charges for the call down.

Dan: "Good morning, honey. I meant to call you last night with the news. I think I've found us the perfect little apartment already. ... Clay took me around yesterday to look at some that were advertised in the paper and I felt that since he wanted to go for a few beers, I owed him that much. Afterwards it was too late to call you. ...It's a just-below ground level apartment that is nice and bright, furnished and very reasonably priced for rent. ...Its not dark and damp, its very dry, we have our own furnace and thermostat, and two large windows in the kitchen and living room face the morning sun. ...I looked at some others but this was by far, the nicest in a price range that we can afford. ...I could look some more but I promised Mrs. Henshaw, she owns the house, that I would let her know right away ...Yes, I know you have to get to work. Anyway, you can put in your notice. There's a lot of apartments advertised so we will have one right away ...I'll call you again tonight, dear. We can talk more then. I love you and I miss you so much. ...You can reach me at the barracks at 325-3337 just after supper, 1900 hours our time or just after eight PM for you. ...That was 325-3337. ...We'll soon be together again. Miss you! Bye for now. ...Yes, me too." Dan hangs up, then when the phone rings again, deposits a pile of coins.

By 0930 the trio are nearing the Radar Repair Shop.

Clay: "She doesn't trust your judgment. She wants you to find a palace for loan, no money, just keep up the grounds."

Dan: "That's not fair! She's not here to see the alternatives, but she's right. I have only looked at three apartments and there were more than that advertised in the one paper."

Sam: "She doesn't want to give up that good job, either."

Dan: "We discussed that and she agreed that she could find work down here. We talked about that a long time ago."

Sam: "Did you tell her about all the job offers in the paper?" He grins.

Dan: "I didn't look. There must be something for her.

Sam: "Yah."

They enter the workshop, a hallway with offices on both sides and a large open room with workbenches all around it. The place is a confusion of activity. Overhead fluorescents and workbench mini spotlights dazzle the eye at first glance. There are about nine technicians working on an assortment of electronics equipment on the benches. Familiar test equipment mixes with electronic gear for which they can only guess the purposes. There is the soft murmur of voices, overlaid with pings from an oscilloscope and a whirr of ventilating fans. The pungent odor of burning insulation and heated metal fills their nostrils mixing with the all too familiar odor of tobacco smoke and coffee. At one side two techs study a large schematic diagram and converse in low tones. Dan approaches them, "Can one of you tell me where I'd find Lieutenant Probert?"

"New tech, eh? There are two other new fellas in the coffee room." He points, "First door on the left."

They go back into the hallway and enter the first room on the left. It's the coffee room and at the table drinking coffee are two Leading Aircraftsmen (LACs).

Clay: "Hi, are you people new to the base as well?"

Female LAC: "Right. You too? You must be from Clinton, I see you're still AC1s. We're in from Greenwood. I'm LAC Janet Isaac and this is LAC Abraham Bennie. Just call me Jan, eh?"

Clay: "Right. Nice to meetcha. This is Dan Miller and Sam Martin. Everyone calls me Clay."

Jan: "Might as well get some coffee. The Lieutenant will be tied up for a while in a meeting He told us to stand by in here."

Dan and Clay get coffee; Sam gets a cup of cold water. They chat a bit about CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia. They find out that most of the advanced electronics training in their field is taught there, that the base is in the midst of the Annapolis Valley and it is only a short hour's drive to Halifax or out to Lunenburg. Going down the valley to the sea brings you to the Navel Base at Digby, Nova Scotia, and it's only an hour and a half's drive. Jan is married two years while Abe is still single and says he has no intentions of seeking 'marital bliss'.

The Lieutenant comes in with a Sergeant, who he introduces as his aid and 2 i/c, Sgt. Bainbridge. He gives a work schedule to the two LACs and says the Sergeant will fill the other three in on their responsibilities.

Lt. Probert: "I extend a warm welcome to our division and I must admit, I have high expectations from you people recently from the school in Clinton. You have studied much that our people like these two, are only now getting in field courses. Transistor theory is new to us, but we are having to work with it more and more each day. Mr. Barclay, it appears we'll be working with you right away here in the shops. The other two of you will be starting out in Servicing, working for Lieutenant Cartier. I have schedules here for all of you. Sergeant Bainbridge will explain and answer your questions. It's nice to have met you, gentlemen... and you too, Ma'am." He takes his leave of the room and the Sergeant addresses them.

Sgt. Bainbridge: "If you have any questions, please feel free to ask? ... No hands, then we'll break for lunch and meet back here at 1300. At that time we'll go through the shops and then go down to the servicing line. Enjoy your lunch."

They all head over for lunch together. As they near the mess hall they come across a Major and a Staff Sergeant talking on the corner. They smartly salute the Major as they pass them and he returns the salute. The Staff Sergeant turns to confront them and says, "Where are you people going?"

"To lunch, sir."

"You don't 'Sir' me, you address me as 'Sergeant', or 'Staff' since I am not a commissioned officer, and when you are moving around this base you do not 'saunter along', you walk briskly with your heads up as if you have purpose. Do I make myself clear?"

A chorus of voices respond with "Yes, Sergeant!" and "Yes, Staff."

Staff: "I'll be keeping an eye on you five. Dismissed."

Quickly they head in to the mess hall as Sam says in a low voice, "They never give up, do they!" They get some lunch and sit down together.

Abe: "So you guys have never been on an operational base before, eh? Don't worry; it doesn't take long to figure things out. You have to separate the military hoopla from the role your trade demands of you. If you're a good technician, you'll get ahead, no matter how sloppy your dress or deportment. That's the way I see it, eh."

Jan: "That's true to a point, but if you are not exemplary in your field, then sloppiness in military procedures can get you court marshaled. My feelings have always been to try to do the best in both areas and if one is slipping, don't let it pull the other down. See what I mean? I also have to balance my actions with my husband's. He's a pilot stationed at Greenwood. He's put in for a transfer to Summerside, but so far his application has not been supported."

Dan: "So then, Jan, are you going to seek an apartment off base or live in barracks?"

Jan: "Oh, we will spend what time we can together, either here or in Greenwood. We maintain a flat in Greenwood, we couldn't get a PMQ yet, but I think here we are going to have to rely on a local motel when he's in town."

Dan: "Doesn't that put an awful strain on your marriage?"

Jan: "I don't know yet, but I think it will enhance our relationship. We will be like new lovers every time we get together. They say, 'familiarity breeds contempt'. We will always long to be together, won't we?"

Dan: "I guess you might be right. Only time will tell."

They finish lunch and walk smartly back to the workshop. They are early so Dan, Jan and Clay enjoy a smoke in the coffee room. Sam and Abe don't smoke, but they all have a cup of coffee. They hear the Sergeant's voice in the hall and Sam says quietly, "Ready for the grand tour?"

The Sergeant comes to the door and asks the group to come with him into the shop. They gather around him and he explains the function of equipment at each work place around the shop. It only takes about an hour for them to finish up there. They break for another coffee then load into a military station wagon and go down to the hanger line.

The station wagon parks in front of Hanger #3 and over the double doors leading into the add-on section at the front of the hanger is the sign "SERVICING" and in smaller marker pen below that is written "YOU MIX 'EM UP - WE FIX 'EM UP".

Sgt. Bainbridge: "This here is the servicing Department. As aircraft go out on duty, failures occur. Sometimes with the same aircraft day after day and sometimes they never seem to have a problem. But in the course of an aircraft aging, there comes a time when regular servicing checks have to be carried out. This is the department that handles both those functions. If you'll follow me, we'll go inside and meet the head of Servicing, Lieutenant Cartier."

They climb out and enter the double doors into a large room with tables set up like a coffee room. Around one table is half a dozen men in coveralls, drinking coffee or pop and talking shop. At both ends of the room are counters and behind they are both stock rooms. One is for aero engine and the other for aero frame. Down a corridor beside the stockroom to the left must be Electronics because that's what it says over the door. They go that way and come to another smaller counter with the sign over it saying "ELECTRONICS".

Sgt. Bainbridge: "This is our supply section here in servicing, and that's Jerry behind the counter. New techs, Jerry." he says towards the airman behind the counter. "This is where you'll draw supplies from to repair or replace equipment. They also have a good assortment of test equipment here that you can sign out for troubleshooting. Now we will go out into the common area and I will show you where the servicing schedules are so you will know who you'll be working with."