Stormwatch - The Love Boat

"No," said Don. "Canon?"

"No..." Then both men looked at each other and a look of recognition came over them and they both said, "The Kun."

"Yes! You were Juvat!" said Don. The Juvats were the 80th Fighter Squadron. "You're the weapons guy, master sergeant that got the brutal washdown!"

"Yeah, that was me," grinned Josh.

"What happened?" asked a grinning Lanh. Being an Air Force wife, she knew all about washdowns. On an airman's last day before heading off to a new duty assignment or retirement, the airman is "washed down" with whatever water source is available. It's a tradition that goes back to the Vietnam War.

Don grinned for the first time in a long time. "My man here pissed off some needle dick looie on his last day, he had the entire weapons flight laughing at this guy, in formation. Leftennant Loser turned around and stomped off... did he cry? It looked like he was going to cry."

Josh sipped his coffee and said, "Anything said between Lieutenant Needle Dick and myself was a privileged conversation, I cannot answer that question, you know that." As Josh said that he nodded his head "Yes," causing Lanh to laugh and bury her face in Don's shoulder.

"I knew it..." laughed Don, "I'm sorry, I mean that would be a total shame if he did, a total break in etiquette, anyhow Josh got washed down just massively! Holy crap! I thought you were going to drown!"

"That sounds like my southern gentleman," said Veronica as she gave Josh a kiss and squeezed his ass.

"I almost did drown, holy shit that was cold. You were expediting the Com/nav folks, right?" asked Josh.

"Yeah, I was there about a month or two when they turned the fire hose on you. I remember thinking, "if this is how they treat you when they love you, I need to piss these guys off," laughed Don. Then he said quietly, "I also worked at the MARS station, I remember patching your call home before you left... sorry man." MARS is the Military Affiliate Radio System. In areas where it's impossible for a military member to phone home, MARS will "patch" a call over high frequency radio. It's scratchy and full of static and you have to say "over" before your caller can talk next, but it's a call home and it helps.

"What happened?" asked Veronica, but Don just looked down at his coffee cup.

"He's not going to say," said Lanh, "MARS operators don't discuss details of their calls."

Veronica looked surprised but Josh shook Don's shoulder with a quiet, "Thanks man." Josh then said, "It was to my sister, and she was..." he looked at Veronica and said, "you know my sister."

"Yes I do," sighed Veronica. Josh's sister is an alcoholic crack addict who passionately hates her younger brother and blamed him for their parents alcohol related deaths. She may be dead herself, it's hard to tell.

"I told her I was coming home; they were retiring me and she said," Josh pitched his voice up to a near perfect approximation of his sister's voice. "Don't you bring yo sorry ass here, ah'll kick yo ass back out. Wha don' choo jus drap dead an' do us all a favor you sum bitch," and she hung up."

Lanh and Veronica looked at Josh in shock as Don nodded and said, "That was my worst call ever, and I had just started in MARS. I almost quit MARS over that." MARS operators have an affinity with their callers and if the call goes bad they feel partially responsible for the outcome of the call, even though all they did was patch it through the radio.

Josh sipped his coffee and sighed, "You can't pick your relatives."

"Your sister..." sighed Veronica. "I try not to hate people but your sister makes it really difficult."

Just then an incredibly beautiful Asian woman eased her perfect ass into the open seat next to Don and said, "Is your sister anything like me?" Then Kim-ly gave Don the kind of kiss that married men never get in front of their wives.

Veronica and Josh tried to hide their shocked looks as two Asian beauties snuggled up to Don, and that didn't go unnoticed. "Speaking of sisters, this is my sister Kim-ly," said Lanh softly. "We have a unique relationship." She didn't sound angry that her sister just kissed her husband, she sounded kind of happy.

"Y'all did that just to see if youse guys could shock a sadly sober ol' country boy, didn't ya," asked Josh.

"Wait a minute, you used y'all and youse guys in the same sentence and you think we're being weird?" said Don with a smile that faded, as did the smiles on Kim-ly and Lanh. "We've had some rough times and..."

"STOP!" snapped Josh. "Stop right there. I think we've all had some rough times. Screw the rough times and screw the ones that look down on us. We found partners to love and who love us in return, let's save talk about the bad times for the right time." He raised his coffee cup in a toast.

"When's the right time?" asked Kim-ly.

"'Round a campfire passing 'round an open bottle that we intend to drain," Josh said with a country boy grin.

"I will drink to that," said Don and he raised his coffee cup to Josh's, and with a cheer the girls joined in.

Kenny said in that special way he communicates with Yi, "Looks like Doctor Andi's plan is working."

"Doctor Andi's plans always work," she replied silently and with a tender kiss they got back to work and carried steaming hot bowls of shrimp & grits to the five seated at the table while Andi carried two bowls upstairs for her and her co-conspirator Paul.

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Their introduction to summer while winter raged back home was glorious, back home a cold front settled in that covered the entire US and even into Florida, record low temperatures were set as far south as Daytona Beach, but here in the open ocean the sun was warm and embracing, the breeze was cool and refreshing and the ocean was so inviting.

Soon Kenny and Yi came up from below deck with several fishing poles and set two poles out each as the boat cruised slowly. Paul was up on the flying bridge and Don and Josh joined him to "talk shit" about the places they've been and the people they've seen in the Air Force. Below them on the mezzanine, Andi, Veronica, Lanh, and Kim-ly sipped wine and talked about babies. Lanh was really hoping she would be pregnant with the help of a specialist when they return to Minnesota. She's been incapable of conception, and their specialist believes that taking an ovum from Kim-ly and fertilizing it in virto then placing it in Lanh will allow her to experience the miracle of motherhood. "We've been talking about having a baby since we were sixteen," said Lanh.

"Since sixteen?" Veronica took that as a little hard to believe.

"Kim-ly and I come from a big family, our mother was seventeen when she was pregnant with our oldest sister Tam."

"The pretty one," groaned Kim-ly.

"She's the pretty one?" asked Veronica.

"I never met Tam," said Andi who like Veronica couldn't believe that there was someone the two Asian girls would consider more beautiful than each other.

"Here's our picture," said Lanh and she handed her phone to Veronica.

Veronica looked at a photo of all three women which included Tam who was incredibly beautiful. She fit in with her sisters, Tam was a classic beauty in a Katherine Hepburn kind of way, serious and unobtainable except for the right man, Kim-ly was heartbreakingly sexy, a siren calling sailors to their doom, and Lanh was completely and utterly cute in a sexy way. "The three of you... wow, your brothers probably spent their lives beating up anyone that got near you."

"Sometimes I wish they had..." said Kim-ly softly as past regrets piled up on her. For a long time, she adored her twin brother and the affection was returned but he wasn't the type to keep trouble away. Her two oldest brothers almost ignored the rest of the family, their professional ambitions were first and foremost.

"I was an only child, it was just me and mom, my dad died in Iraq," said Andi. "I think my mom finally got over that recently."

"And you?" asked Kim-ly, "did you get over it?"

"Let me put it this way, my dad's name is Daniel Roberts, my son's name is Daniel Robert Jarecki."

"That's sweet," sighed Kim-ly who already had a name if they have a girl, Sue Lyn.

"It was just me and my older sister Magda," said Veronica. "Mom ran off and left us with dad. Then, as soon as Magda could roll a joint by herself, she took off leaving me and dad. After dad retired those two took most of his retirement."

"What happened to your dad?" asked Lanh.

"When we found out how bad he was treated, Josh said, "I don't care what you say, we're taking him in," and we made a suite for him in our house and a cabin just for him on our lake."

"So is your dad happy?" asked Kim-ly.

Andi started laughing and almost spewed wine out her nose. "I would guess so," said Veronica. "His twenty-one-year-old wife just had a baby."

"WHAT? Oh my god!" laughed Kim-ly. "The ol' fucker still has it."

Above the laughing women Don, Paul and Josh sat in the aft openair section of the flying bridge as Paul manned the helm and were trading stories of life in the USAF, and Josh finally asked Don "What was Royce like? From the gunners that knew him, all said he was a party hard, fly hard, and when you can't do it by the book, fix the book kind of guy."

"I don't know about party," said Don, "but he demanded a lot from us..." Don looked back at his time with Royce and laughed, "like me he was married to a Viet, and she saved us. Lanh couldn't handle the shock of our first assignment, and she freaked out. I didn't have any money to send her home, so I was considering the guaranteed way..."

"What's the guaranteed way?" asked Paul as he kept an eye on Yi and Kenny while they fished off the cockpit. Eventually Lanh joined them as they tried to catch dinner.

"You were an officer with a paycheck to write home about, you wouldn't know the guaranteed way," said Josh. Josh was Paul's best friend and could get away with hacking on him because of his superior rank (Lieutenant Colonel) "Of the three of us, who is actually retired?"

"Ok, stop," said Paul looking at the two raised hands. "I apologize for quitting, now what's the guaranteed way?"

Before Don could say another painful word Josh said, "Your family gets a free ride home if they're accompanying a flag draped coffin."

"Oh, shit... sorry," apologized Paul, who once did fly home with a flag draped coffin.

"It was the only way I could think that would get Lanh home to her family, we were broke and the German economy was roaring so the American dollar barely covered rent," explained Don. "Then Royce had his wife Annie explain to Lanh the facts of life in a military family. She and Lanh have been very close ever since."

"Did it work?" asked Paul.

"Well..." Don thought then a huge grin spread across his face. "I was TDY with the 480th to Aviano and Annie drove Lanh from our home in Germany down to Aviano Italy. That night I was having dinner with the weapons guys," he gave Josh a sly look.

"The best stories include the weapons guys," grinned weapons guy Josh as he cracked open another beer.

"Just a nice night at a local hotel, swapping stories and havin' a good time when Lanh comes out of the kitchen dressed as a French maid serving dinner. She gives all the weapons guys their meals, but me... she gives me a glass of water and a lap dance."

The guys roared with laughter until Yi shouted from down in the cockpit, "You're scaring the fish away!"

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It was a nice, relaxed day in the sun. The weather was warm and clear, a slight breeze blowing from the south and the automatic station keeping system of Andi's Dream had no problem holding steady with tiny burps from the thrusters on occasion. They were clear of the shipping lanes and decided to take some time and relax in mid ocean. They decided to open up the foredeck and first the Zodiac needed to be moved. A Zodiac is a small three to four person boat with sides and pointed bow are made from inflatable tubes, this one has a small rechargeable outboard motor and is used for ferrying people to and from shore. The Zodiac was lowered into the water with a davit, a small crane that was folded up and stowed. Paul showed Don and Josh how to erect the canopy over the fore deck and set up the table and couches creating a triangular lounging zone surrounded by couches with a triangular central table pointing to the bow. It made a wonderful gathering spot to revel in the warm ocean breezes and celebrate Summer in February. "Are you going to tell the girls the fore deck is ready?" asked Josh as he arranged the dishes of snacks on the central table.

"Nah," said Paul shaking his head, "If you build it they will come."

Paul peeled off his t-shirt and relaxed in the shade of the canopy which felt delicious, the touch of a refreshing ocean breeze on slightly sweat dampened skin was perfect. Soon the boat's PA system rang with Yacht Rock (easy rock from the 70's and 80's) and Andi made her way along the side decks to the fore deck, a bag of plastic wine glasses in one hand, two bottles of wine in the other, followed Kim-ly, Lanh, and Veronica each carrying a wine bottle. They were wearing light weight swim robes with bikinis underneath.

"Did somebody say there was a party out here?" Kim-ly held up a blue wine bottle indicating she had her favorite beverage.

As the girls sat down with their husbands it soon became apparent that they neglected to bring the most important tool needed. Don was about to get up and get it because Lanh AND Kim-ly were both giving him that look, when Kenny appeared around the front salon window, "I know what you forgot!" he grinned and held up a corkscrew. The girls breathed a sigh of relief, but it stopped quickly because behind him on the side walkway was Yi and she was topless. She was almost bottomless too, her bikini bottom was a tiny thong, while Kenny was only wearing a speedo.

Kenny and Yi were both tall and slender, Kenny's muscles were well defined from hoisting fifty-pound sacks of feed, seed, and fertilizer all day long, day after day.

"Thank you, Yi," said Andi, "for the corkscrew and for breaking the ice," as she took her bikini top off revealing her round breasts. "Anyone else? It's ok."

"Wha?" gasped Lanh, she looked like she was going to cry. Don put his arm around his cute wife reassuring her that no one is going to judge her for taking her top off or for not taking her top off.

They spent the afternoon sipping wine, munching on snacks, and chatting and enjoying the warmth they all missed so much. "We'll remain here tonight then head into Nisi Arcadia tomorrow," said Paul. "So, if you want to go swimming in the deep water, now's your chance."

Andi, Lanh, and Kim-ly began to talk around what happened to Lanh and their friend Karole, never explaining what actually happened. "What happened?" asked Veronica. She felt left out because they all knew the big story and were talking about recovery.

"Lanh, her mom, and her best friend were run over by a car," said Andi softly. "It happened Christmas Eve, they were just finishing last minute Christmas shopping and stopped for a drink, then coming out of the restaurant some drunk plowed right into them. Karole showed up at the nick of time and shoved Lanh and her mother out of the way."

"Mostly out of the way," said Kim-ly. "Mom banged her head, Lanh's leg got fractured and Karole, she was all fucked up." Which earned Kim-ly an elbow in the ribs from Lanh.

"I still have steel plates in my leg," said Lanh and she showed off the surgery scars on her hand and leg.

"I wondered why you were limping," said Veronica sadly. "What a horrible Christmas."

"Karole and I were out of it," said Lanh sadly. "Karole was dying and I was in surgery... Don and I consider Christmas our real anniversary, our first Christmas we were trapped by a snowstorm and my brother taught Don to say "Lanh a em yêu chi" when he handed me his mother's lefsa roller. He thought it means "I give you this with great respect" but it means "Lanh I love you."

"Poor Don," sniffed Kim-ly. "He was a zombie at the hospital... he had Karole's daughter and he was going back and forth, from Lanh's room to Karole in the ICU, back and forth, begging and pleading with them to live. So lost... so shattered... and I was right there for him! He just walked past me. They wheeled Lanh into surgery totally by surprise, a surgeon accepted the opportunity to cut and away she went. But Don! he was down at the ICU with Karole and they never told him, when he got back, he flipped out and went looking for Lanh... he wasn't Don anymore. I finally found him in a hall in shock, and we just sat on the floor together." Now Kim-ly was holding the tears back but she was fighting a losing battle and next they knew Kim-ly and Lanh were both holding each other rocking back and forth.

"That's why they're here," Andi whispered to Veronica. "Nisi Arcadia has a wonderful healing atmosphere."

Out on the Mezzanine the guys were drinking beer and watching Yi prepare the grouper she caught earlier and telling war stories. Don told about how a fighter plane on the arm-up ramp in Saudi Arabia turned too soon and blew the truck he was in into a deep ditch and blew another truck on top of him. "I woke up in Wiesbaden hospital in Germany with Lanh next to me, the squadron flew her out and she got there while I was in surgery. Worst Christmas ever."

"Damn," groaned Josh.

Don shook his head, "it gets worse. That morning I had my doctorate approved, I was given a line number for Master Sergeant, and I was getting on the freedom bird the next day rotating back home. We were supposed to be adopting a baby when I got back, and we lost that chance, and since I missed the appointment it put a black mark on our records with every adoption agency."

"Fuck," muttered Josh. "You just have the worst luck."

"Yeah, but we always get through it together. It took us years to realize how important Kim-ly was to us and how important we were to her." Don began to look depressed, but Josh knew how to cheer him up.

"Here, check this out," Josh pulled up his t-shirt showing the huge ugly scar that ran up the left side of his body.

"Damn!" cried Don, "What did you do?"

"I was in an AC-130 gunship that ran into a stinger missile. Blew the main gun off its mounts and opened a big ass hole on the right side, sucked the load master out, killed my best friend, injured the rest of my crew. Thank God the load master had her safety strap on, we kidded her about it but I found her dangling in the slip stream. I gashed myself up pulling her back in."

Nothing cheers a military man like a good war story, no matter how horrible it is, just getting it off your chest and sharing it with a sympathetic ear helps so much. And if you do it right, one good story leads to another. "The most scared I was, was in Korea in Kunsan after you left and little rocket man decided to charge at the south," said Don. "Gawd what a cluster fuck, we flew 20, turned 12, turned six, turned six. Day after day, the only thing we simulated was weapons, they did those half load things, we're trying to troubleshoot IFF problems with guys carrying missiles back and forth, what a mess. We were sleeping in the aircraft shelters and I had Lanh up in my room!"

"You took Lanh to Kunsan?" roared Josh with laughter. Kunsan was an isolated remote assignment, family wasn't allowed.

"I didn't take her, she just showed up one day. She conned my suite mate into letting her in my room and she fell asleep on my bed. The maid came in and thought I had a hooker in there." The laughter soothed the pain and carried into the salon which brought the girls out to see what was going on. "I was just telling them about your trip to Korea."