Chapter 13

A few days later I went and called my dad, and after telling him to put all my documents on the hard drive and find another use for my computer, he handed the phone to Dee. “Dee, the next article is already on the way. I hope you like it, and tell your boss I am ready to start the column he wanted. I will keep sending you articles as I finish them, you both feel free to publish them whenever you want, in whatever order you want.”

“OK, that’s great Pete. Oh, and you have your first kind-of rejection. My boss did not care for the article about packs, but asked if he could print it in with a long article by several authors about things to add to gaming.”

I asked her what she thought, and she said I should go with it. “An anthology type article you share with others does not pay as much, but being seen working with others will help your reputation. And might work for future co-writing articles with them or others in the future.”

“Do it then, you know I do not care about the money. But I do care about my reputation. Oh, and I am part of a gaming group here on Okinawa. Is there any way you can see if some companies can send us some promos for the group?”

That was as far as the conversation got. Dee gave a sharp “Oof!”, then started yelling for my dad. I could hear a conversation in the background, and Dee saying “It’s time”. Finally I heard my dad yell and Dee came back on. “Pete, my water broke! Your dad is getting the bags, call back tomorrow or the day after. We will let Linda know as soon as the baby is born, so you can call her if your dad is not home. I love you.”

And with that she hung up. I gave a soft whoop, and called Linda. She immediately thanked me for the disk I had sent her, Rosie and Mandy thanked me in the background as well. “Baby, you might want to head over to Valley Presbyterian when you get a chance, dad and Dee are on their way there now. Dee’s water just broke.”

Linda screamed in my ear, and then yelled the news out to her mom and sister. No, that was all I knew I told them, I was talking on the phone with her when it happened. Linda said she was going, then we shared “I love you” back and forth and she hung up.

I then called Holly, but she was moving to her new dorm. I told her mom to pass along the news, then hung up. It was now 1 in the morning, so I headed back to my room and bed.

The next day during lunch I made a call home and to Linda’s and got no answer. I then called Holly’s mom, and she gave me the news. “Pete, you have a healthy baby brother. 8 pounds 7 ounces, your dad and Dee named him George, after her dad.”

“Thanks, that’s great! A brother, I have a brother! I just wish I could be there, but thank you for telling me. Are they alright?”

“Yes dear, they are both fine. We all figured you would call here if nobody else answered, and I guess I am lucky enough to give you the news. Holly is out on a date, with Jack, but she said to tell you”, and the line went dead.

Great, my first AUTOVON disconnect. I went into Lt. Adams’ office, and SSgt Kelly was in there. I told them the good news, and they both congratulated me for it. He said that there would probably be a routine Red Cross message for me in a day or so, that was routine in these matters.

“And Culver, if anything seems to go wrong, let us know right away. Although emergency leave is not normally given for siblings, I will force if through if you need to get home if anything goes wrong. We are not so hard up for people here that if you need to leave for a week or so we will keep you here.” I thanked him and shook both their hands. I then said I just had an AUTOVON disconnect, and they both laughed.

“Happens to us all the time, don’t worry. If I get a letter about it or any others in the next week I will just explain you had a brother born, and were concerned. That should keep any trouble from this I promise.” I thanked them both, and Jones and I headed off for our second round of the day.

When we got back Frannie was just getting off, and when I gave her the news I got a big hug. “That’s great Pete, I really like Dee. I’m happy for all of you. Are they both fine?”

“Yep, baby and mom are doing great. I just wish I did not have to wait a year to see my new brother. It’s actually kind of sad, by the time I see him he will already be starting to walk and talk.”

“Yeah, but you also miss the crying and messes. So be glad there.”

She took my arm and told me to go and get changed, this was a celebration night. I quickly changed, and together we walked off-post and we got some good fried rice. Frannie with chicken, me with shrimp. I then told her about my new computer, and how fast it was.

“I thought my old one was fast, this one is amazing. 25 megahertz, it’s blazing. And one of those EGA monitors, much better than my old one.”

“So that’s why you raided the software cabinet last night!” she said.

“Yep, I needed some things there. WordStar, Lotus, and I got that graphics program, to see if I can use it to do maps for games. I am already working on a new adventure, maybe in a few weeks a bunch of us can get together and test it out.”

“Pete, do you think you can handle games 2 nights a week?”

“Hmm, I don’t see why not. Why, do you want to get into another one?”

“Well, my roomie is interested, she works in the S-4 office. And I bet if we looked we could find others. She said she knows at least two others, they work in the Supply building, and said we could hold the games there.”

“Wow, you already got this worked out! OK, how about Tuesday night? That is four already, I suppose you all will want me to DM?”

“Of course. I have not played that much, she is a beginner. I do not know about the other two. But that will give us a game much closer, and give me something to do on another night.”

“OK, that works for me. Tell them to go ahead, we can start next week. If I DM, we will start like we did at Stumps. First level, several simple dungeons before we work to the big ones. And like before, more for fun than being all serious.”

She said that worked for her, and after we finished dinner and started to head back to base. But half way there she stopped and headed me into a bar. “Pete, this calls for a drink, I’m buying.”

“But Frannie, this is a strip bar!” I protested.

“Yeah, and you get to see some boobies as we drink. Enjoy, I know I will.”

We both laughed, and once we got a can of Orion we sat at a booth. “Frannie, I did not know you liked looking at boobs,” I said, looking at the dancer. She was a bit better built than the last one I saw, having obvious C cups.

“Well, I’m not a lesbian if that is what you are implying, asshole! But yeah, I can appreciate how a gal looks even if it does not excite me. Maybe someday somebody here will make a strip club for us, so we gals can go somewhere and see naked guys. Now that I might get excited over.”

We both laughed. “Yeah, not sure how well that would work. Imagine, naked guys from the Philippines, all of them looking like naked teenagers.”

“Eww, you’re right! I did not think of that. Oh, not eww because of the Philippines, eww because they would look like kids. I was thinking they would be guys like you, or Jones.”

“Yeah, I doubt the Corps would like that. Although you might like seeing Jones, he has quite a package.”

“And how would you know that!” she said, before taking another drink.

“Frannie, I share a room with the dude. I do not check him out, but I have seen him a time or two. Let’s just say he could be in porn. Not quite a black John Holmes, but he is not all that far off. Why, interested?”

“Well, let’s just say it has been a while. And the itch has been growing. And I think Jones is cute, I am not about to start dating a guy I work with. And if he is as big as you say, the last thing I want is to try and date another Winnie.”

Oh that hurt, as I ended up having some beer come out of my nose as I laughed! “Yeah, I didn’t think about that. Now mind you I have never seen Pat nude, but I imagine they are probably close in size from what I heard.”

“Yeah, no thank you. But some male companionship would be nice. Know any single Mexican guys that we do not work with?”

“Frannie, do they have to be Mexican? Trust me, if I was not taken I would have made a pass at you long ago. And you had no problem with Winnie after all.”

“No, they do not have to be. But I think a lot of guys would have a hang up since I am not white.”

“Bullshit. You have met Kimmie, you know her and I kinda dated. And my first lover was an Indian, American type. I for one do not give a damn about that. I would even ask out Jacki if not for Linda, and her being several years older than I am.”

“Jacki? Yeah, she is kinda hot, and smart too.”

“Yeah, and we got to be friends last weekend. So see, things like that do not matter as much as you may think. Plus remember, out here you girls are outnumbered like eight to one. You could have almost any guy you want, is not like we have much selection when it comes to girlfriends.”

“Yeah, got that right. At least twice a week some guy tries to hit on me, but I turn them all down. It always seems like they want my body, not me.”

“And is that a bad thing? You got a great body.”

“Well, while the idea of a fun weekend of just sex may be appealing I really am not like that. That weekend with Pat just kinda happened. It had been over six months before then since I had gotten any. But yeah, I will start to look around, see if anybody catches my interest.”

We finished our beers while commenting on the girls on stage, then headed back to base. As before right before the barracks she pulled me behind the trees and we spent several minutes just holding each other and exchanging a few gentle kisses. “Thanks Pete, I needed that. More than anything else, I guess I miss just being held by a guy like this.”

“Any time Frannie, and I do also. As much as I miss Linda, I also miss just being able to hold her. And you are in no way a substitute, but it does help the loneliness.”

We shared another soft kiss, then held hands on the walk back to the barracks. I went upstairs and listened to some actress getting pounded on Jones’ video as I worked out another article, this time on incorporating modern items in a fantasy setting. Including taming a fire elemental to create a steam engine for vehicles and boats.

I called home the next day, and dad told me Dee and George were fine, and would be home the next day. The labor was smooth, and no complications at all. He also told me that my column was starting in two months, and he had negotiated how much I would be paid, and I was on a two year contract. I had to go and told him to give my love to Dee and my new brother, and went back to work.

On Tuesday Frannie took me to the supply building, and we were soon upstairs and meeting everybody. Her roomie I had not met before, but Cindy was a cute girl with blonde hair and a bubbly personality. Frank and Larry seemed like good guys, and so was Herb, another guy they worked with that wanted to join us. And we were all in uniform, as we had just gotten some dinner then came straight over once we all got off work.

I took off my blouse, and put it on a nearby box. “OK, first rule. No rank at the game table. I am Pete, or Culver, not Lance Corporal. First or last names are fine, but please leave the rank away from the table. I assume you all want me to DM?” They all did, so I smiled and handed out blank paper and dice, along with the two player manuals I had. “OK, Frannie and I will help anybody that wants it, this will be a new campaign. Brand new characters, you all decide what you want to play.”

Soon all that was done and I ran them through a few simple quests. Thankfully the only new player was Cindy, so she played a fighter. And they were all getting into it when I noticed it was getting late. We packed it all in, and everybody said they would be back the next week. I asked them to see if anybody else wanted to play, we had room for up to four more in the group.

On Christmas, I fug into my savings and bought a nice boombox and sent it to Linda. AM-FM-Short Wave and auto-reverse cassette. Mandy I sent a book I found at the USO full of traditional Japanese drawings, and Rosie got a coffee mug with a Torii Gate that said “Camp Butler, Okinawa”. But it seemed that Linda was a bit distracted on the phone. And half the time she was talking about her new friend Melissa, who had apparently taken the place of Kimmie as she had left for college.