Chapter 23

Sitting in First-Class was nice. No one was in the seat next to me so I didn’t have to scrunch my shoulders and was kept well supplied in hot tea and had a very nice meal. I slept a bit and spent some time thinking of my wife and what Infantry Training would be like compared to Basic. The thought of getting through Infantry Training and to Sniper School so I could get my hands on an M110 was exciting. The idea of crawling through more mud and debris was not.

The plane landed in Atlanta and I made my way to the small plane that would take me directly to Fort Benning. When the plane landed, I got out and was handed my duffel. The airline delivered as promised. I walked to the desk for arrivals and presented my orders. I was told to go to a certain area near the front of the terminal and wait.

I did and I waited. And waited. And waited some more. That was something I learned in Basic. Hurry up and wait. Then I heard a loud voice as a man with very stiff posture walked into the terminal’s front door...

“O’Dell! What the hell are you doing sitting there?”

“Following orders, First Sergeant,” I answered standing at attention.

“They called me and told me there was one soldier waiting for the bus and the bus was broken down. Come with me, soldier.”

“Yes, First Sergeant.”

I stood, picked up my duffel and followed the First Sergeant out the door and to a jeep. I threw my duffel in the back and waited for the Sergeant to get in, then I joined him. He started the Jeep and drove away from the airfield.

“Did you have a good leave?’

“Yes, First Sergeant.”

“Are you ready for some more serious training?”

“I am, First Sergeant.”

“Good. I’ll take you to the CP. You will get checked in at the barracks and squared away. Then you can hit the mess, have dinner and start reading.”

“Reading?”

“Yes, you’re going to spend a lot of time reading and testing. You are no longer a dumb boot, O’Dell. This part of training won’t be as easy for you as Basic was. Infantry Training will expand on your Basic. Are you still up for Sniper School next?”

“I think so, First Sergeant. If I’m not yet, I will be before long.”

“O’Dell, Sniper School will turn you into one of the deadliest men on the planet.”

“I’ll do my best, First Sergeant.”

“I believe you will. Reveille is at 0500. You’ll meet your training team members this evening. For now, find your home for the next fourteen weeks.”

“Excuse me First Sergeant, but I thought the Infantry Training was only six weeks.”

“It is, but when you graduate, you will immediately go to Sniper School.”

“So, no going home between?”

“Why? You got a hot date?”

“My wife wants to have babies and we weren’t prepared when I went home.”

“Prepared?” he laughed out loud. “What did you do forget the process?”

“No, First Sergeant,” I replied with a chuckle of my own. “Jean was still on the pill. She needs to be off a month before she’s able to get pregnant. We didn’t make the decision until this past week.”

“I’m sure you’ll get time before you retire.”

“First Sergeant, I was always told that Sniper School was a long process but that’s a bit too much.”

The First Sergeant laughed and smiled that smile that would usually send chills down my spine.

“Sniper School was long during the 60’s. We were still learning how to train snipers during Viet Nam. We’ve learned a lot since then. Now you’ll have to survive eight weeks of the hardest things you have ever done in your life. They will challenge you mentally and physically. There will be fifty men in this outfit. Personally, I don’t think any more than a dozen will graduate.”

As he drove me to an office, I thought about what James had told me. I was starting to think that this was going to be truly life altering for me. The First Sergeant pulled up in front of a building and told me to get my ass in there. I did and found someone waiting at a desk. I showed my military ID and the soldier tapped in the info on his computer. It printed out some forms and orders. They were similar to the one in Basic.

“In Basic they had us turn our cell phones over and we got them back when we needed to make a call. Is that policy still in place?”

“No. You can keep your cell phone but you can only use it under direct supervision of the Sergeant in case of an emergency or at the end of training to make travel plans.”

I signed the papers and was directed to my billet. Placing my duffel over my shoulder, I walked down a row of buildings to Barracks K7. I walked in and spoke to the Corporal at the desk. I showed him my orders and he directed me to a wing on the second floor.

I found a bed with an open and empty footlocker and an upright locker next to it with the doors open. I assumed that this was my new home. I unpacked my duffel and placed things in the foot and stand up lockers. Then folded the duffel and placed it in the footlocker, closing it. I paused and looked around the room.

There were ten bunks on each side of the room. There were still five open footlockers so I assumed the room now had fifteen men as residents. I returned to the desk and asked the Corporal where everyone was.

“The rest of the unit is either not on base yet or is in the mess hall.”

“Do we use the same mess hall that we did in Basic?”

“No. You go to Building 6B. There is a map on the wall next to the entrance.”

“What time is lights out?”

“Lights out is at 2100 hours.”

“Thank you.”

I walked to the front door and looked at the map. I found the area where I was for Basic. I was now on the other side of Fort Benning. I found the mess hall. This side of the fort was more like a town. It had a couple of fast-food restaurants, a grocery store, and a movie theatre. I walked out and turned right. After a long row of barracks, I came to Building 6B and walked in.

The chow line was to the left and I picked out a tray and walked through. There were several styles of food. I chose Italian lasagna and a large amount of salad. Unsweetened ice was the drink and I dropped a couple of lemon wedges into the glass.

There was an empty table in the middle of the room and I took a seat. I ate in peace and quiet, observing several groups of soldiers. I recognized some from Basic Training but no one approached me. When I was done, I put my tray on the conveyor that took it back to be cleaned off. I walked outside and wandered around until Taps. I faced and saluted the flag as it was lowered and then headed back for the barracks.

In the barracks I approached the Corporal at the desk, “Is there a phone I could use to call home and let them know I got here in one piece.”

“Yes, it’s in the office. Don’t be on for more than five minutes.”

I called Jean.

“Hi love, I just have a few minutes so I’m calling to let you know I got here in one piece. I can’t stay on too long. Hopefully the new Drill Sergeant will still let me Skype with you on Sunday. I love you.”

“I love you too. Give the Sergeant the cookies.”

“I’ll tell him they’re from my wife.”

“I dare you!. I love you, Paul.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and thanked the Corporal as I left the office. I returned to my wing of the barracks and found it populated by a lot of soldiers, most of whom I knew from Basic. In Basic, I was quiet and just put my head down and did my job. I didn’t make any friends. We weren’t in a ‘cover my ass and I’ll cover yours’ world yet. Infantry Training might change that.

I went to my bunk and took out the book I’d started in the evenings while Jean danced. I didn’t get far because of all the running around and dealing with the club and spending every other minute buried in Jean. I looked at the binding and read the name.

“The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas. I looked at the size of the book and shook my head. Opening the book to the list of chapters. I shook my head again to see the last chapter was Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen, before the Epilogue. Yup, good choice of book, Paul. I sat on my bunk, leaning back against the pillow and head board and opened it to the bookmark in Chapter Three.

I was reading along and struggling mightily with the French language when I heard a voice.

“Not only are you an egg-head, you’re a French egg-head.”

I looked up to see a guy standing at the foot of the bed. He was my size and had his arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t speak French and didn’t realize how much French was in this thing. So, I don’t think the term egg-head would apply at all.”

“So, you can’t just go to the back of the book and see if the butler did it?”

“Oh, I know the butler didn’t do it. I know the story in general. I’ve seen a couple of the movies and the TV mini-series and all of them are different. So, I figured to go to the source. I didn’t know the book was this thick. I’m thinking it would take eight or ten movies to do the book the right way. I’m Paul O’Dell.”

“I’m Clyde Boudreaux, with an “X” on the end. Where you from?”

“Boise, Idaho. You?”

“Metairie, Louisiana.”

“I don’t recall seeing you in Basic. Where you here?”

“Yup. I was one of the five thousand boots here every week. What’s your M.O.S. going to be?”

“Sniper School.”

“Really? You’re gonna be one of those sneaky bastards?”

“That’s the plan.”

I set the book off to the side and Clyde and I traded Basic stories and talked about home.

Mr. Antonelli decided to slow down the sale of the club to make the point that the new owners take his concerns seriously. Jean and I’d been sending emails back and forth and she seemed to be getting less and less concerned herself over the next few weeks.

I was eating mud and running around in the woods, trying to learn how to not be shot and back home Jean was dancing and doing well when one day Manny approached her backstage.

“Oh, the new owners are having a meeting with all the dancers and DJs next Sunday at noon. They want to go over all the new rules and procedures and fees. They are also going to announce how the dancers can make money on the side, if you know what I mean.”

“Aren’t they afraid that one of the girls will rat them out to the police?”

“I think one of the things they are going to talk about is that the police are with them and anyone who talks will be dealt with severely.”

“So now it starts,” Jean said knowingly. “I hope that they are fully informed about the girls with contracts with the old man.”

“They are and they’re not happy. They’d like to dump Dom and me, but they can’t. They’d like to dump the dancers with contracts as well. You need to be careful and Dom and I will look out for you and the others. I’m sure Barbara will deal with them as well until she is too big or until a fight might endanger the baby.”

“A fight ... I never considered that. Manny, I can’t let her baby get hurt.”

“We’ll figure out something. Don’t worry. Dom and I really like Barbara. I mean it’s like she has a normal name and stuff!”

Jean sent a hard punch into the big Samoan’s arm, with the blow only bouncing off the huge man. Manny grabbed the spot where she landed the punch and bent over in false agony. The two laughed and Jean got ready to dance and Manny got ready to bounce anyone who got too rowdy.

Between sets, Jean emailed me to tell me about the Sunday meeting and that she’d tell me more afterwards.

The following Sunday morning a large group of hungover dancers and the other employees of the club were seated in the club.

“I hope we aren’t keeping too many of you awake this morning.” Jerry Monroe said.

“Let’s just keep this short and sweet, OK?” one of the girls said.

“There’s the door, you can make this meeting as short as you want.”

Jerry looked at the girl and waited to see if she had any further comments. Hearing none, he sat down and began.

“As you know the club has now completed its change in ownership. If you didn’t know, I’m Jerry Monroe. I’ll be general manager. This is Bobby Craft and he’ll the bar manager. And this is Fred Nelson and he’ll be the talent manager. You’ve seen us around more over the past few months...”

“No shit.”

“Who said that?”

No one fessed up.

“Look, aside from the few people who have contracts that were made with the previous owner, the rest of you are expendable. If you don’t like what we’re doing, hit the road. Otherwise, keep your fucking mouth shut and do as your told. The new ownership group has decided that this club will be the major part of their business and therefore some new policies will go into effect immediately.

“Starting now, customers are allowed to buy you drinks and hand them to you. We have an arrangement with the police now so you’ll be able to touch customers and be touched by them. Your lap dances will stay at $10 each and VIP dances will go up to $50 each. If a customer offers you more money to do more then you may do more.

“If the customer asks for a special dance then you determine how much you want to charge for that special dance. Step out of the VIP booth and tell security that you are doing a special. Security will collect the money from the customer and the house gets half. The customer might ask you for a date, you may go out on a date. The same policy will be in effect. You tell the customer how much the date is going to cost and security will collect the money.

“Dates can be done in the VIP booth or outside in the customer’s vehicle but under no situation may you leave the property before your shift is complete. Again, in all cases the house gets half. If you would like a date but don’t want to ask, security will ask for you. Under special cases the customer may ask for a longer date. In that case security will handle the arrangements.

“The new owners are also making available some items that will make the parties a little more fun. Security and the dancers will make sure that the customers keep the use of these items discreet. In some cases, the items might be of a higher quantity and you may be asked to deliver the items to the customer’s home or business.

“Customers wishing to host a party will make arrangements with security. Those parties may be held here on the premises in the VIP booths or at a site of their choosing. If the party is offsite then security will accompany any dancers working the party.”

All the girls looked at each other. The new girls had been expecting that hooking would be a part of the new deal but then the big bomb was dropped.

“Finally, dancers will now pay a daily rent for their dressing area. This rent will consist of one third of their tips for the night...

“What the fuck!?”

“Costs are going up, ladies. The house needs more from you to pay the gas and electric bills.”

“That means that between the DJ and your new fees that we’ll be giving up almost half of what we make.”

“But you’d be given the opportunity to earn much more from private and VIP dances, dates and parties.”

Jean sat there and listened. She was not surprised at the changes; Dom, Manny and her father had told her how the new outfit was going to do things. He told her it would be a good time to quit, but Jean was bound and determined to continue. She was, for want of a better term, addicted to the act of stripping for men. There was no sexual satisfaction in the process. The satisfaction came from somewhere else.

When she and her mother had been in therapy to determine of the nude dancing was a perversion, in the words of her father, the therapist thought after interviewing Jean and Sandra separately and together that the activity was not a perversion. It was a very unusual mother daughter bonding activity but she saw no negatives to it.

Of course, that was when she was a little girl and she and her mother only did the pole dancing in her mother’s room. Her father never watched little Jean doing the sexual movements that his wife did. Then Jean hit puberty and began developing the red sparse fur between her legs and started getting breasts. Leo was taken with how pretty young Jean had become. He quickly put the thoughts of his daughter being a sexual being behind him.

As Jean sat there recalling these things, she heard her name being called.

“JEAN!”

“What!?”

“How do you vote?”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening. What am I voting on?”

“Damn it, Jean! We are voting on accepting the conditions or not.”

“You mean the new fees to the house and the dates and the parties?”

“Yes.”

“The idea sucks. But I assume that anyone voting against it will be let go.”

Jerry Monroe was quiet and that got the attention of the other girls.

“Wait, you didn’t say anything about getting fired,” a weekend only dancer named Cotton, who was dancing to pay off the very large breasts she had installed, said.

“Well, naturally, if you don’t like the new charges, you’ll have no reason to be here.”