Chapter 3

I awoke to the sound of a familiar beeping from my watch. I had been training myself to react to the sound of its faint alarm for almost two years. So far, the training had been paying off because whenever I heard it, I would usually snap out of the deepest slumber.

At least I usually did. It doesn't work very well when I'm hung over. I tried opening my eyes and they resisted my efforts every bit of the way. After several attempts, I was finally able to pry them open. I instantly regretted it because the room was spinning. I felt more drunk than hung over.

Why is my alarm going off?

I hit the reset button on my watch to silence the incessant device. It was then I remembered I had to stand duty today. I felt a small ping of self-satisfaction knowing that I had enough intelligence to set my alarm yesterday. I lifted my wrist and struggled to focus on the numbers.

0630. I had an hour to get to the ship, shave, change, and make muster. Not a lot of time and I needed to move. I started to roll out of bed but found that I couldn't. I looked to my right, saw Kerri's face on the pillow next to mine, and Kerri's arm draped across my chest holding me tightly.

The room stopped spinning and I instantly became fully awake. Everything that happened last night flashed back to me in an instant: Kerri on my lap, the blowjob in the living room, coming to her bedroom naked, going down on her and eating that roast beef pussy of hers, and the unprotected sex.

Oh my god, I went down on her!

I suddenly became aware of the scent of Kerri's dried pussy juices on my face. I fought the urge to vomit while I carefully pried myself from under Kerri's arm.

My clothes, where are my clothes.

Tiptoeing out of Kerri's room, I made my way to the living room. The lights were still on. We had forgotten to turn them out last night. I found my clothing mixed with Kerri's scattered in front of the sofa. I separated my stuff from hers and quickly got dressed. I fought a feeling of revulsion, as I had to touch Kerri's underwear to get to my shirt.

0640. I need a ride to the base.

I hated to do it but I had to wake somebody if I was going to make morning muster. Waking Kerri wasn't an option; I needed to avoid her like the plague until the day I die. Without any other options, I turned the knob on Jennifer's room and slipped my head inside.

"Bailey," I whispered, "Yo, Bailey."

There was no response. I was getting a little worried as the seconds ticked away.

"Bailey?" I asked a little louder.

I made a decision and entered Jennifer's bedroom. I had no idea who was who under the covers so I took a gamble on the bigger bulge on the right side. I walked around the foot of the bed and nearly tripped on something that felt like a shoe. Finally making it to the side of the bed, I gently pulled back the top of the blanket. Bailey was fast asleep. Jennifer was naked spooning his side.

God she has great tits!

I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dude, I need a ride to the base."

"What? What time is it?" He mumbled.

"Quarter to seven."

"No fuckin' way, too early."

"Come on man. I've got forty-five minutes 'until muster. Chief Mills will have my head if I'm late."

The conversation went on like this for another five minutes. He eventually conceded when he realized that I wasn't going to let him sleep until he gave me a ride. He did promise that there would be payback for waking him so early. Moving painfully slow, he slipped into his pants and searched the floor for the rest of his clothes. After a few minutes, we finally stepped out of the apartment and into the brisk morning air.

Bailey yawned as we walked down the stairs, "So did you and Kerri have a good time last night?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I prayed that he would drop it, but I knew Bailey wasn't going to let me off that easy.

"Well from the sounds coming from Kerri's rooms last night, it sounded like you were having a great time," he flashed his famous shit-eating grin.

"Last night didn't happen. If you cherish our friendship, you'll keep your mouth shut!"

Bailey disarmed the car alarm and we got inside. Not another word was uttered, all the way to the base but I could tell by the smirk on his face that he was dying to say something. We made our way out to the waterfront and I could almost see the Yellowstone. I thought I might be in the clear when Bailey looked over at me.

"Yeah, last night Jennifer told me that Kerri has never screamed like that during sex before. Even when I was dating her, she never screamed that loudly! You must have really rocked her world."

I gave him a scowling look, trying to get him to shut up. It had no effect.

"What? You might as well fill me in on the juicy details. You know Kerri with tell Jennifer, and I'll hear about it from her. I'm going to know what happened. You might as well be the source."

I ignored him. We only had three more piers to go.

"Come on. You know you liked riding high on that belly of hers! Did you do her from behind? She used to love when I gave it to her from behind! Did you stick your finger in her ass while you fucked her doggie style? Oh, god she loved that too! If you didn't try it, remember next time to jam your thumb up in there! I remember she'd scream so loud that my ears would ring for hours."

Mercifully, the car finally slowed as we reached Pier 11. I opened the door before we came to a full stop and grabbed my backpack from the backseat. I purposely slammed the door and crossed the street to get to the pier.

Bailey rolled down the window and yelled after me, "Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow or should I have Kerri come get you?"

Never looking back, I flashed my ID to the pier security guard and walked as fast as I could to the Yellowstone brow. Bailey honked the horn as I heard Blue Betty rumble away. I climbed the steps and practically ran across the gangway onto the ship.

I made it onboard at 0720. Without a minute to spare, I ran down to berthing and grabbed my shave kit from my locker. I turned on the sink in the head and discovered that there was only cold water.

Mother fuck, we're on fucking shore power and there's still no fucking hot water!

I cursed myself for not having the foresight to shave at Jennifer's. Without any other options, I hacked away my stubble with the icy cold water while cursing the ships engineers under my breath.

With about two minutes to spare and several razor cuts slowly oozing around my neck, I was dressed in my dungarees and passing through the mess decks. On my way through, I grabbed an apple and two single serving boxes of Fruit Loops. I climbed the next ladder well going up, and ran the rest of the way to the shop.

When I got to there, Chief Mills had already called muster in the passageway. I silently slid into ranks as he continued to read the highlights from the Plan of the Day. Chief told Hull Technician First Class Gilbert the status of a few insignificant projects that were going on and then quickly dismissed us. I got the feeling that Chief Mills was in a hurry because muster was over in a record five minutes. The off going duty section quickly cleared out and I sat down in the shop to enjoy my breakfast apple and dry cereal.

The shop phone rang and HT1 Gilbert walked in the office to answer it. A moment later, he stepped out of the office.

"Listen up! Has anyone seen Jones?"

I looked around at the other four guys standing in the shop.

Yeah, where the hell is Jones?

During my rush to make muster, I never even noticed he was missing. We all gave Gilbert a stupid look. Nobody had seen him.

"Meadows go check berthing. Jones has first watch and was supposed to be on the Quarterdeck at 0730. Duty section one can't start liberty until he's assumed the watch, so we're holding up Chief Mills' liberty! Move it on the double."

I guess breakfast will have to wait.

I ran back down to berthing and found Jones by his rack putting on his dress blues. He seemed upset.

"Hey bud, Gilbert sent me down to find you."

"Yeah I know. The motherfuckers changed the watch bill last night. I checked it yesterday and I was supposed to have the 12 to 16 watch. I get onboard this morning and they tell me I'm late for the 8 to 12!"

"That's fucked up."

"No shit. Do me a favor and tell them I'm on my way."

"Got it," I started to leave but I paused. I noticed that Jones's hands were shaking as he attempted to tie his shoes. "Hey, are you okay? You know, with Edith and everything?"

Jones never looked at me, "Not now."

I bit my tongue and left to deliver Jones' message. I passed the 11-Alpha shop and made my way out to the quarterdeck to inform the Officer of the Deck that Jones was on his way.

Back in the shop, Chief Mills and the rest of the off-going duty section started showing up in their civilian clothes. They were not happy campers. My watch said 0755. Liberty call for them should have started about ten minutes ago.

A few minutes later, I saw Jones sprint past the shop in his dress uniform on his way to the quarterdeck. Chief Mills heckled him as he ran by, telling him to move his ass. I sat back down and looked for my breakfast that I had hastily left on the table. My apple had several bites taken out of it and I was missing a box of Fruit Loops. I looked around, but nobody looked guilty.

At least they left me a box.

I tore open the cereal and started to munch. I noticed that it was a little more crunchy than usual. I flipped the box over and saw the expiration date on the bottom was June 1992. It was only five months past the due date, not bad! I was used to cereal that was over twelve months expired.

After a few bites of cereal, my shop mates and I heard the sounds of two men screaming from the direction of the Quarterdeck. We all got up and stuck our heads out the 11-Alpha shop door. Looking down the passageway, we saw Jones standing toe-to-toe with the Officer of the Deck, Electronics Technician First Class Brandon.

"How dare you come onto my Quarterdeck and try to assume the watch looking like that!"

"What's your problem, Brandon?" barked Jones.

"My problem? My problem is you, Petty Officer Jones and your serious lack of military bearing. It is your responsibility to be on this Quarterdeck on time and in proper uniform. You have failed in both of these responsibilities."

"I told you they switched watches on me. I didn't have time to shave!"

"I don't care about your excuses. Duty section one does not care about your excuses! You are holding up their liberty, sailor!"

"I'm here to assume the fucking watch. You're the one who is holding everyone up!"

"I will not let you stand watch on my Quarterdeck when you are out of uniform and if you talk back to me one more time, I will have you written up for insubordination!"

"FUCK YOU!" Jones screamed.

"That's it. Get off my Quarterdeck!" Brandon whipped around and stomped into the Quarterdeck shack, "Petty Officer of the Watch! Muster the section leader on the 1MC. NOW!"

Jones turned, stormed off and walked into the shop just as the 1MC called for the duty section two-section leader to muster on the Quarterdeck.

Chief Mills confronted Jones and guided him directly into the shop office. The office door promptly slammed behind them. Five minutes later the Command Duty Officer, Lieutenant Swan made his appearance and joined Chief Mills and Jones in the office.

At about 0815, Lt. Swan came out of the office and escorted Jones down to the Master at Arms to formally write him up on insubordination charges. They found a replacement to stand the 8 to 12 Petty Officer of the Watch and liberty call for duty section one started forty-five minutes late at 0830.

Chief Mills left on liberty and things finally calmed down. I felt bad for Jones. It wasn't his fault that they changed the watch bill last night. I couldn't help but wonder what caused him to lose his cool like that.

I was scheduled to stand the 1600 to 2000 Petty Officer of the Watch, but until then I had nothing to do except watch TV and wonder about what was happening to Jones down at the Master at Arms. The morning hours went by agonizingly slow since boredom was the order of the day. I went down for lunch at 1130 and I was surprised to find Jones on the mess decks eating alone. I sat down across the table and waited for him to say something.

"Kevin, trust me. You don't want to be near me."

"Terry, I'm your friend and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened."

"You heard what fucking happened. That asshole Brandon got in my face and I told him to fuck off."

"Yeah, I heard that part. What else?"

"There is nothing else. I'm going to kill Brandon and anyone that gets in my way. I strongly recommend that you stay out of my way."

"Terry, you're not going to kill anyone. Brandon is an asshole but he's not worth fucking up you life over."

"My life is already fucked; Now Brandon's life is going to be fucked too!"

I started to get nervous. Jones was normally a very calm, squared away type of guy. To hear him talk like this was both shocking and unsettling. There had to be something else bugging him other than ET1. Something happened at home.

"What happened with Edith last night?"

Jones looked up and met my eyes for the first time during our conversation. He stared at me and I saw his eyes start to water but he still didn't speak.

"Terry, tell me what's going on so I can help."

"There is nothing you can do. It's over. It's all over."

"What's over? Talk to me."

He sniffled and wiped his nose with a napkin. A tear streaked down his face, "Edith ... I told Edith about the prostitute. We had a fight. I confronted her about flirting with Bailey. She didn't deny it. She told me she was bored with our marriage and was glad that I had sex with the prostitute. She's glad because now she doesn't feel guilty about having an affair."

My jaw dropped, I never expected this, especially after how in love Edith and Jones looked on the pier yesterday. I was speechless.

Jones lowered his head and started to swirl his fork in a pile of mushy vegetables. I looked down and saw the same slop on my tray. Suddenly I didn't feel very hungry any more.

After lunch, Jones had to again report to the Master at Arms office. Lt. Swan needed to talk to him some more and assign a punishment for today's incident on the Quarterdeck. I wished him luck as he silently walked off. I still had a couple of hours before my 1600 watch, so I decided to kill more time in the shop.

With all the emotional stress from talking with Jones during lunch and last night's 'Tatonka-mating, ' I was feeling pretty exhausted. In need of a private place to kick back, I went back to the shop and locked myself in the tool room. I kicked back in a chair, propped my feet on the desk and set the alarm on my watch. My eyes felt like lead weights and gave no resistance to closing. The next thing I remember was the sound of my alarm chirping. I looked at my wrist. My eyes slowly came into focus and I saw that it was 1445. I had an hour to get ready for watch. I got up, stretched, and made my way down to berthing.

Since I folded my 'cracker jack' uniform nice and neat yesterday, I didn't have to worry about ironing today. While I was changing, I noticed that my stomach was growling, probably due to the fact that I didn't eat very well at lunch. I made my way to the chow line to grab a bite to eat since this would be my last chance for a meal until mid-rats tonight.