Chapter 77

"Just one question before I sign." Andrea had an inventory of everything that had been on the boat. It took two days of poking and prodding to find everything. It was all there ... even the shell cases from the expended rounds. The rear bulkhead was gone, they had to remove it to get the bomb out ... it was as close to together as they could make it. Everything worked ... All the chests, all the boxes, Alles ist in Ordnung!. A place for everything and everything in its place.

"What?" Hall asked.

"What did you with my fucking cats!"

"ASPCA came and picked them up."

"Why didn't you stop them?"

"Ha ... those guys live in their own world. They have their own rules. They even have their own courts. The only way you can get your cats back is go to the shelter and identify them."

"Well, come on then."

"What? Me?"

"You were the guy who violated our civil rights and trampled on our diplomatic dignity. Let's go get the cats." She grabbed him by the sleeve and started heading for a truck.

"The pound..."

"They're in a POUND??? Oooo ... you think you got trouble? You haven't seen trouble yet."

"The pound is at Howard Air Base."

"Howard!! That's on the Pacific side!"

It's almost impossible for a Rear Admiral to look sheepish ... but Hall did.

Andrea said, "We might as well take the boat ... come on."

They got put in the locks ahead of everything ... it was great. The pilot was Panamanian ... the law, don't ya know. He didn't really understand why they were getting VIP treatment ... but it was fun.

It takes several hours to get from one end to the other and the main users are huge and don't stop all that well. So they motored.

"This is a really nice boat," complimented Admiral Hall.

"And you wanted to sink it in the ocean."

"Could we not go there? I had no idea the power of money ... is it true the Queen kept the Presidents money?"

"Auntie Liz said it was payment for the trouble she had to go through."

"Billions?"

"Yeppers."

"Whoo boy ... I'll bet I never advance in grade."

"I won't bet against a sure thing."

"You can quit grinning ... it's not funny ... you three are really in the Nevis and St. Kitts Navy?"

"We ARE the Nevis and St. Kitts Navy ... all of it. There's a Coast Patrol but it's not the Navy."

The end of the little water was finally reached and they sailed around to the starboard to the base of the base. There was a Jeep ... The pound was about two miles away. They took the jeep.

It took quite awhile and the Admiral was worn to a frazzle before it was over. The Navy paid the fines and the new shots. There was an experimental birth control shot for cats being tested.

"We've had good luck with it, so far," the Chief in charge said. "Wanna try it? If ya don't ... we'll have to fix them."

"Fix? They're not broke," said all the females.

"Too many cats," said the Chief.

"There's never too many cats ... they keep the plague at bay."

"I don't know about that..."

"Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them ... somebody said that."

"What do you mean?"

"Chief? Been in any wars?"

"Well, yeah ... almost fifty years ... they're putting me out next month."

"Korea, Vietnam?"

"That ain't the half of it, lady." He started pointing to his ribbon display, "I was in the occupation of Japan. They sent me to Trieste. Escorted the Marines to Greece, 1955 Radio surveillance in Vietnam. Then Egypt, Lebanon, Cuban Revolution. Vietnam again. Invasion of Dominican Republic. The Heart? Israel ... I was on the Liberty. I was Chief Radioman for Cyprus, then back to Vietnam, Cambodia.

"Then Lebanon, El Salvador, Honduras. After Libya, I was on the Stark in the Gulf ... got an interesting wound from that mess. Back to Honduras ... then here. Been here ever since. Almost a whole year."

It was quite the display ... Andy was fascinated.

"Chief ... what do you do? You haven't been pound duty for all that."

"Radio surveillance ... it keeps getting more complicated ... a year ago I took a spent .22 round in the ear. Panama ain't no gravy train. I finally told 'em I couldn't keep up. Can't hear out of my right ear at all and my left is ringing or hissing all the time ... I had to let 'er go."

"Did you ever notice that the weapons and tactics were from the last conflict."

"Hell, yes! We spend half of whatever we're doing just catching up."

"That's history, Chief ... Military history ... every war we suffer from the lessons of the last one."

"We never have enough native language speakers ... The generals don't understand why we don't understand what we hear ... Six/eight years ago ... an Admiral asked me why? He said ... don't they all speak english?"