Trouble Triangle (Tyler's Trouble Trilogy) (30 page)

"Marry her?" He squealed.

I put my finger to my lips.

"Are you crazy? Tyler, you can't marry the girl.
Fuckin
' her in johns is one thing, but marriage? That's a whole other toilet."

"I didn't say I was going to. I had to ask him to shut him up. I thought he was
gonna
cry if I didn't. Holly's not really the marrying type. I like her, but I don't know. Not yet, anyway. I'm just impressed that Mr. Knight thought I was worthy of his precious daughter. That's quite a compliment, you know? He wouldn't let just any shithead marry her."

"I would have believed that until you told me that
you
were the chosen shithead." He winked and smiled.

"Chambers!" Watkins called out across the shop, halting our conversation.

I walked into his office wondering if I had done anything recently that would warrant an ass-chewing or a court martial. I came up empty.

He smiled when I entered. "You ready to go back on a sub?"

I hesitated. "Sure, why not." I tried to sound confident but could have done without fires, fights or smashing my head on decks.

"This is simple. Take this work procedure package down to the
Hilton Head
and get the Chief of M-division to sign it off. It has all the test results and he needs to approve it. They took the hoses but never signed to say they received them."

I nodded and left with the package.

After receiving permission to come aboard from the sub's Officer of the Deck, I lowered myself through the hatch and navigated my way to M-division. All the subs were pretty much the same, so I knew my way around by now. I recognized the tall ginger-headed man in the khaki uniform as the Chief who had come to the shop earlier to witness the testing. A quick glance at his name tag confirmed him being the man in charge of M-division.

"Umm…Chief
Peterson?"

He looked at me.

"I need you to sign this package, Chief." I held up the manila folder. "It just says that you guys got the hoses back."

"What hoses?" His head darted from side to side. "Where are they?"

"I
dunno
. One of your guys came to the shop earlier today and picked them up."

"Then why didn't he sign it when he picked them up?"

"I
dunno
. My shop sup just sent me down to get you to sign this." I offered him the paperwork. He looked at it, but didn't take it.

"You don't know much, do
ya
, Chambers? I
ain't
signin
' shit."

Not the reaction I expected. A slight wave of panic hit me. Watkins would bust my ass if I didn't get the paperwork signed off. Then it hit me. Who was I to argue with a high and mighty Chief? I shrugged. "Okay, Chief," I said, and headed toward the exit.

"Hey, where you
goin
'?" Peterson called out.

I turned to face him. "You said you're not
gonna
sign, right? Fine. You're a Chief. I'm a Fireman. What do I know?" I held my arms apart and looked at him with my tongue slightly
dangling out of my opened mouth like a nutcase, giving him my 'I'm a
dumbshit
' look. "I'll tell my shop sup you wouldn't sign." I shrugged. "You know more than me, Chief, but I didn't think subs could get underway until all paperwork had been signed saying all work had been completed satisfactorily. I must've been wrong." I turned to walk away.

"Come h
ere, Chambers," Chief snapped.

As I turned around, I dropped my pen behind me. He pulled his own pen out of his top pocket and I handed him the paperwork to
sign.

"You think you're pretty smart, don't
ya
?" Chief asked sarcastically.

"It's all a bluff, Chief," I mumbled.

He cupped his hand behind his ear. "What was that?" He leaned in, squinting his eyes.

"I said it was a fluff, Chief."

He stepped a little clos
er, invading my personal space.

"You think I'm a queer, don't
ya
?" His moustache quivered as he cracked a small smile.

How the hell was that?

-Here, Chief, sign this package.

-No.

-OK.

-You think I'm a queer, don't you?

-Yes, Chief, I've often heard that homosexuals have a fear of paperwork.

I mean, how was that even semi-logical? However he arrived at that conclusion, I wasn't about to bend over and pick up my pen now. Maybe the recycled air demented his brain.

"I don't know where you came up with that, Chief, but I
never thought any such thing."

"Course you did. You surface pukes are all the same."

I examined his face, but he still showed no sign of where this may be leading. I looked at his ring finger - no wedding band. Oh shit. I seriously did hope he was just messing around. I felt my Ad
am's apple move as I swallowed.

I forced a chuckle. "
Naw
, I bet you got all kinds of women, Chief. A girl in every port, right?"

He snickered. "Sure, it's just that we never hit port." His stare unnerved me. He stepped in closer until I could nearly taste the coffee on his breath. I tried to move away, but soon found my back pressed against a barricade of pipes which stymied my retreat.

"I can see it in your eyes, Chambers. You think one hundred and twenty men climb aboard this sub and go to sea. Three months later, sixty couples come back." He paused, still looking in my eyes. "That's not true. Only half the submarine force is queer. The other half just get sucked into it." He held a serious look for several moments, then burst out laughing. "Ha, I got you there. You thought I was a certified flaming queen."

He still laughed as he scribbled his signature on the package. He slammed it shut and handed me back the paperwork. As I made a hurried exit, I heard him already recounting the story to one of his shipmates: "Hey,
Jonsey
," Peterson bellowed, "I just told some boot
camp the submarine fairy tale…"

Tails of the fairies more like
.

Returning to the shop under a mild state of disbelief, I went into the office to give the signed package to Petty Officer Watkins. Holly sat in one of the chairs in the office with Watkins. She stood up and nodded as I entered.

"Ah, Fireman Chambers," she said, "I was just telling Petty Officer Watkins that Lieutenant Johnson needs you for some extra details he needs done around his office. You're assigned to me for the rest of the day." I looked at the clock showing ten minutes past three.

Watkins nodded. "Try not to piss him off, Chambers." He smiled.

Holly led the way out of the shop and we walked side by side. I wanted to hold her hand but that wasn't allowed while we were in uniform.

"Did your dad get off okay?" I asked.

"Yes, that's why I'm here. We're going to your room, baby, and you're
gonna
jam me so hard, I
wanna
feel the earth move." She looked at her watch. "But we only got an hour before I have to be back in my office."

"What about the extra detail?"

"I'm the extra detail, lover. I missed having you inside me so much I can't stand it another minute.” She looked at me and smiled as we walked. "I told Lieutenant Johnson I had some paperwork to deliver and other business to take care of, and you're the other business."

As soon as we walked through the door, Holly grabbed me and kissed me passionately. She ripped all the buttons of my shirt as she opened it. I stood back and grabbed the top of her shirt, ready to yank it open.

"No," she said in a panic, "I have to go back to work later." She undid her shirt in record time and removed the bra herself. We both dropped our pants and underwear and moved in to embrace. She pulled me to the bed as we kissed. She laid down and looked into my eyes. "Baby, you got one hour to give me a week's worth."

I got up, walked over to my chest of drawers and pulled out a clean t-shirt. I placed the shirt next to her head.

"Eat that when you're ready to blast off."

She closed her eyes and smiled.

#

After an exhausting hour with Holly, I showered, changed, went to the Navy Exchange and bought a pillow for Otto. I owed him big time for the Shakespeare tutorials, and now that I had some free time, I decided to pay him a visit. Getting off the bus, I walked down to the Pinnacle building. He'd be over the moon with the pillow. Excitement filled me as I got to the entrance.

"Otto?" I called out. Empty. Damn cops must have moved him on. I walked down the street, looking in all the doorways. No Otto. He could've been anywhere. He could even be in a bar, sucking down Jack Daniel's with someone else trying to help him out.

A feeling of dejection fell over me. One of my rare attempts to do the right thing met with failure. A heartfelt thanks was all I wanted to give Otto. I vowed to try again later in the week, but given his circumstances, anything could have happened.

A growling stomach and a whiff of fried chicken enticed me into Chickens Pickens
,
a fast food joint at the end of the block from Otto's hangout. I went in and stood back from the counter and looked over the red and yellow menu board
.

"Tyler?"

The guy at the register grinned at me like an idiot. He looked vaguely familiar. I studied his clean shaven face.

"Otto?"

"Yeah. What's
happenin
', dude?" He wore one of the biggest smiles I had ever seen."

"Otto! What are you doing here?" He must have noticed the unintentional surprise in my voice.

"I'm
workin
', dude." He gave a little fist pump, then his looked turned serious. "What happened to you? I barely recognized you with those black eyes and busted up face. You get hit by a car or
somethin
'?"

"
Naw
, long story. Well, more than one actually." I looked around the restaurant. It was empty. "So you're working here, are you?"

He looked up. "It was like a voice spoke to me after I met that Father Knight guy." He lowered his head, shaking it. "Man, I looked at that fifty bucks and thought me and Jack were in for a good night. But something told me to get a haircut and a shave instead. Don't ask me why. Then I thought I'd get something to eat instead of having a drink. I came in here and saw a help wanted sign. I applied and got the job." He stood there beaming.

"Otto, that's great! I'm really pleased for you. Here, I got you this to say thanks for helping with the Shakespeare." I handed him the pillow.

He took it. "Dude, that is so cool. I'm staying at the manager's house until I save enough to get my own place. But this is my new pillow. This all happened because of you and that preacher man."

"Not much to do with me, but I'll be sure to tell Reverend Knight."

"You make sure you do, brother. And I owe you one, Tyler." He offered up his hand and we high-fived.

"
Naw
, I'd say we're about even."

I ordered some chicken and sat down at a table. Otto kept coming over to sweep around my table as I ate. We chatted when he didn't have a customer to serve. He really did look like a different person. Mr. Knight turned Otto's life around by giving him that fifty bucks. He told me he was happy and hoped to get on the ladder to becoming the assistant manager. I wished him every success in making it.

We gave each other an emotional hug when I left. As I walked to the bus stop, a certain feeling of satisfaction enveloped me knowing that I played a small part in Otto's happiness. And I would tell Reverend Knight. I was sure he'd be delighted.

#

I had a buzz the next day still thinking about Otto and his new found purpose in life. I met up with Debbie at lunchtime and we sat together in the mess hall to eat lunch. We both had shoe leather disguised as roast beef. Throw in some oranges and mint sauce and Holly could have cooked it. We joked about how bad it was.

"So, did you and Holly manage to con her dad into believing that she's not gay,
nympho
or a raving lunatic?"

"Pure as the driven snow she is in his eyes." I cut off a piece of beef and popped it in my mouth.

"And he didn't mind her 'boyfriend' looking like a boxer who lost every fight he'd ever been in?"

"No." I looked at her indignantly. "He really liked me. He was impressed with my helping out at the homeless shelter, teaching hobos not to cuss, and not having pre-marital sex with his daughter."

She laughed loudly. "Tyler, you're the biggest bullshit artist going. What's next? You going on tour with him?" She smiled. "So, where does that leave you and
Holly? You
humpin
' or
dumpin
'?"