Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [35]
I stretch out my hand to you. We haven’t kissed in many, many years. I liked to kiss you when you were a baby. You were a very sweet and good-natured child, with wonderful large eyes. God! Long ago.
Good-by, my son. Be a man.
DAD
The ensign rose, wiping his eyes, and hurried downstairs to the telephone booth. He dropped a coin into the box. “I want to call the United States-”
“Sorry. Private calls only at Central Building with censor’s permission. One week delay on them,” said the operator with a Hawaiian accent.
Willie ran out into the naval base and went from building to building until he found the telegraph office. How is Dad? he cabled, and paid the urgent rate, giving the office as his return address. Next morning at eight when the office opened Willie was waiting outside. He sat on the steps smoking until eleven-thirty, when the answer was brought to him. Dad died three days ago. Sent you his love in last words. Please write. Mother.
Willie went straight to the office of Captain Matson, who greeted him cordially.
“Have they put you to work yet, Keith?”
“Sir, on reconsidering, I’d like to fly out to look for the Caine, if I may.”
The captain’s face fell. “Oh? What’s the matter? They give you some rugged coding detail?”
“No, sir.”
“I’ve already told the admiral you’re set here. He was extremely pleased.”
“Sir, if I may say so, it just doesn’t seem like fighting the war-playing piano for the admiral.”
A hard distant look came over the captain’s features. “There’s plenty of work to do in this establishment. You’ll find that a shore billet is as honorable as any other.”
“I don’t doubt it, sir-”
“You were placed in the officer pool at your own request.”
“Yes, sir, I know, but-”
“Your orders have been put through and sent to the Bureau. I see no reason to countermand them. Your request is denied.” The captain picked up a paper before him and put on his glasses.
“Thank you, sir,” said Willie, and left.
And so Willie stayed at Pearl Harbor, decoding messages which told of great actions around Rendova and Munda, of the victorious night battle at Vella Lavella, and of huge preparations for further invasions. Often he came upon the name of the Caine in dispatches showing her in the thick of the operations. And across the world the Allies smashed into Sicily and Italy, and Mussolini fell. Meantime Willie played piano for the admiral.
CHAPTER 7
The Caine
But the soreness over his father’s death lessened gradually, and Willie began to enjoy Pearl Harbor. His coding duties involved eight hours a day of drudgery in a cement vault underground, and this hardship soothed his conscience. He avoided the girls and the liquor for a couple of weeks, but then the admiral had another party, and Willie got drunk, and soon he was back at the old round. Honolulu was full of easy pleasures. The climate was soft, the sun brilliant, the moon beautiful, the air perfumed by ever-blooming flowers. Except for the curfew and the blackout and some barbed wire along the beaches the war caused little inconvenience. Willie went on many picnics with the nurses. He acquired a rosy tan and became plumper.
He continued writing tremendously affectionate letters to May. The plan for dropping her was discarded. Willie had decided that May was not too old to waste a year or two. He might marry her, he might not. But their relationship was too valuable an “experience” to be cut short. May’s letters were all that could be desired: long, loving, cheery, and usually containing good news. She was enjoying college, though she felt like a grandmother, she said, among the freshmen. Her marks were high, and the language in her letters improved each month.
The roommates lay on their cots, reading newly arrived mail one sultry July afternoon. Flies buzzed at the screens, though there was no attraction inside the room but the smell of hot dry wood.