Trouble Triangle (Tyler's Trouble Trilogy) (24 page)

The bubblehead returned with three other guys, two of them in khaki uniforms, which meant he brought in some high-ranking muscle to deal with the stowaway situation.

The Corpsman leaned in and gently held my face. He pulled out a small flashlight from his top pocket and shined it in my eyes; moving my head from side to side, closely examining each eye in turn. "How you feeling?" he asked.

"Like I just went fifteen rounds with George Foreman."

He poured some peroxide onto a cloth and dabbed my head. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I came down to give a visual check on a flex hose. After that, I went to leave and was walking down the passageway, and tripped over something.
Whamo
. I hit the deck. That's the last thing I remember until someone woke me up. You don't think I'll be brain damaged, do
ya
?"

"Probably not. Not unless you were before the fall. How'd you get in the rack?"

"I have no idea."

Another voice broke in. "Son, This is the Captain. Doc will take you back to sickbay and get you patched up. Tilley, get that blood swabbed up off the deck and check the passageway for trip hazards."

"Aye, aye, Captain,"
Tilley said, and left.

Poor bastard's going to need some new sheets before he goes to bed.

"I need to radio back to see what we're going to do," the Captain continued. "We're only about three hours out of Pearl, so they'll probably want us to bring you back. What's your name, sailor, so I can tell them you're not AWOL?"

"Fireman Chambers, sir.
Flexhose
shop."

"Chief, help Doc get him back to sickbay. I'm g
oing to the con to radio back."

"Aye, aye, Skipper," Chief said as the Captain left.

Doc cleaned me up and applied a bandage to my forehead. "Here's some painkillers." He handed me half a bottle of capsules. "Take them as needed." He finished scribbling and a piece of paper and handed it to me." And here's a note saying there's codeine and other drugs in your system for medicinal purposes. Hang on to it, you'll need it in case you get called for a piss test to show it's legit and you're not a doper."

I folded the paper and put it in my shirt pocket.

"But it's only good for thirty days, so don't think you can go off and become a drug addict and not get busted." The corner of his mouth broke a smile.

"Thanks, Doc." I touched the bandage on my head.

"Okay." He opened the door and pointed across the passageway to a bunk. "There's my rack. Hop in and get some rest. I need to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't slip into a coma."

It was quite frightening when he mentioned coma, but I felt in safe hands. I curled up in the bunk and drifted between pa
in and sleep.

Shaking woke me. Doc stood next to the rack. "Come on, Chambers, you’re home. We're back in Pearl to drop you off, then we're
outta
here."

"Thanks, Doc. For everything."

"No problem. You take care of yourself."

"I will."

I climbed out of the rack and a Chief escorted me out of the sub, probably to make sure I didn't trip over anything else on my way out. I left the
Miami
and returned to the shop ten minutes before time to knock off. Petty Officer Watk
ins ordered me into his office.

"What the hell did you do now, Chambers?"

"I,
er
…well," I paused for added affect. "I tripped over a cord."

"Really?" He moved closer to study my face for signs of lying.

"Yeah, that's the last thing I remember." My heart pounded.
Come on, Watkins, buy it,
I silently urged
.

"You sure it wasn't your own feet you tripped over?" He ran a hand over his beard.

Dad told me once that you couldn't go to hell for telling white lies. This was as good as time as any to test that theory. "No, course not. It was the bubbleheads not keeping a tidy ship."

"What am I
gonna
do with you?"

P
utting my hands up, I shrugged.

As I left work, my head still hurt, but after a good day's sleep, the effects of the whiskey had worn off. Pretty much, anyway. Enough to where I decided to get some beer and go see Holly.

#

I got the bus to Holly's apartment in Wahiawa and arrived at six in the evening. She answered the door in a pink track suit with a scarf tied around her head, and a feather duster in her hand.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked, smiling as I pointed to the duster.

"What the hell happened to you?" she asked, looking at my bandage. "I heard you got like stuck on a sub." She opened the door to let me in.

I carried the beer through to the kitchen, took out two cans, and put the rest in the fridge. Holly followed me in as I got a glass out of the cupboard for her and poured her beer. I cracked open my own can and took a drink.

She sipped her beer. "You know we can't drink when Daddy comes out. He says liquor is the devil's brew."

"Come on, Holly, you're twenty-one years old. Surely he can accept that you're a full-grown woman.” I walked up behind her and placed my hands on her breasts. "And grown nicely, I might add."

She escaped my grip. "Sorry, Tyler, I'm not in the mood." She walked over to the couch and sat down, patting the seat next to her. "So, tell me what happened."

I sat next to her as instructed. "Simple. I tripped, bashed my head, got knocked out, the boat went to sea, the boat came back, and here I am." I swallowed a mouthful of beer.

"Poor you." She stroked my cheek with the back of her hand. "Okay, Daddy will be here in a couple of days. Remember what I said. No smoking, drinking, cursing or rude jokes. And, he likes Shakespeare and Beethoven."

It didn't look like we're going to be having sex, but I gave it one more go. I leaned in and kissed her. She kissed back. The kiss became passionate. I unzipped the top of her track suit and slid my hand in, feeling her bare breast. She let out a soft moan.

She pulled away. "No," she said sternly, "I can't. I have too much to do before Daddy gets here." She pushed my hand away and zipped her top up.

Maybe I should've banged Jill if she was going to start wearing 'Do Not Disturb' panties. I clicked my fingers. "I just remembered." I took her hand in between both of mine and looked at her. "You know I'd rather be with you than anywhere else, but I promised I'd help out at the soup kitchen tonight.”

She looked at me. "The soup kitchen?" She stroked my hand. "Like, you are so sweet. I think that's awesome. I'd like to do something like that myself, but I wouldn't want hobos
perving
out on me." Her eyes grew big in a look of sincerity. "And they would
perv
out, you know?"

"I know they would, darling, and I wouldn't want that either. You stay here and get ready for your father, and I'll go do my bit for the less fortunate."

We kissed and I left.

#

The number fifty-three bus took me down to Honolulu and I made the short walk to the Pinnacle building from the bus stop. Otto sat in his usual position.

"Spare a dollar, bro— Oh, Tyler, what's up buddy?" He stroked his scraggily beard. "Hey, about the other night, sorry about that, dude. I’m surprised you're here. I didn't think you'd bother coming round again after that."

"Hey, not to worry. Guess you got busy, huh?" I asked.

"Drunk, more like. I don't know where I was. But some asshole puked in my doorway. Can't you smell it?" He twitched his nose and made sniffing noises.

I mimicked his sniffs. "No, not really." I felt guilty, but decided it was just punishment for him standing me up.

He pointed to my bandage. "What happened to you?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "Ah, just a hazard of the job. I'm okay."

He drummed his fingers against his jaw. "So…it wasn't drinking related or anything?"

"Well…" I lowered my head. "Jack might have been involved."

"Ha." He slapped his knee. "I knew it." He stroked his chin and spoke sheepishly. "Speaking of which, I'll trade a little knowledge of Shakespeare for a little drink of my friend Jack."

I nodded and held out my hand to help him up. We stashed his blanket and cup in his backpack and walked the few doors down to
Harry's
bar. A beer for me, and Jack Daniel's for Otto. We sat and Otto recited Shakespeare. In between the sonnets, he offered interesting facts about Shakespeare's life. I borrowed a pen and some paper from the bartender and took notes; knowing that once I wrote something down my chances of remembering it were significantly increased. Another reason for staying away from Jack.

Otto imparted knowledge until he slurred so heavily that I
could no longer understand him.

I escorted him back to the Pinnacle building, pulled his blanket out of his bag and put it over him as he laid on the hard concrete.

"Good night, Otto," I whispered. "Thanks."

#

Holly's dad was coming out on Friday. The two of them were going to have a day of bonding before he'd meet the respectable boyfriend. This allowed me time to catch up with Mark.

We got off work Thursday and headed down to Dolphin's for a drink. We got our beer and went to one of the four pool tables for a few game
s. Mark broke and sunk a solid.

"You ready to meet Holly's dad on Saturday?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'm going to her house at noon. She's making lunch and I'm supposed to dazzle him with my brilliance. He's going to be here for a week. Holly already told me that she
ain't
putting out that week, and I can't drink, smoke or cuss in front of the Reverend." I sipped my beer. "Debbie will probably try to take advantage of the situation." I inwardly prayed that she would anyway.

"You sure about that? She's been hanging out with Sanchez quite a bit lately. I think she might be getting a little side action herself."

"What? You can't be serious. Debbie and dirty Sanchez? I don't think so." I took a big gulp of beer.

He leaned down and took another shot, sinking the four ball. He walked around to line up his next shot. "Apparently, she told Lori that she may need a back-up plan in case you don't come 'round."

"Oh, man." I tried to convince myself that would be for the best if she found another guy, but jealousy ate at me nonetheless.

"After all, you're in a relationship with Holly, remember?" He missed his next shot.

I stalked the table looking for a ball that would drop and lined up an easy one. I missed.

Mark looked across the room. "Speak of the devil. Here she comes now, uh umm, with Sanchez. Ask her yourself."

Debbie and Sanchez walked over to the pool table. "Hi, guys," Debbie greeted us.

"Hi, Debs," I said, intentionally using my more intimate name for her. I nodded toward Sanchez. "Jorge." He nodded back. "Let me get that drink I owe you, Debs. What you having?" I put the cue down, ready to go to the bar.

She looked at me puzzled. "You don't owe me a drink, but if you're offering, I'll have a Black Russian. Thanks."

"I'll get these," Sanchez butted in. "Two more Coors for you guys?" He waved his finger between Mark and I. We both nodded, and he went to the bar.

Debbie smiled smugly.

"You're not going out with Sanchez, are you?"

"What's it to you? You still playing house with Holly?"

"Yeah, but you know. I might give it a little break for a while. I'm still keeping an open mind about us." I fin
ished what was left of my beer.

She looked toward the floor and slowly moved her head from side to side. "Umm…I don't know. I think Jorge might be all right. And he's not seeing anyone else."

"So…are you dumping me?" The question remained, would she tell Holly?

She lifted her head to look at me. "You know, Tyler, I'm really getting tired of having to play on your terms. I do have feelings in other places besides my pussy,
ya
know? I think it's about time you made a choice. If you don't, I'm
gonna
make it for you." Her lips pressed tight together.

"Okay, okay. You made your point. I'
ll think about it."

She leaned in and whispered in my ear, brushing her lemon scented cheek past mine. "And I'm going to help you make the right decision. Bring some whipped cream and chocolate syrup. My room. Tomorrow night. Six o'clock." She flicked her tongue in my ear, then backed away.

"Chocolate syrup, huh?"

She smiled and nodded.

I trie
d to block Holly from my mind.

Mark cleared his throat. I looked over Debbie and saw Sanchez approaching with the tray of drinks. He placed the tray on a table next to the pool table and handed out the drinks.

"Okay, boys and girls. Cheers," he said.