A Sailor Does Paradise

Pearl-1a

Pearl-1a

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         It was late into the year 1962, and I was a young 22-year old Navy medic stationed at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii. As most readers probably know, Hawaii’s fall and winter are known primarily as “the rainy season” here in the ‘islands.’ It stays pretty warm, but the humidity climbs to astronomical levels, and rain and mildew become a fact of life for most residents here in paradise during this season.

         I was living in the ‘projects’ here in Pearl, in an apartment on the second floor of a barracks type complex that was originally used to house military families during the Second World War. Now it had been given over to the state to operate as affordable housing for folks too poor to afford the more opulent structures closer to Honolulu. Ironically, lower ranked service personnel qualified for this type of housing, simply because of the extremely low pay scale of enlisted personnel at that time.

         Fortunately, I was a petty officer, and as such I was allowed to find accommodations off the naval base even though single, and preferring my own private living quarters over on-base barracks, I had put my name on the applicant list for this apartment. Within 2 months, I was comfortably living in a one-bedroom apartment in this complex, and had furnished it quite decently with the meager savings I’d managed to scrape together.

         I occupied the end unit on the second floor, and my next door neighbor was a young military couple, married about three years I’d gathered. The husband was a marine stationed at the same Pearl Harbor Naval Base, but assigned to the brig. The wife was a quite pretty young brunette, bearing an amazing resemblance to Cher, whose star was rising quickly at that time.

         A Lance Corporal, Bob was a typical specimen of the brave and fearless Marine Corps serviceman of this time, heavily preoccupied with weight-lifting, macho-bonding and of course, martial arts. This left his wife, Barbara, alone at home quite a bit of the time, but I didn’t really bump into her too often. On the rare occasions where I passed her on my way down the balcony to go to work or return to my apartment, I found her very polite, but fairly withdrawn and shy. A bit slim, but having very attractive curves in all the right places, I’d have ‘done’ her in a heartbeat under different circumstances.

         Which comes to my real reason for obtaining private quarters; I’d managed to charm a young college student from the university downtown to a life of relative sin and debauchery with me while she studied for her degree. She seemed to feel that shacking up with a young sailor was ‘cool’, and a suitable statement to her independence from her folks back on the mainland U.S. Hey, the sex was good, and she provided me with a fair amount of intellectual stimulation, something that I lacked in the barracks back on base, so the arrangement worked out well for both of us as long as it lasted.

         Alas, all good things seemed destined to end, and all too soon. My roommate had finally run out of college funds after the first semester, and her folks had decided to move her closer to home on the ‘mainland’ U.S. where the educational process was a bit more affordable. Of course, that left me at point zero once again as far as companionship was concerned.

         I was in no particular hurry to get attached again right away, as there were always plenty of attractive young tourists on the local beaches to get acquainted with when time and circumstances permitted. Unfortunately, the frequent unexpected squalls and rainstorms made the beach scene rather ‘iffy’ during our rainy season. Right now though, I had the annoying task of getting my small apartment back into bachelor mode, stocking up the ‘fridge’ with lots of cheap beer and TV dinners, and moving my belongings back into the spaces vacated by my recently departed roommate.

         It was about a month after my roommate left that I noticed a pleasant addition to the family next door. As I returned from work on the base one early afternoon, I noted a slightly younger version of Barbara sprawled out on a lounge chair set up just next to their front doorway. Located just right to catch the afternoon sun, she seemed to be intent on catching whatever rays she could from the unpredictable weather. As I walked past her, I slowed my pace to get a better look at this Barbara “clone”, and see if there might be an opportunity to introduce myself.

         She lay face-up on the lounge chair, wearing a pair of sunglasses to cover her eyes. Since she hadn’t moved or acknowledged my presence in any way once I’d passed her chair, I assumed that she might even be asleep. With that thought in mind, I stopped, turned and examined her more closely. Long flowing black hair framed her head. She possessed wonderfully sensuous lips, glistening with what I guessed was some sort of lip balm, and definitely a very sexy, Cher-like nose.

         Wearing a yellow bikini top and bottom, rather skimpy for the even the ‘60’s, and well oiled with suntan lotion, she was definitely ‘wet-dream’ material. Taking my time, I moved my gaze slowly up her figure, noting long slender legs, ending in what could only be described as a ‘heavenly junction’ where they disappeared into her bikini bottoms. I saw no stray strands of hair, so surmised that she probably kept that little bit of heaven well-trimmed, or even shaven.

         My mind was wandering into even more erotic observations when I was startled out of my reverie by someone behind me clearing their throat. As I jumped and turned around I saw Barbara just inside her doorway, watching me as I was watching the young lady in the lounge chair. She smiled at me apologetically, and said “Well, Jim, I can see that I really need to properly introduce you to my baby sister.”

         Suddenly the figure in the lounge chair came to life, and raising her sunglasses, she turned to her older sister and said “Damn it, Barb… I’m NOT a baby, and if you’d waited just a little longer I could’ve really checked him out!” At that she turned to me and laughed; a wonderfully playful laugh, and apologized to me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t help but take advantage of your rather detailed examination to return the favor.”

         By now, I was blushing profusely, trying to think of a graceful way out of this awkward situation. Busted, I thought. However, the ladies were being very gracious about my boorishness, and proceeded with introductions as though I’d just walked up. Barb introduced her sister as Beth, a 3rd year nursing student from SDSU in California. Beth had come to the “islands” for two reasons; to housesit for Barb and Bob when they left in a few days for a visit to their respective parents in Texas and California, and to take a well-earned vacation from the rigors of college.

         Barb explained that she and her husband planned on being gone for at least two weeks, possibly three, depending on the health of Bob’s mother who was convalescing from heart surgery. Bob was expecting orders to California, and they would be moving in a few months, so they were taking advantage of the situation to check out housing and visit relatives.

         She was hoping that I’d keep an eye on things, including her sister while they were gone. “You know,” she said, “just check in on things once in a while.” I noticed that Beth was giving her a dirty look just about now, but I sensed a ‘happening’ in the making and spoke up. “I think that Beth looks perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but I’ll be around if she thinks she needs any help.” Giving me a grateful look, and wrinkling her nose at her sister, Beth said, “I’ve come this far, dear sister, I can certainly take care of myself for a little while over here… You just take care of yourself and Bob.”

         Not wanting to get involved in a sisterly dispute, no matter how benign, I quickly excused myself and went to my apartment. She certainly was a beauty, I thought. Not that her older sister wasn’t, but at least she seemed like she could be a bit fun. We’ll see, I thought.

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         Then, something happened that changed the whole picture. I had duty at the Medical Clinic on the base the next day, and was assigned to an ambulance crew for the 24 hour shift. About 2:00 AM we received a call from the Hawaiian State Police, informing us that a couple of our servicemen had been involved in a fiery collision on the highway just outside our main gate. My crew mustered quickly and proceeded in “Shin-plaster One”, the code name for our ambulance, to the front gate, expecting anything as usual.

         Once we approached the gate, the State Police quickly gave us a very noisy escort to the scene of the accident about a half block away, where we could see an automobile off the side of the road, with flames leaping high into the early morning sky! The police were already providing first aid to two casualties on the road tarmac. My medic assistants quickly gathered up their equipment and ran to their assistance, while I radioed in details to the Base Medical Clinic. While I was preparing the Clinic for incoming patients, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye at the crash site. There appeared to be yet another victim in the back seat of the car that had apparently been overlooked by the police!

         Dropping my mike, I ran to the rear door of the blazing auto, and without thinking about consequences, I grabbed the door handle and yanked it open with all of my strength! I quickly grabbed the young serviceman, who was absolutely in panic, and dragged him to safety. Getting him to settle down, I yelled at one of my assistants to come and take care of him. I’d have done it myself, but I now knew that my hands had been burned pretty badly, and I would need some assistance myself.

          “Shin-Plaster Two and Three” were dispatched that night as well, and the casualties were transported to the facilities where their injuries might best be taken care of. I was brought back to the Clinic, and the doctor on duty spent the next couple of hours cleaning and dressing my hands. By the time he finished, I had what appeared to be ‘boxing gloves’ on, and a bottle of pain killers to sedate me.

         I slept well into the afternoon, and fortunately, it was a Saturday, so I didn’t have to face the entire workday staff with my ridiculous injury. What the hell was I thinking, anyhow? When I managed to get the sleep out of my head, and had taken enough of the pain pills to take the edge off the screaming pain from my hands, I was given a choice; I could either get myself admitted to Tripler Army Hospital for follow-up treatment, or return to my apartment for a while. IF, I could convince the Clinic staff that I had the necessary support there to take care of the usual things; like bandage changes, bathroom visits, bathing, and the like.

         The last thing I wanted was a group of my subordinates giving me bed baths, wiping my ass whenever I went to the bathroom, or feeding me. No one at the base knew that my previous roommate had returned to the ‘states’ yet, so I used that little lie to get my ticket back to my apartment. I convinced them that she could perform all of these necessary functions. How I would manage any of those ‘other’ things once I got there, I had no idea. But, I thought I could figure out something.

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"Pearl-1b" 

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