"Good Times" My first shorty at Oregon State University

This was probably my first story written in Dr. Jeffers 381 level writing course the summer of 1975. I was a student at Oregon State University.

Good Time

                It was a Tuesday night in early May and the USS NOLANDE was returning home from a ten month Mediterranean  Cruise. Evening chow had just ended and the crew was settling down to a relaxed evening. The crew was happy; some counted the hours until homecoming., Home Coming was the afternoon of the next day.

                In the comm office, Petty Officer George Kellner put down his hand of cards and walked over to three teletypes and ripped off the messages hanging from them. The radio reception had been good all day; there had almost no work to do that day compared to the cruise that had just ended. He sorted and filed the messages with a great economy of motion.

                The comm office was two room affair, one held the radio receivers, the other room contained the teletypes, cryptographic equipment, files and a large tale that Kellner and another man were sitting at.

                Kellner sat down and picked up his card hand.

                “God damn it Charlie, it’ll be nice to be home again!”

                “Certainly will be, George. My wife wrote and said that she was planning a very nice meal before we do some partying.”

                “Your wife’s boss is going to let her take the day off when we get into Norfolk, Charlie?”

                “She’s getting the rest of the week off with pay. My wife said her boss is sentimental. What are you planning on doing, George?”

                “My family lives in Michigan so they won’t be coming out here to watch us dock. I can’t get leave for two weeks so I figure I’ll just hand around till then.”

                “Most of the division will go on leave as soon as we get back to port so it’ll be pretty quiet on board. Why don’t you come over and visit my wife and I? I know she’d like to have you visit.”

                “Thanks, Charlie, I think I will. But the first week or so I think I’ll just get used to being back in the US. It should be a lot of fun. I don’t want to bother you and your wife.”

                They continued playing spades until George was relieved at midnight then went before to their sleeping quarters.

                The ship was scrubbed and polished and inspected and hung out with every signal flag the Captain could hang aloft. An aircraft carrier has a lot of places to hang bunting from and the NOLANDE was an amazing sight as she worked her way through the harbor towards the docks.

                There were thousands of people – relatives, lovers, friends, the curious – lining the dock as the NOLAND tied up. The Navy base band and two high school bands were there. Their din filled the air above e the crowd’s noise,. The ship’s company, wearing dress whites, was neatly lined up one abreast around the e3dge of the flight deck. The crew shouted, waved and tried to see their visitors in the crowd. A sailor’s white hat can be thrown like a freebee; George and a thousand other sailors happily pitched their hats into the crowd.

                Finally, the ship put over gangplanks and a disorderly exit was started by the ship’s company. Petty officer Charlie Synder and George Kellner were caught in the rush towards exits from the flight deck.

                “Charlie, did you see your wife in that crowd?”

                “Sure did, George, this is going to be one hell of a fine Wednesday. I can hardly wait to get ashore…What are you planning on doing tonight?”

                “I think I’ll just walk around a while. It should be a lot of fun.

                “Don’t be disappointed, George. Norfolk isn’t much of a liberty town.”

                “I don’t know, man, we’ve been gone a long time. But, I do know man, we’ve been gone a long time. But I do know I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time. I’ll get some good cooking for a change, go shopping and just look around.”

                They went below deck stopping at the division’s living quarters long enough for Charlie to grab his bag and leave papers. George knew that eve3ning chow would be leftover leftovers so he left the ship with Charlie. Separated from Charlie in the rush, George began the mile walked from the docks to the base Petty Officer Club.

                At the club, George had the largest steak dinner the club offered. Perhaps it was the steak or the first wine George had had in ten days, George left the club feeling very fine indeed and looking for a good time.

                The bus to downtown Norfolk was crowded and smelt of old tobacco. George had forgotten how far it was to the stop he wanted and spent most of the ride craning  his neck looking out a window. It was after dark when George got downtown.

                George decided he didn’t want to go to Sears and instead began walking down the strip. The bars, cheap  movies, garbage cafes, and “Exotic Shows” were as he remembered them. George passed a cheap jewelry store, slowed slightly and was hooked inside by a salesman…

                “Hello, my name is Jim! What’s your name SIR?” The salesman held out a hand to be shaken and had on a  good buddy smile.

                “George.”

                “Nice to meet you, George. Could I interest you in anything?”

                Nope43. I just got back in today so I’m just trying to get used to Norfolk again. I don’t want to waste your time..."

                George turned to walk out the door and the salesman magically interposed himself between George and the door.

                “Then you must be going home so, George? We have more nice pins that I’m sure your Mother would love.”

                I don’t want to buy anything now, OK? Maybe later.”

                “It was nice meeting you, George.”

                The salesman moved George out of th3e store with the same smoothness that he had sucked George into the store. The spider went back to waiting. As George turned to go into a  bar next to the store, the spider struck again and another faceless fly heard: “Hello, my name is…”

                George walked into the bar and slumped into a booth. On a small stage a topless dancer who was a living example of why women wear bras slowly swayed back and forth. Another sailor slid into the booth across the table from George and eyed the woman.

                The man turned to George: “Hey, aren’t you Kellner from NOLANDE’s communications?”

                “Yeah. You’re Johnson from teletype repair, aren’t ya?”

                “Yup. This [place really suck out man. We’ve been here at least five minutes and still haven’t been served. In Athens, we never had to wait for a beer. What the hell is the matter with people?”

                George shrugged; “I don’t know, man.”

                George  took  a  deep breath  of stale  beer,  burned  grease  from  the  grill and sweat.  The room was dimly lit and that helped hide the bad décor, the badly patched seats and the big momma “dancing” on the stage. The waitress finally arrived and took their orders with a bored, fuck it attitude.  After the first “dancer”, both men had stopped watching the floor show and were studying the foam in their beers.

                “Kellner, you know what I miss already? I miss the bars in Athens.”

                “I dig it. Those bars were nice, clean places with good service.”

“This dump doesn’t go9ive a shit about us. In Athens, the barmaids would at least talk to us. Besides, you could always pick up a barhog in Athens, the barmaids would at least talk to us. Besides, you could always pick up a barhog in Athens and you sure can’t in NoFuck, Vagina!” Johnson gulped his beer after the joke on the cities’ name. “Even the beer is bad here.

Kellner agreed with Johnson about the beer and the service then both left the bar.

“I’m going home,” Johnson  said and turned to walk back towards the ship.

“I’m going to wonder about,” George replied.

He spent the next hour meandering around the downtown section of Norfolk looking  at the “Exotic, Topless” bars, the cheap slop houses, the clip joint clothing stores and the “Adult Movie Theaters.” George entered none of these establishments but merely glanced at their fronts and through their windows. ”

                                A drunk staggered past Kellner and pissed in an alley. Some dude wandered out fo9 the darkness and tried laying religion on Kellner. Finally,  Kellner got bored and pissed off with wonder around Fun City.  He took the first bus back to the ship.

                On Thursday, the day after homecoming, the ship shut down its  communications office. All messages were being received by a shore communications stati9on. It was Kellner’s job to drive a ship0’s van over to the comm station and pick up the messages twice a day. All day Thursday and Friday, Kellner made his two trips a day and then read a paperback in the comm office. Kellner was the only person not on duty .  Kellner was the only person in the division,  not on duty, who stayed on the ship nights instead of going on liberty.

                Friday afternoon, Kellner called Charlie Synder.

                “Hey, Charlie, is that visit offer still good?”

                “Sure is, George, my wife just told me to try to get you to come over for the weekend. How’s your liberty been?”

                A real pain, man!  I thought it would be nice to go to a US bar again but it wasn’t. The people in the bar just didn’t give a shit about us.”

                “You got spoiled, George. Those barhogs in Athens  you used to talk about had a lot of interest in sailors. Bartenders here don’t need to give a shit…”

                “The only movies downtown were porno,” Kellner rambled, “and who likes to watch other people fuck?”

                “I know that, George. You’d rather do something than watch some dummy do it…if you’re off duty now, my wife and I can come over and pick you up.”

                “I’m definitely off duty. The weekend duty section is already on watch and sleeping on mattresses in the comms office. All they got to do is make sure no one breaks into the office.  Please tell your wife I accept with thank. It should be a good time.

                It was.

My teacher, Dr. Jeffers, had been a Naval Officer during WW2 and commented that my story was just about how liberty could be bad. WSell, my story was more about the emotional reaction of a single sailor coming back to Norfolk after a long cruise. He had thought the civilians would be interested in what he had done and his life and he was wrong of course...