There are many things a young man can learn in the Navy. Chaz was making the most of his experience. He already had a primo job. He was the ship’s barber, which entitled him to tips for a good hair cut, and money on the side for his art work.
Chaz was a photo realist. A fellow sailor could give him a photo of their girlfriend and a request for a special look or position. Chaz could make their fantasies come true in a picture. It was a good business and allowed him to save a nice chunk of money to set up house keeping with Kristie when he got home.
Whenever the ship hit a port, the men clambered out looking for three things: booze, women, and a fast food meal. You could see them line up at Mickey D’s or Taco Bell dressed in their civvies, young, skinny, pimply-faced, boyish men in line for hamburgers or tacos, defending our country.
There were lots of games to negotiate through once they had eaten and had more than a few drinks. They found out that
- Ping Pong can be fun!
- Don’t eat the banana!
- Tricks she can do with a quarter.
- Put it anywhere you’d like…
They hit the clubs in droves. Every club was the same. Tacky glittery decorations with watery drinks, a ring master who told some jokes and introduced the women, a bevy of young desperation to choose from, dancers, hookers, and the DJ Pimp Master. Some girls would begin dancing, others targeted seats around the room looking for their next conquests.
They were all for hire to talk to, to drink with, to have sex if you wanted. But you had to pay them no matter what either by buying them expensive drinks or directly giving the bartender large tips for the pleasure of their company.
One girl had developed a cool gig for herself. She sat at the bar talking with the sailors telling them her story of misfortune. She was a beautiful girl who wanted to help her family so she came to the city to see what work she could find. Hostessing was the only job available to her.
She wove a good tale and kept her targets buying time and drinks for her every night without the promise of sex from her. When they were ready to proceed to the physical arena, she would point out one or two of her co-workers for them to dally with. She was able to keep this game going for some time, but there was something about Chaz that she couldn’t resist.
Chaz was married, so he was safe in a way. He had also drawn some beautiful pictures of her that she would send to her mother as proof that she was working in a legitimate job as a model. After several nights in port spent talking and listening to him plan and dream, she took him to her bed.
She was surprised at how easy it was to sleep with him. He cried much of the night about how much he loved her, but also felt guilty about his wife. She comforted him in every way she knew. He never did admit to his wife what had happened and his wife, in turn, never told him about sleeping with his younger brother. What happens on the other side of the Dateline stays there.
(First published 9/17/12)
