The Corp - Counterattack Part 24

"That's very good, Lieutenant," Galloway said dryly. "A copilot should always be prepared to give the pilot their location, and the location of an alternative airfield."

Schneider had the feeling Galloway was making a fool of him, but he couldn't figure out exactly how.

"I really would like to know why are we landing here," Lieutenant Schneider said.

"Lieutenant, do you know what they have at Lakehurst in February?" Galloway asked. "One of the world's biggest buildings, maybe a dozen blimps, and a lot of snow. Period." Then he picked up the microphone and said, "Willow Grove, Marine Two-Six-Two turning on final," and began to line the airplane up with the runway.

Lieutenant Schneider was now sure what Sergeant Galloway was up to. It fit in with everything he had heard. There was nothing wrong with the engine. Galloway did not want to go to Lakehurst because there was nothing, in his own words, at Lakehurst in February but one of the world's largest buildings, a dozen blimps, and a lot of snow. Period.

What was outside of Willow Grove Naval Air Station was the city of Philadelphia. And in Philadelphia there were a lot of bars where Galloway could get drunk and punch out a sh.o.r.e patrolman, for which, Colonel Hershberger had made it absolutely clear, they would be held responsible.

Schneider motioned to Ward to come close, covered his mouth with his hand, and said, "We have to talk."

Galloway greased the R4D onto the runway, then reached for the microphone again.

"Willow Grove, Two-Six-Two. We'll need some gas, and I'd like a mechanic to check out one of my engines, please."

"Two-Six-Two, take taxiway C, and taxi to the transient area by the tower. A fuel truck and a maintenance crew will meet you there."

"Thank you very much, Willow Grove."

"We flew right over my house," Lieutenant Ward said.

"We did?" Galloway said.

"I live in Jenkintown," Lieutenant Ward said.

"Well, I guess that means you can go home for supper, huh?" Galloway said.

"Sergeant Galloway," Lieutenant Schneider said, with what he hoped was the appropriate combination of courtesy and firmness, "if the engine checks out all right, I think we should go on to Lakehurst."

"Jesus, Dave, why?" Lieutenant Ward said. "I don't live fifteen minutes from here."

Schneider gave him a look of mingled disgust and fury.

"In fact, Sergeant," Schneider said, "I'm afraid I must insist that we do so."

"You don't have the right to insist on anything, Dave," Lieutenant Ward said furiously. "You heard what Colonel Hershberger said. So far as the airplane and the mission are concerned, Sergeant Galloway's in charge."

"G.o.dd.a.m.n it! Can't you see what's going on?" Schneider flared. "He doesn't want to go to Lakehurst! You heard what he said about Lakehurst! What he wants is a night on the town. That's why he landed here. There's nothing wrong with that engine."

"Let's hope not," Sergeant Galloway said innocently.

"Then we're going to fly on to Lakehurst?" Schneider snapped.

"If we could, and I say if. then Lieutenant Ward wouldn't get to go home," Galloway said reasonably.

"So what?" Schneider snapped.

"That engine sounded a little rough to me, too," Lieutenant Ward said solemnly. "I think we better have it checked out pretty carefully."

The two Navy mechanics who came out to the R4D were accompanied by a gold-stripe Chief Naval Aviation Pilot. He saluted Lieutenants Ward and Schneider and shook hands cordially with Sergeant Galloway.

"What seems to be the trouble?"

"The port engine sounded a little rough," Galloway said. "I thought it best to sit down and have an expert look at it."

"Good thinking!" the Chief said. "I'll have a look at it myself."

That sonofab.i.t.c.h did everything but wink at Galloway, Dave Schneider thought furiously. He knows exactly what's going on! Two G.o.dd.a.m.n birds of a feather flocking together!

The mechanics backed their pickup truck under the wing and started to remove nacelle panels.

Schneider took Ward's arm and led him out of hearing.

"You know d.a.m.ned well what's going on here, Jim," he said. "Galloway wants a night on the town. There's nothing wrong with that engine."

"I'd like to go home," Ward said.

"And let him go out on the town? You heard Hershberger. We're responsible for his conduct."

"We can take him with us," Ward said.

"What do you mean?"

"We all go to my house. We have dinner, a couple of drinks, and then we all come back here together. I'd like to see my girl. And I'm sure she has a friend."

"We can't go out in public with him. To a restaurant or a bar, you know that. Officers cannot socialize with enlisted men."

"So we don't go to a restaurant or a bar," Ward said. "We go to my house. I repeat, we don't let him out of our sight."

Dave Schneider grunted.

The Chief Aviation Pilot, surprising Lieutenant Dave Schneider not at all, returned from his mechanic's initial inspection of the port engine to report that they could find nothing wrong with it, but that in the interests of safety, he thought it would be a good idea if they drained the engine oil and had a look at it. That way they would know for sure. That would take an hour or an hour and a half; so why didn't they just RON here and take off first thing in the morning? The initials were short for "remain overnight."

The Chief said he could put Sergeant Galloway up in the Chiefs quarters, and there was room in the transient BOQ for the officers.

"That's very kind of you, Chief," Lieutenant Schneider said, "but Lieutenant Ward lives near here, and we'll just go to his house. We'll leave you the number, and when you find out about the engine, you call me. All right?"

The Chief Aviation Pilot shrugged and said, "Aye, aye, Sir." Tough luck, Chief! You did your best for Sergeant Galloway, but I outsmarted you.

Thirty minutes later, a wooden-sided Mercury station wagon with a VISITOR placard stuck against the dashboard pulled up in front of Base Operations.

"That your mother?" Dave Schneider asked.

Ward looked.

"No. It's my Aunt Caroline," he said, and pushed open the door.

Caroline Ward McNamara, who was thirty-two, blond, longhaired, long-legged, and three months divorced, kissed her nephew and shook hands with Lieutenant Schneider and Sergeant Galloway. Charley Galloway thought that Mrs. McNamara was as beautiful and elegant as a movie star. Like Greer Garson, except with long blond hair.

"I was at the house," she said. "Your mother wanted to go to the Acme to get steaks, so I volunteered to come get you."

Any woman that beautiful has to be married. Or engaged. And even if she wasn't, she's a lady. She wouldn't want to have anything to do with a Marine Sergeant.

Lieutenant Schneider and Sergeant Galloway got in the backseat of the Mercury, and Jim Ward got in front beside his aunt.

"Which airplane is yours?" she asked.

"The third one," Jim Ward said. "The one with 'Marines' painted on the fuselage."

"I'm impressed," Aunt Caroline said. "I didn't know you were flying something that large."

"I'm just learning how, to tell you the truth," Jim Ward said.

"And you're the teacher, Lieutenant Schneider? Is that it? Is Jim a good student?"

"Actually, Caroline," Jim Ward said, "Sergeant Galloway is the IP. Instructor Pilot."

Aunt Caroline s.h.i.+fted her head so that she could see Sergeant Galloway in the rearview mirror.

Their eyes met. Charley Galloway felt his heart jump.

"Isn't that a little unusual?" she asked.

"No, Ma'am," Charley Galloway said.

The h.e.l.l it isn't, Aunt Caroline thought. And that isn't all that's interesting about that young man.'

"Have you been flying airplanes like that long, Sergeant?"

"No, Ma'am," Charley Galloway said.

"What do you ordinarily fly? And stop calling me 'Ma'am,' it makes me feel ancient."

"Until recently, I was a fighter pilot," Charley Galloway said. "I usually fly Wildcats."

"I didn't know that, Charley," Jim Ward said, impressed. Aunt Caroline picked up on that, too.

"Why aren't you flying them now? And for that matter, what's a Wildcat?"

"The hottest fighter in the world," Jim Ward said firmly, almost with awe.

"We lost all of our planes on December seventh," Charley Galloway said. "At Pearl."

"You were at Pearl Harbor?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"If we're going to be friends, Charley," Aunt Caroline said, "you're really going to have to stop calling me 'Ma'am.' "

How the h.e.l.l could we possibly get to be friends?

Charley saw, in the rearview mirror, that Aunt Caroline was smiling at him. He had a momentary, insane thought: She's smiling at me the same way Ensign Mary Agnes O'Malley smiled at me just before she grabbed my joint in the Ford on the way up to the cabin in the mountains.

Immediately, he had more sensible thoughts: Jesus Christ, I'm letting my imagination run wild. Lieutenant Ward's Aunt Caroline is a lady, for Christ's sake! Probably a married one. Not a s.l.u.t in a Navy uniform. Ward's Aunt Caroline is not about to grab the joint of a Marine sergeant! And you better watch your f.u.c.king step, pal You're out of your depth around these people. Schneider, that starchy little p.r.i.c.k, would love to tell Hershberger I got out of line here. And Hershberger told me what General Mclnerney said would happen to me if I so much as farted and embarra.s.sed Marine Aviation. You know the rules. It's always been the same choice, f.u.c.king or flying. They're giving you a second chance to fly. Don't f.u.c.k it up!

Charley Galloway smiled politely at Ward's Aunt Caroline's reflection in the rearview mirror.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said.

Lieutenant Ward laughed.

Charley took the chance. He winked at her reflection in the mirror.

Aunt Caroline stuck her tongue out at Charley's reflection in the rearview mirror. Charley's heart jumped again.

(Four) 2307 Watterson Avenue Jenkintown, Pennsylvania 2140 Hours 13 February 1942 Because Lieutenant Jim Ward's mother and dad really went out of their way to make Sergeant Charley Galloway feel welcome and comfortable, they severely undermined his determination to stay off the sauce in the process. Mr. Ward, who'd been in the Army in World War I, made a pitcher of martinis soon after they came in the house. Charley didn't like martinis, but he had two-the first to be polite and the second because he saw that Lieutenant Schneider didn't like to see him drinking at all.

There was red wine during dinner to go with the steaks; and cognac after dinner, when they went down to the bas.e.m.e.nt game room. Mr. Ward poured generously, and whenever Charley lowered the level in his gla.s.s a quarter-inch, he "topped it off."

Jim Ward's girlfriend and a friend of hers for Lieutenant Schneider were both good looking, but Charley thought that neither of them was as cla.s.sy or as good looking as Aunt Caroline. Wearing a soft, pale blue cashmere sweater and a pleated skirt, she was even more beautiful than he had thought the first moment he saw her. With absolute innocence, they had been sort of paired off, as the only unattached people who would make up a couple.

They sat beside each other at dinner, and several times their knees brushed under the table. Charley didn't think it was his fault. He didn't have much room for his knees, squeezed as he was between Ward's mother and Aunt Caroline.

Aunt Caroline was wearing a perfume he had never smelled before. He had a wild fantasy of burying his face between Aunt Caroline's b.r.e.a.s.t.s and inhaling to his heart's content.

He smelled the perfume again in the bas.e.m.e.nt game room when Aunt Caroline bent over, at Mr. Ward's order, to "touch off" his cognac snifter.

"No more for me, please, Ma'am," Charley said.

"I don't think you're having a very good time, Charley Galloway," Aunt Caroline said.

"I'm having a fine time, thank you," Charley said.

"Why don't you dance with Sergeant Galloway, Caroline?" Lieutenant Ward's mother said.

"Would you like to dance with me, Charley?" Aunt Caroline asked.

I'd cut off my left nut for the chance to put my arms around you.

"I'm not a very good dancer," he said.

He saw Lieutenant Schneider looking at him uneasily.

He's afraid I'm going to grab her on the a.s.s, or say something dirty in her ear.