Secrets From The Med

Chapter 3

     It was 5 o'clock on Saturday evening and Jason Dodson was sitting in his 1984 Dodge Shelby Charger, which was parked in the parking lot of pier 24 on the Norfolk Naval Base.  He liked to sit in his car and listen to music on the radio; it helped him to relieve stress and think.  He'd been invited to a party tonight and had readily accepted the invitation, as he definitely wasn't one to turn down free beer.  A glance at his wristwatch told him that it was still a couple of hours until the time he'd been told the party would be starting.  

     Jason was beginning to wish he'd brought a jacket.  The temperature had dropped since he'd come out here and the dark clouds in the sky threatened to send down rain at any second.  He could go back up to the ship and get his jacket, but that would involve showing his military I.D to the pier sentry again, then to the petty officer of the watch, so he decided against it.  Instead, he turned the car's heater up a notch.  A song by Whitney Houston came on, and he thought back over the events of the past week and of some of the people he'd met. 

     He'd spent the majority of his first day on board the Invincible with Cleary, another second class, who'd shown him around the ship and had introduced him to people.  Although he thought Cleary was a bit too serious at times, Jason genuinely liked the guy. Cleary took pride in his work and strove to treat his subordinates with fairness.  Also, it was obvious to Jason that Cleary had tried to explain to him everything he could think of about how things worked in deck department and not leave out a single detail.  

     He'd spent most of the next morning with Petty Officer Marple and Senior Chief Sanderford.  They'd helped him get set up into his own office, which was a small compartment that had once been a gear locker.  Both men had also let him know that the division's damage control and planned maintenance system was in need of a great deal of work and that they were expecting a lot from him.  Jason wasn't at all worried about it; he had no doubt that by the middle of the Med cruise he'd have everything squared away and in good shape.   

     He'd begun to view the senior chief as a man who'd seen many hard times in his life and had grown strong as a result.  He was in his mid forties and had been in the Navy for more than twenty years.  He'd told Jason all about an explosion that had occurred on board his first ship that had left two of his buddies dead.  The incident had led the now senior chief to become a heavy drinker and had nearly cost him his career, his wife, and three children.  He went on to tell Jason that he hadn't had a drink of alcohol in ten years now and that his marriage was stronger than ever and that he had a close relationship with all three of his now grown children.  Jason also heard him say that he would be retiring right after the Med cruise and that he had big plans following his retirement.  Jason didn't ask what those plans were, but he figured he'd find out sooner or later.  He'd also been careful not to mention his own frequent heavy consumption of alcohol to the senior chief.   As far as Jason was concerned, as long as his drinking didn't affect his job performance, it was nobody's business.  

     As far as Marple was concerned, Jason had already decided he didn't have much respect for the guy.  He acted as though he were God's gift to women and Jason had heard him say that he planned to take off his wedding ring once the ship got underway for the Med cruise.  

     He'd gotten to observe some of the third class petty officers at work during the past week.  He really liked both Delgado and Chavez's leadership styles.  Both guys were easygoing, yet work actually got done when one of them was in charge.  Jason had noticed that when seamen worked for one of them, they wanted to do a good job.  

     There were a couple of other third classes he'd observed this past week that he was surprised Senior Chief Sanderford hadn't done something about by now.  One was that guy Garwood and the other one was that sidekick of his; Jason couldn't remember his name right now.  He could already see that both guys were nothing but trouble. He had heard each of them speaking to their subordinates in an overly condescending tone of voice.  He'd also overheard them in the berthing area bragging about finding a wallet in a grocery store parking lot when they were out one night.  The wallet ended up containing several hundred dollars and just as they were driving away with it, they spotted two little old ladies with flashlights, obviously looking for something in the vicinity where the wallet had been found.  Garwood and his sidekick, however, continued to drive away instead of returning it.  Jason had already figured out, too, that Garwood was sleeping around with Langley, that short, plump female third class who mainly worked in the deck office.  He just wondered if she knew how he talked about her, or if she actually enjoyed being thought of as some cheap slut or a piece of meat.