Chapter 2: An Unexpected Date

The giant blue and yellow C-130 Hercules cargo plane rolled to a halt.   Her wings seemed to sag with the fading of her engines. Her eight small charges touched down, pulled in along side and nestled in like a flock of young ducks following the hen. The Blue Angel Squadron was home. Pensacola NAS always looked good to Dick but never so good as in July. This was first homecoming for the squadron.   The big Pensacola Beach air show marked the halfway point in the season.  As exciting as this year had been he was glad to be home.

After cleaning up, Dick decided to go over to the Wolf Bay Lodge for dinner, not because the food was all that great but because it was not a Navy hangout. He stood on the pier watching the sunset through the pines across the bay. A droning overhead drew his attention to a crop-duster pulling a banner hawking a local beach club. A vagrant crosswind snatched at the plane’s tail pulling it sideways.

 “Wind’s freshening,” said a voice.  “Unusual for this time of day.”  Then there was that scent again.

Always from behind, Dick thought as he turned, and there, her face oddly blushed by the fading sun stood Jane.  “Miss Roebling,” he said.  You do keep turning up.”  Jane related that she had been over in Foley shopping and was headed home on Highway 98 when she had decided to stop off for a quiet bite.

“Heard yawl were back,” said Jane.

“Just.”

“May I join you?”

“On the dock or in the dining room?” he wondered and then, almost as if she had read his mind…

“For dinner I mean.”

“Let’s eat.”

Normally a dinner at the Wolf Bay Lodge was quiet and languorous.  The Ladies Altar Society from the Elberta Baptist Church changed all that.  They were down for their summer social, which had little if anything to do with the altar.  Jane and Dick ate in mystified amusement, practically unable to hear each other.  They tumbled out the door about an hour later and burst out laughing.

“Well,” said Jane.  “My recipe book is full now.”

“And I seem to have leads on half the fast women in Elberta County,” replied Dick.  “I say, but when Christian women get together, Christian charity right goes out the window.”  They both laughed again.

“Tell me about it,” said Jane, appearing suddenly listless.  “I’ve dealt with old buffaloes like that before.”

“You were a member of a Ladies Altar Society?” asked Dick incredulously.

“Nnnot exactly,” said Jane as she fumbled in her handbag for her keys.  “Well sailor, care to see a lady home?”

“I’m afraid I came by boat,” said Dick pointing into the darkness at the end of the pier.  “What would you say to a short moonlight cruise?”

“Short?”

“Yea, I have to be up with dawn patrol tomorrow.”

“Wheels up at 0700 eh?”

“Yep, the show and all, you know.”

“All right,” Jane seemed to pout, just a little.  “A short one, this time Commander,” she said.

The boat was a Grand Banks 32, built in Singapore of select Asian mahogany.  The upright superstructure and lap-strake sides made the little trawler look much bigger than it was. Dick lifted the small handrail gate and ushered Jane aboard.  She stepped around a near vertical companionway leading to the bridge and over to an aft sliding door which led to the salon. The interior was polished mahogany and brass with Kelly green cushions.  A small aft galley and forward settee on the port side marked her as an older version built in the late sixties.

Jane took it all in.  “Cozy,” she said.

“Yes,” Dick replied.  “She’s mostly salon.  There’s a V-berth up front with a small wet head, er bathroom.”  Dick had left the blowers on so he pushed the starter and the old 471 diesel settled into a knocking idle.  He looked forward to see Jane at the pulpit, coiling the bowline.  “She’s done this before,” he thought and went out to untie aft.  They went back inside together and Dick eased the boat away from the dock. Wolf Bay is not very wide, only a mile or so near the lodge so even at the Grand Banks’ sedate 10 knots they were mid channel in minutes.

“How are we going to see any stars in here,” asked Jane.  “Let’s go topside.”

“Ladies first.”

Jane swarmed up the bridge stair like a monkey, her dress swirling in the evening breeze. Dick followed and had hardly seated himself and reached for the wheel when he felt Jane’s hand on his neck.  He was surprised.  He had to lean past her to reach the throttle and felt her warm breath on his ear.

“Can we drift for a while?” she asked.  There was that odd smile again, but her voice was like silk over naked legs.

“Sure, oh there is a remote for the anchor just. . .no the blue one.  That’s it press it.”  As the anchor dropped slowly into the depths he turned to her.  For an hour, the stars winked in the cold void as the boat rocked gently, no waves disturbing her rest.

Later, back at the Wolf Bay Lodge, as Dick eased the Grand Banks to a stop a foot from the pier, Jane hopped onto the dock.  “Don’t tie up,” she flung the words over her shoulder. “Just watch me to my car, okay?” The darkness swallowed her up just like that, gone.  He called after her but received no answer.  Dick waited until he heard a car start up before shaking his head, bringing the 32 about and heading back to the air station’s marina.

Dick saw Jane again the next day for lunch at the O. Club.  She even joined him for a quick sandwich on the tarmac during a rehearsal break. Jane made that week leading up to the show the best Dick could remember. He even managed to sneak her into a trainer for quick orientation flight.  Jane had staked her claim and the other women on base knew it.  It seem only natural but by the time Dick finally figured out what was going on, they were engaged.