On Seas So Crimson

by James Young

  Honolulu

  1700 Local (2200 Eastern)

  I’m going to lose it, Patricia thought, desperately trying to focus on Rifleman Dodd as Jo wandered around the living room dusting. We’ve been under martial law since dawn, I have no idea where my brothers or Peter are, and she’s dusting that mantle again.

  “You could help, you know,” Jo snapped out of the blue, facing away from her.

  Patricia closed her book with exaggerated calmness.

  “If you haven’t been able to get the dust off the last thirty times you dusted it, I don’t see where an extra pair of hands can help,” Patricia replied, her voice overly polite.

  Jo whirled towards her.

  “Damn you all to hell,” she shrieked. “Some of us didn’t just come out here to find ourselves a husband! Some of us actually have family that could be getting shot at!”

  Patricia found herself resisting the urge to throw the novel at her.

  Find a husband! I’ll show you find a husband! Patricia thought, clenching her hands together so tightly she was certain she drew blood. She gave Jo a small smile.

  “At least I’ve got a snowball’s chance in finding a husband,” Patricia said, the coolness and exact pronunciation of her words making them cut all the deeper. “Of course, if you weren’t always trying to make yourself out to be so manly, you might have better luck. Or maybe you just need to throw yourself at someone besides every…single…one…of…my…brothers.”

  Jo visibly staggered back.

  “What?! Why you…” Jo started to say, tears forming in her eyes.

  “How dare you tell me I don’t understand family?” Patricia asked, her voice almost a hiss. “Or do you just forget men that you do everything short of shake your undergarments at to get their attention?”

  “This coming from a woman who is so scared of her body she can’t even figure out when a man is interested,” Jo shot back.

  “Well I’m sorry I haven’t put a vacancy sign over my navel,” Patricia replied. “I hear the going rates are kind of steep though. Or is that only when your father finds out?”

  “Get out of my house,” Jo snapped, her voice flat.

  Just pulling out all the stops, aren’t you? Patricia thought, her vision beginning to get red tinged.

  “Go to Hell,” the youngest Cobb snapped, her face pallid with rage. “I paid rent on the first, and it’s not your house,” Patricia said. “My God, Jo, what is the matter with you?!”

  “You oblivious little twit,” Jo seethed. “Didn’t you see Uncle Keith?”

  “W-what?” Patricia asked.

  “Didn’t you think it was a little odd that Aunt Nancy didn’t say goodbye to us?” Jo snapped.

  Okay, so now I see what’s getting to you, Patricia thought.

  “I assumed she was busy, Jo,” Patricia said, forcing her voice to be calm as she stood. She noticed Jo gripped the feather duster tighter, but continued to move closer. To the other woman’s obvious surprise, Patricia put her arms around her. It was if someone had blown out the center of a dam in front of a rain swollen reservoir. Grabbing the taller woman like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver, Jo began sobbing into her chest.

  Oh hell, Patricia thought.

  “Oh God, I’m sorry, Jo,” Patricia said.

  “I-I-I barely recognized him,” Jo gasped in between sobs. “But when Aunt Nancy ran towards the stretcher when they were escorting us out, I knew it had to be him.”

  “What happened to the Northampton doesn’t mean the same thing is happening to Houston,” Patricia said. “I’m sure your father is fine.”

  “I’m sorry I forgot about the boys,” Jo said quietly, still shaking. “It just shook me is all.”

  “I really don’t think you’re mannish,” Patricia said, causing Jo to laugh.

  “Patricia, I’m about as far from mannish as a girl can get,” Jo said. “Frumpy, maybe, but this gal knows she has curves.”

  “So does this mean you’re not kicking me out?” Patricia asked.

  “Oh no, I fully expect you to have your stuff packed and on the porch by morning,” Jo replied, laughing. “I’ll pay you back your three days rent as soon as I can get to the bank.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re joking…”

  The knock on the door startled them both. The two of them broke the embrace and dabbed at their eyes with handkerchiefs. The knock came again, louder and more insistent.

  “I’ve got it,” Patricia said.

  “No, better let me,” Jo replied. “Contrary to what you assumed, my name is actually on the deed.”

  I get the feeling we’re okay…but nothing I said will be forgotten, Patricia thought.

  I really shouldn’t have started that fight, Jo thought, stepping up to the door. Yeah, I don’t think she meant half of what she said, but every word in anger has at least a grain of truth. Looking through the peephole, Jo was startled to see a Navy lieutenant in dress whites accompanied by two seamen in khaki. Both sailors were armed with rifles, the weapons slung over their shoulders.

  What in the seven hells is this? Jo thought, opening the door with weak knees.

  “Ma’am, are you Miss Josephine Morton?” the sandy brown haired officer asked in a upper Midwest accent, his face showing concern at Jo’s appearance. Jo’s mouth worked once, and she had to swallow to get enough spit to move her tongue.

  “Y-yes,” she stammered, meeting the man’s green eyes.

  “Ma’am, I am Lieutenant Molnar from the Northampton,” the officer said. “I am currently the acting executive officer.”

  “I already know about Commander Hertling,” Jo said heavily, drawing a puzzled look from Lieutenant Molnar.

  “Ma’am, we’re not here about Commander Hertling,” Lieutenant Molnar said quietly. “We have Mrs. Hertling in the car. When you say you know about him, what do you mean?”

  Oh God, Jo thought.

  “If Nancy is here, I don’t think I know as much as I think,” Jo said, her voice so soft that Molnar could barely hear her.

  “Ma’am, I regret to tell you that Commander Hertling expired from his wounds at 1400 today,” Molnar said. “Nurse Hertling was sedated at that time.”

  That’s not a good sign, Jo thought.

  “On the advice of the doctor who was attending Commander Hertling, I asked Mrs. Hertling if there was someplace I could take her so that she would not be alone,” Molnar stated. “I know your father and understand this may not be the best time for you to receive visitors…”

  “Mrs. Hertling is always welcome in my home, lieutenant,” Jo snapped, then caught herself. “I’m sorry, it’s a stressful time. I’ll come out with you to the car.”

  The next five minutes were the longest in Jo’s short life. Nancy was barely responsive to her when she opened the back door, a coat drawn about her body despite the fact that the temperature was quite warm. As they walked back to the house, Lieutenant Molnar and the seamen grabbed Nancy’s luggage. When they reached the house, Jo went to take Nancy’s coat and immediately saw why the woman had been wearing it: the front of her nurse’s gown was covered with blood and other liquids.

  “Miss Morton, thank you for your help. I hope that your father makes it back all right.” Lieutenant Molnar said quickly at the door. Looking past Jo to where Nancy stood staring vacantly out the doorway, Molnar moved to make eye contact.

  “Mrs. Hertling, Commander Hertling was a great officer. He will be missed.”

  Nancy nodded numbly. Lieutenant Molnar, at a loss, signaled his escort to move back towards the car. Jo closed the door, then turned back to Nancy.

  “Aunt Nancy, let’s get you cleaned…”

  “They tell me he simply slipped away,” Nancy said, her voice with a faraway tone. “I know that’s a lie. I heard him screaming.”

  “Aunt Nancy, let’s not think about that right now,” Jo said, taking Nancy’s arm. Nancy turned and looked at her.

  “Jo, he didn’t even recognize me when I talked to him,
” Nancy said. “He kept asking for Ann.”

  Ann was his first wife, Jo thought, nausea twisting and turning sinuously in her stomach.

  “Ten years of following him from base to base, spending months without him at home, and he can’t even get the right name on his deathbed,” Nancy said, the last part coming out as a sob.

  Looking on as Jo tried to comfort Nancy, Patricia felt helpless.

  I will never, never marry a man in the Navy, she thought to herself.

  There was another knock on the door. Patricia moved past Jo to the peephole, then suddenly let out a squeal of joy.

  What in the hell, you stupid… Jo thought, turning to give Patricia a piece of her mind until the door opened. Patricia flew through the door and threw herself at Sam, hugging her brother so hard he almost fell over. She then let him go and grabbed David, then Nick, the whole time weeping.

  There’s only three of them, Jo thought, seeing the pained look that briefly crossed Sam’s face. David, for his part, paled at Nancy’s state, giving Jo an inquisitive look.

  Later, she mouthed, moving Nancy towards the bathroom.

  “You stay with your friends,” Nancy said measuredly. “I’m not going to swallow a bottle of pills or slit my wrists.”

  “Hello Tootsie,” Sam was saying. Patricia stopped dead in her happiness.

  “What is it, Sam?” she asked, her mood turning on a dime.

  “Eric…” David started to say.

  “No,” Patricia breathed, staggering backward before Sam grabbed her.

  “He’s wounded, Tootsie,” Sam said in a rush, steadying his sister.

  “H-h-how bad?” Patricia asked.

  “We don’t know,” Sam and David said simultaneously, and even Jo knew that was a bad sign.

  “You’re lying,” Patricia snarled, looking at both of them.

  “Patricia,” Sam said, and Jo startled at his voice.

  That’s a Sam Cobb setting I’ve never heard, Jo thought. I’m all right with never hearing it again.

  Patricia stopped dead, looking up at her brother.

  “Sorry Sam,” she replied, then started. “Do you guys have any word on Peter?”

  Sam and David looked at each other, and Jo felt as if she wanted to throw up.

  “He’s missing,” Sam said. “We were on the Yorktown after he took off and asked around, but the last anyone saw of him was he got bounced by three of those bast…Japanese.”

  If Sam’s cussing in front of his sister like that, he knows more than he’s letting on, Jo thought. Fortunately for the Cobb twin, his sister was too staggered to catch his statement.

  “I…I see,” Patricia said. “Excuse me.”

  With that, Patricia ran past Jo towards the back of the house. Ducking into her room, Patricia slammed the door before she started sobbing.

  “You okay?” David asked Jo.

  “I’m sitting here with the blood of a man I considered my uncle all over the front of my dress and a young man I was fond of is dead, David,” Jo replied, her voice seeming as if it was coming from outside of her body. “I am about as far from okay as you can get.”

  “We are leaving Hawaii,” Sam said in a rush.

  Jo looked at him, aghast.

  “Well fuck you too, Sam Cobb,” she snapped, seeing all three brothers look at her like she’d just grown a second head.

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said apologetically, holding up his hands. “I didn’t…”

  “Didn’t what, Sam?” Jo asked. “Think that would piss me off even more? For God’s sake, you big oaf, even your own sister accused me of waving my panties at you. Did you think that maybe now was not the best time to tell me this news?”

  David and Nick were looking at Sam, their expressions basically saying, “She’s got a point, dumbass.”

  “Get out,” Jo snapped. “All three of you.”

  “What?” Nick asked. “What did I do?”

  “Be born from the same mother as that dumbass,” Jo snapped. “Is your entire family hard of hearing? Why do I have to keep repeating that phrase?”

  “But why?” David asked.

  “Because I’ve got to console your sister and help my Aunt Nancy get my Uncle Keith’s blood out of her hair,” Jo barked, her speech so rapid the brothers had a hard time following her. “Because your brother isn’t attracted to me and now he’s leaving. Because I feel like the sun rose in the west yesterday and nothing’s come back to normal. Because I don’t want to see any of your faces for a couple of days and this is my damn house.”

  Sam gave her a look, and she felt like she’d kicked a puppy. He started to open his mouth when David stopped him.

  “We’re on pass to get our things together,” David said evenly. “Let us know if you change your mind. Good evening.”

  With that, the three Cobbs walked out the door.

  Ten minutes later, when she was getting the last of the dried blood out of Nancy’s hair, their tears commingling in the pink water, Jo cast her eyes out the window at the dusk sky.

  Dad, wherever you are, I hope that you’re safe, she thought. Lord, I pray that you keep him that way.

  Pearl Harbor

  0400 Local (0900 Eastern)

  29 March

  Pain was the first sensation that shot through Eric’s mind. Distant pain, but pain nonetheless. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on his stomach. Moving his tongue, he realized his mouth felt like cotton. Moving his toes, he suddenly realized that he could feel his legs again.

  Thank you, God, he thought, moving to roll over. He realized with a start that he could not moved, a strap being cinched across his lower back.

  “What in the hell?!” he muttered. With a start that told him exactly where is wounds were, Eric also realized that he did not hear the dull throbbing of a ship’s engine.

  Where in the hell am I? he thought, fighting down the urge to panic. He turned to look beside him and saw a man completely swathed in bandages.

  Hospital bed, he thought.

  “Aw, you’re awake,” a voice he did not recognize came from behind his head.

  “Damn Bob, looks like you’ve lost your bet!” the mummy in his field of view said.

  “Nurse! Nurse! Lt. Cobb is awake!” he heard the voice of Charles Read from somewhere behind him. A moment later the young ensign’s footfalls approached his bed.

  “Read, what in the Hell is going on with me?” he rasped out, attempting to put all the force he could into his question.

  “Sir, you were injured in the back,” Charles replied, coming into view. The ensign’s left arm was in a sling, and there were obvious bandages underneath his uniform shirt. The shirt itself was two sizes too large, indicating it was borrowed.

  Looking into the ensign’s face, Eric immediately detected a change. He was not able to put a finger onto it before Charles spoke again.

  “The Denver’s doctor patched you up,” Charles said, and Eric realized the man was no longer the bright-eyed ensign who had taken off from the Hornet’s deck. “The docs here cleaned up some of his work when you got here and they kept you sedated most of last night.”

  “What happened to you?” Eric rasped out.

  A shadow crossed over Read’s face.

  “My sector had those little yellow bastards’ rendezvous point in it. I got bounced by some fighters,” Read replied matter-of-factly. “Van Dort…”

  Read swallowed hard, shaking his head.

  “Van Dort and I and I were too busy watching the Hornet get hit and weren’t paying attention,” the officer continued, his voice near tears. “He didn’t make it.”

  “Glad to see you’re awake, Lieutenant Cobb,” a woman’s voice said. A voluptuous brunette who looked like she was just barely tall enough to be a nurse walked into his field of view. “I’m Beverly Bowden, the ward nurse here. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  Eric raised an eyebrow and was about to speak before Nurse Bowden laughed.

  “The look on your face is priceless, Lie
utenant,” she said, almost purring. “My husband is VMF-14’s squadron commander.”

  “Sam and David,” Eric said, smiling as Nurse Bowden took a cup of water from an orderly. Holding it up to his lips, she let him drink half of it then set it down on the table next to his bed.

  “I think the doctors are going to try and sit you up later,” Nurse Bowden said. “They wanted to make sure the stitches and such were going to hold. You broke your shoulder blade and got quite a few fragments in your legs.”

  “What about my back wound?” Eric asked, puzzled.

  “That wasn’t a back wound, you idiot,” the mummied man said. “You put your hand in some ensign’s brain.”

  Eric was startled at that, then suddenly remembered the two ensigns who had been standing next to him.

  “Petty Officer Rourke, I will have the orderly sedate you even further,” Nurse Bowden snapped. The mummy looked like he wanted to argue, then thought better of it.

  “I’ll be back later, Lieutenant Cobb,” Nurse Bowden said, satisfied she had deterred mummy from saying anything else.

  “Please excuse me for not getting up when you leave,” Eric said wryly.

  “That’s okay, I understand chivalry is dead inside this ward,” Nurse Bowden said with a slight smile. Eric watched the nurse as she continued to journey down the ward. She stopped and joked with a sailor who had obviously lost a leg, getting the man to break out in laughter before she left.

  “Yeah, it is definitely too bad she is married,” Charles observed. He turned back to Eric.

  “Where’s Hornet?” Eric asked.

  “Bottom of the Pacific,” the mummy man said with a snort, then gasped in pain.

  “It’s bad,” Ensign Read said quietly. “Hornet, Sara, and Lexington are all gone. Lady Lex looked like she was going to make it, but an I-boat got her and the Salt Lake City both.”

  “Holy shit!” Eric said, then immediately looked to see if any nurses were present.

  “Pretty sure there’s been worse language than that in this hospital lately,” Charles continued. “They got the Arizona, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and West Virginia too. Killed Admiral Jensen, Vice Admiral Bowles, Rear Admiral Kidd, and Maryland took a couple of fish, a bunch of the cruisers got smacked around, and the destroyers didn’t go unscathed either.”