to undo his pants.

“You hungry, Johnnie?”

“Yeah, let’s eat. Where’s Jesus?”

“Down in the dark corner with Cisco and Pancho, and the ever faithful Ricky. Bill was smiling at his own wit.”

Johnnie had named the two sailors, Cisco and Pancho a few months earlier because of their complete inseparability. The name stuck when everyone found out that they only did sex with civilians as a double act.

Dan moved slowly through the room toward Jesus. Big Bill’s Bar and Grill was a truly wonderful establishment in his eyes. Big Bill had steadily and deliberately developed the place for what he called “our crew”. He appreciated that guys like him loved the navy and loved working with other guys, without a female in sight. Still, most of these other guys in the navy were not part of “our crew”. That was OK for work time, but down time was another matter.

Understanding this, Bill had, nicely, discouraged the patronage of sailors and their girlfriends, and, more firmly, discouraged the patronage of single women. As Big Bill knew how to do everything properly-with the minimum of fuss, just like on a submarine- the Bar and Grill soon settled into the niche that Bill wanted.

The Bar and Grill gave him a very good living, on top of his navy pension. It also gave him the company of sailors, who, as a group, he loved beyond words. Above all it let him play the life role he always wanted: the father/lover figure for sailors young enough to be his sons, who needed various kindnesses- company, a beer, a few dollars borrowed and forgotten about, an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, a man to sleep with, eyes to look into, lips to kiss, a lover to enter. Bill provided all this and the sailors gave him the oxygen he needed to live.

“Senor Jesus, are you coming to eat?”

“Si Senor. Ricky, are you coming?”

“No, he said, I’ll wait for the guy we talked about.

Dan and Jesus moved through the crowd to join Johnnie in the Garden outside. Securing their table they ordered three steaks with fries and salad.

“What was all that uproar about?”

Johnnie was looking at Jesus. They each knew about the other’s pre-Navy line of work and this gave them an additional bond of attachment; their extra secret, in a secret life.

“I’ll tell you when we’re away from this crowd. Loose lips put sailors in jail.”

“Great, said Dan, here we go again.”

He was laughing.

Two months earlier they had all sailed very close to the wind by being indirectly involved in a gross breach of regulations and discipline. A civilian was brought on board the ship; a female civilian; a female civilian on her back with her legs wide open.

Only the support of Chief Petty Officer Walsh had saved them from the wrath of Rear Admiral Kane when the scam blew up.

Seventeen sailors were charged with a long list of offences involving discipline and regulations. No officer was charged with anything. The scam had gone on for five weeks before being discovered. Apparently the lady in question had made quite a bundle from the seventeen sailors over the five weeks. The charge sheet mentioned one hundred and forty one counts of sexual intercourse unlawfully on board a vessel of the