With nothing else to give him, Susan rewards Dave with a blowjob for saving her.
They spent the rest of their walk in silence, Dave with his hands dug deep in his pockets with his eyes to the ground and Susan looking everywhere but at him.
"This is me, right here. It's a basement apartment," he said.
"It is?" She took a step back as if afraid.
"What's the matter?"
"I was flooded out of my basement apartment. I had just moved from Boston and was living with my Mom when the Susquehanna River flooded. Cresting 30' over flood stage level, it was 3 weeks before the cops, the fire department, and the building inspectors allowed us back in the building to salvage anything. Everything had turned to shit by then and there were dumpsters lining both sides of the street filled with everyone's ruined possessions."
"Wow, that sucks," he said. "Even with the few possessions that I have, I can't imagine losing everything I own."
"The water was up to the second story of the building where I lived," she said looking up at the second floor windows of the house. The water was contaminated with home heating oil and raw sewage." Reliving it again by talking about it, she had a look of sadness on her face as if it had just happened.
"Well, there's no water here. I'm pretty far from the river and on a hill. You're safe from the water. If you want to worry about something, worry about being incinerated in a nuclear explosion," he said with a laugh. "Three Mile Island is right there," he said pointing to the smoke stacks. "The experts say that the nuclear plant can withstand a plane crashing into it but that's what they said about the Twin Towers too. I don't put much stock into what experts say about anything after seeing so many retired generals on CNN giving their biased opinions based about what they're told by the CIA to say."
"It's scary to see those nuclear smoke stacks looming so close. Aren't you afraid?"
"I don't even think about it," he said leading her down a flight of stairs. He opened his door and turned on the light. "Well this is it. Keep in mind that I'm a guy and I live alone," he said with a laugh.
"It's so small and so neat. With your bunk there..." she said looking to the left. "And the couch there..." she said looking to the right. "And nothing between them but a TV..." she said looking at him. "Hardly the bachelor pad I expected, your apartment looks as if you just moved in or are about to move out," she said laughing.
"What? You don't like my place? It suits me just fine. It's efficient and organized. I don't have to trip over stuff to find what I need."
"It's just that..."
"It's just that what?"
"With no personal items displayed, it looks too much like a barracks room," she said. "All you need is a footlocker and a metal locker.
"The footlocker is by my bed," he said pointing. "And the metal locker is there in the corner," he said laughing at how ridiculous his apartment looked to a stranger but how familiar it would look to another Marine.
He looked around his room as if noticing it for the first time. His place did look as if it was in transition. With one foot here and the other foot there and his head stuck somewhere in the middle, it was then that he realized he still had his heart in the Marine Corps.
"You're recreated your barracks Marine. Good for you," she said with a laugh while saluting him.
"You know, now that you mention it, you're right. Except for the deletion of the metal walls, it does look like my old barracks," he said with a laugh. "Being that this is a basement apartment, I even have the little windows at ceiling height that I had in my barracks room when I was a drill instructor."
"Except for that Marine recruiting poster, you don't even have a picture on the wall," she said walking over to it to study it. "Where'd you get this? It looks like the real McCoy."
"It is. I did some recruiting when I was recovering from my last wound. Not much of a people person when I'm not slamming my fist in their face, I'm not much of a salesman either, even if it's when trying to convince someone to join the Marines. I figure, if they want to join, they'll join. Tired of lazy, mama boys, I'm not good at persuading someone to do what they don't want to do and to join something they're not geared up or ready to do. The last straw was when I threatened to kill someone for burning the flag in front of my office after they spit on my uniform."
"Threatened?" She laughed. "You not the type to threaten anyone with words. I don't see you wasting your breath to threaten anyone. You're more of a man of action," she said remembering what he did in the alley to those three men.
"Okay, so when I was escorting them off my property, they tripped and hit their head on the concrete numerous times when I was helping them to stand," he said with a laugh. "What's the matter? He asked when she was looking around the room again.
"There's not much privacy," she said looking around the one bedroom studio apartment. "Do you have a bathroom with a tub?"
"Sorry, I don't have a bathtub but I do have a shower. It's in back," he said pointing behind him, "in the corner."
"I see," she said obviously looking where she'd sleep before eying the couch.
"I could make something makeshift, stack some boxes or hang a curtain, if that will put you more at ease," he said.
"Nah, it's okay. I'm used to not having any privacy in the shelter and on the street anyway, as you're well aware with those three men waking me up at one in the morning. This is so much better than what I'm used to having. This will suit me just fine. Do you have a spare sheet for the couch?"
"You can take my bunk," he said look at his bunk with a guilty, sad look as if he was giving up his weapon or his dog for the sake of her comfort.
"Nah, the couch, believe it or not, looks more comfortable," she said looking over at his tightly made bunk. "What did you steal that from your barracks?"
"Actually, it's my old bed with a new mattress. My buddies gave it to me as a present when I retired."
"You're kidding?"
"Nope. I know. I was shocked as shit that they'd give me my old bunk. I couldn't believe it. I was so happy."
"That's not what I meant," she said. "Never mind."
"You mean that I'd even want my old bunk instead sleeping in a bed?"
"Yeah."
"I'd rather sleep on the floor than not sleep in my bunk. After sleeping on that thing for thirty years, when not deployed, I'm so used to my little cot that I can't sleep in a regular bed."
"No wonder why you're not married," she said under her breath and too low for him to hear.
"Believe it or not, much like my rifle, that bunk is my friend. We've seen some things together. Yes we have," he said with a sad smile on his face while shaking his head.
"I bet you even named you bunk," she said laughing.
"Don't be silly," he said before looking over at her and blurting. "Bob. I named my bunk Bob."
"Bob? You named your bunk Bob? I can't believe you named your bunk Bob?"
"I named my bunk after my best buddy was killed the first time I deployed to Iraq. He took a sniper shot to the head. The bullet traveled right through his helmet."
"I'm sorry about Bob," she said. "Listen, I'd never get between you and your bunk," she said waving her two hands as if they were flashing lights on a railroad crossing while stepping away from his bunk. "I'll take the couch," she said again before she started laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"We are."
"What do you mean?"
"Listen to us? We're going on about your bunk. Neither one of us are any good at holding a normal conversation."
"You're right," he said. "We are kind of a pathetic pair of misfits. With you sleeping in shelters, eating in missions, and wandering the streets and me spending years away from my country to defend my country and preferring this lumpy, old bunk to a real bed when finally home and retired," he said looking at her, "neither one of us is normal."
"It's like we're made for one another," she said giving him an interested look with a soft smile.
"You're not going to start with that fate and destiny crap again, are you? Because I don't believe in any of that stuff. What I believe in is the here and now and not some Angel bringing us together. If you ask me, especially in the way I've been living and watching men dying, with all that I've seen in war and in battle, and all that you had to do to survive, if I believe in anything, I believe in the Devil. There's no merciful God that I know who'd allow any of this to happen to anyone," he said.
"Don't even say that. I'm not a religious woman but I know enough not to open my heart and my head to the Devil because he'll walk right in and take you over. Positive thoughts is what got me through then and positive thoughts is why I'm here with you now," she said.
They looked at one another as if they were going to kiss again. No doubt, when she gave him the eye, she wanted to be kissed. Obviously, she expected him to kiss her. Instead, he looked at his watch. It's zero three hundred hours, I need some shuteye. I'm beat."
"I need to shower, if you don't mind."
"Help yourself," he said.
"Do you have a towel I can use?"
"There's a stack of them in the bathroom."
"What did you steal these from the Marines?" She came out holding a thin, white towel in her hand.
"They throw them away anyway. Besides, their towels are what I've been using for thirty years and all that I'm used to using. I don't like those plush, colored towels. Those towels are for faggots, sissies, and homos."
"Boy don't ask and don't tell had you in mind when they passed that law," she said with a laugh. "Now that you're retired, that law is no longer in effect," she said with a laugh.
"Sorry but spending all of my time with a bunch of jarheads tends to rub off some, especially when I was the biggest jarhead of them all," he said with a laugh. "There's some softer towels in the little closet outside of the bathroom."
Susan opened the door and started laughing.
"Red Marine Corps beach towels?" She pulled one from out of the closet. "These colored towels are very plush Dave," she said laughing. "Where'd you get these? The Army/Navy store?"
"E-bay," he said. "They were having a closeout sale. I bought a dozen of them for fifty bucks. Amazon was selling the same towels for twenty bucks each. I got a deal," he said with a laugh. "Dave likes saving money," he said talking in the third person again.
Susan stripped out of her clothes and before turning on the water, she popped her head out of the bathroom again.
"Dave doesn't have an exhaust fan," she said laughing.
