To Feel and Be Felt

It was Tuesday night, so the NCO club wasn't crowded. Spinner walked in and ordered a beer at the bar, then sat down at a booth in the back. He wanted to get away from the bright light, away from the loud music and the rest of the world. More than anything, he hoped alcohol could erase or at least dilute what had happened on his last shift. Just as he started sorting his thoughts, in walked Red.

"Barkeep, put his beer on my tab!" Spinner called. "Red, get your ass over here!"

Red picked up his beer and joined him. He'd actually come to the club hoping to find him. Rumors were flying that something major had happened on shift. "Shit, Spinner, what are you hiding back here for?"

"You're not going to believe this shit, Red. I gotta tell someone, but first promise to keep it secret."

"We're MI, Spinner. Remember? It's our job to keep secrets."

"We both know that's bullshit. Anyway, sit back, don't interrupt, then tell me what the fuck to do." Red understood. They'd been friends since attending intermediate Russian together at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. He'd finished with a 3.9 GPA, just ahead of Spinner for honor grad. He was the only one at Field Station who'd met Spinner's wife and was a good enough friend not to talk about her. They worked the same shift. Red was South Bay supervisor, while Spinner was the North Bay supe. Spinner took a swig, set the bottle down, then just plunged into it. "Sammie disappeared off her pos today for over an hour and a half and--"

"Shit! You gonna courtmartial her?"

"Goddamn it, Red, I said don't interrupt ... Anyway, I sent one guy looking for her after 45 minutes and he couldn't find her, so 20 minutes later I went looking for her. Mess hall - zip. Snack bar - nada. Knocked on the door of the women's latrine and got nothing. I even took a walk around outside the building, still couldn't find her. I figured I looked everywhere else, I might as well check the weight room."

Red laughed. "Sammie in the weight room? She exercises once a year at the PT test and that's it. What the hell would she be doing in the weight room?"

"Getting exercised." Spinner took time to watch the perplexed look on Red's face before continuing. "I walked down the hall and saw the light was on, so I just opened the door and stepped in." Spinner had a bit of the story teller in him, so he paused again for dramatic effect and took a sip of beer.

"So, what was she up to?" Red was on the edge of his seat. He could sense this was going to be good.

"I walk in, and all I see is this MP's hairy ass, pumpin' up and down, Sammie's ankles in the sky and her moaning with her eyes shut and digging her nails in his back."

"Holy shit! That's crazy! Did you call security?"

"You know I didn't, dumbass. Anyway, that's not the end of the story. The MP jumps up, all freaked out, throws on half his clothes and runs out of the place. But Sammie just sits there watchin' him scramble. Bare ass naked but acting like this is all normal. That's where my problem starts."

Red's practically jumping out of the booth. "Damn, why can't my guys do something cool like this? C'mon, how'd ol' Sammie look with nothing on?"

Spinner sighed. "That's the problem, Red. I shoulda just yelled at her to get dressed, then left. But I didn't. It's like she was playing me or something. I watched her get up and, damn, is she built. Legs ok, nice ass, little peter belly, and these prize-winning, Himalaya-class tits. She posed there for a while and let me stare. I couldn't move. Just stood there getting a boner."

"Oh, man! What about her bush? C'mon, man, I need details!"

Red had a reputation as a bit of a perv. Spinner decided to feed him a few details. "Well, she's a brunette, so you already know the color. She doesn't pluck or shave, my man, so her bush is spread out, and not a triangle ... kind of a diamond shape." Red's eyes got huge. "And this just shows what a stupid shit I am - I shouldn't have stayed long enough to even see that."

Red shakes his head and says, "No, no, hell, she put you in a tough spot. You oughta get something out of it. A good long look couldn't hurt anything. So come on. What happened next?"

Spinner hesitated, not sure how to explain the rest. He just went on talking, "I have no idea what Sammie was thinking. Any normal person would have been embarrassed or upset. She should at least have been worried about her job. But not Sammie. She smiled at me, Red. She fuckin' smiled! Then she looked me in the eye and told me to hand her her panties."

"No fuckin' way!"

"Yeah, so then I look around and her clothes are all over the room. She must have done some kind of striptease for the guy. Anyway, I hand her the panties and it's like I'm still watchin' the show. She bends over and steps into 'em, and I watch those tits sway and jiggle. All this other stuff goin' on in my head and it's like nothing matters except two boobs. She stands up and asks for her bra. When she slips it on, I finally snap out of it. Show's over. That's when I yell at her for being a dumbass and tell her to meet me in the office in a half hour."

Red closes his eyes and sits there for a few minutes while Spinner starts on his second beer. He takes a sip of his own, then says, "You are the luckiest son of a bitch on earth. No, wait. Second luckiest. That MP is the luckiest."

"Red, pretend you're an NCO for a second and not a director for a porno flick. Think about it. Number one, Sammie's married, remember? So's the MP, it turns out."

"Oh, shit. That's adultery. And Sammie's a sergeant. What rank is the MP?"

"Spec 4. So that's fraternization. And she was off pos for an hour and a half. That's desertion, technically." Spinner took another long drink, then signaled the bartender for another round.

"Let me get these, Spinner. Shit, I'll buy your beer for the next fuckin' week! So, what are you gonna do?"

"You know the deal, Red. Sammie's one of only three ops we have who speaks Russian and knows Morse Code. As long as she doesn't murder anybody, the command's gonna just slap her wrist. The Mike Echo defense. Mission essential. It works every time."

"Yeah. Well, fuck it, Spinner. You got a free peep show out of it."

"You know I don't go for that crap, Red. How the fuck am I supposed to be her boss now? Every time I see her, I'm gonna see those tits swaying in the breeze. I'm gonna try to trade her to another shift."

Red freaks again. "Trade her? Stupid. She put that show on for a reason. Don't you see? It's your turn in the weight room, my man!"

"God dammit, Red! Don't you think anyone has a conscience? Sammie, in case you've forgotten, is married to Wetback," Spinner pointed out. Wetback was Spinner's best friend, Einstein smart, and also a little crazy, one of those people who'd done more than anyone could possibly achieve in one lifetime. Anyone who didn't know him but heard about the mountain climbing, Brazilian rain forest exploration, the four languages, Ranger school ... well, they'd think it had to be bullshit. But it was all true. Amazing. And now if Sammie didn't tell him about the weight room escapade, Spinner would have to.

Red couldn't let go. "You can't help it if she runs around on him. Hell, if she wants to throw a little your way, you might as well take it. Better you than some stranger."

"I don't want anything to do with her. I know I looked. Stared, actually. But I don't like stuff like this, Red. Married is married."

"What bullshit, Spinner! You can't tell me you wouldn't boink Slovar if you got the chance."

Red hit closer to home than he knew. Slovar was the North Bay Chop - chief operator. She was the best Russian linguist on the shift. She got her nickname, Slovar, from reading the Russian dictionary (slovar in Russian) all the time. She also happened to be irresistably cute. Spinner and she had really hit it off when she arrived six months ago, but as friends. They started running together, even though technically the chop and the bay supe weren't supposed to leave the bay at the same time.

"It's not the same, Red, and you know it. We're both married," Spinner almost shouted at him.

"Oh, yeah, and which side of the world is your wife on? And everyone knows Slovar's husband is twenty years older than her. He also happens to be on another shift, which means he might as well be in California, too."

"Fuck you, Red. Can your perv mind only see one thing? Can't two people be friends without turning it into something sick?"

"Hey, Spinner, chill out. I just asked if you wouldn't mind boinking her. I didn't accuse you of a damn thing."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to. Jeez, I never should have fucking told you." Now Spinner was shouting. He grabbed his bottle of beer and chugged as he walked out, slamming the bottle on the bar as he went by. "See ya at work, ya fuckin' perv!" he shouted over his shoulder. His anger kept him from taking any pleasure from sticking Red with the check.

Red sat for a moment, knowing there was more to this. Spinner had told him a lot, but Red was much more curious about what Spinner obviously hadn't told him.

Outside, in the cold night air of northern Bavaria, Spinner's head swam with the vision of Sammie's body. In his imagination, he slowly raised his gaze up from her ankles, along her thighs, past her bush, just a slight pause on those lovely breasts, but when he got to her face, it was Slovar's! It was like a waking nightmare. He shouted and began to run. If he'd wanted to, he could have run 20 miles - he did it every weekend. But this time, he didn't run far. Even after 100 miles, he'd still be stuck with thoughts and images he couldn't outrun.