Chapter 13
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We caught up to the rest of the girls outside the club. There was the typical long line of folks waiting to get in. Of course, we were bypassing that. We spotted Midge, hard to miss at 6'3" in her heels. She waved to us, and we walked over.
"Look who I found!" It was Beth. As she spoke, she gestured to three young men. It took me a second to recognize them cleaned up for a night out. It was Manny, Moe, and Jack -- Beth's, uh, "friends" from last night. I realized I didn't know the three gearheads' names. I thought about asking, but decided I preferred thinking of them as the Pep Boys -- they certainly brought a lot of pep to the little redhead. While they still looked a little weary from their exertions of last night, the three boys cleaned up nicely. I couldn't blame them for being worn out. In fact, if not for the last of my illicitly- obtained Adderall, I'd probably be in worse shape. "I told them we'd probably come here, so they came down here and waited for us to show up. Isn't that sweet of them," Beth said putting her hand lovingly on the cheek of the one I thought of as Manny
"It sure is," I said making eye contact with Manny. I figured it wasn't just coincidence. I mean, us running into Pudge in a city this size was an anomaly; not the sort of thing likely to repeat itself. After the night she gave them in the boat house, I imagine they were sitting the vigil here since sunset. Loyal knights hoping to be deemed worthy by their fickle goddess. I kind of felt glad for their "success".
Nadia was over talking to the doorman. I turned to Midge and asked, "So do you other girls invite your conquests from last night?" I kind of hoped they didn't. I mean, I liked Manny, Moe, and Jack for the happiness they'd given Beth. Still it was awkward for how we'd met -- them being sprawled across the boat house quarters floor having been rode hard and put away wet as it were. Meeting Bella's three-legged football player or Midge's second and third place weightlifters was going to be worse.
"No. Misty's rule," Midge answered succinctly as though that explained everything.
"Misty's rule?" I asked. This should be good, though likely embarrassing.
Bella answered, "'Never bring a date to a place where you can find one.'" She gestured up the line of people waiting to get in the club. The line went up the block and around the corner. Halfway up the block I caught Misty's form. The beautiful blonde was hard to miss standing with a hand on her hip and one fabulous leg jutting out the slit of her black dress. She was talking to a group of young men. She wasn't talking so much as sizing them up -- like she was a rich country squiress evaluating this year's stock of thoroughbred colts come to auction.
Misty made a gesture with her hand -- a winning bid I assumed. She turned and started back towards us. Half a dozen young men got out of line and followed her. "Two a piece," I thought. The girl's sexual appetites continued to impress. Misty and her colts walked up. The four of the boys immediately started flirting with the Midge and Bella. Misty already had two -- one on either arm. They were all very fit looking muscular young men in their early twenties.
Judging from the universal crew cuts, age, and overblown physiques, I guessed -- correctly as it would turn out -- that they were on leave from the Key West Naval Air Station and were students at the Special Warfare Diving School. I didn't know much of it. A college friend was Naval ROTC and was supposed to go the special warfare route. He was insanely fit I recalled. I ran into him a couple of years after graduation. He was working in Naval Intelligence having washed out in dive school. Just couldn't keep up he said. These guys were a cut above him. It's a good thing I thought, looking over the girls, they will need all their strength.
Of course, the world was changing all over. The military was slower to turn than, say, the private sector, but it was changing. It wouldn't be long before the classes at the dive school would be all women. In a few years, all the combat arms of the world's militaries would be mostly women. They had to be. Once one nation started fielding soldiers that could run 24-minute 10k's, swim four miles in the ocean for a warmup, process information and develop tactics at light speed, sleep three hours, and do it all again the next day, all the other nations would. Already, I'd heard, the Israelis - who'd had women combat units for a long time - was changing over its elite unites to women almost exclusively. It was inevitable. These guys were in peak shape, and probably as mentally sharp as any young men in uniform. But any of the giggly party girls with whom they were flirting could take any one of them apart without breaking a sweat or even one of their pretty manicured nails. Highly trained and physically built as they were, they were easily outclassed by even these flighty girls. If it came to fighting a war, and we sent these guys up against and army of equally well-trained women, it would be a slaughter. These men might be facing obsolescence on the battlefield, but, for tonight, they still had enough fight left for the night club.
Or, at least, I hope they did, for their sake.
II.
Nadia did her usual thing, and our increasingly large party was let inside, past the velvet rope, and up to the VIP area. We were shown to an elevated corner with several booths. I noted it was a little better lit than where we were the other night. It was also in close view to the host's stand. Something else I noticed was that a rotation of the club's bouncers split time near our table. The bouncers were universally women. I imagine there were ads up in every woman's gym for these jobs. They were all quite muscular. I wondered what kind of weight these women were lifting in the gym. Nadia had mentioned bench pressing 600lbs -- somewhere well north of the men's world record for a man of her weight. Nadia was certainly fit but nothing like a person whose job it was to move heavy things or people. The women bouncers probably had a good 50lbs on her and were generally solid muscle. They could be bench pressing more than 1000 pounds.
