Holiday On Ice

By R. L. Keller

Seaview, the Nelson Institute of Marine Research’s futuristic submarine, was headed home after a relatively quiet three-week mission for NOAA, checking on and servicing half a dozen unmanned weather sensors.  The crew, including officers, was looking forward to having the next couple of weeks off.  Today was November 9^th and Seaview wasn’t scheduled out again until after the Thanksgiving weekend ending the 26^th.  It was therefore a little disconcerting to the sub’s XO, Lt. Cdr. Charles P. Morton that the captain, Cdr. Lee Crane, seemed to be in something of a funk the closer they got to their home port of Santa Barbara.

Morton, known to family and friends as Chip, had tried talking to Lee, his best friend and Annapolis roommate, about what had the usually easygoing man so out of sorts.  But Lee had refused to admit anything was wrong even though he kept getting quieter, and almost sullen as they nestled the sub into her berth at NIMR.  The pair went through the routines of releasing most everyone to their vacations and closing up the boat, leaving just an Anchor Watch and Security on duty.  Admiral Harriman Nelson met Lee and Chip as they left the sub.  He hadn’t been on this particular cruise, trusting his men to manage the chores needed.  But he knew his Command Team well; they would continue to do the odds and ends of their normal routine, even after everyone else was gone, unless they were shamed into taking their own Leave.  He knew that Chip wouldn’t be a major problem – his parents always hosted a large Thanksgiving gathering.  Lee, who had only his mother and she was frequently busy even over the holidays, was always welcome in the Morton household.  But Nelson hadn’t heard if that’s where he was headed this year.  Nelson was, therefore, somewhat startled when Lee merely shrugged when asked his plans and walked away toward his car.

“Chip?” Nelson asked thoughtfully once Lee was out of earshot.

“No clue, sir,” the blond answered.  “He’s been fairly quiet the whole cruise.  Nothing weird,” he added quickly.  Lee had a tendency to get moody on occasion when things weren’t going well.  “Jamie,” he mentioned NIMR and Seaview’s CMO, “noticed it, too.  But neither of us could figure out what was wrong.”  He sent Nelson a wiggled eyebrow along with a quirky smile.  “I’ll go harass him this evening now that we’re away from the crew.”

Nelson chuckled and backhanded his XO’s shoulder lightly.  The two longtime friends were known for frequently yanking each other’s chains.  It absolutely never interfered with the chain of command.  Well, Nelson thought, almost never.  There was that one cruise…*  But he smiled and sent Chip a nod.  “When do you leave for your folks’ place?”

“Not for several days,” Chip told him.  “Chaos comes all too quickly in that house with everyone there!”

Nelson nodded with another grin.  “Then you don’t know yet if Lee is going with you?”

“One of the things still to be sorted out.  Whatever’s got him torqued, it doesn’t stand a chance against my mother,” he assured his boss.

Nelson chuckled “Well, let me know if there’s any way I can help.  While I’m headed for my sister’s, that won’t be for several days yet, either.”

“Will do, sir,” and Chip headed for his SUV.

* * * *

Lee shook his head slowly as he exited his car in the driveway of his beach house.  He was very aware that he’d been short with Chip most of the trip, as well as not being as open with his crew as he normally was.  But for some reason he simply couldn’t shake the thought of the upcoming holiday.  Not Thanksgiving, but the one coming up in two days.  November 11.  Veteran’s Day.  A special day for all military people and their families.  And normally Lee treated it with the respect that it deserved.

But this year was different.  It had begun quite innocently, just before he left on the cruise for NOAA, with a call from his mom.  There hadn’t been anything special about the call, just the pair checking in with each other as they were wont to do when they both weren’t headed in opposite directions – which was more often the case than not.  But the call had gotten Lee to thinking about his dad, a Navy pilot killed in action when Lee was five years old.  And once that started to erode his normally amiable attitude other deaths invaded. Seaman Clark, his first year aboard Seaview.  Other crewmen who had been lost, either because of the dangerous nature of some of their missions or killed by supposedly safe people on board for research purposes.  Or ones that got aboard through devious means to bring harm to either Seaview or her crew.  Names like Majors, Kelly, Camden…** Seaman Yeager, whose only fault, if you wanted to call it that, was being young, inexperienced, and over-eager to please.***  Their names got stuck in Lee’s head, then their faces; Lee couldn’t shake them out.  He could keep them at bay for short periods of time but the instant he let his guard down back they came, appearing at random around every corner he turned on the giant submarine.  And then they were joined by others Lee had known and lost.  Capt. Williams and Frank Richardson, + friends lost with their entire crew then the Angler was destroyed through the evil of others.  Even Bracken kept showing up, and the only way he could keep from screaming was to shut himself off from the living.  Not completely, of course; he still had to function as Captain and complete the cruise.  It had been a hard-fought battle and he knew, deep down, that he wasn’t the only victim.  He’d have bridges to mend.

But not right now!  Even here, in his own home, the faces refused to leave him alone.  Dropping his Go-bag and briefcase barely inside the front door he made a bee-line for the kitchen cabinet that held what strong liquor he kept in the house.  He didn’t bother to stop and read, just grabbed the first bottle he saw and drank straight from it.  Irish Whiskey, something Admiral Nelson had shared and left the bottle, went down like water, not really tasted until he’d swallowed the last of it.  The next bottle he grabbed turned out to be vodka.  He wasn’t sure where that had come from, and didn’t care.  It went down a little slower, but by that time the whiskey had hit his empty stomach and was beginning to make rapid inroads to his bloodstream.  It dimmed the faces, happily, and Lee made another reach into the cupboard.

* * * *

Chip hit his office.  Briefly, because his secretary threatened to hit him if he didn’t leave.  He reminded her firmly who was the boss, unfortunately not able to get it out with a straight face, and they both laughed as Chip headed home to his condo.  He changed into jeans and t-shirt, took care of a few messages, and emailed his sister, Beth.  She and her family lived just north of San Francisco.  The plan was for him to meet them at the airport and fly back to their parents’ large farmhouse the Saturday before the Thanksgiving weekend and he merely wanted to confirm that everything was still on track.

By that time it was nearly 1700 hours and Chip headed to Lee’s to drag his friend over to BZ’s, most of Seaview’s crew’s favorite pizza and beer joint.  Chip was well aware of how little Lee had eaten this last cruise, and especially the last several days of it.  Something was obviously bothering his friend and many a trauma – of all sorts – had been dealt with by the pair over a double-meat pepperoni, sausage, and green pepper pizza washed down with a pitcher of beer.

There was no answer to Chip’s knock, but the front door was open so he opened the screen door and walked in.  He frowned when he nearly tripped over Lee’s briefcase, left with his other bag in the middle of the entryway, and proceeded somewhat cautiously to the doors on either side that lead to livingroom on the right and kitchen on the left.  A quick look right didn’t produce his friend but left did, although it took Chip a long second to absorb the scene.  His quiet, controlled friend was standing – well, swaying actually – a couple feet from one of the kitchen counters, on which stood three empty liquor bottles.  A fourth was in Lee’s hand, about half full.  “What the hell do you want?” slurred from Lee’s mouth before he raised the bottle and took a swallow before waving it at Chip.  It slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor at his feet.

“Lee,” came out unbelievingly as Chip stepped forward, intending to get Lee away from the broken glass.  It didn’t quite go as planned; he stepped forward to try and push Lee back, away from the mess and thankful that they both had good shoes on.  But the instant he touched Lee, the brunet swung out and knocked Chip back instead, a string of oaths erupting out of his mouth.  It was language Lee almost never used, and startled Chip even more.  It also ticked him off – he wasn’t so much angry at Lee as he was concerned, but it came out a little sideways and Chip found himself saying a few things he normally wouldn’t either.

This time he was prepared and stepped firmly to Lee’s side, intending to drag Lee into the livingroom while he cleaned up the mess in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, he underestimated Lee’s ability to fight back.  The last thing he remembered was his head hitting the edge of the kitchen table.

* * * *

When Dr. Will Jamison left the boat he ambled over to Med Bay to make sure the place was still standing after his absence.  Mostly everything ran smoothly.  And when it didn’t it was usually because either Lee or Chip, or both, had created some form of havoc.  Even Admiral Nelson had been known to stir things up a time or two.  But that was before Will had installed his new not-so-secret weapon – Nurse Esther Hale.  The retired Marine, all 110 pounds of her, had very few difficulties making even the 4-star admiral toe the line.  From there he headed home and spent an hour catching up with Lu-Tsi, his wife of nearly thirty years.****  But he was bothered by nagging thoughts concerning Lee’s behavior most of the just finished cruise, and was forced to explain once Lu-Tsi noticed his preoccupation.  Lee and Lu-Tsi had forged a very special friendship when she and Will had joined NIMR just a few months after Lee had taken over command of Seaview.  The Jamison’s had recently lost their only child, a son, in a diving accident.  Lu-Tsi had taken to Lee instantly, and Lee seemed to understand Lu-Tsi’s need to ‘take care of Lee.’  He accepted her attention with unusual grace for the ‘I can take care of myself’ young man.  At her insistence Will called Lee but, getting no answer, decided to drive over.  It wasn’t far; the Jamison’s had a bungalow on NIMR grounds and Lee’s beach house was on the south end of property owned and controlled by NIMR.  To the north NIMR owned about two miles of the beachfront, on which Nelson had built single-family dwellings for employees of NIMR.  To the south, on the other side of Lee’s driveway, the highway made a turn inland and there were a couple acres of hillside dotted with scraggly trees and bushes blown by the wind off the ocean into growing almost sideways.  Some low-growing groundcover-type plants had found a way to thrive in the hard-packed earth.  The remnants of several much larger trees, now dead, were scattered here and there.  Will had always found the difference from beach to hillock a bit disconcerting for some reason.  He’d never seen anyone up there in the times he’d been to Lee’s house or driven by.

So it was with raised eyebrow that he caught a glimpse of khaki almost hidden amongst the brush as he pulled into the drive.  Chip’s car was there and Will almost left.  If anyone could get Lee to open up about what was troubling him it was the blond.  But that glimpse of khaki…  Will shook his head and entered as Chip had done: calling out, getting no answer, and opening the screen door.  He also mimicked Chip in almost tripping over Lee’s briefcase, checking the livingroom, and then the kitchen.

But his first reaction was instant action.  Chip lay on the floor among shards of glass and the smell of strong alcohol.  Carefully stepping next to Chip he was relieved to find the blond breathing easily with a steady pulse, with no apparent blood but a rapidly expanding bump on the side of his forehead.  Will was just about to reach for his cellphone to request one of NIMR’s ambulances when Chip started to come around.  Will quickly pushed aside several glass fragments and helped Chip sit up with his back against the lower cabinets.  “What happened?” he demanded once Chip seemed able to understand him.

“Lee decided to use me for a punching bag,” Chip muttered before finally looking at Will.  “He was drunk,” and he swung an unsteady hand to indicate the carnage on the floor plus the empty bottles still on the counter.

Will looked around in disbelief.  “Why?” he couldn’t help asking.

Chip shook his head – or tried to.  He wasn’t overly successful, as bad as it hurt.  “No clue,” came out instead.  “Well,” he added, “something had him bugged this last cruise.”

“No joke,” it was Will’s turn to mutter, the memory of that glimpse of khaki working forward into his brain now that Chip was at least conscious.  He stood, searched for a zip-lock bag, and filled it from the icemaker in Lee’s fridge before laying it carefully on Chip’s head.  “You stay put,” he ordered, “while I track down your sparring partner.”  Chip almost smiled at the boxing reference; Lee had boxed at Annapolis while Chip had played football.  “I think I might have seen where he walked to.”

“He was walking?” slipped out, causing Will to finally chuckle.

“Actually, not sure how well.  But you’d parked behind him so at least he couldn’t try to drive.”

“Hallelujah,” Chip mumbled, and focused on keeping the bag of ice on his aching forehead.  Will gave him a light pat on the shoulder, kicked a few more shards of bottle further away, and headed for the hillock.

* * * *

When Lee once more became aware of conscious thought, however tenuously, he was kneeling on hard ground leaning against the trunk of a dead tree.  He had no idea how he’d gotten there – wherever ‘there’ was.  His left arm was resting on an exposed root of the tree and he couldn’t think straight enough to even try to move.  All he could do was lay his head on his wrist and try to put a half dozen disjointed images together into something that made sense.  But he was having absolutely no luck.

“Lee,” broke softly through his muddled brain but he still couldn’t make himself move, not even enough to raise his head.  He thought he noted something move around his right side to stop a couple feet in front of him but he couldn’t be bothered to check.  “Lee,” came once more, “can you hear me?  Can you look at me?”

“Why?” he tried to answer but wasn’t sure if anything came out.  It must have because he heard a soft snort.

“Because I need to know if I’m going to have to call the Rescue Squad to get you back to the house.”

Lee thought he heard the words ‘Med Bay’ mumbled as well and that finally got him to raise his head, if only the few inches necessary to focus on the figure – with limited success.  “What are you doing here?  I’m fine,” he grumbled.  But that’s as far as he got before his head dropped back to his wrist just before his entire body lost control and he toppled over onto his right side.  With a frown, Will reached for his cellphone.

* * * *

“What the…” Nelson blustered as he barged through Med Bay’s front doors after being advised that his two senior officers had been transported there by ambulance.  Will, prepared for the onslaught, was standing just inside at the front desk and held up a hand until his boss had himself under more control.  Mostly.  His eyes were still blazing and his body stiff with rage.

Will sent a quick glance at Nurse Hale, manning the desk, and with a nod of his head lead Nelson toward the Doctor’s Lounge down the hall.  Once Nelson had a cup of strong coffee in hand they both sat down.  Nelson was still fuming but he recognized that, if Will was this calm, whatever was going on must be under control.

“While you weren’t on this last cruise,” Will started, “are you aware of Lee’s attitude; his moodiness most of the trip?”

Nelson nodded, taking a sip of coffee.  It wasn’t nearly as strong as he liked but it would do.  “Chip mentioned it.  Nothing totally wrong.”  He sent Will a nervous look.

NIMR’s CMO was very familiar with Nelson’s almost paternal relationship with Seaview’s young captain.  It was mostly kept under wraps but would sneak out any time Lee was injured.  Now he sent his boss a small smile.  “Still not sure what caused it, but once we were back Lee decided to drown it in alcohol.”

“What?” Nelson yelled, almost spilling his coffee before he could get himself under control.

Will shrugged.  “We’ll get it sorted out,” he assured his boss.

Nelson took a deep breath, and another sip of coffee.  “Chip said he was going to go over and harass Lee into telling him what the problem was.”  He looked at Will.  “Harassed him a little too much?”

“Sort of.  Chip says that by the time he got there – and by the way, that wasn’t much more than an hour after they both left NIMR, Lee had emptied three bottles of booze and was apparently trying to do the same with the fourth right in front of him.  Chip said that bottle slipped out of Lee’s hand and shattered on the floor.  Chip tried to move Lee away so he wouldn’t cut himself, Lee went ballistic, and Chip’s head ended up bouncing off the edge of the kitchen table.  He’ll be fine,” he hurriedly explained as Nelson sat forward.

“Lee,” came in one of Nelson’s command tones.  It only caused Will to smile softly again and Nelson sent him a glare.

“I had originally gone home as well,” Will continued in his mild way, and thankfully Nelson sat back.  He wasn’t relaxed, but Will would do his best to keep him as calm as possible.  “I mentioned to Lu-Tsi a little about what Lee was like on the cruise and she insisted that I go over and see what was going on.  You know Lu-Tsi,” came out with a sheepish grin, finally creating an answering one from Nelson.  “I tried calling first and got no answer.  I didn’t realize that Chip was going over.  Although,” he sent Nelson another small smile, “I should have known.”  That got another grin and a nod from Nelson.  “I happened to catch a glimpse of uniform on that knoll just south of Lee’s house but didn’t at the time know who or what it was.  Went in and found Chip.  He was just coming around…”

“He’d been unconscious?”

Will nodded.  “That’s why he’s here.  I don’t really know how long he was out but other than a terrific headache and what’s going to be quite a spectacular black eye he’ll be fine.”  He chuckled.  “He should have a grand time explaining that to his family.”  They both gave a small laugh.  “I sat him up, gave him a bag of ice, and headed after who I now knew was Lee.  Chip mentioned Lee must have hit the booze the instant he got home although there is no way to know how full any of the bottles were to start with.  Chip and I both almost tripped over Lee’s briefcase, dropped just inside the front door that he didn’t even bother closing.”

“Damn,” slipped out of Nelson’s mouth quietly and he polished off the coffee.

Will nodded.  “Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, I did find Lee on the knoll.  I have no idea how he even made it that far with all the alcohol he’d downed so fast on what had to be an empty stomach as little as he’s eaten, especially the last couple of days.”

“Alcohol poisoning?” Nelson guessed.

“A touch,” Will confirmed.  “None of the bottles could have been more than half full, and probably even less.  Once I got him here I pumped his stomach although by that time, with no food to slow it down, the alcohol had already done its damage.”

“But why?”

Will knew that Nelson wasn’t questioning the diagnosis, merely the reason it happened, but all he could do was shrug.  “Hopefully, once he wakes up in a few hours we’ll find out.”  He frowned.  “Assuming he’ll answer.”  They both nodded again.  Lee only talked when he wanted to!

“A few hours?” Nelson verified.

“I’ll call you,” Will told him with another smile.

“You’d better,” Nelson grumped.  But he also smiled softly, nodded, and headed for his office.

* * * *

Lee couldn’t remember when he’d felt so bad.  His body ached, his throat burned, and his head felt like it had exploded.  He had no idea why; the last thing he could remember clearly was getting back from Seaview’s last cruise and heading home.

“How’s your head?” came softly and he struggled to open his eyes.  He was only partially successful – one opened to half mast but the other stayed firmly closed.  He did manage to make out the figure of Dr. Will Jamison standing to his left and assumed that somehow he’d ended up in Jamie’s domain, Med Bay.

“Is it still attached?” he asked carefully.

Will chuckled.  “Very much attached.  Well, fairly firmly,” he amended.

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Lee managed to get out before once more closing his eye.

“That’s got to be a first – you taking my word about anything related to your health,” Will grumbled.  It switched to a chuckle as Lee, eyes still closed, frowned.  “Do you remember what happened?”

Lee tried once more, now that he knew he wasn’t missing at least half of his brain.  “I seem to recall losing a fight with a 500-pound, twenty-armed monster,” came out slowly.  “But don’t quote me,” he added tiredly and heard Will chuckle softly.

“Maybe you’ll think twice before you do that again.”

“I doubt it,” came in Nelson’s familiar tones, now with a hint of humor, and Lee once more struggled to open his eyes.  One still got stuck half open but the other managed its normal function as the Admiral came to a stop at the foot of his bed.

“That was me, you dodo bird,” came from Lee’s right.  He very slowly turned that direction and saw Chip in the next bed, half sitting up with an icepack against his head.

“What?” came out in what Lee thought was a demand but even he recognized it was more whine.

“How about you both get some sleep and we’ll continue this discussion when all of us are under control,” Nelson used his ‘I am he who is to be obeyed’ voice, although there was still half a smile on his face.

“Yes, sir,” came in stereo from the younger men, and Will and Nelson walked out.

* * * *

Chip knew that Lee had lapsed back into a restless sleep.  Jamie had him on an IV to help with Lee’s lack of eating lately but had no idea if the doctor had added anything else. Chip had tried to sleep but he still had a wicked headache despite the meds Jamie had ordered for him.  He wasn’t blaming Lee despite his earlier snipe.  Lee was too much his brother and friend, and he felt only concern over what had caused the so out-of-character actions.  Lee had ‘seemed’ under control earlier but Chip wasn’t holding his breath!  He did wonder if, whatever was wrong, it would have gotten so bad if Admiral Nelson had been aboard this last cruise.  He didn’t think it would have made a difference since Chip had just as many years of friendship and even more contact because of their years as roommates at Annapolis.  Lee hadn’t turned to him with any problem and Chip was forced to admit that actually wasn’t unusual; Lee tended to internalize so much of his personal issues.  Chip had heard Jamie muttering to Nelson once that he didn’t understand why Lee hadn’t developed serious ulcers, as much as he chose to handle himself.  Nelson had cracked back that Chip was such a big needle that he could deflate Lee before the brunet could cause himself any harm.  Chip snorted softly.  “Didn’t work so well this time, buddy,” he chastised himself.

“Humm,” came softly from the other bed and Lee turned his head in Chip’s direction.

“You’re awake,” Chip said, startled.

“Eh,” Lee mumbled back.  He tried to waggle a hand at Chip but wasn’t totally successful.

“I know the feeling,” Chip sniped back.

“Sorry.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes before Chip decided that silence was a major contributor to the current problem and something needed to change.  Now.  “What the heck happened?” he asked softly.

There was silence for so long from the other bed that Chip thought Lee wasn’t going to answer.  Or hadn’t heard.  Or had gone back to sleep.

“Veterans Day,” came so softly that Chip almost didn’t hear.  “Yeager,” Lee continued.  “Kelly.  Majors.  Camden.  The men on the Angler.”  There was another, longer pause.  “My dad.”  Lee made the supreme effort to roll on his side facing Chip.  “I’m not sure.  It all started to build for some reason and I couldn’t…” he hesitated.  “I just kept seeing their faces.  Them and so many more…”  He took a deep breath and looked directly into Chip’s eyes.  “Sorry.”

Forty-nine platitudes ran swiftly through Chip’s mind.  “500 pound, twenty-armed monster, huh?” he said instead with a quirky grin, and from the expression that hit Lee’s face he knew it had been the exact perfect response.  “You know, the Admiral and Jamie are going to want a better answer than that.”

Lee sent a smirk back.  “Doesn’t mean I have to give them one.”

Chip sent him a glare.  “You are coming with me for Thanksgiving,” he ordered.  “No way am I going to explain this black eye on my own.”  Chip’s expression softened.  “But I’m sure we’ll have time for a stop at Arlington Cemetery on the way.”

Lee sent his friend a smile and nodded, and both men closed their eyes.

*           See “Storm Front” by R. L. Keller

**      See some of my other stories

***      See “For Every Action” by R. L. Keller

****     Mrs. Will Jamison used with permission of her creator, Cris Smithsom

+             See Episode “The Enemies”