Rick nodded towards her and shocked himself by asking, "His father is here? On Okinawa I mean."
Again, the sad look took over not only Tomi's eyes, but her whole face. And as he watched, she tightened her arms on her belly
"I'm sorry." Rick said quickly. "I shouldn't have asked that. It isn't any of my business."
Tomi turned and walked away. "I'll get you kohi and a doughnut." She spoke very softly and Rick could hear the sadness in her voice.
You jerk. Why did you ask her that? You don't even know each other and you ask questions like that.
He started to get up to leave when Tomi quietly stepped up and set a cup of coffee and small plate with a cinnamon and sugar coated doughnut on it.
"The doughnut is only a few minutes out of the grease. It is still a sukoshi warm.
You do not have to apologize to me. I believe it was a normal question to ask when you are trying to get to know somebody. His father was killed in Vietnam in May. He was a Seabee." She wiped a small tear from the inside corner of each eye. "I believe that someday I will be able to talk about him without tears, but not yet."
"I am sorry, Tomi" Rick said quietly, but thought she was already out of hearing.
After he finished his coffee and doughnut, Rick started to the front door. Tomi had gone into the kitchen so he left some money on the small desk and stepped through the door.
Coming down the stairs was an older American couple. Rick held the door for them and the woman nodded thanks and just as Rick stepped through the door behind them the man said thanks. The woman met Tomi coming from the kitchen and the women hugged closely. He watched as Tomi stepped up to the man and hugged him also.
They're more than nodding acquaintances. Looks like family. Rick thought as he went up the stairs and out onto Kokusai Dori to hail a taxi.
"BC Street" Rick told the driver and settled back to enjoy the scenery.
Rick wasn't sure why he decided to go to BC Street and Gate #2 Street in Koza. He still felt embarrassed from being so bold and asking Tomi things that he knew were really none of his business and obviously hurt her to talk about. Even though she had been so gracious and absolved him of any blame, it hadn't eased his feelings of guilt and stupidity very much.
EIGHT
For a couple of hours Rick wandered up and down Gate #2 Street before wandering over to BC Street looking into pawn shops and the small Okinawan stores many which were family run and sold everything from an egg, half liter and even quarter liter bottles of milk, chopsticks and a serving spoon. He ended up going into a bar not very far from the intersection of BC and Gate #2 Streets. He ordered a C/C and water which turned out to be more C/C than water. There was only the bartender, an Okinawan woman who Rick thought was a really nice looking forty, and three women, obviously bar girls, sitting in a booth playing some kind of card game with cards a third the size of regular cards that had trees and flowers on their faces.
The Righteous Brothers were singing YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN' on the jukebox which Rick was enjoying as he sipped on his drink.
"Can I sit here?" He heard over Bobby Vinton just starting to croon THERE! I'VE SAID IT AGAIN replacing The Righteous Brothers.
She was small, maybe an inch over 5’, and under a hundred pounds. She had her shoulder length hair done at the local hairdresser's. She wore a minimum of makeup. A touch of lipstick and little smear of pink on her high cheek bones. He was impressed by her blemish-free skin and healthy color.
"Sure." He glanced back towards the booth and saw that the three women were still engrossed in their card game and not paying any particular attention to anything else in the bar.
Where did she come from? Certainly is more girl than woman. Maybe 20 years old. Cute.
Rick watched the girl step up on the wooden step built into the front of the bar replacing the traditional American brass rail in order to slide gracefully onto the bar stool next to him. Her dark red silk dress had a sheath style skirt tight on her butt and legs which restricted her movements. She was small breasted but endowed enough with a tiny waist to give her an enjoyable to look at figure.
"I have never seen you before. You are Air Force? From Kadena?"
"Yeah. I haven't been in here before. I'm not much of a drinker, but I like a drink and listen to quiet music."
The girl smiled and laughed quietly. "I don't like to drink either, just Coke or soda water. You like this music?"
"Very much. Would you like a Coke? Or something else?"
"Soda water would be good. Order me the same as yours and Kayoko will give me soda water with a little Coke in it to color it the same."
Rick smiled as he laid two dollars on the bar. "Kayoko?" He pointed at his glass and pointed to the nesan next to him. "Please, two the same."
"You don't mind?"
"No. It's okay. You have to make a living and this is your job. Are you Okinawan?"
"Yes, I'm from Nago. A city that way." She pointed in a roughly northern direction. "You know where it is?"
"No. This is only the second time that I've been on the island."
Rick felt his stomach tell him that the whiskey was hitting bottom. He was hungry since he hadn't eaten since earlier in the day when he had the doughnut in the coffee house.
"Is there a good restaurant close? I'm hungry and need food rather than more whiskey."
He caught a quick look of disappointment flash across the girl's face before she answered.
"Almost across the street is the Goya. It is very good and there is also a sushi bar close. If you want, Kayoko can order food for you from the Goya and they will bring it here."
She was making what Rick considered a last ditch effort to keep him spending his US dollars in the bar.
"What do you like?" Rick asked her.
"The Goya is good, but I do like sushi also."
"I think I'll pass on the sushi."
The girl gave him a funny look with question in it. "Pass on it?" She asked.
"Sorry. I meant that I don't want sushi.
Are you hungry? Can you leave to get something to eat with me? To keep me company. Or, do you even want to?"
"Oh, yes. I would like that."
Rick held the door for her and as she passed in front of him he enjoyed the faint whisper of a musky perfume.
"What is your name? I'm Rick Davis."
Again her soft smile before she answered. "Kim. Kimiko Aranaka. I do like Kim." She smiled up at him and moved closer to him as they started across the street.
They sat on opposite sides of a booth and when Rick looked over the top of his menu he realized that she was watching him. Her dark brown, almond shaped eyes were bright with intelligence and what he thought might be curiosity.
"What?" He asked.
"I was wondering how much about Okinawa you knew or cared about knowing." Her smile was warm and drew him to her. "Do you like Japanese and Okinawan food?"
"I know some things on the menu, but a lot of it is new to me. Fried noodles, fried rice, soba. What are they?"
She laughed mostly with her eyes with very little sound. "Soba is noodle soup with maybe some vegetables or meat in it. Fried noodles is noodles and vegetables fried with a sauce, called yakasoba. Fried rice is just that, rice fried with maybe meat like beef, pork or chicken, maybe an egg, cabbage and onion in it, called yakamesa."
With a hint of a laugh Rick couldn't help himself but to ask. "What do you mean, you keep saying maybe? Maybe it has meat, maybe not?"
"Hai. That is exactly what I mean. Every cook has their own recipe. Did not your mother teach you that? Or did you never see how she made things different from your tomodachi's mother?"
"Your English is very good. I haven't met many Okinawans, but even so, you are very easy for me to understand."
Kim just waved her hand and went back to her menu. "I think that you should try yakasoba with chicken. If you like
chicken."
"I do. Like chicken that is. What is a tomodachi?"
"Friend. I am your tomodachi."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I am going to have some sushi and I will share it with you."
Their eyes met across the table and held each other until Rick spoke.
"Do you really work in the bar?"
"Hai, but only part time. I am going to the University of the Ryukyus in Naha. I only have morning classes on Friday. So I come here to Koza after noon meal and stay until before afternoon classes on Monday. My first class is at 1330 on that day."
Rick smiled then laughed.
"You are laughing at me." Kim had a stricken look as she met Rick's eyes. "Why?"
"I'm sorry." He answered. "It was your use of military time. It just struck me as funny. Forgive me? I meant nothing by it."
Kim looked up from her water glass where she had taken refuge and met his eyes. She smiled with her eyes flashing almost gleefully. "I could not resist. I wanted to know how nice a person you are. I know that you are a nice person, but I wanted to know how nice. And you are very nice. You care for people. Even a bar girl that you do not know or have any reason to be really nice to. I’m embarrassing you aren't I?"
"As a matter of fact." Rick answered.
"How long will you be on Okinawa?"
"This time, about two weeks We call it a TDY. But I won't be at Kadena or on the island the whole time."
"Why not? Where will you be going?"
"Back and forth to Guam, Thailand and Vietnam. I fly on tankers."
"The big airplane with the long tail?" Kim asked him.
"Yeah. it's called a KC135. I'm a crew chief. A mechanic. I fix my airplane and make sure it's safe to fly then go on trips with it."
The conversation slowed down when the waitress brought their dinners.
Rick was amazed at the amount of yakasoba on his plate. "There is no way I can eat all of this. It does smell and look good. Where's the fork?"
Kim laughed openly at him. "This is Okinawa. You will have to learn to eat with hashi. Chopsticks. Here I will teach you."
There was a lot of laughing and fun poked at each other over their cultural differences. Rick was reluctant when Kim insisted that he share her sushi with her and to his amazement found that he really liked it except when he got too much wasabi on a piece of fish and had to grab some green tea to put out the fire that threatened to engulf his throat and nostrils. She ate some yakasoba off of his plate and soon his plate was empty and all of her sushi was gone.
Rick looked at his watch while he was waiting to pay for their meal and Kim was in the restroom. 1900, I have to meet Bob sometime in the next half hour.
When they started back along the sidewalk going towards the bar, Rick felt Kim's hand reach for his and he took her small hand into his. They walked slowly neither wanting to reenter the bar's environment nor to leave each other's company.
"I have to go back on base. I told my friend and boss that I would meet him in the NCO Club after 7 o' clock."
"Will I see you again? I will be at the bar until it closes tonight."
"I'm flying tomorrow and won't be back until late and will probably want to get some sleep. I don't know when I'll have another day off."
"Oh. I hope you will come see me again. Sometimes I work on Wednesday night because I don't have any classes on Thursday. I will be in the bar Wednesday night and all day Thursday in case you can meet me."
He felt her hip press against his leg gently as they walked by the bar. Without a word passing between them they continued up Gate #2 Street towards the air base gate still holding hands and brushing against each other.
"I have to go back to the bar." Kim spoke, but continued to stand next to Rick on the sidewalk just outside of the gate. She moved closer, touching him more and looking into his face making eye contact. "Bye, Rick." She said and kissed him on the cheek, let go of his hand and turned to walk away.
"Kim." Rick spoke loudly afraid that she might not hear him, or would take it into her head that he didn't want to see her again. "I'll try to see you as soon as I can. Alright?"
She broke into a great smile, nodded as she hurried back, hugged him ending with a quick, but firm kiss on his lips. "Konbanwa Rick-san."
NINE
From the IP seat Rick watched Kadena's approach lights pass brightly under the tanker's nose and in few seconds the runway lights were flashing by. The pilot brought 3653's nose up and the mains screeched softly on the concrete.
"Damn, that was smooth." The navigator spoke over the intercom.
"Want to try that one again Sir?" The boom operator quipped.
"Do I look or act that stupid? I know luck when I feel it." The pilot chuckled softly as he answered the crew's comments.
It was just after 2200 hours when the ground crew parked them in front of their revetment.
Rick picked up his flight bag and the aircraft forms before he and Don walked towards the flightline chief's pickup. He looked at his watch again and thought about what he wanted to do. Several times over the long flight he had passing thoughts of Kim, the girl he had met yesterday. While refueling 3653 on the ramp at Utapao his mind had drifted away to her and how much fun his short visit with her had been. I'm really too tired to go see her tonight. Besides, she said that she would be in Naha at school. And I don't even know her. She may have a GI boyfriend who is spending his money on her right now.
A perfunctory hello to Bob Kruse was all he said on the way to job control.
"My, aren't we talkative tonight.
Did he break his beautiful airplane, Don?"
"No. As a matter of fact we haven't had even a minor write-up since before we left Fairchild." Rick spoke up before his assistant could answer Kruse.
"So why so quiet?"
"Just tired I guess. It has been a long day. On the flightline since 0800."
"How is your assistant working out? Any problems?"
"Oh hell no. He's really good. Knows the tanker and works hard and I can trust him to do it right.
Even caught a couple of minor write-ups coming back from Maelstrom AFB one night. Truthfully, I slept through them."
"Hey listen up guys. I'm here. Really in person." Don Naylor protested.
"Think he'll get a swelled head if we keep talking about him, Rick."
"Doubt it. But we better cool it. Let him suffer wondering until he sees his performance review."
"You guys are really cruel." Naylor quipped.
"I'll cover job control for you guys after I drop you at the barracks. I'll put your forms in the nose compartment after I get them from job.
Better get some sleep. By the way, you have to fly at 1100 tomorrow morning. Just a short flight if all goes well. Got a Marine Corp F4 coming off a carrier south of Taiwan inbound for Naha. He'll need an escort and a load or two of gas to make it."
"He's coming alone?"
"Yeah, back seater is going home on emergency leave and will fly out of Kadena, but he has to check into Naha on his way."
"We have to be wheels up at 1100?"
"You got it."
Rick had taken a long, hot shower before crawling between the cool sheets on his bunk. Don Naylor was already asleep and so Rick had only the small reading light over his bunk on. But he wasn't reading. With both arms under his head he was just relaxing on his back and thinking about the last few days since he had left Fairchild. Both Okinawan women, Tomi, married and very pregnant. Kim, a young bar girl of unknown circumstances, came to mind in between flashes of flying and stops along the way. He glanced at his watch in the dim light. 0020. I should get some sleep. I do need it. Preflight at 0900 but that shouldn't be a problem especially with Don helping me. He was appreciating his new assistant as he drifted off to sleep.
"Hey Rick. You going to get up or sleep all day? It's almost 8 o'clock so we still have tim
e to get coffee and some breakfast before preflight."
"Christ. What time did you get up?" Rick asked Naylor when he was awake enough to see that his assistant was not only up, but was in his flight suit.
"Only long enough to get dressed. You didn't hear the alarm?"
"Hell no. You set it last night?"
"I wasn't sure if we would wake up early enough or not. Yesterday was a long day and I for one was dog tired when I sacked out."
The two crew chiefs walked the four or five blocks to the flightline snack bar were they knew they could get passable coffee and some really good hash browns, bacon and over easy eggs.
"Who is Kim?" Naylor asked Rick just as they were going into the snack bar.
Rick looked at Don and wondered where that question had come from. "Who?" He faked it knowing full well who Kim was, but wanting to know what his assistant and friend knew about her.
"You asked her name once when I was getting up and then asked, 'Kim here?' just before I woke you up. Or have you been reading Rudyard Kipling and Kim is a native boy?"
Should I tell him, or fake it. Hell, he'll find out and meet her if I see her again anyway.
"She's a bar girl that I had a drink with and took to supper night before last."
"Gate 2 Street?"
"Yeah I think so. Does it matter?"
"No. Just curious. Cute and young?"
"Definitely. About 20 years old or so. A real baby-san."
"What bar?"
Rick laughed before answering. "Damned if I know what its' name is. Just a little ways down from the gate where Gate 2 street and BC come together. She walked to the gate with me after we ate. I can find it again. It had a palm tree painted on the front door."
"It's the Palms. Can you remember that? It's not that hard a name to remember."
After they finished their breakfast they sat sipping on coffee waiting for Bob Kruse to pick them up.
Kruse had hardly started down the flightline after picking them up when Naylor announced, "Rick is in love."
Kruse looked at Don then turned to Rick across the wide front seat of the pickup with a questioning expression. "Naha?" He asked.
"Gate 2 Street" Don answered.