Meanwhile, back in Schooner Bay...
Candy and Jonathan were out front of the cottage having a game of catch. Both had good throwing arms, and good hands for catching, so even as they were a couple of years apart in age, it was a pretty even match. Scruffy worked hard to help both of them equally and seemed to be having the best time of all. On the porch, the Captain was standing, hands behind his back as if he were on a ship's deck, taking in the scene, laughing at Scruffy's antics as the little dog managed to catch the ball, causing Jonathan and Candy to collide, ending in a heap as each had tried to catch Scruffy - and missed.
In victory, Scruffy leaped onto the porch with his well slathered trophy firmly in his jaws. He turned to face the children and sat, triumphant at the feet of the Captain who praised him with a, "Well done Scruffy!" before grabbing the ball and tossing it to Candy to restart the game.
When she cried out with a loud, "YUCK!" he realized he probably should have wiped the rather spitty ball down. Oh well, Candy was no shrinking violet, she could handle it. Now whether or not she particularly wanted to handle it was entirely another matter! Smiling he sent Scruffy back into the fray as a tune from Candy's transistor radio caught his ear.
"Galveston, oh Galveston..." a young man's voice sang from the tiny box. Captain Gregg moved closer to the radio, listening to the haunting melody that took him back to a time long ago and his face settled into a quiet, if intent expression as he took in the lyrics. The words painted a picture of the sea and shore, wind and birds and love and war, almost as if they had been written about him.
So intense was his concentration, Mrs. Muir was able to approach, unnoticed. She waited for the song to finish before speaking. "A beautiful song isn't it?" she asked. The Captain was somewhat startled - normally he always knew when Mrs. Muir was near, but she had caught him off guard with his thoughts far away in space and time.
"The singer is Glen Campbell, he's an incredibly talented young man, musician, singer, I saw him on tv the other night and I understand he's going to do a movie with John Wayne," Mrs. Muir reported, as if she had learned the details for a newspaper article.
"John Wayne?" asked the Captain, his mind still on the song but clearly Mrs. Muir had some expectation that he would know of John Wayne even if he did not know Glen Campbell.
"He's a famous movie actor, usually does westerns or war movies. He just had a hit called True Grit - Glen Campbell was in it."
Captain Gregg nodded as a sign of understanding, while his face showed his thoughts were still elsewhere. Mrs. Muir was distracted by the children, who were now playing a game where one would jump off the wall and attempt to catch the ball in mid-air as the other threw it. The kind of game with a bit of arm breaking potential, or as she watched Jonathan almost flatten the fearless Scruffy, dog damaging potential. Mrs. Muir called to them, intending to tell them to find something less deadly to do when Martha emerged from the house to call the children in for snack time. Small - so as not to hurt their appetite - ice cream sundaes were a definite possibility!
After the children and Scruffy followed Martha in - Scruffy was no fool, he knew when and where he might find some tasty rewards! Mrs. Muir and the Captain settled down on the steps for a few quiet moments together. Finally, the Captain spoke.
"I went to Galveston, once, long ago," he said, wistfully.
"Oh? When was that," replied Mrs. Muir, hoping for an interesting story - she found most of his stories to be interesting, truth be told.
As she asked, he began his tale. "It was early April in '47, we were on the way to the Battle of Veracruz - we had put Figg off and we were making good time when a storm blew up. the Atlantic can be, difficult, sometimes. We turned for the calmer waters of the Gulf and crossed with another American Navy ship. Their captain was a well seasoned man with a good head, and brave - not like that blasted Figg! in fact he had served with distinction in the War of 1812. He gave us the once over - satisfying himself that our junior officers were of such quality that our captain was not needed. Our ship was newer, smaller and faster that his great ship with its heavy cannon. He was concerned that we would not have enough troops to do a proper landing if it came to that - to be honest, we were all going to Veracruz without any great plan other than to gather first and plan later. He had heard - but had no confirmation, that there were Marines at Galveston. He did not feel he could take the time to sail across the Gulf on a slim possibility, but as we were faster and our presence was not needed to form a plan in Veracruz, he gave us the job of finding the Marines, if there were any Marines, and then bringing them with us to Veracruz."
"So you sailed for Galveston then?"
"Sailed? We veritably flew! We knew there would be a battle of some sort at Veracruz, or at least we were hoping for one - a ship of young men, our first chance to prove ourselves, we were trained, but a bit reckless and oh so eager - we were determined not to miss the battle which would have brought eternal shame to us all. We turned for Galveston with ever bit of sail we could find. Fortune was with us as we crossed the Gulf in record time. Thank God the Atlantic storm had not followed us in!" The Captain's eyes were lit with an inner fire as he recalled those heady days.
"We made port at Galveston and soon every man jack was crawling the docks and town looking for any sign of the Marines." His face with split with a grin as the memory played across his mind, and then, suddenly a calmness came over him and he said, "and then, I saw her. Maria. For me, time stopped at that moment." Mrs. Muir tried, she really, really tried not to roll her eyes. She failed, but she did try, really, truly she did, but sometimes she wondered how any other man of his time managed to get a girl with the Captain around!
"So what happened next?"
"Oh, Maria - she had the darkest eyes I ever saw, it was like trying to fathom the depths of the Black Sea - endless pools..."
"Yes, imagine that. Go on..."
"Her skin was golden, sun kissed, her lips were so red, the color of fine rubies, her hair..."
As the Captain continued describing the beauty of Maria, Mrs. Muir studied the sunlight on a spiders web extending down from the porch rafters. She knew all too well when he got like this he could go on for quite a while. She wasn't jealous, not exactly as that would be silly, and she did want to hear the story, it was just that she did not need to hear so much about the various beauties in his past.
"So, how did you meet her?" She asked thinking it would at least get him to stop going on and on about her perfection.
"She was down by the docks. She had a little table under a shade and she sold tamales."
"Tamales?"
"They are a traditional Mexican food - corn husks stuffed with some meat and something - it was the only time I ever had them and I wasn't really paying attention."
"I can imagine," Mrs. Muir replied. In her mind, her eyes rolled. But only in her mind.
"I was very young, just a midshipman. Although not a complete innocent by any means, and had escorted plenty of pretty girls and met some beautiful ones, Maria was the first truly natural beauty I had met. No corsets, for example." He wanted Mrs. Muir to understand, but somehow the right words were not there. How could he explain immediate, deep and lasting feelings for a tamale girl he only met once? He could not and realizing it, he retreated from the topic and continued with his story.
"Maria explained why we had not found the Marines - they had gone to the other end of the island to drill. We boarded our ship, and managed to get out of the harbor -not so easy a task when the tide and winds are not in your favor. We sailed along the coast until we found them. They wanted to go back to their barracks, but we explained there was no time and told them all the gear they would need would be waiting. It wasn't exactly a lie of course, its just that we had no idea what supplies we would find at Veracruz, or the plan of action, or for that matter at that point, we didn't even know for certain who would be in charge. But we sailed off anyway, making for the Atlantic, praying the storm had run out, and then bearing starboard down the Mexican coast to what we hoped would be great glory. We were there for oh, 10 days, mostly it was hot, we lay siege to the port, and then attacked and took it. At night, the dark sky above would take my thoughts back to Maria and away from the random shots fired or the terrible silent waiting. Always meant to go back and see her, never did of course." He looked over at Mrs Muir, but she said nothing.
"The song you see brought it all back. Galveston is beautiful like the song, but there is also war in the song and longing, and it just took me back. Odd how a song of today could trigger thoughts of so long ago." With that the Captain got up and straightened his jacket. Mrs. Muir was lost now in her own thoughts, imagining the Captain as a young midshipman, apparently moon eyed over a girl, a woman he never even really got to know.
"Madam, what are you thinking?"
"I am thinking of you as a beardless youth."
"Ah. Do not waste your time then. I've had a beard since I was 15, although I have to admit it wasn't much more than the fine hairs of a peach - soft and downy then... But still a beard!" He declared and left her to go above for a turn about the widow's walk.
"Soft and downy?" thought Mrs. Muir. Oh. And so young and in a battle so far from home. She walked out to the little road that ran in front of the cottage and gazed out over the bay. Far, far away on the other side of the world really were other young men in battles, the ones that inspired the song. She hoped that things would change before Jonathan was old enough to join them. She went to the house in search of coffee and hoping to find some ice cream. The song would never be quite the same to her again.
