Chapter 13
Pretty much the rest of the week started to roll on quick for me. My extra studies with Cover girl and the mechanics did add a little bit more pressure on to me, but I still found a way to manage it. If any case I was really looking forward to my liberty time off base.
So on Friday I did meet up with Strike in her dorm for my usual lesson in English and composition. Yet right after her lesson she went over my debit card.
I was basically a credit card issued to me with my own personal pin number. According to her it was good with any bank in United States and abroad. My first question to her was how much was on it. According to Strike I had little over a couple of thousand dollars.
Which to me was a lot of money. I mean I never had any money in my life. I could see that Strike had a bit of a weird look on her face as I celebrated on my new found fortune out loud.
"You know kid a couple of thousand dollars isn't really all that much."" Well Strike it's just that I never really had any money in my entire life. ""Well then kid I guess it is something to celebrate then, but please be responsible with your money ok."
"So don't go and blow it all at once ok."" Don't worry Strike I won't spend it all ok." We kind of sat here in silence till I broke the awkwardness of it by asking her a simple question.
"So Strike what are you going to buy during liberty?"" Well to tell you the truth kid I don't usually use liberty passes all that much."" So you're not coming along with me?"" Nope, I'm just going to stay here as usual."
"Besides you don't need me cramping your style on your night out in town."" Well I guess so, but I think the first thing I'm going to buy is an alarm clock of my own."" Now that's a smart thing to do kid, buying a good alarm clock."
"You see you don't need me to tag along with you since you seem to handle things well on your own."" I guess so, so if you're not coming along with me then who is?"
"Just a small group of Joe's and green shirts I think about seven or eight of them including you."" I know for a fact that Shipwreck, Grunt, and Clutch are some of them going along."" Ok now on to something more important kid."
"So your liberty pass is only good for about five hours."" From 1700 hours to 2100 hours, so be sure to back here at 2100 hours sharp ok kid."" Not a problem Strike you can count on me. ""That's good to hear kid, so go head get on out here and I'll see you tomorrow."
The very next day went by quick usually on the weekends the pit has an easy day. As for me since I'm still in training, it's just like any other day during the week for me with the exception of Sunday of course. But since I have a Liberty pass most of my instructors took it easy on me, since they knew I was looking forward to be off of base for a few hours.
So around 1630 I started to assemble at the airstrip. Apparently they were loading a four person VAMP into one of those troop carrier jets. Only this was one of the coolest jets that I have ever seen, since it could hover in place and take off at the same time.
Apparently according to Strike I had to hand over my Liberty pass to check out by some Joe called Wild Bill. Again with these names of these Joe's. According to the way she describe him to me, it wasn't really all that hard for me to miss him.
In a way he sort did look like one of those cowboy types that I've read about in a National geographic magazine. I just made a quick hello to him as he waved over for me to hand over my liberty pass.
"Ok looks good kid, I just need you to stow away your side arm in my plane."" You'll get it back once you comeback aboard my plane when you head back to base." I just nodded to him. "Oh by the way kid go on ahead and strap yourself into the VAMP if you don't mind."" I'm only waiting on another three."
"Really just three more."" That's what I said kid."" Well who are they then?"" If you must know kid, they are Shipwreck, Grunt, and Clutch."" Well I guess I'm the only green shirt going then."
At about ten minutes till the new hour those three finally showed up. I could see that Wild Bill was a bit annoyed at the fact that these three decided to take their sweet time in getting to troop carrier. And like clockwork they all enter the VAMP and Strap themselves in.
I could tell that they all gave me an odd look to see a green shirt coming along. They all took their respective seats. The one that was next me started to talk to me in a friendly demeanor.
"So what's your name greenie?"" Oh I'm Private Mark, but mostly everyone calls me Kid."" Oh so you're the Kid who shoot like nobody's business eh."" Yeah I suppose so."" Well my name is Clutch kid."" Nice to meet you Clutch."
Soon enough I could feel the plane lifting off." So kid you wouldn't mind if asked you how old you are." "Uh no not really, but if you want to know I'm eighteen. ""Sweet, hey fellas I think we have our volunteer designated driver here."
"A what?"" Never mind about that kid ok, I'll let you know once we reach Tucson." Tucson," the kid said confusingly? "Yeah Tucson Arizona kid."" I guess that explains the desert around us."" Anyways kid just stick with us till we get to Tucson."
After about twenty or thirty minutes we touched down on to the ground, when the back door hatch open the sun was starting to set. Apparently we were still in the middle of nowhere.
But not for long as Shipwreck started to turn on the vamp and head down a dirt road, while I looked back as the troop transport took off. Soon enough I saw a paved road up ahead as we started to head west on it.
It turned out to be interstate 10. As the sun went down I could see the sky change into shades of purple and dark red orange. It was really a sight to behold. I guess this was a different kind of VAMP since it had doors and moving windows.
Because the usual VAMPS I ran across with Foster and Phillips where usually two or three seaters with missiles or 50 caliber machine guns on it. None the less Cover girl did teach me how to drive one of these things.
All in all it's really not all that hard compared to a tank. Soon enough I started to see many lights off in the distance. I guess that's Tucson I suppose, but then I was reassured a little later as I saw a road sign signaling that we were only a few miles away from the town.
Only town was an understatement, to me this was a city with lots of buildings and shops all over. At first I thought we were going to pull up to a shop, but instead we pulled up to a place called O'Malley's.
Finally we all got out of the VAMP and started to head to the main entrances. I followed behind Clutch as I made my way in, only to be stopped by some big ass dude in a black T-Shirt.
"Can I see your ID son?"" What I'm with them," as the kid told to the dude in black. "ID right now son." Soon enough Clutch started to turn around seeing me being held up. "Hey man he's with us. ""I still need to see his ID sir."
"Well the kid here is our designated driver for the night."" So he's underage then."" Well yeah I think he's eighteen."" Sorry I can't let anyone under eighteen during our happy hour."" Ok, ok, ok, hey kid wait for a second or two ok."
I just stood here waiting, but not for long as Clutch started to make his way towards me." Ok kid here's the keys to the VAMP ok, now you can go wherever you want as long as you are back here by 2030 ok." "Don't worry about coming to get us ok I'll make sure we're out here till then."
"Hey how come I can't join you guys? ""It's because your underage remember."" Yeah so why can't I then."" Kid you know what this is right?"" A place called O'Malley's."" Ok I'll level with you kid, this a bar ok."" You can't come in because you're underage to drink legally."
"Man who made that kind of fuck up law?"" I mean if I can fire sniper rifles and drive tanks, then I should be allowed to have a beer with you guys."" Look kid I don't write the laws, but you do have to follow them."
"So just be back here by 2030 ok."" Fine Mr. Clutch. Heh I guess they were right about you, by calling us Mr. or Ms., but it's just Clutch ok kid."" Fine Clutch I'll be back here at 2030."" Great then well I'll see you in a few hours."
Man this sucks I thought to myself. Oh well what can I do about it, nothing really. At least Clutch was nice enough to loan me the VAMP. So in an instant I took off to see the rest of the town. Luckily for me that only a couple of blocks away was a town center or something.
It basically had a lot of shops in the area. So the first place I stop at was an electronic store. The first item I pick up was a new alarm clock. Of course while I waiting in line one of the store employees was asking me question on musical taste and radio programming that I listen to.
As I made some small talk with him, I finally came to a realization that I didn't really have any musical taste or programming taste as well. I mean I train for the most part of day and night. So I really don't have that much time to myself.
But when I do, I mostly watch just some television at the pit. Yet this sales rep was really hell bent on trying to make a sale to me. He did show me something rather cool, which happen to be another radio. But he went on to some further explanation that this was no mere radio.
He basically told me that this was a portable satellite radio. So in a way I got out of line and continued to hear this guys pitch. Apparently this radio was so portable that it could hook up to my car or be a standalone radio.
That actually sounded really cool and convenient with a whole bunch of channels that were according to him were commercial free. Of course he started to switch to some of the channels till one of them really peek my interest.
"Hey what's this channel with catchy music?"" Oh my good sir, that's the EDM channel its sort of the craze right now with much of the younger crowd these days, but by no means that this is only one."" It has about five different sub genres related to this channel."
"Well hey man just got another customer then."" Good choice sir, I'll set up with your monthly subscription for a mere fifteen dollars a month with a hundred and fifty channels set up and you'll be good to go."
Talk about convince here the total money that I spent was about fifty bucks. Ten for the clock radio and forty for the satellite radio, which I hooked up in an instant on the VAMP. They even made these things with real easy instructions to follow.
Next thing I know I'm Jamming to some electronic music down to the next store. I guess I got some music taste now, who knew.
Any ways I parked and locked up the VAMP and hid my Satellite radio and clock radio since the sign on the parking lot said that they are not responsible it items get stolen. The next shop I went into looked like some kind of food market.
As I made my way inside, it turned out to be a rather large supermarket. Every now and then I would pass by a sample rep. Shit you could fill yourself up on all the free food samples here.
Then I got to the last sample rep, which was a really nice old lady pass out some kind of orange drink. So my instinct was that of orange juice.
Yet when I took my first taste a memory in mind started to get triggered. Even though the drink tasted that of peaches, I could start to remember a little bit of my adolescent upbringing in Novsky Orphanage.
I don't know why it came up, but when I tasted the peach drink I could remember some images in my past. So I did next best thing a bought a can of this peach drink as I made my way to the deli area to sit down and ponder on this memory of mine.
While I was taking some small sips, I could remember that I was with some of the other kids sitting around the common area seeing some other adults that were not priest or nuns. For some reason the names of Oscar and Jane kept popping up in my head.
Who were Oscar and Jane? As I kept drinking the peach drink, then it hit me. Oscar and Jane where prospective parents looking to adopted one of us. Yes I remember now that Oscar had told us that he was an ex con trying to turn his life around.
Yet some of his prison life did come along with him into the free world. I remember that he had some kind of drink in a metal canteen of his. He was actually kind of nice guy as he let me a few of the teenagers try a small sample.
It tasted of fire and peaches. It turned out that this stuff he had was called Pruno or prison wine. I remember that we pleaded with him about the conditions here at the Orphanage as we all wanted to be adopted. Yet he could only adopted one of us.
He too knew of the horrors that might await us later in life. As he said to us that he couldn't really do anything about it since he was a former prisoner and that the Head priest could denied his girl friend's application if he would even mention anything about the conditions here to the outside.
So as a parting gift to us teens he did left us the recipe for this Pruno drink of his. It was rather quite simple. It require real basic items, like fruit fresh or canned, a few slices of bread or yeast if on hand, lots of sugar, some juice and a Ziploc bag.
Then a real nice thought enter into my mind. If I cannot have a simple alcoholic drink with some of the Joes, then I should make my own.
So in an instant I finished my peach drink grabbed a shopping cart and went shopping for the items.
I knew for a fact that this was probably going to be one of the very few liberty times for me to be off base. So I made it my mission to make a load of this stuff.
So I bought mostly canned peaches about three or four of those 29 oz cans which is a lot of peaches. Next I got one box of five one gallon Ziploc bags. Next I bought two good size bags of pure white sugar and a twelve pack of that nice peach juice drink that lady was selling.
Then I bought twenty packs of pure yeast. The other thing I wanted to get also was about two to three gallons of pure grape juice.
Since the grape juice already has the adequate sugar necessary, all I would need is a rubber stomper with an attached hose to vent out the gas when I add the yeast. To make some sweet wine.
And last but not least I would need a strainer and some empty one gallon jugs. All in all this was going to fill out one of those groceries paper bags. So as added precaution I decided to buy a few packs of candy bars to cover up my stuff.
All in all it filled out a couple of large double paper bags. With my stuff evenly distributed with plenty of candy bars on the top to cover it up.
That way if any of the Joe's gets suspicious I would just show them the candy and share a few chocolate bars with them.
As I paid for my groceries, I take a look at my watch to see that it was 20:15. Crap I got hurry and place my stuff in the VAMP and head back to O'Malley's to pick up Clutch and the rest of the Joes.
Within a span of ten to fifteen minutes I made I back nearly on time. I guess Clutch kept his word as he and the other two Joes where waiting outside of O'Malley's. I got out ready to hand over the VAMP keys back to Clutch, when he instead told me that I was driving back to the LZ.
Apparently I found out what designated driver really means now. As I was the designated driver to these rather drunken Joes. At least Clutch wasn't that much drunk as he did set up the GPS for me so that I could go in the right direction back the LZ.
Of course when I was driving I started to turn on my Satellite radio listening to some EDM music. I was expecting some questions or complaints from the rest of these Joes, but I could tell they were really passed out from drinking all night.
Soon enough within about twenty minutes I made back to LZ were Wild Bill was waiting. He nodded to me with much approval that I came back on time with other Joes in tow.
"Not bad kid you actually made it on time, usually I have wait an extra thirty minutes with these three jokers here."" Thank you Mr. Bill."" It just Wild Bill, by the way what do you have stow away there in the back of the VAMP?"
"Oh just a few things like my new alarm clock radio, and a portable radio."" Some peach drinks and some candy."" Do you want a candy bar Wild Bill?""Sure kid if you're sharing. ""Here you go then."" Huh I can't remember the last time that I had a chocolate nougat bar, thanks kid you know you are all right in my book."" Now go ahead and secure the VAMP and strap yourself in."" We are leaving in five."
I did as he said securing the VAMP and strapped myself in. Within twenty minutes we finally touched down near the air strip by the pit. I woke up Clutch letting him know we are here as I unsecured the VAMP ready to be lowered out of the carrier.
All three of them filed out and started to wobble back to the pit, most likely to head back to their bunks as for me I reassured Wild Bill that I'll put up the VAMP as I drove off to my dorm to drop of my stuff.
All in all this only took about ten minutes in total. As I started to head back to my dorm I could see that Strike was waiting for me outside my door most likely to greet me.
"Hey kid how was your liberty? "It went pretty well for me as I able to get the clock radio that I wanted."" That's good, by the way I did see you bring a couple of bags into your dorm."" What else did you buy?"
"Well you know just some of the basics."" Like what kid?"" Ok well just come on in and see for yourself." I let Strike into my dorm to see some of the stuff that I wanted her to see.
"Ok as I said before I bought an alarm clock radio, oh and I also got this nifty portable satellite radio." "Whoa a satellite radio.""Yeah apparently I have some music taste now."" Hmm I guess that good to know, what else did you get. "
"Oh I also bought some of this peach drinks in a can.""Oh I also got lots of candy. ""Really you bought some candy," as Strikes voice started to light up.
"Yeah mostly chocolate stuff, you want some?"" Sure kid I'm a big chocoholic."" Ok well do you like peanuts and chocolate?"" You bet can I have some?"" Sure here you go have a whole twenty box count."" Also uh here"s a box for your roomy lady J if she wants some."
"Well aren't you being so generous."" Thanks kid, well have a good night then and I'll see you tomorrow."" Good night Strike and enjoy the candy."