CH 21
When the taxi pulled to the driveway it was full and there were cars also parked there as well as on the front lawn. Jim paid the fair and the taxi left.
"This is your parent's place?" When she saw a large two storey turn of the century house.
"They bought it when I was five years old, it needed a lot of work done to it. It took five years to make it look like it is today."
"It's amazing."
"Come on," they walk around to the back of the house where they could smell a barbeque going, hearing some music and voices.
"Hey! we made it!" Jim said.
"Jim! Mate, we were wondering if you were going to be able to make it," a man said as he stood up and walked over to give him a hug.
"Thanks, Ben."
"How are you, Son?"
"I'm good thanks, Dad. Everyone this is June, June this is my family, my Dad, Tom; brother Ben, his fiance՛, Judy' sister Trish, her husband Dan, and Val my sister. And of course my nieces and nephews."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you all."
"You too, June."
"Where's Mum?"
" In the kitchen doing up the salads."
"Ok, we will take these inside."
" What's in the bags?" Tom asked curiously.
"Food, Dad," Jim said being a smart ass while smiling, making others laugh as they walk inside and into the kitchen.
"Hi, Mum."
"Jim!" he put the bags on the counter then gave her a hug and June did as well. "How are you?"
"I'm good, Mum. Mum, this is June. June, my Mum, Jamie."
"It's nice to meet you, Ma'am."
"It's nice to meet you too, and call me Jamie, are you in the army too?"
"No, Ma'am... Jamie, navy, Senior Sailor."
"Petty Officer, Mum, youngest in the history of RAN."
"Really!" she said surprised.
"Wow! I'm impressed, ahhh, what did you two bring?"
"Food, Mum."
She laughed, "Very funny, never heard that one before."
"Blame June here for it."
"Oh, you've got a sense of humour."
"At times."
Jamie opened the bags to see what was there, "Oh my! Fruit, cream cheese, cream, ice cream, what's all of this for?"
"Cheesecake fruit salad," June said.
"I told her that she could make it here."
"Alright, thank you but you shouldn't have brought all of this."
"She wanted to, Mum, to help out."
"I'm doing up salads."
"Why hasn't Trish or Val helped out?"
"You know what they are like."
Frowning, "Yes I know."
"I can help you when the fruit salad is done," June offered.
"Thank you, but you're our guest."
"I'm used to it."
"Well ok then, thanks."
"I'll get us a drink," Jim said.
"Thanks, Jim," June said with a smile.
He walked over to the fridge to get a couple of cold beers out while listening to June and his Mum.
June noticed that Jamie was having problems cutting up the cabbage, so she asked her for a potato peeler and walked over to her. "Here's a trick I use when I do the slaw," showing her how she did it.
"Well I'll be damned, I never thought of that," using the peeler on the cabbage while June started chopping up the fruit.
Jamie watched what June did with certain fruits and it amazed her. When finished she started hand whipping the cream cheese and vanilla essence Jim had gotten from the pantry and the icing sugar. Jamie was astonished when the cheesecake mixture was complete and poured over the fruit salad. Then using a big spoon to mix it all together, she put a cover over it and put it in the fridge.
"That's impressive how you did that so fast."
"Thanks so what would you like for me to do?"
"Onions for a barbeque and salads would be a great help."
"Sure, no worries." Then she got started on the onions, then the carrots. Jamie turned to Jim who was smiling at his Mum.
"She's fast."
"Lots of practice, Mum."
"June, what is it that you do in the Navy?"
"I'm a medic, helmsman, electronics technician, engineer, and chef, I've got a couple of other degrees which helps as well."
"She's a computer wiz, Mum. She has a degree in computer science."
" That's impressive."
"What's it like in the Navy?"
"It's great, like with anything we have good days and bad days."
"Jim told Tom and me about what happened with you and your captain."
"Mike Flynn, yeah, we were very lucky."
"Sounds like it alright. So how many do you cook for?"
"Twenty-two plus people."
"By yourself?"
"Yes, usually. Commander Flynn, when he was Captain of Hammersley gave me more leeway compared to the other captains."
"How come?"
"Well, since I'm the chef and if we're going to have extras on board, I should be told about it so that I can check the supplies. I always triple check the food list to make sure that I got everything that I'll need. If anything is missing I tell the Captain and he gets me the missing items.
"she is very fussy in the galley, Mum"
"Galley?"
"Kitchen. Better beware if someone makes a mess and doesn't clean up afterwards, I go on the warpath. The crew knows what I'm like when it comes to the galley"
"Sounds like you might be a tad bossy," Jamie replies.
Jim laughed, "Oh... she is Mum if it not about the galley then about the medical side. She's patched up my men when they were wounded. One of them wouldn't drop his pants so she could clean up his leg wound, she told him 'I've seen it all before and I'm a professional. So if you don't drop them I'll get your CO in here and order you to drop them. He told me he hates needles. I said I was cleaning the wound. He finally let me clean his wound up and dress it. He pulled his pants up and turned to me, and I smiled at him and said, 'your not the first bloke I've seen wearing a gee string."
Jamie laughed, "No wonder he didn't want to drop his pants."
"June told me afterwards about it and I said to her at least he didn't go commando on you."
"Commando?"
"Not wearing underwear," June said
"Oh, that would be embarrassing."
"I'll be outside if you need anything," Jim said.
"We'll be finished soon so you might as well take the meat out of the fridge," June told him.
"Alright."
"What the?" June went over to the fridge to see what the problem was.
"Is there something wrong?" Jamie asked.
"Yeah, your steaks are leaking all over the bottle tray."
"Oh, damn!" Jamie got a bowl and Jim put the trays of meat into the bowl and took them over to the sink then she removed the meat and put them on an oven dish passing them to Jim to take outside. She and June cleaned the fridge.
"Have you noticed a funny smell in here?" June asked her.
"Yeah, we had some meat in here last week and we went away for a couple of days when we returned there was no power, evidently the power went out not long after we left. I cleaned it up the best I could."
"Ok try this, when you've got time, mix baking soda and white vinegar together and use a blue scrubber to lightly scrub the rakes and walls in the fridge and then wipe it down with lukewarm water, add a few drops of lemon juice into the water, it would leave a light lemon smell."
"I've heard about that but I didn't know if it worked."
"It does, I've used it at home and on patrol."
"Thanks for the tip."
"It's also great for cleaning the oven."
Once everything in the kitchen was done they went outside carrying the salads between them still talking. The meat was done so they all sat down and started dishing up there own meals when someone new showed up.
"Hey sorry if I'm late." They all turned to the woman who is in her late twenties and showing up wearing a tight mini dress that was showing a lot of cleavage, high heels and heaps of makeup.
"Kim, I see you made it, and we just started," Trish said smiling at her. "Sit."
"Great, hello Jim."
"Kim." June couldn't help but notice the tone in Jim's voice. She looked around the table and noticed Tom and Jamie didn't look impressed and Ben and Val looked at Jim with a worried look. She put her hand on Jim's knee, he turned to her, leaned in, and whispered, "my ex-girlfriend from high school and Trish's friend, she wants us together, but no worries, it's not going to happen."
"I trust you."
"June," Trish addressed her.
"This is Kim, a great friend of mine and Jim's girlfriend."
"EX-girlfriend, Trish."
"Hi, nice to meet you, Kim," June held out her hand. Kim screwed up her face when she saw the state of her hands.
So June looked at her hand, "what's wrong with my hands besides smelling like chopped onions?"
"They look horrible! And your nails!"
June looked at them, "Well with what my hands are put through, what do you expect when I work hard at the job I love and there is nothing wrong with my nails."
"They're so short! And they look horrible."
" Navy regulations, have to keep them short."
"Navy? You're in the Navy?" Ben said a bit stunned.
" Petty Officer June Mcguinness, at your service."
"she's called MacGyver on the ship."
"What a strange name," Trish said.
"Well, I guess that I must be a strange person, Trish" June said trying to hold a straight face.
"Well, we know nothing about you," Trish came back.
"Feel free to ask away."
"How did you and Jim meet?" Ben asked. She saw them look at each other and smile, then turned back to answer Ben.
"On Hammersley, that's the patrol boat I work on. We were taking Jim and his men to an island. We saw each other from a distance but didn't meet till later on when I was teaching a couple of sailors not to mess with me. I had been showing them an exercise that they couldn't handle when Jim and his men showed up to do some training exercises. Jim said that what I was doing looked easy so I challenged him to do it with me until one of us dropped."
"I lost the challenge, I had no idea how hard it was. After that, we got talking and next time we both were in Cairns we went out on a date," Jim said.
"We had several rainchecks for dates 'cause either he was called away on a mission or an important meeting or Hammersley was crash sailed" June explained.
"We do try to spend time together and to get to know each other as often as we can."
"What do you do on the ship?" Kim said sitting down.
"I'm a medic, an electronics technician, chef, helmsman, engineer, computer tech, and one woman you don't want to get on the wrong side of."
"June can be dangerous, but she's also caring, funny, and serious. It's because of who she is that she has gotten a lot of respect from her crewmates and my men. She's got more accommodations and metals than what I've got. She worked and studied hard to get to where she is today." Jim said. " She's an extraordinary person."
"Jim told me when we were in the kitchen that June made Navy history," Jamie said smiling at June.
"What history?" Tom asked.
"I'm the youngest Petty Officer in Australian Navy history."
"How old are you?" Trish asked.
"Twenty four."
"Have you been overseas?" Val asked her.
"Yes, I've been on tour overseas."
"Have you killed anyone?" Trish asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, but only in self-defence."
"Then you're a murderer," Trish replied.
"Trish!" Jim said angrily.
"Then by that logic, Jim is one and all the men in the armed forces past and present who have no choice but to kill are murderers, is that what you are saying, Trish? As I said... I had no choice but to kill or be killed. Yes, I had no choice but to kill the men who were going to shoot the men in my boarding party. If I didn't then three good men would've died and I haven't done my job. We are there to protect each other and watch each other's backs and it's the same with the SAS. I have come close to death several times and got scars to prove it. Until you been in Jim's or my boots you should have a bit more respect for the men and women who are in the armed forces" June said calmly.
"June's right Trish, that was crude and you shouldn't talk like that. My God, if your grandfathers were here today, they would be very angry with the way you just spoke to our guest," Tom said sternly to his daughter.
"But that was war!" Trish didn't want to give it up.
"I was in Iraq when I first killed a man, I was in a war zone or doesn't that count," June said.
"Yes… yes, it does, sorry."
"I forgive you, now can we please change the subject to something else like Ben, where did you meet Judy and was it love at first sight?" June asked making everyone laugh.
