I would like to note that the passage of time in this story is the same as in the movie- you don't realize it's passing. Now, it's July (Rafe died in July), and Miranda's been serving for 6 months. Bear with me, please! I love this chapter so much- it's my favorite, so far. Please enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Navy Girl
Chapter Five
After Danny and Miranda talked for a little while at the café, Danny walked her back to the Oklahoma. "I'll see you soon, Danny," she said, giving him a little goodbye hug. Danny kissed her lightly on the cheek and headed off the ship once more.
Miranda couldn't think of anything except Danny the next morning as she was doing jumping jacks on the deck of the ship. Steve, who was lying on the ground for pushups, could sense that her mind was somewhere else. He smiled to himself. No one could recognize the symptoms of first love the way he could. "Have a good time last night?" he asked as Miranda got down beside him.
Miranda, who was laughing at the boys besides her shouting, 'I am blind but I don't care, I've seen Smithy's underwear! Sound off!' didn't hear Steve ask her. He repeated his question.
"Oh, yeah," Miranda said, her smile growing larger with every pushup. Then she realized herself. "Did you have a good time?"
"Well, Captain Smith's not a very good dancer, but…" Miranda punched Steve on the arm, laughing. "No," he continued, "I had a great time."
Their group got up and started running off the ship. Steve groaned. There was nothing he hated more than running, but he usually did it anyway. You got punished if you didn't run, especially if Captain Smith was in charge of you. He put extra emphasis on keeping your body in shape.
"And besides," panted Steve as they ran down the main street of Honolulu, "Jake would squeal on me anyway. He's the worst tattletale I've ever seen, and not an ounce of bravery in him. I don't know how he ever got into the Navy."
Miranda shrugged as she ran, her ponytail bouncing comically. Steve tugged it as he fell behind and Miranda slapped him, making sure that Jake wasn't looking. It was funny how the whole ship lived in fear of the legendary Jake- just a toe out of line and you would go straight to Smith, or worse, his witch of a secretary who'd make you clean the entire deck with the toothbrush she'd used that morning.
That afternoon, there was a drill. "All men, man your battle stations," said a voice over the intercom. Miranda ran and got a string of ammo for one of the 50 caliber guns. Her job was to run back and forth until the man operating the 50 cal didn't need any more ammo.
As a crowd of men with machine guns ran past her, Miranda wished that she were with them. She had been serving for six months now, and she hit most of the bulls eyes went she went to weekly target practice. Hauling ammo back and forth was for rookies, and people who had enlisted after her were handling the 50 cals! Miranda supposed it was because she was a woman, but it irked her nonetheless. At least she wasn't a cook, like her friend Dorey.
She lazily handed the strings of bullets to Lenny, who was operating the 50 cal she had been assigned to. Lenny was pretty nice, and he was one of Steve's friends, so they had met before.
"You look tired," remarked Lenny as he loaded the gun lazily. Miranda leaned against the ship's rail and rested her right foot on the lowest one.
"I am, I went to the dance last night, sortof."
"From where I come from, you can't 'sortof' be someplace," said Lenny with a grin on his face.
"Screw you," said Miranda, but she was smiling.
"Captain on deck!" cried a voice. Miranda and Lenny straightened up automatically as the Captain passed by them, inspecting the drill. He nodded his head.
"Good work, soldiers," he said before turning back and retreating into the bridge. Lenny tossed Miranda the unused string of ammo and she brought it back to the locker. Her thoughts jumped to Rafe, and all of a sudden she wanted to get away from guns and killing for just one night more. She wondered if Danny would come for her this Saturday. Maybe they could go to the Hula House, and then, maybe, thought Miranda, blushing, back to Danny's barracks.
July passed into August slowly and lazily, as that's how it is with summer. There was nothing but a slight change in Miranda and Danny's relationship, although it was for the better. Danny would come on some Saturday nights and take her to the café in Honolulu, or to the Hula House on the beach. And every night that they came home to Miranda's tiny room on the Oklahoma, Danny would give her a goodnight kiss, nothing much more.
Then the weather turned a bit cooler and school started as fall began. Without children running around, the movie theaters were always free and empty, although Miranda avoided them because she didn't like watching the news shorts before the movie started. It was difficult to watch pictures of planes spiraling downward into the sea and not think of Rafe.
One Saturday night in the middle of September, Danny walked up to the Oklahoma, a bouquet of flowers clutched in his hand. He didn't know why he felt so nervous; he had done this a million times before. Maybe it was because there was so much love in the air- Billy and Barbara, Betty and Red, and Tony was always talking about Sandra! He had been thinking about love more often lately because every man in the barracks back at Hickam had someone, and all Danny had was a girl who he was sure considered him just a friend. There were those few kisses that they had shared, and Danny took Miranda out often on the weekends, but all he had accomplished lately was to kiss her on the cheek when he delivered her back to her ship, and he hadn't even been there the last two Saturdays!
As Danny crossed the deck of the Oklahoma, a voice called jokingly, "Hey Danny! What are you doing here so late on a Saturday night? You know that Miranda's not exactly dressed to kill- she's mopping over on the other side of the ship."
"Steve," Danny cried, half exasperated, half laughing. "Are you people always mopping?"
Steve laughed. "As long as there is mopping do be done, mop we do. It's kind of like you pilots with your flying. You join the Navy as a sailor," he continued, shrugging, "you mop."
"Where did you say Miranda was?" Danny asked.
Steve pointed his mop in the direction of the bow of the ship. Danny ran down past another group of mopping sailors until he found Miranda, mopping around a 50 cal. "Miranda!" he called, running over to her much to the anger of the other sailors, who cursed him off because he had ruined their mopping job.
"Danny," Miranda gasped, wiping a strand of hair out of her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it's Saturday, and I figured we could go down the Hula House or something," Danny said awkwardly. Miranda bit her lip, and Danny could tell that she was thinking, weighing responsibility against what she wanted to do.
Casting a furtive glance down to the bridge area, Miranda said, "Okay, just let me take care of this," gesturing towards her broom. She whispered to another sailor, who nodded and took her mop. "Cover for me!" Miranda yelled as she ran to change into something cleaner to wear. Then they snuck off the ship, running for the beach before anyone could figure out that she had gone.
Finally they slowed a safe distance away from the Oklahoma, walking hand-in-hand down the vacant boardwalk. Miranda took off her pumps and stowed them in a bush, claiming that she had a good memory and would remember where they were. Danny didn't have much faith in that, though, so he threw his own shoes into the bush and draped his bright shirt over it, "just in case." Miranda laughed and the couple continued walking down the boardwalk towards the distant lights of the Hula House. Danny could hear swing music coming from their radio, and it grew louder as they drew closer.
"Come on, let's have a dance!" Danny said on a whim, grabbing Miranda's hand and spinning her around to a fast song. Miranda laughed as she took Danny's other hand, and they both leaned back and spun around and around. Finally Danny stopped and staggered around onto the sand, holding his head and shouting, "oh, so dizzy, so dizzy," and finally, he collapsed onto the beach, pulling Miranda down beside him. She turned onto her side and pulled Danny's necklaces across his chest, studying them and turning them over in her hands.
"Where did you get these?" asked Miranda, sticking her feet up into the air behind her. Danny lifted one out of her palm and squinted at it for a moment, and then he shrugged.
"Rafe gave 'em to me, a long time ago," he said, dropping it back into her hand. Miranda tilted her palm until the necklaces slid out onto his shirt again. "Don't you pilots ever have any work to do?" she asked after a moment of silence. "I never get to come over and see you mopping the planes, or something."
Danny smiled. "Well, we find ways to pass the time. If Earl needs help, he'll ask for it, believe me. Red likes to paint. Earl complains a lot about him and Tony painting lopsided…well…" Danny looked at Miranda hopelessly. "You know…"
"So you don't want to be rude in front of a lady, huh?" Miranda said, grinning. "Even if that lady happens to be a hardened sailor?" Danny gave her a look, which made Miranda laugh. "Yes, Danny, I do know what you're talking about. Red seems to love that plane, I always have to look at it." Miranda laughed again. "Gives the boys on the Oklahoma quite a bit of entertainment."
It was Danny's turn to laugh. He propped himself up out of the sand on his arms as Miranda attempted to brush all the sand out of his hair. "Look," he said, reaching over and picking something up, lightly brushing grains of sand off it. "A cowrie. These are really rare."
"It's beautiful," said Miranda, running her index finger over both sides of it. It curled in on the bottom and where the two sides met, they intertwined like a zipper. Danny reached into his pocket and took out his army knife, and then slowly drilled a hole in the top of the shell. Then he took one of his necklaces off and slid the cowrie onto it. "Here," he said, holding it out to Miranda.
"Oh, Danny, thank you!" Miranda said breathlessly, throwing her arms around Danny's neck. "It's beautiful," she said again.
"What do you say we head over to the Hula House now?" Danny suggested, standing up. "I could use a bit of beer in me."
Miranda laughed, and the couple strode across the sand towards the lights in the distance.