Light channeled down the face of the mighty ship and onto the faces of the young men aboard. The S.S. Gillis had served two purposes ever since it had been built in 1945: one was to train new recruits for the navy; the other was to carry trade items such as oranges, paper, and iron to Lang Pao, Korea. There, the items would be traded for rice, indigo, and often rum to take back to California. Having so many young men aboard when much labor was needed to lift the heavy cargo was like killing two birds with one stone.
"All right, men," the captain roared, "today we're going to do some very basic exercises." The basic response from the crew was a low groan. "I'm sure you're all familiar with the side-straddle-hop." The captain counted out "One! Two! One! Two!" as the recruits did jumping jacks. He walked up and down the line with a steady eye, making sure that everyone was holding up to his full potential. He couldn't help notice, however that that Gilligan kid was awfully, awfully uncoordinated.
Gilligan, on the other hand, couldn't help notice how close the two guys on each side of him were. Or maybe it was because his arms were too long. Whichever misfortune it was, on every "One!" he would smack the two guys going up, and on every "Two!" he would smack them going down.
After two or three of these "thumping jacks," the apathetic guy on Gilligan's right moved away from him. The guy on the left, however, took offense and shoved the Gilligan, unintentionally shoving him into the apathetic guy, turning him into the merciless guy.
The apathetic turned merciless guy, who, Gilligan noticed, was wearing a green handkerchief in his breast pocket, pulled Gilligan up by the collar two feet off the ground. "You lookin' for trouble, shorty?" he said gruffly.
Gilligan swallowed the giant lump in his throat and squeaked, "No. Actually, people usually say that I'm the trouble….."
"Oh, really?" Green Hankie said with a sarcastic tone. "Think you're pretty tough, huh?"
"Oh, no, no! That's not what I meant!" Gilligan exclaimed, trying to reach down to the ground with his tiptoes. He was surely in for a beating unless something intervened.
"Sawall?" the captain's voice boomed right over Green Hankie's shoulder. Sawall immediately dropped Gilligan, who, not anticipating his salvation, fell onto his backside.
Sawall turned to face the captain, and meekly said, "Sir?" By this time, no one was jump-jacking, and instead the whole troupe was focusing on Sawall and the captain, and more specifically what the captain would do.
"Do you have a problem, sailor?" the captain wanted to know, looking the frightened man in the eye.
"N-no sir," Sawall replied quietly.
"Of course you don't!" Jonas cried. "No one who peels potatoes should have anything to complain about."
"Sir?" Sawall asked.
"Below decks, now!" the captain bellowed.
"Yes, sir!" Sawall saluted the captain and stumbled off, tail tucked firmly between his legs, to the kitchen where a dull paring knife and a hundred potatoes awaited him.
Gilligan stood up and faced the captain. "Thank you, sir," he said gratefully.
"Well, there's no room for violence on my ship, sailor," the captain warmly responded. "Now drop and give me fifty! All of you!" he howled.
NoV: Okay! That's chapter one! Tell me what you think!