Happy Birthday, Pale Face by Anne Tolar

"Lieutenant Curran!"

The voice belonged to Lt. Commander Daniel Dunne. He was the unit's top commanding officer... the top boss of Lieutenant Junior Grade James Curran, who was standing rigidly at attention. Dunne was so mad he was almost blue. Behind him stood Lieutenant Jordan Markham... Curran's boss. His face echoed the look of his Commander. Curran knew why they were angry, and that his own butt was in serious trouble. He had moved... broken cover... and ordered the man's First Class Petty Officer Billy Graham to break cover, too. Dunne would have his ass on a platter before the day was over. The only thing Curran didn't know was exactly what the punishment was going to be. It would definitely be something he, a lowly little J.G., would remember, even if it was, hopefully, something his career would survive.

"Sir!" He answered crisply, with his gut in a knot.

"You're a goof up, Curran. You're a hard head, and you think you know every damn thing there is, always got your own answer. You're just a mess. Last night, I ordered Lieutenant Markham to hold that alley. He told you to hold position at the top of the stairs and keep anyone from advancing on the lower landing, up or down. I specifically told you not to move from that position until you got the word. Well, didn't I?"

"Yes, sir... Lt. Commander Dunne, sir."

"Did you do what Markham ordered?"

"No, sir!"

"Did you do what I ordered, Curran?"

"No, sir! Well... I tried sir."

"Try, Curran? Tried? SEALs don't try, Mister... SEALs do the deed!"

"Yes, sir."

"If it hadn't been a training session, you'd have probably gotten Petty Officer Graham and Ensign Porter killed, and your entire team would have been in jeopardy. "

"Yes, sir. "

"Is that what you intended to do, Curran? Get your team killed?"

"No, sir!"

"Did you even think, Curran? Did you have any clue what you were doing out there?"

"I made a different decision, sir! Sorry, sir."

"YOU made... YOU MADE A DECISION??? 'Sorry' doesn't cut it, Curran. You'll never make Lieutenant at this rate. I'll kick your sorry butt off this unit the next time you ignore me or your lieutenant! Do you hear me, Curran!!!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Can you handle the truth or not, Mister."

"Yes, sir."

"The truth of it is, Curran, you're not worth near as much to me as Graham. If you're going to get one of your butts blown to bits, I'd rather it be your butt than Graham's. From now on, you do what you're told, Mister, or you be ready to get shipped back to civilization or spend a turn in the brig."

"Yes, sir."

"And Graham?"

"Yes, sir!" It wasn't bad enough that Curran's own butt was in a sling... he'd gotten Graham into trouble too. It wasn't the first time.

"Graham, you followed the order of this ignorant little J.G. again?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Why?"

"He gave an order, sir."

"This little piece of shit gave you an order, and you did it, even when it meant going against my order?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why?"

"He was in charge of my position, sir."

"And you didn't ask any questions, Graham?"

"No, sir."

"You did what you were told, without question?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well..." Dunne let out a sigh, letting the anger dissipate from his expression.

"Well done, Graham. At least one of the two of you had a brain in this situation and knew how to follow orders."

"With all due respect, sir."

"Graham... you going to let me give you a compliment or you going to dive into trouble along with this little piece of shit."

"All due respect, sir. He did disobey your order, but if he hadn't, we'd have been pretty much wiped off the map, sir."

"Is that true, Graham?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why is that?"

"Sir... there were only three of us at the door, holding the stairs, sir. There were two snipers who moved into position on the roof ledge above us. They had perfect position to take out everyone in the alley, sir."

"What difference did that make."

"Sir, communications were out. We couldn't notify Lieutenant Markham of the danger. Curran felt we should protect the unit, sir. He ordered me to accompany him to the roof to take out the snipers. He left Porter to protect the door behind us and keep anyone from advancing from the landing below. He told Porter to yell to get me back if he saw hostiles approaching. He took the primary targets for himself. When we got in position, he left me at the roof access as backup and he did the deed. He tagged them both. Sir, they never knew he was anywhere around."

"Were there any hostiles on the landing? He only left one man behind. He could have left two."

"There were no hostiles visible or suspected, sir. There were two confirmed hostiles on the roof. And sir."

"Yes, Graham."

"If he hadn't moved, Lieutenant Markham would have been toast."

"Curran?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Is this true?"

"Yes, sir. Pretty much tells the tale."

"And you didn't defend yourself against a possible charge of disobeying a direct order?"

"No, sir."

"Why, Curran. You know your commission was on the line, boy?"

"I did disobey the order, sir. May have been my ass, sir, but it was your order and your call."

"That left me making a decision about your fate without complete information. Didn't it, Curran?"

"Well... maybe sir."

"Maybe. How was I going to know what happened if you didn't tell me."

"Well, sir. You always check with the team before you make a disciplinary decision. I just hoped what Graham saw and Porter knew would back me up."

"Hoped? Putting a lot on the line weren't you, Curran?"

"Yes, sir. But I was counting on Graham, sir. I always trust Graham... and my team."

"I see. Well," the Commander stopped for a minute, considering the situation in light of this new information. "You did disobey an order."

"Yes, sir."

"You have to learn to obey orders."

"Yes, sir."

"Well... we'll see how well you mean 'Yes, sir'. I have a new order for you... and for Graham."

"Yes, sir?" It was a question-mark answer that the two men spoke in unison.

"Do 'The Hole,' gentlemen. Now! Report to the course at eighteen- hundred. You will have approximately three hours to finish and report back for further assignment."

"Yes, sir." They saluted, turned as one, and left the room.

After their departure, Dunne smiled at his lieutenant. "You think he's got command potential?"

"Yes, sir," Markham smiled in return. "He's going to be a good officer one day. Knows how to make a decision under fire, and doesn't back up from responsibility. Knows how to listen. Plans well, even in a tight spot. Didn't expect more from his team than he was willing to give himself. And Graham would follow him into hell, and if Bill Graham, a man who suffers no fools gladly, will follow him, so will lesser men. I think we'll see him move up fast, and I suggest we put Graham in a team with him."

"That's a very good recommendation, Lieutenant Markham. I'll make note of it in their files. I think this little exercise you suggested has proven your speculation about the quality of the young man's ability."

Outside the room, unaware of the discussion of their fate, the two men simply eyed each other, glad to have made it out alive... again. Curran collapsed against the wall. He was pale and more than a little shaken, but he gave his friend a smile. "Thanks, Graham. You saved my bacon back there."

"Just told the truth, sir."

"But you didn't have to volunteer it. If he'd stayed in the mood he was in, you could have bought yourself serious trouble."

"Not with Dunne, or with Markham. They're tough, but they're fair."

"Yeah... thank God. But damn, did he have to pick 'The Hole."

"What's wrong with The Hole, sir? Not like you and me haven't been there a few times before. No worries."

"Yeah, no worries. Shoot. Forget it. It's just a damn sorry way to spend the rest of the day."

"Well... if we don't hurry up, go do it, and do it right, we'll be spending more than three hours in there. Let's get it done."

"No dinner?"

"No dinner."

"Well, Hooyah, then... I guess."

'The Hole' was well known as a punishment detail... a totally dark, cold, long, smelly stretch of slime-filled swamp caves. Build into the caves was a bitch of an obstacle course. You crawled through it, swam through it, felt your way through it... feeling every creepy, crawly thing known on Mother Earth wiggling past your body or through your uniform. It always came at the end of an otherwise exhausting day of maneuvers. It used all the physical and mental strength you could remember.

It seemed like, after you had done the thing once, you should have no trouble doing it again... a reasonable man would figure he knew what to expect. But that was the catch. The place wasn't really a swamp. It was an old building, rigged with long pieces of narrow tubes and pipes that could be moved mechanically and interchanged to make 'The Hole' a just wonderful new experience every time you went there. Right became left, up became down. Fail to finish it in the allotted time, you just got to go through again, and maybe again, until you got it right. Curran had done it three times, so far, and he hated the fact he was going there again, especially tonight.

Twenty minutes later, they began. He crawled along, with swamp mud up his uniform, in his hair, his ears, in his boots. Graham was crawling along ahead of him... quiet and breathing easily. Curran, himself, was breathing a little hard... .

"Graham? You there?"

"Yeah, here, sir. There's just two of us... I don't think we need to keep sounding clear, do we?"

"Hell, Billy... it's dark in here... "

"No shit, sir. So it's dark. I know you hate dark, but there's light ahead. We just got to find it. I don't find it... no big deal... I'm here because of you and Dunne knows it. You don't find it... they're going to haul your ass out of this hole and make you do it again or just DOR for the hell of it. That what you want?"

"No... not going to DOR... take more than this to make me quit. I just hate the dark... ."

"So you tell me... every time we come in this damn hole. When you gonna stop being a hard case or a wise ass, and stop getting me in trouble with you? I'm not that big on doing this thing together. Just move, sir. Come on, Jim, you've done it before... one elbow and knee at a time. Come on, Pale Face."

"I'm coming. Are you afraid of anything, Billy?"

"No."

"Wait a minute. There's something in my shorts. Okay, clear."

"Would you move, sir."

"There's got to be something, Graham."

"Well... hate lizards... salamanders... you know. Come on... Move... the clock's running, and I don't want to do this twice in one night."

"Lizards? Hell, Graham! At least that's something you can see..."

"Can when somebody's not leaving them in your boots or in your bed."

"Now, who would do that to a SEAL as big as you."

"Don't know... maybe a certain greenhorn J.G. who thinks he's a real hot shot. I ever catch him at it, I might forget he's a, and I quote, 'superior' officer."

"Awh! Look Graham, don't stop short like that. Your big fat boots in my face."

"Come on, sir, move your butt. You're slowing me down. How'd you find out, anyway?"

"Your girl friend talks in her sleep."

"You must have a death wish. I may forget you're a superior officer before we're out of this hole. I've got my James Bond knife in my boot heel, you know, and you're an easy little target. Look, you're slowing down. You want to do this thing again, or you gonna move?"

"I'm moving. Shoot, Graham... you know I wouldn't mess around like that. She's your latest little honey, not mine, but she did tell me about the lizards. She thought it was extremely funny about you being a SEAL and afraid of something that small."

"You confess to being afraid of the dark, and you think I'm funny! I might just have to tell Trisha about your little hang up. Would you come on. Every time you talk, you stop. We're never gonna make it out of here. At least lizards are real. Ain't no boogie men that I know of."

"You just haven't met one up close and personal. You know, Graham, we make a good team... no, we make a great team."

"Yeah, we do... but some day, you'll have to get used to doing all this stuff without me. You can you know, even in the dark, and after we get through with training, we'll probably get different assignments."

"Never... we've got to make the same team, Graham. Dunne would be crazy to break us up. Same team, always. HOOYAH!"

"Yeah, yeah... Hooyah. Will you shut up and move your butt, sir. I want to get through early, get some dinner, get some sleep. If we're gonna finish and have a little time to spare, we've only got thirty minutes to go. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not spend all night doing this. Mood Dunne was in... shit... he'll make us come back and stay in here all night just for fun."

"I'm not planning on being in here that long. I've got plans."

"Plans?"

"Awh!! Don't stop like that. Yeah... I've got a date."

"A date? How'd you manage to line up a date in the middle of training? Dunne didn't give you time off. And he said to come back for further assignment. You're not going to deliberately disobey an order, are you?"

"No, but if we can just get this done fast, I might just have an hour before we have to report back for something else."

"Where you gonna go with just an hour?"

"Over to the officer's club."

"You're not supposed to go to the officer's club now. You're on assignment."

"Who said I was going inside?"

"Then what are you gonna do?"

"Have a 'date.'" There was a real wise-ass attitude behind the voice.

"What are you gonna do."

"Well... Trish said she'd help me throw a little party... just for two... out on the beach. She's watching the back door for when I can get there."

"You're gonna get yourself in trouble again."

"Hooyah! That's the kind of trouble I like to be in."

"But what do I tell Dunne when he asks where you are?"

"Who says he's gonna ask."

"He'll ask, cause you'll be late."

"Won't be late."

"When you go partying with Trisha, you're always late. You're gonna get me in serious trouble."

"How's that?"

"I'll have to lie to protect your butt."

"Or you can just lay low and go back in with me. Then you won't have to lie."

"Why do you have to do this tonight? Can't you wait until we're not in trouble already? But then, you'd never get to do it, would you? Shit!"

"Has to be tonight, Graham. Got to be tonight. Hey, the lights are just up there. Looks like we made it and in style."

"Why does it have to be tonight?!"

"Well, Trish is available tonight, and she's ready and willing, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah... " Graham hoisted himself out of the hole, into the light of the surrounding building. He reached down and pulled his greenhorn J.G. up after him. They saluted the Lieutenant who manned the desk, and signed out, punishment duty done... this time. When they were out of hearing range, Graham challenged him, "You gonna risk everything to go have a party with Trisha? I think you're nuts, sir."

"But it's my birthday. And Graham... "

"Sir?"

"She might just be the future Mrs. Curran."

"No, shit, sir? That's just all right! You asking her tonight?"

"We shall see... ."

"Oh, hell... guess you deserve this one."

"You'll wait outside Dunne's building for me?"

"I think I'm nuts, too."

"Good man, Graham. I owe you one."

"No shit, sir."

"Do I look okay?"

"You better hope Trisha doesn't care how you look, or smell."

"Well, there's always a dip at the beach, before the party."

"Good idea. Well, Hooyah sir. I'll either see you outside the Commander's office, or in the Commander's office for punishment detail if you're late, or in the brig if he gets wind of all of this. Just don't you get caught outside the club, or by her other boyfriend. You are one 'pure-dee' nut case, kid."

"Thanks, Graham."

"Happy Birthday, Pale Face." He gave his superior officer a big swat on the back, "and remember, sir, SEALs don't try... SEALs do the deed."

"Aye, aye, Mr. Graham... Yes, we do."

THE END