The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea

My Uncle Wimpy is on deck of a big LST Naval supply ship, looking through some big binoculars at their next port of call, Tininan atoll. Like some gigantic jaw of a prehistoric monster, Tinian was a monstrous volcano that had shot up off the ocean floor, blew its top off, and left a perfect five mile around cove for ships to hide from storms in. Since the inside of the rocky bowl had only a tiny stretch of beach, all incoming vessels dropped anchor at the far reaches, then, worked their way to empty piers to unload as their turn came. Now, Naval vessels aren’t cabin cruisers. In the blasting hot Pacific sun, anything you touch, burns the skin. No leaning on a railing for a quick butt. Burn a hole right into your arm. My Uncle Wimpy was on board to put into place a new unloading proceedure the Navy had sent him to school for. Having already fought in WW1, he had been running drydocks for Battlewagons…So what if it was a supply ship. He was back in the fight. He was already half-deaf from decades of twelve inch and sixteen inch guns going off, so, it was the best he could pull off. Now, as they slowed to enter the protected anchorage, my Uncle looked down and noticed how the water changed abruptly as the big ship left the black of the deep ocean, into the sandy bottom of the old volcano cone. You could see clear to the bottom in the light blue, crystal clear water. All the sunken Jap ships we wasted taking the place, were marked with bobbing warning bouys. He said there were a lot of ’em to circumvent, so, they didn’t drop anchor until past midday. Now, as the ships ahead of you unloaded, you moved closer to the docks until your turn came. My Uncle set up these giant rolling racks and went to work unloading medical supplies, food crates, water tanks, all sorts of stuff. After this was accomplished, you moved your now empty vessel farther out to the smaller docks to fill up with ballast water to bring your deck lower, plus, await new orders. Unloaded, the ship was sitting about twenty five feet higher. Sailors off duty, especially the on board Marine guards all Naval ships have on board, took to diving off the stern. No one cared until a man hurt his neck and the captain forbid any more nonsense. It was back to waiting for shore leave. Drinking warm beer and playing some baseball. Better then the ship and the constant heat. These ships are all steel. Forget comfort. Even the officers sweated, but they sweated like gentlemen. The bellbottom Navymans’ pants were designed for them to be rolled up for scrapping paint and swabbing the decks. Not for a fashion statement. Once my Uncle’s duties were over, he pretty much had nothing to do, so, he did what all enlisted men do in such a circumstance. He avoided officers and gambled a lot in lower areas of the vast holds. Prior to leaving the harbor, my Uncle was up top, with about ten other sailors, kibitzing with some off-duty marines who were shirtless, and fishing off the stern. One of the marines, fresh off duty, snuck the men some warm bottled beer. A no-no, but, drink it fast and toss the evidence over the side. As one bottle flew after another, one of the marines said almost under his breath, “Man, that looks just like a giant floating eye!” He then pointed at what he was looking at. The other men took a look, shading their eyes with their caps. Another man tossed an empty bottle in the direction they were all looking while telling them they had heat stroke. As the bottle hit the water, in the blink of an eye, they all saw it at the same time. It was now crimson red, and, it was sort of fluttering under the water, closer to them. It was indeed an eye. But now, it wasn’t hidden by the creatures ability to camouflage. From a light blue, it was now an angry red. Maybe twenty foot below the surface, it now floated up a bit and towards the men, even closer. Its torso was HUGE. As the big ship swung at anchor, so did the creature. Now, the end of its torso was hidden by the black of the open sea, then, it would swing back into sight as the ship swung with the current. The eye looked to be twice the size of a dinner plate. It stared at the men from about ten foot under water at one point. It stared back with intelligence. Suddenly, it shot out the what looked to be, short, stubby tentacles from just in front of that eye, out in front of it, making them go completely under the hull of the ship. The two whips went even farther. It was a giant squid. But not like any sort the men had heard of, even in tall tails. This ones body was massive, like a truck my Uncle said, and the whips had to of shot out over a hundred feet, easy. As a meal horn sounded, the beast suddenly shot backwards into the black of the deep ocean. So quick, they all stared at each other in amazement…No one took sneak swims after that…

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