Action in the North Atlantic Page #4

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I wanna bounce my kid on my knee.

I wanna be with my wife.

Go on, make a law against it.

Put me in the nut- house

for thinking things like that.

Well, why don't you say something?

You all dumb

because I spill what you're all thinking?

I'm thinking plenty.

And I ought to make you smell knuckles

for the duration.

No, no, no.

You got your brains in your fists.

- But that's what he needs.

- No.

If that's the way you feel,

you got a right to say it.

That's what we're fighting for.

But you're seeing it cockeyed.

You think the rest of us have got

nothing close to us, but our shirts?

I got a family.

You think my wife feels good

with me on the sea

and my boy in England in the Air Force?

- You got a boy in the Air Force?

- Yes.

But why talk about such a common thing?

So you want a safe job, huh?

Go ask the Czechs and the Poles

and the Greeks.

They were figuring on safe jobs.

They're lined up in front of guns,

digging each other's graves.

The trouble with you, Pulaski,

is you think America is just a place

to eat and sleep.

You don't know what side

your future is buttered on. Believe...

Don't waste your breath.

What are you doing

wearing that union badge?

Twelve ABs, six ordinaries,

two electricians.

Hey, O'Hara, come on.

It's one of them new Liberty ships.

I just got the dope.

They're signing on a full crew.

- One bos'n.

- That's for me.

One carpenter.

Four oilers. Four firemen. Two wipers.

Have your cards ready.

Please form in line. You'll be taken care of

by the numbers on your cards.

She's one of them new babies.

A big wagon, and she's fast.

Get in line, please. We'll take the ABs first.

Here we go again, daddy!

Look who's here.

I guess I talk too much.

- Welcome home, sweetheart.

- No hard feelings, huh?

Why should there be any hard feelings?

- Got a cigarette?

- Sure. Here.

Why...

- Well, I got you this time.

- Who's all this?

It's Jenny, the wife.

I saw your fat face in a newsreel,

Mr. Alfred O'Hara.

Here's an invitation for you, from a judge.

Oh, listen now, Jenny.

I've been having a tough time.

I've been fighting sharks on a raft

for 11 days.

Yeah? Did a blonde shark

spill that perfume on you?

No, Jenny. That's the smell of the sea.

Yeah? Well, try smelling this for a change.

Them Liberty boats are sure well- named.

Many of you are being assigned

to active duty for the first time.

Others are being transferred to new ships.

Some of you have faced the fire

of the enemy

and given a good account of yourself.

Annapolis and West Point

have a long and glorious tradition.

This is a new school.

But you have a tradition, too.

The oldest tradition

of any American service.

American merchant ships,

carrying vital supplies

to George Washington's army,

were largely responsible

for our first victory as a free nation.

Remember that.

Gentlemen, the future

of the United States Merchant Marine

is in your hands.

Cadet Anderson.

You're assigned to the S.S. Roger Ames,

Captain Gustafson. Good luck.

- Smooth sailing.

- Thank you, sir.

Cadet Parker.

Cadet Parker,

you're assigned to the S.S. Seawitch.

She's a new ship with a famous old name.

You already know the Captain.

Captain Jarvis. Good luck. Smooth sailing.

Thank you, sir.

Cadet Tierney.

Joe Rossi here?

- What do you want to see him about?

- I'd rather tell him that.

Oh, hiya, Steve. Come on in. Have a drink?

No, thanks.

You look worse than you did on the raft.

Maybe. But I've had a lot more fun.

Honey, I want you to meet

a good friend of mine, Steve Jarvis.

We've met.

Joe, I got a new ship.

You're signed on as first,

providing you can report in half an hour.

- And not in that uniform.

- You're not gonna go, Joe?

Baby, I told you it was gonna be like this.

- It's an old story with Joe and me.

- Is it?

I'm always getting him aboard ship

when he's tangled up

in something like this.

- Something like what?

- Oh, don't mind him, Pearl.

The old man of the sea.

You may know a lot about ships, Steve,

but you don't know anything about people.

I know you. She's different.

Everyone of them's different.

- I've heard it in Cape Town, Rio, Bombay.

- That's right.

- Where's your money?

- I have...

- You got paid off in a lot of cash.

- Now wait a minute.

We're not going out of here without it.

I've had experience. Hand it over.

I'll tell you where his money is if you're so

anxious to know. He gave it to me.

- Oh, he gave it to you?

- Yes, he did.

- And we put it in the bank.

- We put it in the...

How do you mean, we?

Me and the wife, we got spliced yesterday.

Joe, why did you let me make

a fool of myself?

- Excuse me, Mrs. Rossi. I'm very sorry.

- Oh, that's all right.

- Joe, how'd it happen?

- Well, I don't know. You better ask her.

I guess there's no reason

that makes any sense.

I guess we just like each other.

That makes a lot of sense.

Kind of hard to believe, ain't it?

- Me, all hitched up with a missus?

- It's nice to believe it, Joe.

You see, he can't go. He just can't.

Baby, look, I gotta go.

We'll sneak in a honeymoon

when I get back.

Take you up to Niagara Falls if I don't get

tired of looking at water by that time.

Joe, please.

Baby, there's one thing

you gotta understand.

Maybe we guys know more about

what's going on than most people.

We've been hanging around Axis ports

for a long time,

and we've seen what they do.

What we've seen ain't nice.

So we can't sit around holding hands

with all that going on.

Right with you, Skipper.

I know how it is, Mrs. Rossi.

I've been married for 20 years,

and my wife feels just the same as you do.

Does she?

She's had a lot of experience

being a sailor's wife.

I'd like you to know her, Mrs. Rossi.

- I'd like to.

- I'll give you her telephone number.

I wish you'd call her.

Maybe she'll tell you that I'm not always

as dumb as I was when I came in here.

Thanks.

I'll finish packing your things.

I guess I'm not used to being

a sailor's wife.

- You better get used to it.

- I'll try.

You know, it's a funny thing. I've been

saying goodbye to people all my life.

This is the first time

it ever meant anything to me.

- That's why I married you, Joe.

- Huh?

So you would have somebody

to say goodbye to and come back to.

- That's what you wanted, isn't it, Joe?

- Yeah.

Yeah, I guess that's what I wanted.

Oh, say,

do you mind if I take this with me?

- That doesn't look like a sailor's wife.

- Oh, I think it does.

I'll find you something

a little more homey.

Yeah, that'll do.

I'm sorry that fellow's in it.

- But I look nice, don't I?

- Yeah, he seems to think so.

- Who is the mug?

- Oh, it's nobody, Joe.

I don't even remember his name.

When'll you be back?

I don't know.

- Where you going?

- I'm sorry, they don't tell us that.

Just someplace on the ocean?

You can't sail on land.

No place where I could write you?

No, kid. I'm sorry, that's the way it is.

It's all right.

Goodbye, Joe.

Yeah.

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