Destination Tokyo Page #3

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We fly over the nets and the minefields...

...plumb in the middle of the harbor.

- Tokyo Bay. Perfect.

Bet we sink 70,000 tons.

20 bucks, even money.

- Seventy thousand tons. You're nuts.

- Look, I got a reason to have luck.

Where I go, there's gonna be

dead Japs.

- What is this reason of yours?

- Never mind. Anybody wanna bet?

It's a secret between him and Roosevelt.

I'll take the bet.

I'll pay off double if we make it.

Only two guys whistle in the Navy.

Boatswain's mates and boots.

You a boatswain's mate?

I'm sorry, Mike. I forgot.

You hear that music?

- Reminds me of a dame I knew in Frisco.

- Here we go again.

- She was built for speed, like a destroyer.

- Now I listen.

Kind of compact too, like a submarine.

She was coming down Sutter Street.

Off my starboard beam.

I sees her and says, "Up periscope."

I gives my motor a third back and

maneuvers for an opening shot.

She picks me up on her detector.

Gives her rudder a hard left.

Makes like she's looking in the window.

Naturally, I gives my rudder

a hard right and moves...

... right up alongside her. She's beautiful.

But beautiful!

Comes up to about my chin.

Fits just right.

Well, neither of us breaks silence.

Naturally, there's a long pause.

We're both running on batteries now.

Something electric is going on between

her and me.

I'd been on patrol three months.

And this was

my first night ashore.

Now, you guys know how it is.

There she was in a nice, clean, crisp,

lacy blouse.

And she looked

just like she had a bath.

So she looked like she had a bath.

She even smelled like geranium.

So she even smelled like geraniums.

Then what?

Here we are, hove to,

with her smelling like geraniums...

...and me with three months' pay

in my whites.

- I'll never forget it!

- Never forget what, Wolf?

Some dames have lips that

are curved all right.

But when you kiss them, you find they

have lips as hard as a warhead?

Well, you could tell hers

was as soft as silk.

Just enough lipstick. Just right.

Well, what did you do about it?

I was so busy drinking her in

out of my starboard lamps...

... that I don't see this Market Street

commando hove to alongside her.

I'm trying to get a recognition signal

out of her...

... when this sailor busts right in

and says:

" Would you like one

of those lacy things?"

And she says, "Sure."

And they go in and buy one.

- Well, what did you do?

- Me? I'm murdered!

There I am, anchored,

dead in the water...

... looking in the window.

She's picking out one.

And this Market Street commando

is giving me the gloat!

Am I burnt. I'm dying!

My first night in. There she'd been,

standing next to me.

- Smelling like geraniums.

- Okay, we been through that.

This Market Street commando peels

off some lettuce and pays.

And she's smiling

as sweet as a dream.

And there I am, outside the window,

bulkheads busted in.

Next thing I know,

she gives this guy a kiss.

And the next thing I know,

she's making for my anchorage...

... with his stuff under her arm,

and she's saying to me:

"Going my way, submariner?"

Then what happened, Wolf?

She was built for speed,

but like I said, kid...

...kind of compact too, like a submarine.

According to the orders, we're to pick

up the lieutenant here at point x-ray.

A PBY boat will meet us at 1430.

Why are they flying him down?

Save us going out of our way

to pick him up. Time's important.

- Who is he?

- Aerology specialist.

North Pacific area.

All we have to do

is put him ashore in Japan.

You are showing signs

of needing a sun lamp.

From now on, sign up.

Everybody, once a day.

- You ever want to be a real doctor, Pills?

- Yeah.

I was one of those wise guys

who didn't know where he was going.

Funny place to find out, on submarines.

- What college did you go to?

- California.

Only a year. Then I signed up.

I had an A in chemistry,

so they made me a pharmacist's mate.

Ain't it wonderful what

an education will do?

When I got out of the third grade,

I took a job at Coney Island.

- Frying hot dogs.

- You should have stuck to hot dogs.

Where's that half-baked barber?

You finishing college

when the war's over?

Yep. Putting my pay

and a half in war bonds.

Working my way

through college underwater.

Pills, if anything happened

to us while we're out on patrol...

...if we got conked off, you figure

we'd see our folks in the hereafter?

I wouldn't bank on it.

My old man wouldn't be overjoyed to see

me. He never thought I was much good.

- I like to think we got souls...

- I don't know.

All those guys I cut up at school,

never found a soul inside.

Well, what does that prove, Pills?

Say you trust a guy.

You can't see the trust,

but it's there.

- I'm from Missouri, Mike.

- I'm not exactly religious.

- But don't you think God...

- No, I don't.

My angle is, I only believe

what I can see.

- Are you an atheist?

- Call it what you like.

The Japs turn the heat on us,

I'll watch you pray.

I've seen it happen before.

- Say, you guys know what?

- No, what?

There's something screwy

about this detour or whatever it is.

We'll know before long.

Hey, Yo Yo, mind if I use your office?

Something private.

- Sure.

- Thanks.

That's the third time

he's asked me.

Well, maybe he's writing poems.

There you are, my little scissorbill.

Get thee behind me.

Mind you, no politics, no ball games,

no hair down my neck.

Nothing but barbering.

Well, Cookie, looks like we're getting

pretty close to enemy waters.

Now, Tommy, don't go

getting yourself all worried.

Think we ought to take the hat off?

Well, don't you think we'd better?

- Clippers?

- Yes, thanks.

You see, Tommy, there's always

one of two things about a submarine.

In the first place, either the enemy

finds you, or he doesn't.

If he doesn't find you,

there's nothing to worry about.

But if he does, there is still

one of two things.

Either he drops a depth charge,

or he don't.

If he doesn't, there's nothing

to worry about. If he does...

...then there's still

one of two things.

Either he drops it

close to you or far away.

If he drops them far away,

it's foolish to worry.

If he drops them near you...

...then there is still one

of two things to worry about.

And that is...

Don't cut too much off.

If your pressure hull holds.

Of course, if it holds,

wouldn't it be foolish to worry?

If it doesn't, you won't be able

to worry, so why worry?

Are you through?

Yes.

He was worth waiting for.

He's a good barber. That looks fine.

You next?

One thousand fathoms, sir.

Rudder amidships. Steady on course.

- Two-nine-zero.

- Eight hundred fathoms.

Right, five degrees rudder.

New course, 295. All motors stop.

Right, five degrees rudder.

New course, 295. All motors stop.

Three hundred fathoms.

Stations for battle surface.

Stations for battle surface.

Ready on all main engines.

Down scope.

All engines, ahead one-third.

Has the radio man picked

up anything on the frequency?

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