Sometimes things happen and we wonder why. Till this very day I think about the strange night in Yokosuka and wonder why. Yokosuka, Japan was just another one of many port visits my Naval Warship made.
My friend Kevin had recently married and I was recently engaged. So, of course we wouldn't be expected to be found in the usual sailor places on this port visit. We hit the beach and decided to go to a family type place that served good pizza and rice wine.
Kevin was always good company. He co wrote many comedy scripts with me and he was an unusual sort of sailor because of the fact that he had a journalism degree. I always enjoyed writing but I was never polished. I majored in English Literature when I was in college but as fate would have it, I had never taken a journalism course. So, I thouroughly enjoyed picking Kevins brain.
And of course I enjoyed teasing him about how he got his journalism degree. Kevins family was fairly afluent and very conservative. And as such they invested the bulk of their wealth in what was considered to be a very safe bet in a utility company.
But to his families surprise that safe utility company became infamous when news headlines called it "Three Mile Island." With little money left for Kevins college education Kevin and his family jumped at the chance for Kevin to be among the first of two guys to ever go to a former all girls college.
I can't even imagine what it would be like being one of two guys in all girls college. So of course I teased Kevin constantly about how he got his journalism degree. If it were me, I think all the girls would be just to much of a distraction for me to learn anything.
But Kevin never got flustered. Even his wife whistling at all the guys when they cruised Sunset Strip in their car never even phazed him. Nothing bothered this guy.
One time when I and Kevin were watching a football game at the Navy Club in California an earth quake hit. I asked, "what should we do?"
Kevin replied, "lets order another round."
After a lot of laughs we left the Japanese pizza place and headed back to the ship.
As we walked down the pier we noticed this sailor from another ship just sitting by himself. If you know anything about sailors you know that they never sit anywhere by themselves. So, of course we knew that something was wrong.
We talked to him and could clearly see that he was in a very deep state of depression.
He said, "I'm home sick and I can't handle it any more."
I don't know how, but from that moment on I knew that the sailor was contemplating suicide and unless he could talk to someone from his home town he would not make it through the night.
I had never experienced psychic clairvoyance before but somehow that night I read the sailors mind and knew everyone that he knew in the small little town where he lived.
I knew all the names of his teachers, the local librarian and all of his family. I knew all about his town and I knew the names of all the friends he grew up with. After about a half hour of talking about everyone in his town the sailor shook off his depression and was laughing and in a state of elation.
As we walked away and headed back up the pier to our ship Kevin said "you never mentioned that town before."
I replied "thats because I had never been to that town untill tonight."
"How did you know everyone in his town,?" Kevin asked.
I answered, "I have no idea."
So what really happened that night in Yokosuka? I guess we will never really know. But we do know that a home sick sailor from a small town would live to make it home again.
About the Author
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