The Lesson (36 page)

“Gina tells me you’re a hull tech,” said Mr. Jacobs.

“HT2,” said Kevin.

“Where’s your ship tied up?”

“Right now Vallejo, at Concord Naval Weapons Station. But often we dock at Mare Island.”

“I was with the Navy during the war, ’43 to ’45.”

Gina stopped eating and stared at her father. She was stunned to hear this news. She had not known until this moment that her father had served in the Navy.

“Gina told me you retired from the Army,” said Kevin.

“She’s right. But I was a Seabee before I joined the Army.”

“
Construimus, Batuimus
. We Build, We Fight. Where’d you serve?” asked Kevin.

“Dad,” Gina interrupted, “You’ve never said anything before about your time in the Navy.”

“Wasn’t much to say. I mean, compared to more than twenty years in the Army. I was with the Navy for just a little over two years. I left the Army in early ’41, before the war broke out. In early ’43 I was working for International Harvester in Illinois. Rock Island. A machine shop. Things weren’t looking so good for the country, so I enlisted at Great Lakes Naval Base. Joined the One Hundred and Eleventh Amphibious Seabees. Construction Battalion. They were looking to enlist anyone with a strong back and some skills in the construction trades. Back then the Civil Engineer Corps was in charge of them. They were pressing passenger ships into service, so I ended up leaving Rock Island and enjoying a nice cruise on the Mauritania to Plymouth, in England. Built landing barges for pontoon boats.”

“Did you see any action?” said Kevin.

“Yes. World War II and Korea. Was at Normandy in ’44 for the invasion. The One Hundred and Eleventh was assigned to an amphibious barge that delivered troops and supplies to Omaha Beach. It was a pontoon barge. Six pontoons wide. We were there two to three days unloading personnel, tanks, trucks. Operated a fifty-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun from a foxhole on the beach. Then in Korea I oversaw the construction of the officers’ quarters at Hialeah Compound. Pusan.”

“It isn’t often that you get to talk face to face with a veteran of both wars,” said Kevin.

“And I’m sure I wouldn’t recognize your Navy. It’s all nuclear now,” said Mr. Jacobs.

“Oh I don’t know about that. The Navy’s pretty traditional. Some things never change. I’m sure the hours and the pay are still exactly as they were when you left in ‘45.”

Kevin’s deadpan delivery got a round of laughter from everyone. Gina was proud that Kevin had made her family laugh.

At something more than his tie, that is.

Mr. Jacobs poured a glass of dark red wine from a jug on the floor near his chair and placed it in front of Kevin. Gina was taken aback for a moment: she knew that Kevin didn’t enjoy red wine. She wondered what he would do, but he seemed to understand intuitively what was expected of him. He picked up the glass and lifted it in a toast.

“Happy birthday now and success forever to the most extraordinarily beautiful and uniquely talented young woman to ever walk under the palms of Santa Clara University. May God shine a light on the path He’s designed for you, the one that will make you truly happy.”

They all lifted their glasses at Kevin’s moving toast. Gina was touched at his sentiment. As she glanced around the table, she could see that the other Jacobs women were impressed with their guest too, and for once she believed it was the toast and not the tie that had their attention. Even her mother seemed relaxed around Kevin. There was a smile in her eyes when she glanced in Gina’s direction. She could tell that her mother liked what she had seen thus far. And for the moment, at least, Michael’s shadow wasn’t falling on all of them. She was hugely relieved for this small grace.

“Why do you have a bridge on your tie?” Maria pointed as she spoke.

“Today is more than just your sister’s birthday,” said Kevin. “Today is the anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge. May twenty-seventh. That is, today is the thirty-ninth anniversary of the day they first let people walk across the bridge. The next day, May twenty-eighth, they let cars and trucks drive across. That was a long time ago in 1937, long before you were born.”

“It’s also National Body Arts Painting Festival day, Kevin. You got a tie for that too?” said Gina. “Maybe something that wiggles its hips every time you take a step?” The whole family laughed. “Then again, maybe I shouldn’t tempt you.” The Jacobs family laughed again, but Kevin laughed the loudest.

“No, I don’t have a tie like that. But now that you mention it, I’ll be sure to pick one up in Olongapo from one of the million street vendors as soon as I get to the Philippines. We’re shipping out the day after tomorrow for a six-month Westpac. We shove off Saturday morning ten hundred hours.” He turned to Maria. “That means ten o’clock.”

Something deep inside Gina sunk to the floor with a thud. Kevin was leaving? So soon? The overwhelming sense of emptiness was instant and sharp. If he was anything, he was constant. He was reliable. He was always around. The thought of him not calling and not showing up on her apartment doorstep for six long months was terrible. She had always known that his company filled her lonely times, but she had not realized until now just how
much she depended on it. She was surprised at how much the thought of his leaving saddened her, but she did her best to keep a poker face. It was better that she reveal no emotion, especially not to her family.

“But I thought you were going to be transferred to a shore job soon. Why are you leaving with the rest of the crew?” said Gina, as casually as she was able.

“I’ve known for more than a month that the Flint was leaving, but I thought I’d be transferred to a shore billet before it deployed. I learned last night that my C-O cancelled my shore transfer because we’re shorthanded in the shop. I have to ship out on Saturday with everyone else.”

“You like this sort of life? Being gone all the time?” asked Mrs. Jacobs.

Gina held her breath. She knew where this was leading.

“It has its pros and cons,” said Kevin. “I like traveling, but often when we’re out to sea I wish it weren’t quite so much travel. Six months is a long time. That’s why I don’t plan to make a life in the Navy. Next year when my enlistment is up, I’ll be out.”

“Then what?” asked Mrs. Jacobs.

“Then I plan to finish my degree on the GI Bill and get a job with the government.”

Mrs. Jacobs only nodded her head, which Gina thought was unusual for her mother, who normally had something to say about everything. She was, Gina knew, thinking his words over. Gina also knew she would get an earful of feedback later. But Kevin had answered well; she was grateful that there’d been no uncomfortable moments at the table. At least on the surface, she was having a pleasant twenty-first birthday. She hoped her painful history with her parents wouldn’t interfere and ruin this peaceful time of family fellowship. Kevin’s presence had the potential of upsetting a tenuous truce. But thus far things were going amazingly well. If they could just maintain the status quo …

While they finished their meal the Jacobs peppered him with questions about the places he expected to visit and shipboard life at sea, but Gina was quiet. Kevin was leaving. The next six months stretched out before her like Kansas farmland, miles and miles of same, flat nothingness. How would she get through six months without his phone calls and visits?

“It’s your birthday, Gina. Me and the girls will do the dishes, and then we’ll cut the cake. You two can go on if you like,” said Mrs. Jacobs.

Kevin thanked her for the meal and enthusiastically complimented her cooking. Mrs. Jacobs seem pleased at the praise.

“Let’s go sit in the living room until the cake is ready,” said Gina.

They carried their dishes to the kitchen counter and then sat down, side by side, on the blue-flowered couch in the Jacobs’ living room. They could hear the sound of water running and dishes
being scraped in the kitchen on the other side of the wall. Gina was glad for a few minutes of privacy.

“I’m stunned that you’re leaving so soon. Are you ready to go?” she asked.

“There isn’t much to get ready. Most of my personal items, the ones I use every day, are already stored beneath my rack on the ship. I’ll be leaving a lot of civilian clothes behind with my dad, at the garage, and I’ll store my car at Hazel’s, too.”

“Is it hard to go off? I mean, so suddenly?” asked Gina.

“Yes and no. I love to travel. I’m glad for the opportunities the Navy gives me in that regard. But to be honest, I’m not as excited as I was the first time we shipped out. That was five years ago, on the Shasta. I’d never been away from home. In fact I’d never set foot outside the country. Any place the ship took us the first time was exciting when I was eighteen.”

“What’s different now?” said Gina.

“Now? Now I’m leaving someone behind whom I love very much.” He turned his body a little more toward her. “Just that thought already makes the loneliness lonelier.” He grasped her hand and looked into her eyes. “Are you going to miss me?”

She was quiet for a moment as she searched for the perfect words to express what she was feeling. “I’ll miss your company, yes. I’ll certainly miss talking to you on the phone. I’ll miss going places with you, too. I’ll have a lot of empty time to fill up after you leave.” As she spoke, it struck her that this was not the right answer. It wasn’t the unequivocal
“yes” that he longed to hear. Why couldn’t she bring herself to say it?

“Don’t fill it up with someone else while I’m gone.”

“You’re the closest friend I have, Kevin.”

“How close?”

“Close.”

“How close?”

He didn’t remove his eyes from hers. He was being unusually serious. Maybe he was setting her up for another joke. If not, what was he getting at?

“You’re my best friend, Kevin. Here, I’ll prove it,” and she crossed her heart with her fingers, oath-like, and said solemnly, “I’ll even miss your puns.”

They shared a chuckle, after which they sat in silence a minute, Kevin still holding her hand while Gina tried to imagine how she would get through the next six months without Kevin around. She’d gotten into the habit of bouncing ideas off of him. He was the first person who came to mind when she had a bit of interesting news to share or a story to tell. Who would she call to discuss things with now that he was leaving? Bonnie certainly couldn’t fill Kevin’s shoes, and she rarely thought about Michael these days. And when she did, it was only for an instant and without the stinging pain that accompanied her around campus last fall. Michael’s ghost couldn’t spook her anymore.

Had Kevin done that? Had Kevin replaced Michael in her heart? Or was she merely using Kevin, a convenient albeit temporary substitute to fill the hole that Michael had left?

“I have something for you, Gina.” Kevin put his hand into the pocket of his slacks and pulled out a small wrapped package, small enough to fit into the palm of his hand. It looked as though it had been professionally wrapped at a fine store.

“You remembered my birthday. That was sweet of you, Kevin.”

Kevin didn’t answer. Instead he got up from the couch and bent down on one knee in front of her, somewhat dramatically. Her heart leaped up and caught in her throat.

“Not your birthday.” He reached for her hand. “I love you, Gina. Will you marry me?”

Gina’s eyes went from his, to the package, to his hand on hers, to his ridiculous tie. He was proposing! He was actually proposing on bended knee! And her family was just on the other side of the wall in the kitchen! She worried that one of her sisters, or worse, either of her parents, would walk in on them. Why did Kevin always have to be so flashy? All drama and tradition and loud ties. And at her parents’ home, no less. She didn’t doubt his seriousness, but she would have preferred a proposal without the threat of an audience. And especially without the corn.

“Kevin, please get up. Get up!”

“What?”

“No bended knee thing. Get up! Please!”

“What’s wrong?” He was still on one knee.

“You’re making me uncomfortable.”

“You don’t want to marry me?”

“I didn’t say that,” said Gina. “Please get back on the couch.”

Kevin got up and sat back down beside her. He still held the gift in his hand. “What’s wrong?” he said. He looked genuinely disturbed.

“Why do you always have to be so corny?”

“I wasn’t being corny.”

Gina instantly regretted her lack of tact. He was miffed. And why shouldn’t he be? She hadn’t even tried to measure her words. She’d merely said the uppermost thing in her mind.

“I don’t see anything funny about it,” continued Kevin. “If we get married,
I’ll
be the one to call the shots. It’s not all about you.”

“Kevin, don’t be upset.”

“I
am
upset.”

“Please, Kevin. I—“

“I gotta go. I’ll get my jacket myself.” He stood abruptly and turned toward the foyer.

His disgust was obvious. Gina had never been the target of his anger. She felt as if the beige carpet in her mother’s living room had been yanked out from beneath her. This hurt more than she ever thought it would.