He uttered a vulgarism and stood up and went and opened the door. One of “The Gorillas’s Gunnies,” as he thought of them, was standing there.
Now what? What has that sonofabitch done now?
“What’s up, Gunny?”..
“Mr. Pickering, is Mr. Easterbrook in here by any chance?”
Thank God. I was afraid for a moment that I was about to be informed that Gargantua has pulled the arms off his plaything of the evening.
“He is, Gunny. But to put it delicately, he is indisposed at the moment. To put a point on it, he got shit-faced, and he’s sleeping it off.”
That’s an understatement. After throwing up all over himself, and all over the bathroom, he went on a crying jag and announced that he intends to resign his commission and go back to the ‘Canal as a corporal. ”
“Could I come in, Mr. Pickering?”
“Sure. Come on in. I presume our gorilla has had his evening’s rations, she has been sent safely back to the village, and our gorilla is safely in his cage.”
The gunny laughed.
“Would you like a drink, Gunny?”
“No, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”
“This must be serious. This is only the second time in my Marine Corps experience that a gunny has turned down good booze.”
“Well, maybe a little one, Mr. Pickering. I always hate to see good hootch go to waste.”
Pickering fixed him a drink and handed it to him.
The gunny raised the glass and said, “The Corps.”
Pick was surprised at the toast, and strangely moved by it. He repeated the toast, “The Corps.” And then he asked, “What do you want with Mr. Easterbrook, Gunny? Can I help?”
“This is good booze,” the gunny said. Then he met Pickering’s eyes. “McCoy wants to apologize to Mr. Easterbrook, Sir. I think maybe it would be a good idea.”
Lieutenant Pickering quite naturally assumed that Staff Sergeant McCoy had spoken disrespectfully to Lieutenant Easterbrook; that he’d said it in the hearing of one or both of the gunnies; that they had been offended; and that they had subsequently “counseled” Staff Sergeant McCoy by bouncing him off the walls and the floor until he became truly repentant and wished to make any amends that were called for-including an apology.
“What did the gorilla say to him, Gunny?”
“Mr. Easterbrook ate McCoy a new asshole, Mr. Pickering.”
“What did you say?”
“Would you believe McCoy crying, Mr. Pickering?”
“No,” Pick said. “I would indeed find that very hard to believe.” A thought occurred to him, which he turned into a kind of accusation: “Was he drunk? He’s supposed to have two beers and two drinks a day, and not a goddamned drop more.”
“Stone sober. But he bawled like a baby. He said that he thought Mr. Easterbrook was dead, and that Mr. Easterbrook was the bravest man he’s ever seen.”
“Easterbrook?” Pick asked incredulously.
“Did you know that Mr. Easterbrook was with the Raiders on Bloody Ridge?”
“I knew he spent a lot of time with the Raiders,” Pick replied, remembering the Easterbunny eating in VMF-229’s mess-tired, dirty, and scared shitless. And remembering how he’d felt sorry for him and asked where he’d been.
“Well, it looks like he was on Bloody Ridge when McCoy did whatever he did to get the Medal, and McCoy seen him try to carry some wounded officer down the hill. Saw him fall; thought he was killed. McCoy said that when Mr. Easterbrook stood up to carry this officer, he had to know he was going to get his ass killed, the way the Japs were laying in fire. But he did it anyway, trying to get this officer to a Corpsman.”
“Jesus H. Christ!”
“And Mr. Easterbrook told McCoy that he seen what McCoy done…. I guess he left his position when he wasn’t supposed to when he killed all them Japanese…. And Mr. Easterbrook told him if he’d had a weapon, he would have killed him himself.”
“How did this all come out?” Pick asked, sensing that what he was hearing was the truth.
“We was bringing McCoy up in the elevator from the press conference. And when the door opened, there was Mr. Easterbrook. And McCoy called him a feather merchant, and… I guess Mr. Easterbrook had a couple of drinks and decided he’d had enough of McCoy’s shit. And he really went after him.” The gunny paused, and then added, with admiration in his voice, “He really ate him a new asshole. Called him everything in the book… starting with asshole.”