COB

By R. L. Keller

Chip sat in his office at NIMR staring at, but not really seeing, his computer screen. He had no idea how long he’d been sitting there, and in all honesty didn’t particularly care. But movement at his open office door caught his attention and he discovered Lee standing there. Chip recognized the expression on his friend’s face – one of total disbelief. It had been on most of NIMR’s employee’s faces for the last week. “I know,” he said softly. Lee left the doorway and collapsed into one of the chairs across the desk from the blond.

“I can’t believe it,” came out of the brunet’s mouth in a tone Chip so rarely heard from his friend – one filled with desolation and angst.

“Join the club,” Chip commiserated.

“I should have been…”

Chip cut him off. “There’s nothing you could have done.” Lee was always jumping in, taking the blame for everything that went wrong, whether or not he had anything to do with the problem. It was just the way Lee was. “It happened so fast, Jamie said he could have been standing right next to him and he wouldn’t have been able to change the outcome. Your being gone was just a coincidence.”

“Jamie’s sure?” came out a bit plaintively.

Chip rose, walked over to the coffee pot on a side counter, and poured out two large mugfuls. Not for the first time did he wish that he had something stronger. He handed Lee one of the mugs and settled into the other chair next to Lee with a heavy sigh. “He’s sure,” he said firmly. He took a long drag of the powerful brew and was grateful when Lee also managed a swallow.

“I got just the bare facts from Charley at the gate,” Lee finally continued, “and only that because of the expression on his face.” Chip nodded. “I came straight here. I didn’t see the Admiral’s car in the lot, and Angie wasn’t at her desk.”

“Not sure where Angie is,” Chip told him. “Not far, I’m sure.” Both men managed a small grin; Admiral Nelson’s PA took her duties very seriously. “The Admiral had a meting first thing this morning at the University. He’ll be here by 1000 hours.” Lee’s turn to nod. “The Chief and I supervised several drills in the morning and there wasn’t a clue. We both came up to eat lunch in the cafeteria.” Lee let a quick grin show, and Chip matched it. If there was one person at NIMR who could match Chip in the ‘bottomless pit’ category of eating, it was Seaview’s COB, Chief Curley Jones. “I had a meeting with the Admiral so left while Curley was polishing off the last of his coffee. I’d barely made it to my office, to grab my notes for the meeting, when the emergency claxon went off. One of the cafeteria staff saw the Chief start to get up, hesitate just a bit, then fall to the floor. She sounded the alarm.” He stopped to take a deep breath. “Jamie said, once he’d seen the autopsy results, that Curley was most likely dead by the time he hit the floor, it was that fast.” A soft stream of expletives slipped out of Lee’s mouth. “Yeah,” Chip agreed.

“The funeral?” Lee asked

“Here in Santa Barbara. Curley’s sister and brother-in-law flew in. They said that Curley loved the area here so much, they didn’t want to take him away from it. I think the only people from NIMR who weren’t there were the guards who had the duty, and they weren’t overly happy; drew straws to see who had to work.”

“And me,” came out low and hard. Chip reached out a foot and tapped one of Lee’s. “I know,” Lee told his friend. “But I still feel bad.”

“Understood,” Chip commiserated. He polished off his coffee. “Come on. I’ll drive you over to the cemetery and we’ll have our own quiet moment.”

“Should probably get to my desk,” Lee told him.

“Whatever’s there will wait another hour,” Chip told him firmly.

Lee hesitated, but finally nodded. “Thanks.” The pair left a quick message on Angie’s phone – she apparently was still away from her desk – and headed out.

It didn’t take them long to reach the entrance to the cemetery, and Chip drove slowly through and around the area closest to the ocean. There was no ocean view from the cemetery, but Lee nodded as Chip told him this was the closest plot Curley’s sister could arrange. They parked nearby and walked over to the newly disturbed grass, leaving their covers in Chip’s SUV. Too soon for a permanent marker, the grave was marked by a small metal frame around a covered middle that held a paper with Curley’s name and birth and death dates. Attached to the plate someone had added another paper, covered so moisture wouldn’t ruin it. The two men looked at each other, Chip shrugged, and together they read what had been left at the grave.

I want to age like sea glass. Smoothed by tides, but not broken. I want my hard edges to soften. I want to ride the waves and go with the flow. I want to catch a wave and let it carry me to where I belong. I want to be picked up and held gently by those who delight in my well-earned patina and appreciate the changes I went through to achieve that beauty. I want to enjoy the journey and always remember that if you give the ocean something breakable it will turn it into something beautiful. I want to age like sea glass.

~ Bernadette Noll ~

“Whoever left that, they couldn’t have said it better,” Lee said, and Chip agreed. “His sister, perhaps?” Lee added.

“No idea. But it’s perfect.” They stood side by side a few more minutes, each in their own thoughts.

Finally Lee sighed, and Chip sent him a look. Without a word they headed back to the SUV.

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In Memory of Henry Kulky. Aug. 11, 1911 – Feb. 12, 1965

Gone way too soon.