Muster - an excerpt of At Sea
Quarters
Quarters
All hands to quarters for muster, instruction, and inspection
Sonar Technician Second Class Molly Barrone stood up too fast and it took a few seconds for her equilibrium to catch up. She was still a little hungover, in spite of all the water she drank before finally getting to sleep. She stood still for a bit and took deep breaths while the fluid in her inner ears redistributed, then she walked to the door.
Uncle
She looked closer at her uncle’s hospital room and wondered if all people had to endure dying in this way. There were cheerful bright butterfly and flower stickers stuck up haphazardly on the pinkish-white walls and inspirational posters commanding patients to “Cheer up!” She wondered if the man on the hospital bed could have ever
Watchstanding
Barrone had always been someone people told their secrets to.
Even on the ship.
She was never sure why, when as far as she knew only a handful of people on the ship even knew what her first name was. But maybe that was it.
Underway, Shift Colors
Underway. Shift colors.
The crew topside watched as the steady unseen force of the tug’s propellers made it seem as though the pier was pulling away from them. Their families and whatever comforts they might be leaving behind were moving away and would soon, for a time and of necessity, be forgotten…
Don’t Touch The Floor, Don’t Pee In The Shower, And Hide Your Blood
The unspoken rule of any bathroom shared by a dozen or more women is that nothing must ever come into contact with the floor of the bathroom. The bathroom in Berthing Five, the ship’s Ops and Combat female berthing, was no different.