My Journal

By Harriman Nelson

9.2

I was awakened by droplets of water upon my face. My bedroom ceiling was leaking! The rain wasn’t that bad, surely.

I looked at the clock. 0335. Well this was just great. We didn’t have 7/24 maintenance. So I did the next best thing and informed security to call them to come out right away or as soon as possible.

“It will have to wait until this storm is over,” Sanderson sighed, “how bad is it? I mean, just a few drips, or is it a stream of water coming through the ceiling?”

“Just droplets right now. Right on top of my bed.”

“Well, at least I can send a couple of guards over to help move the bed out of the way for you along with a couple of buckets to catch the drips."

And so, the men, that, I’m ashamed to say, whose names I didn’t have the slightest clue of, their rain gear drenched from their mad dashes from other buildings, moved the bed as far away from my errant ceiling, and placed a large industrial waste bucket under the problem.  However, they did recommend I use the other bedroom, just in case.

Grabbing one of my pillows that hadn’t been soaked, I headed to the small room that had been Lee's abode for awhile. You’d have thought that would be the end of it, and I could return to sleep. But Lee hadn’t changed his sheets or pillowcases before the mission, and I could smell his scent, aftershave, and what might have been residue of hair gel on the sheets, so I kept remembering how anxious I was about his return to Santa Barbara. I gave up trying to sleep and padded to the small living room opposite the open kitchenette, and turned on the TV.

There wasn’t anything of interest on, and thankfully, the droning voices began to lull me to sleep on the sofa, when I heard the word ‘Seaview’.

Naturally, I was immediately roused back to wakefulness.

“The line of severe thunderstorms will continue through tomorrow. Not a very pleasant welcome home for the Seaview, just underway from San Diego. The night sky was too dark for our helicopter cameras to pick up the sub very well except for her running lights before she submerged. But we did see photos posted to social media from people at the Navy base of her almost patchwork quilt repairs from the different metals welded into place. In other news, Mr. Ronald Hawthorne, aka Nelson, begins work at NCIMR on Monday.”

I grabbed a calming cigarette, but found I didn’t have to light up. God bless hypnotism!

 "This just in from the National Weather Service. Four counties, including Santa Barbara, are in a tornado watch. Stay away from windows, don’t drive if you don’t have to, and keep those flashlights handy! We will continue to stay on the air and bring you updated weather conditions as they happen.”

Oh joy. What will tomorrow bring, I wonder.