Day XCV

Saved by a Butt

     “Bootieee E watcha ya do na, uh?” they knew him by his nickname.

     “Same old sarge!” he laughed.

     He was safe, once across the gate nobody could touch him. That was the last time he went into town. He was busted again, and confined to base for sixty days. But since he was a short timer, and had less than sixty days to go on his tour, he never went to town again. The poor hoe never got paid. Too bad he didn’t have a couple of packs of cigarettes, he could have avoided the whole thing. But he didn’t smoke that much, he loved sex more than tobacco. Later on I asked him how he got that ass to move so fast, and he said

     “I stuck my butt on his ass, man.”

     So as it turned out a butt saved his ass. During the holidays we worked twelve hour shifts, so that guys could take one of the two off. I was less than two months short, and didn’t care which one I got. As it turned out I wound up with New Years. I was grateful because Christmas is a really lonely time when you’re away from your family and pals.

   On the 30^th, I was sitting in the day room drinking a beer, talking about how cool Manila was. I had been there once or twice before, and met some really cool peeps. There were Latin Jazz Clubs in downtown Manila, and they played real Latin Jazz.

     One June afternoon I met some Puerto Rican guys at the bowling alley. They had been to Manila, and told me how cool it was. So the next time they went, they invited me. Life is funny. One of those dudes was a guy who lived around the corner from me back in the Bronx.