Cap Mandrake
Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002 From: Southern California Status: offline
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*************01:30, November 11, 1942, 400 yds off Rottnest Island, near Freemantle********** Half a dozen Japanese submarines sit motionless in calm water in a 1000 yd arc near a gap in the reef. Perhaps ten small motor sloops ferry Japanses soldiers, who have been staged to Rottnest Island in a slow motion Dunkerque. This is the third wave of evacuations by submarine for the doomed Japanese forces investing Perth. This must all be accomplished at night as RAAF Beauforts and Dutch and USAAF B-25's rule to seas in the daylight hours. The motor sloops are a new addition to improve efficiency. In a fortuitous accident, Allied ASW patrols are this night concentrating in a scetor 15 miles to the South. One sloop approaches the sub closest to shore. The captain can be seen on the sail. His jaw is set. His expression is stoic despite the pleasant Southern Hemisphere Spring weather and the apparent fact that all goes well. As the sloop draws near, a smile breaks over his weathered face. "Miro!", he shouts." "Ito! You crazy son of a bitch!" "You rook good" "Isometric exercises, Ito, isometric exericses. I have to look good. I am running for President. Hey, Ito, you crazy son of a bitch, I hear you have a girlfriend." The boat slews sideways bumping deftly against the hull of the sub. "Yes, Ito ruv her." "Ruv? You crazy son of a bitch, you didn't tell HER that did you?" "Y....yes", he answers cautiously. "Oh dear God. Alright, look, I'll have DC&H draw up some kind of prenup." "Prenup. Ito rike." "Great, Ito-san. I'll have my people call your people." He passes up a satchel to Ito, "Ito, please tell Yamashita the warrants for the future purchase of shares in the former Royal Dutch facilities at Palembang are not working for me any more. I will need something more concrete. You guys are losing." "Yamashita, Army. Ito no rike." "Ah, you are too hard on the guy. He is a bit gruff and he will take a mile if you give him an inch, but he has his soft side too. By the way, Ito, I have some paintings of bare-breasted Polynesian women. I have been trying to move the things. Are you interested?" "Gaugin?" "Yes, as a matter of fact, yes, they are Gaugin, originals, of course." "No, Ito no rike Gaugin. Girls chubby." "OK, Ito, you crazy son of a bitch." He smiles as he steps back into the now empty motor sloop, "One more load then you boys need to push off. That Borgnine idiot is supposed to 15 miles South of here but I don't trust his navigational skills." A quick turn of the throttle and the engine pulls the sloop quickly away from the sub.
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