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Part 1 Something New

In 1992, U.S. troops were ordered to Somalia on a humanitarian mission. During Operation Restore Hope more than 500 U.S. troops based in Kenya made almost 2,000 sorties from Mombasa and delivered more than 23,000 metric tons of relief supplies to the sick and starving Somalis with infants, nursing mothers and the elderly as the chief victims.

In July 1992 Carl Chandler, a US Marine from California, was serving with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Along with a group of 50 fellow marines they occupied the White Sands Hotel on Kenya’s white cost situated north of Mombasa. Carl was on his first day of rest and recreation yet despite this, at 6.30 am he was already awake for his run. As he stood on the balcony his attention was drawn to the white sands and the calmness of the blue Indian Ocean. He still appreciated its beauty, even though the ocean was a familiar sight to him.

The marines were placed in a quiet location of the hotel not used by holiday makers. It was a white two storey block with arched patio facings and ground floor terraces and the centre of the block was a small tropical garden with tall palm trees and a pool area. Dressed in black shorts, the twenty-nine-year-old saluted the pool attendant and made his way to the beach.

Carl jogged at a steady pace along the quiet water’s edge, thinking of his family back in Venice Beach and relieved the messy divorce was over. He didn’t rest at the deserted hut this time but headed straight back to the hotel, stopping just before the reception area where nine well dressed guests were checking in. They were gathered around black hard shell suitcases and looked out of place in the morning heat. Each one very attractive he thought but it was a pretty brunette that caught his eye.

Kate and the Boeing 757 crew had just dead headed as passengers from Gatwick ready to operate the return flight in a weeks’ time. The night flight was tiresome despite being a passenger and Kate was looking forward to her bed; she knew her body craved sleep.

The airline was aware that the US marines were at the hotel for R & R and Kate had received dozens of swap requests from fellow crew members, all wanting the week’s trip. Pre-flight cabin crew briefings now included a reminder that crew represented the airline down route and must act accordingly.

The flight attendant had no intention of fraternising with the male species ever again, she had told Eve, her friend and the senior crew member. Having just gone through a tedious divorce, a long haul trip was what she needed and her toddler was happy staying with her parents. Her ego was bruised and as far as she was concerned no man would give her a second glance anyway; she had marriage failure written all over her. Actually, Kate didn’t realize how attractive she was.

The crew dispersed at the reception and the girls headed towards the outside terraces to locate their room. Kate passed a tall man who made a point of grinning “Hi” as she walked by. The twenty-nine-year-old was surprised by his casual greeting and simply smiled “Hello.” This didn’t go unnoticed by Eve who teased Kate and they giggled all the way to their room.

After several hours of sleep under the large white mosquito net and a quick visit poolside to see the crew, Kate returned to her white wash painted room to get ready. A private barbeque was arranged for the cabin crews’ first supper and Kate had just finished drying her hair when the power cut out. Typical Kate grinned, assuming it would come back as it usually did; not this time. Managing to complete getting ready in minimal natural light, Kate left her room grateful for the glimmer of emergency lighting and grand lit torches that assisted her way to the bar area.

Most of the crew had arrived and Eve was talking to the Hotel Manager about the new location of the barbeque. They were led across the hotel complex to a small swimming pool area where a chef was busy cooking on a freestanding gas barbeque. A long trestle had been laid with a white tablecloth and bottles of red and white wine stood proudly in the middle.

Everything was in darkness outside the girl’s immediate vicinity. The crew actually had no idea in which part of the hotel they were but their laughter and chatter echoed around the white complex that surrounded the pool. Guests left their rooms intrigued as to what was occurring and many remained on their terraces and balconies wondering who the girls were. A US marine, Carl Chandler was amongst those who lounged on his balcony with a smoke, grinning as he spotted the brunette from that morning. “Hey guys, that’s her!” he called behind to his room mates.

Unbeknown to the crew, almost 30 marines were observing their movements as they devoured the food, drank the wine and got merrier and merrier. Kate felt the wine go to her head as she entered a state of total relaxation. The topic of conversation got to the marines and Eve once again teased Kate about the ‘fit guy’ who said hello to her.

“Do you think he was a marine?” Kate asked, not sure why, as she suddenly remembered, even in her tipsy state, that she was ‘off men’.

As quickly as the power went out, the spot lights around the pool came on as did the room lighting and the White Sands Hotel resumed normal power. The girls clapped and cheered. Once they had got over the delight of being able to see again, Kate looked beyond the group and then at Eve. Eve followed Kate’s glance. Kate’s visual was a double take almost, as she scanned from left to right the terraces and balconies surrounding them. Only now did they realize where they had been feasting - bang in the middle of the US marine’s complex.

“Oh shit!” was Kate’s immediate reaction. “Shit,” she whispered again. The remainder of the crew also noticed where they were and started laughing as they saw 30 or so marines staring at them and heard about the same number of whistles in appreciation. They couldn’t have got themselves noticed any better if they’d tried. The irony was, the airline had told crews to keep a low profile and they had done the exact opposite. If they ever wanted the marines to know they were around, this was the perfect way and it wasn’t their doing.

“I need a drink,” Eve said.

“I need one of those men,” declared Helen, which led to more laughter.

Thereafter were noticeably more hair flicks, higher pitched giggles and long glances over at the marines from the younger members of the crew. Kate and Eve sat and observed like mother hens. It took a bare chested, young officer with one hand in his pocket, a couple of bottled beers in the other, to saunter over and introduce himself for the others to follow.

Eve left Kate to find the nearest bathroom at the same time Carl approached the table looking around for the brunette. Kate had moved to a sun bed. Her white cropped-jeaned legs extended out and her ballet pumps sat on the floor. She wriggled her tanned toes and was watching the moonlight in the pool when she heard an American accent say, “Penny for them.” She looked up at Carl and smiled in recognition of the same voice that spoke that morning.

“Oh you wouldn’t want to know,” she replied with a smile, extending her hand out to introduce herself.

“I’m Kate,” was all she said.

Carl took her hand in his, not in greeting, but like it belonged there, like they had been holding hands for umpteen previous years. He felt a connection.

“Carl, Carl Chandler. Pleased to meet ya, Kate.”

Their eyes remained locked; an ocean of blue being seduced by alluring dark hazel. Strange for Carl, he didn’t want to release her hand. Strange for Kate, she didn’t want it to be released.

Carl motioned if he could sit down and Kate scrunched up her legs to her chest before he straddled the sun bed and faced her.

Still holding her hand he asked, “Are ya here long?”

“A week,” said Kate “You been here long?”

“A couple of months but I head back home soon. Venice Beach, California. Know it?”

Kate nodded and smiled. She didn’t want to tell him just yet that she was rostered a 10 day trip to Santa Monica at the end of the month.

“Ever been?” He asked.

“Not yet,” said Kate with a twinkle in her eye, wondering if this was the start of something new.

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