By J. S. O'Keefe
In early 2003, President Bush and Toni Blair announced Saddam Hussein had amassed enough weapons of mass destruction to kill all life forms hundred times over.
I was young, still reasonably healthy, so one Monday I stepped into the Marine recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas. The building smelled of varnish and discipline. I liked it.
“Colonel, I’d like to enlist. Right now, here.”
The man behind a wobbly desk, who was probably a petty officer, looked at me. He barked: “Semper Fi.”
“Excuse me?” I said. “Sorry Colonel. I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Semper Fi!” he barked again. “Do you understand what that means?”
“No, Colonel. But I can learn the Marines lingo quickly. I’m good at languages.”
“Lingo?!” His face flushed. “Semper Fi. Semper Fidelis. Always loyal. Our motto. If you don’t know this, try the Army or Navy. They take just about anybody who walks in from the street.”
He opened the door for me.
After my bruised pelvis recovered more or less, I took the bus to Norfolk, Virginia. I limped into the Navy recruitment center. There polite refined men sat behind polished desks.
I explained my troubles with the Marine recruiter.
They laughed. “Those Marines! They think everyone is multilingual. Still surprising. They usually take anybody who walks in from the street.”
“The Colonel was very serious. Semper Fidelis. Latin?”
“Well, here we use English. Foreign words are forbidden on ships. Our motto, just three words. Can you guess?”
“No, Colonel.”
He smirked. “Rum, Sodomy, Flogging.”
I was fast becoming a peace activist.
About the Author
J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer.
His short stories and poems have been published in Roi Faineant, Scribes*MICRO, Every Day Fiction, AntipodeanSF, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50WS, Friday Flash Fiction, Medium, Paragraph Planet, 6S, WENSUM, Spillwords, Satire, etc.
You can find out more at his website: <https://www.szjohnny.net/>
Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake
My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.
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