“Pandemonium on the High Seas”

 Okay, I found this little no-shit gem online and I thought it was just too good to pass up. It made me grin from ear to ear when I read it. It’s a little story about life and I hope you all enjoy…

 

Back during the golden age of the U.S. Navy, when real men sailed on Uncle Sam's warships unlike today where the sissies fill most of the billets, veteran sailors like myself knew that the most important thing to bring on any Westpac was a small portable electric fan. This fan was easily mounted in your rack and it was the only source of cooling that you would have in the sweltering Indian Ocean.  During my first Westpac, I didn't know about bringing a fan and so I suffered terribly until I finally ponied up large sums of cash to buy a "used" fan from a shady character who had obviously stolen the thing from some idiot not smart enough to keep it locked up.

Before we left on our next Westpac, I made sure I brought a fan but my pal Myron G. forgot.  He quickly sent home a letter and asked his mom to send him a "9-inch fan" as soon as possible. We had a few weeks, maybe even a month, before we entered the Indian Ocean, so Myron wasn’t in a panic when his mom’s package was slow to arrive. Finally, the package arrived and not a moment too soon; the hot days were just around the corner and Myron quickly opened it.  Inside, much to his shock, Myron found a 9-inch frying pan. A note accompanied the pan saying …

“Dear Myron, I have no idea why you need a 9-inch pan but since you asked for one, here it is.”

Because his mom had sent the thing, Myron didn't have the heart to toss it into the ocean like he initially wanted to do but kept the damn thing instead.  Myron and I were roommates in college after we got out of the Navy and that pan was actually used all the time.  Somehow that little frying pan came into my possession and I still have it. Every time I see it when my wife uses it to make omelets or something, I laugh and think about the look on poor Myron’s face when he first gazed upon it so many years ago.  It's actually a pretty good pan … it's Teflon coated and all!!!