For The Love of Safe Keeping

The war had been over for some time when Valarie graduated high school yet the country was still torn apart. The president had faced impeachment, people were trying to heal from all the chaos, and many things were changing and new. Valarie did well for herself in private school earning a 4-year college scholarship, but she couldn’t decide what to do with the rest of her life.

In the old farm truck, Valarie and her father looked out at the cobalt black bay as it swallowed the hazy summer sun. When Val wanted to talk with her dad, he would take her in one of his trucks somewhere to talk alone, and look out over the bay.

The 1963 GMC old green farm truck was Val’s favorite. It was the truck her father taught her how to shift “3-On-The-Tree” while she sat on his knee. Val always treasured her father’s advice. He was her mentor, hero, and a US Marine who served in the previous war many years ago, the Korean war.

“Dad, I don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer, or anything like that. I don’t want to spend my life working in a building. I want to travel. I know women with 4-year college degrees who can’t get a decent job. The only jobs for women are secretaries, cashiers, waitresses, or airline stewardesses. I don’t want to be any of those.” Valarie exclaimed.

Looking out over the bay her father smoked his cigarette and was silent for a minute.

“Honey, I’ll be proud of you no matter what you do. You can only be happy in life if you do what you really love. I’m not going to tell you what to do. That’s up to you.” He replied softly as he turned to look at her.

“But dad, I need your advice.” Valarie begged, looking into her father's eyes.

Valarie reflected on her life. Raised on a big farm, she learned to love animals. She learned to hunt geese, catch rock fish, dig for oysters, and work crab boats on the Bay. She loved traveling and learning other cultures in all the places her parents had taken her. She loved working at her father’s car dealership and loved muscle cars and motorcycles. She loved working at her grandparent’s marina in the boat yard. She was also an avid sailor and windsurfer.

“Dad, I love being on the water more than anything and I want to travel the world by ship.” Valarie said hesitantly.

“I can’t imagine a better thing to do and I’d like to run away with you honey!” her father laughed.

Now glowing in orange and gold, the bay was flat calm and Val could see the US Naval Academy on the other side.

“Dad, I applied to the Naval Academy with my scholarship and I was accepted. This is the first year they’re accepting women.” Valarie’s voice quivered.

“Do you think you can handle it? I mean, it’s really hard work being in the military. I know you can handle the class work, but what about the rest?” her father said with his eyes opened wide.

Valarie was familiar with the Naval Academy. She dated some sailors there and often watched them work out on the drill field. The past two summers she taught windsurfing there to new sailors who “thought” they knew how to sail.

Where she was sitting in the truck on the bay was the exact spot where she learned how to sail and windsurf. From that spot is also where she sailed off the beach one day and inadvertently became the first woman to ever windsurf across the Chesapeake Bay.

“I’m not concerned about that dad. I think you know what I mean, how women might be treated. I don’t want to get in any trouble. There are about 3,000 guys and only 6 women. Women have never done this before.” Valarie confessed as she saw her father swallow a lump in his throat.

Valarie continued, “I’ve heard about another military maritime school in Southern Maryland that I’m looking at. It’s for training in the US Merchant Marines. With the college credits I have, I think I can get through the school and out to sea really fast.

Her father looked down. He knew the day would come when she would leave home for good.

“Val, I know whatever you set your heart and mind on, you will accomplish a lot and be very happy,” he affirmed as he raised his chin.

At the Merchant Marine school, Val learned to work in every department on a ship: the deck, engine, navigation, and steward departments. She took classes by day, walked guard duty at night, went to the Navy firefighting school and US Coast Guard lifeboat school, and she never slept.

Val didn’t know when her ship would come in until one autumn morning her drill sergeant woke her up at 0400 pounding on the door. “Pack your bags! You’re out of here!” he yelled as he flipped on the light switch.

Valarie rocketed out of bed, “Whaaattt?!!!”

He threw some papers on her bunk and said, “Here’s your orders! A car will be here to take you to the airport at 0600. Get dressed, get some chow, and best of luck to you!” he yelled slamming the heavy door as he left.

Valarie looked at the papers. Her shipping card was for an oil tanker that was in Baton Rouge. The airline ticket was to fly out of Washington, DC at 10:15 am. Quickly, she dressed in her khaki formals, jammed everything from her locker into her big green duffle bag, and hustled double time to the mess hall. She was a nervous wreck sitting and waiting while drinking coffee.

A taxi cab soon arrived and Val waved him down at the street. He confirmed her name and papers and opened the trunk so she could load her gear. There was a long silence in the car as they drove away from the bay heading north to DC.

“I’ve picked up many sailors but this is the first time I’ve ever picked up a woman. I didn’t know there were any at this school.” the driver sneered as he glared at her in the rear-view mirror.

Staring back at him through the mirror Valarie quipped, “Well, it won’t be the last. I left 3 women behind me.”

They traveled silently most of the trip. At the terminal, she hoisted her bag out of the trunk and the taxi driver wished her good luck.

Val’s knees were shaking and her hands trembled as she entered Reagan National Airport. She headed directly to her gate but had no idea where she was going once she got to the ship in Baton Rouge. Her mind raced day dreaming of foreign ports of call. Her boots banged together carrying the heavy duffle bag down the long corridor. Looking down, she saw a shiny copper penny on the floor. Balancing the duffle bag on her back, Val leaned over and picked it up for more good luck.

Her stomach was cartwheeling on the plane and she declined the lunch she was offered. Val stared out the window the entire flight until she saw the Mississippi River below. She had her bag out of the overhead and was at the front of the plane before the wheels touched down.

Another taxi met her at the airport. Weaving through the city size oil refinery in Baton Rouge, the huge ship eventually came into view. The gangway looked a mile high. With her gear in tow, she muscled her way to the top as fast as she could. Val saw men looking over the gunnel watching her come aboard.

Dropping her bag on deck Val yelled, “Finally I made it!”

Hearing laughter behind her, she spun around on the heel of her boot and in her face was the chest of the chief mate.

In a loud muscular voice he commanded “Welcome aboard, Follow me! I’ll show you to your foksul! Once below deck the chief ordered, “Unpack quickly then report to the captain right away!” as he slammed the heavy door on his way out.

Val wondered why men were always slamming doors around her. She also couldn’t imagine what was so heavy in her duffle bag! Val dumped everything out of her bag onto her bunk. She had clothes, shoes, boots, belts, toiletries, a buck knife, and about a dozen books. She had some office supplies and a little black notebook which she had taken from her father’s office.

Jamming everything into her locker she grabbed the little black book. It was her journal for her new life at sea on her first ship. Taking the penny out of her shirt pocket she found at the airport, she taped it to the first page and wrote:

Oct 10, 1980. Baton Rouge. USS Cove Leader oil tanker. On my way to Capt. for assignments. Good Luck!

Val sailed on many ships over the next 4 years in and out of foreign ports around the world. She rarely stepped foot on land unless it was a union hall or an airport to catch another ship. Every day she wrote a few lines in the little black book noting all the exotic places, people, and the perils at sea. She wrote letters to her father to tell him she loved him and missed him and that she was happy.

The day she quit sailing she mailed the little black book to her father to stash away for safe keeping. Val had landed in the Florida Keys and inadvertently began a career as a scuba diver.

Time passed. Then one day, so did Valarie’s father.

On the day Val went back home to go through her father’s things, she found the little black book in his safe. On the inside cover her father had written, “I will always be proud of you. Love, Dad.”

Her fingers touched the penny she put there 20 years ago. It was old and tarnished and appeared blurry. Tears raced down her face and fell onto the book. As the ink ran down the page, she remembered a time and place long ago in the old truck on the bay.

Val took everything: All his papers, military documents, his purple heart medal, and some old coins.

About a year passed before she decided to research her father’s coins, but the Kennedy half dollars and Liberty dollars were only worth their silver value.

Sometime later Val realized that while researching the coins she learned the meaning of double die. She wondered about the blurry penny and researched it online. She was shocked to learn it was a 1969-S Double Die and one recently sold online for $ 20,000.

She listed the penny on eBay along with the story of how the penny traveled the world by sea. She didn’t think she would get any bids but on the third morning, the high bid was $ 5500. On the fifth day, the high bid hit $ 20,000 and there were still 5 days left to bid.

Valarie walked away from the computer dazed. With a cup of coffee, she went outside to watch the sun rise over the cobalt black ocean. Later that day she sat outside and watched the sun sink into the Florida bay, glowing in orange and gold.

When all the colors in the sky had unwillingly faded away, Val went back to the computer and canceled the listing. She taped the coin back into the little black book and placed it in the safe with her father’s things.

Of all the things Val treasured in her life, all the oceans she’d travelled and the intrepid life she’d lived, there was no amount of money that could buy all the memories written in the little black book, where the lucky penny had to stay for good luck and the love of safe keeping.