"With Friends Like These"

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This short story is one small story that did not quite make it into my first novel, Steaming: A Sea Story (2020). While I mentioned portions of this misadventure in my book, I had to leave out the best parts of this story. It’s a great little sea story, however, and I thought it might make an entertaining read for those interested in my books or trying to decide whether or not to invest some time in my writing. A couple of paragraphs from the book are included in this story for context. I’m speculating that plagiarizing yourself is OK. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a sea story, it can be explained by a common quote among sailors in the 1970s and probably much earlier. It was usually explicated as a joke: “What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts, ‘Once upon a time’ and a sea story starts, ‘Now this is a no-shitter.” Finally, before you read any further, please be advised that this story contains sailor vernacular and adult situations. By that, I mean there is a measure of coarse language in the story. It is not gratuitous but is, in my opinion, necessary to accurately portray the vocabulary of the American sailor in 1974. If you would like to know more about my books, please go to my website, www.journeytalker.com. I hope you enjoy this little sea story.