I got to work today, early as usual, gave my breakfast to the guys, and then tried to figure out where I left off in the office.
The phone rang from an outside number. I assumed it was one of our Marshallese workers letting me know he wasn't coming in. It was Billy B.
Billy is a slim, silver grey haired Philippino guy probably near 70, at least mid 60's. with a kind face and attitude and very easy to talk to. He made a decision to leave at the contract change in February this year. He must have decided that after 37 years on this island he didn't want to deal with another contract change, or maybe it was simply a good time to leave in his mind. He had been here on Kwajalein since 1990. He must have been an American citizen, because he lived and worked here. I only had a month to get to know him while we worked for Chugach, and that was just a few brief encounters at work in the morning. There was another at "Camp Hamilton" where I kept the Hobie. One morning a few of us were heading out to go sailing there. He had a throw net and was wearing a pair of blue jean shorts looking at the water. He told me that dark spot in the water was a school of sardines. I'm fairly certain earlier I had mentioned in this blog my former workmate "Tiny" had told me about them. He said they were "out of reach". I didn't really get it at the time. He didn't want to get in the water because he was afraid of sharks. He never went in above his calves...
I asked him this morning how life was for him in California. He said he wants to come back home, Kwajalein is his home. 37 years does pretty much make a place a "home". He talked about coming back to work but there were no job openings. He said where he lived if he wanted to go somewhere, like the beach, he had to drive. On Kwaj he said, it was easy, after work if he wanted to go to the beach, he just got on his bike and peddled for a few hundred yards and he was on the beach.
I don't understand how people have problems with this place...
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