Revealing Revelations by Ric Nero Read Free Book Online

some of this up for me. “Obviously you two know each other, so what’s up with the love taps?”
    Shane smirks at me, looking me up and down. “Shut up, Private, you’re late. Your superiors are talking,” Shane said. He pulled rank again and it got under my skin.
    At this point, I wanted to voice my anger, but out of respect of the captain, I chose to let it slide. The two mildly bruised half drunk men laugh at one another once more as I stand in what I thought was an all out brawl.
    “Welcome back, old friend,” a Haitian accent bellows out in a deep voice.
    “It’s good to be back, sir,” Shane replies with a hard sigh following his statement. Wrestling around must of made him fatigued.
    “I won this time, you remember the bet. Drinks are on you, just like old times, remember?” the captain asks, walking around me to greet Shane, wrapping his left arm around his shoulders. “Come, come let us celebrate we made it back again from a war that was never ours.”
    The two walk back towards the green door still ignoring me, until Shane glances back at me. “You coming?” Shane asks me.
    Reluctant to soberly follow the ‘under the influenced’ duo, I couldn’t leave Shane knowing he was well-intoxicated. He’s a big boy but I had to watch his back, he’d do the same for me.
    We walk inside and there’s three unoccupied bar stools in front of us at the shorter side of the L- shaped bar. Coincidentally, it was by the door for easy access if things got too far out of hand. I’m far from a coward, but the Army taught me how having a plan B can be the tide changer in battle. The smell of nicotine causes me to cough due to the cigarette smoke fogging the air. I never had the lungs of a smoker, even though I tried it a few times in my rebellious teenage years.
    There are three empty bar stools before us. Shane sits on the left and me on the right, which put the unnamed captain in the middle of us both.
    Shane raises his hand to get the attention of the bartender. “Bartender, let me get three triple shots of Belvedere,” Shane says with a slightly tilted head from what I imagine to be the alcohol taking effect.
    “And make it snappy,” said the captain.
    I’m too embarrassed to look at the reaction of the bartender after that comment. Instead, I look at the yellow walls that compliment the green cemented dance area that was probably six feet away from the longer side of the L-shaped bar. It’s packed with people of Haitian ethnicity. I, on the other hand, am African American so I might blend with the crowd, but Shane was just the sore thumb, I guess. But that was how he always liked things, anyway.
    Loud music consumes the club and the two continue to chat amongst themselves briefly and chuckle. Then Shane leans back to get a better look at me beside his friend and says, “Thomas, meet my friend, Chaplain Bazz.” He then turns to his friend and says, “Chaplain, meet Thomas a.k.a Tommy Boy.”
    I couldn’t believe it, not only is this guy a captain, he’s a religious Chaplain. Details always get better and better with Shane. But, what type of religious leader comes to a bar, gets drunk and fights on the streets?  They aren’t even allowed to carry military issued firearms, peace keepers is what I called them. But I try not to put more thought into it, he’s still a soldier and a human.
    The Chaplain leans back and looks at me blocking Shane. “How ya doing, Thomas?” he exclaimed loudly over the music.
    “I’m good, sir!” I replied loudly trying to get over the music.
    He looked at me again. “We’re not on post or in uniform, so there’s no need for enlisted to officer etiquette, Thomas. Bazz will do just fine,” he said, letting me know I don’t have to show proper respect to rank.
    Shane grabs his drink off the bar top, and raises it slightly in a thank you gesture as he looks at the bartender. I hadn’t even realized the bartender came and left at all.
    “Come on,” Bazz says getting