Free The Dark Inside (A Human Element) by Donna Galanti Page A

out."
    Andy caught him staring at the brunette across the bar and laughed. "Dude, she is so not your type. I thought little Asians wanna-sucky-sucky was more your thing? You know, love 'em and leave 'em in fifteen minutes? That tourist chick won't even give you the time of day. It would take you fifteen minutes just to get close to her. Forget about it, man."
    "Yeah, well, I can dream, can't I? Besides, I'm not feeling the downtown, social scene tonight." He ordered a straight up vodka from the bar and downed half in one chug.
    "Okay. But if you keep drinking this fast you won't be able to find a cab to get back to base. You sure you want to stay here?"
    Ben smiled at the girl across from him who caught his eye again. She bent down to say something to her friend and looked back up at him. His time here on the island was almost up. He knew he would get ship duty overseas when he re-upped on his next tour. It may be his last chance for a night with an American girl for a while.
    "Yeah, I'm sure."
    "Okay, but now I don't have my sacrificial friend with me to offer the street trash that jacks me up on the way out of town."
    "That kung fu grip of yours will ward off the trash. Now get outta here. I'll catch you tomorrow."
    "Okay, later, brah. Stay clean." Andy gave him the Hawaiian hand salute and made his way out through a throng of Marines, locals, aged women, and hipsters. It all created a blended, steamy smell of sweat, stale beer, and perfume. Andy was Ben's only friend. He accepted his moodiness and didn't ask questions. Ben found out one night on a drinking binge Andy had been orphaned, too, when he was seven. He lived in an orphanage for two years until he was adopted. They didn't talk about their past, but Ben knew it connected them. From what he guessed Andy had a rough time of it, too. He gave a final wave to his friend as he left the bar.
    The Johnny Cash wanna-be left the stage in a spattering of applause and a new band set up for the boisterous, late night crowd. Ben finished his drink and ordered another vodka, a double this time. He'd make sure it went down slow. He looked up. A tall man stared at him from across the far end of the bar. It wasn't a passing a glance. He had on a black T-shirt that stretched across his muscular arms and chest. Even in the murky bar light his bright, green eyes glowed eerie in the dim light of the bar. He looked familiar to Ben. He knew he had seen him before but couldn't remember where. The man nodded at him and then disappeared into the crowd, his massive body pushing through the throng of partygoers. Ben shook his head in puzzlement and wished he hadn't. The room spun a bit. His drink was almost gone already. Too soon. He sipped the ice in his glass and debated whether to get another. It suddenly reminded him of his foster father's drinking, his empty beer cans around the house. He didn't want to think about him. He wasn't like him.
    After watching Frank go up in flames four years ago, Ben jumped a bus for Florida. He landed in Orlando, and took on cleaning jobs at resort hotels to live. The day he turned eighteen he walked into the U.S. Navy Recruiting office in Orlando and signed up as an enlisted sailor. He yearned for free education, free food, and a regular paycheck. He knew he had no other options to survive. Besides, he was sick of making minimum wage to sleep in a cockroach-infested room stinking from overflowing trash dumpsters outside his window.
    After boot camp, he set off for Navy photography school in Pensacola, which got even better. He enjoyed the white, sand beaches across from his barracks and learning the photography trade. After graduating school and arriving in Pearl Harbor, Ben spent his duty processing Top Secret aerial photos of non-allied military locations around the world. The job was okay. He enjoyed more getting out of the photo lab and taking photos of command events and experiencing the beautiful island. And not just the natural beauty. He wanted to