Don't Mean a Thing

Chapter 1-2

I AWOKE TO A QUIET buzzing noise. The ambient sound of waterfalls and birds twittering accompanied the gentle, pulsed vibration. Eyes still closed, it took me a moment to process these sounds and realise that I had the power to stop them.

I fumbled for my phone and unplugged it from the charger cord that I'd wrapped around the bedside lamp. I’d forgotten to do that once and had sent my previous lamp to its grizzly death. Keeping one eye screwed shut, I swiped the screen to turn off the alarm.

The smart alarm feature was brilliant, designed to bring me gently to consciousness. I’m not a night owl, but I cope better with mornings if I don’t start them with an adrenaline dump caused by the beep-beep-beep of a digital clock. The radio setting’s not much better. Waking up to someone talking or singing at me was just as scary.

I rolled out of bed and gathered all the things I needed for my morning shower. After living on base and using a communal bathroom for most of last year, I had it down to a fine art. Room key, toiletry bag, towel, shower thongs (better safe than toe jammy), phone, shower cap and Bluetooth headphones. I slipped out of my pyjamas and wrapped myself in my favourite silk dressing gown. Ready to go.

I loved reading, especially audiobooks, but since joining the military and living on base, my commute time was practically non-existent. This had put a huge dent in my audiobook listening, so I found a few ways to squeeze in some extra reading time. My latest was to put my Bluetooth headphones on under my shower cap—instant water-resistant headphones at a fraction of the cost. My phone was technically water-resistant too, but I didn’t want to play the books through the loudspeaker. Broadcasting raunchy s*x scenes to the world wasn’t the first impression I wanted to make.

I wandered up to the bathroom and opened the door. Then I slammed it shut again. “Jeez, Rachael! Lock the door.” I squeezed my eyes closed, attempted to wipe away the vision of her bending over, stark naked, to dry her toes.

“Sorry.” Rachael’s giggle echoed around the bathroom. “Hey, Macie. I forgot to tell you. I have to go to medical this morning. Can you find your own way to Movements?”

“Sure.” That girl had no boundaries. It was like talking to someone in the toilet cubicle next to you. Gross. I didn’t want to talk to naked Rachael, but I couldn’t be rude either. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I should be getting my shoulder cleared today.”

“That’s great. I’ll see you at work a bit later, then.” I tried the second cubicle. Safe.

With the shower now running, I turned the volume up a notch to fill my mind with new imagery and stood under the stream of lukewarm water. It took me ages to adjust the water to a comfortable temperature. I had to set it the opposite to what I was used to, a teensy bit of hot and cold on full.

Feeling mentally and physically cleansed, I returned to my room to get dressed. I braided my hair, taming my curls into a military-approved style. It was a relief to get the bulk of my thick hair off the back of my neck.

My freshly ironed blue service dress uniform hung in the wardrobe ready to wear, the scent of starch still clinging to the crisp fabric. I checked and double-checked that my patches were all in the right place. I hung my uniform back up and dressed in my civvies—my regular civilian clothes. I didn’t want to risk spilling breakfast on my uniform. First impressions do last.

My first day at work was called “marching in”. I didn’t actually have to march everywhere like I had at recruits, though. Real-life in the RAAF was a little less strict.

I pulled out my map of the base and studied the way to the Air Movements Section. It was right over the other side of the base. I cursed the fact that my car hadn’t been delivered yet and set out on foot. The sun was barely up but I’d begun to sweat before I even reached the bottom of the steps.

I was a grown adult, but I felt like the new kid at school. My hand twitched as I scanned uniforms, counting stripes to make sure I saluted the right people. Correct etiquette had been drummed into me at recruits, and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself on my first day. Or on any day for that matter.

I introduced myself to the nearest person. My sister’s voice echoed through my mind as I scanned his uniform. He’s built like a brick shithouse. Thank goodness he only had one stripe. That was only one rank above mine. I was an Aircraftwoman—or ACW—and hadn’t earned a stripe yet. He must be a Leading Aircraftman—or LAC—though why they distinguish men and women at the lowest two ranks and not higher up is a mystery. I didn’t need to salute him, so I blurted out what I needed.

“Good morning LAC. I’m ACW Macie Harman, and I’ve just posted in today. Do you know where I can find Ma’am?”

“Mornin’, Macie, I’m Jeremy.”

Heat flushed up my neck as his gaze strayed down from my face. Was he seriously looking at my chest?

“Come on. I’ll introduce you.” With a cocky nod in the direction of the office, he turned on his heel and strode off.

I glanced down to check that all my buttons were done up. They were fine but wet patches were seeping out from under my armpits, my powder blue shirt now resembling a failed tie-dye project. Bugger. Nothing I could do about it now. I trotted after Jeremy, catching up with him as he went up the steps and into the office.

There were several desks, most of them occupied. A couple of people stood next to a large whiteboard, writing things on magnetic strips and moving them around the board. We walked over to one of the men sitting behind a computer.

“Mornin’, Sarge, this is Macie.” Jeremy introduced me.

“Morning, Macie. Welcome to Darwin.” The sergeant smiled at me, then turned to Jeremy. “Can you take her up to Ma’am’s office.” It was a directive, not a question.

“Sure.” Jeremy turned to me, “C’mon.”

I followed him through the doorway and up a flight of stairs. He knocked on the door at the end of the hall.

“Come in.” Jeremy pushed the door open and nodded at me to go in first. “Mornin’ Ma’am. This is ACW Macie Harman.”

“Thank you, Jeremy.” The officer dismissed him with a nod.

I walked into the room, stood fast in front of the desk, and saluted. “Good morning, Ma’am.”

“Good morning, Macie. Please take a seat.”

My stomach fluttered. It was like being in the principal’s office at school, and I’d been there more than once. I sat.

“Welcome to the Top End. How are you settling in so far?”

“I only got in yesterday. My room is nice and the food at the mess is heaps better than at recruits.” I fidgeted with the lowest button on my shirt.

“Excellent. This week you’ll be on admin shift. We’ll take you through orientation and sign you off on the basic competencies. Next week you’ll join Team B. You’ve just met Jeremy, who will be on your team. I believe you already know one of your other teammates, Rachael. I’ll get Jeremy to introduce you to the rest of the team today.”

I silently groaned. Not Rachael’s team. My fingers tensed as I twisted the button again. It came off in my hand. Crap. I prayed Ma’am didn’t notice.

She picked up the phone. “Send Jeremy back up.”

I tucked the tiny white button into my fist. I’d fix it when I got out of this office.

Ma’am glanced up to the doorway behind me. “Jeremy, you can show Macie around today, and introduce her to the rest of your team.”

I stood. “Thanks, Ma’am. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Macie. And Macie.” Ma’am pointed towards my stomach. “Get that button fixed.”

The button slipped from my clammy grasp and rolled across the floor, disappearing under her desk. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Ma’am has a thing about uniform,” Jeremy whispered as he led me back downstairs. “I didn’t notice your button was missing, or I would have told you to fix it before I took you inside.”

Would he have told me? He’d taken a good enough look at the front of my shirt and hadn’t mentioned that I looked like a sweaty blob. “It wasn’t missing then. It broke off while I was in there.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a sewing kit in my locker.”

“But I dropped the button up there.”

Jeremy chuckled. “We’ll find you a button somewhere.” We reached the main hangar. “I’ll introduce you to the team. I haven’t seen Rachael yet today, but the rest are here.”

“I know Rachael, already. We went through training together.”

Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “She’s full of beans, hey?”

“She certainly is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her sit still. I feel exhausted just watching her. I must be getting old.”

“You don’t look old,” Jeremy said.

I rolled my eyes. “I felt old at Wagga with all those new recruits.”

“You’ve got the eyeroll down pat. You’ll fit in fine.” He laughed “Speaking of Rachael, have you seen her today?”

“You could say that.” I’d seen way too much of Rachael that morning.

“Oh?” Jeremy raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t want to know.” I shook my head. “She’s at medical. She tripped over during training and tore a muscle in her shoulder. She told me if the doc’s happy that it’s healed, she can go back on full duty.”

Jeremy introduced me to the rest of our team. Most names went in one ear and out the other. I’m not great with names and it always takes ages to remember them all. Especially since so many people had nicknames. I tried to cheat by checking shirt patches, but they only had surname and rank, and most nicknames defied logic.

I wondered what I would get saddled with. Hopefully, I could ditch that ridiculous one I’d picked up at recruits. As the oldest woman in our group, all the girls had called me “Nanna”.

Rachael breezed in and joined the group, her hair now styled similar to mine. “Hi, guys. Doc said my shoulder is good to go.” She glanced over to me. “Hi, Nanna. Did Ma’am put you on our team?”