A week later, on the day Commander Wright arrived in Hawaii, Raymond leaned against the bar in the officers’ club at the Pearl Harbor base. Several groups of ensigns occasionally burst into raucous laughter and then looked around quickly to be sure they weren’t bothering any senior officers. He watched them look him over carefully and he smiled at them to put them at ease. Louie was next to him.
“You wouldn’t necessarily know this,” Louie said, “but Lieutenant Commander Wright is a legend.”
Raymond was anxious about Commander Wright, who had arrived an hour earlier. After a perfunctory greeting, Raymond had gone to meet Louie. Wright seemed to Raymond a hard-nosed navy man, wound up like a spring.
“Did I tell you he just arrived?”
“Nope. But every ensign from the Academy in the place k
