Soju Think You Can Drink?
A drunken sailor story set in Yeusu, South Korea.
A searing hot needle pierces my brain as I walk into the galley at O six hundred. My chief cook is still snoring in his bed. I don’t know how he got back on the ship. I don’t know how I got back on the ship.
Before closing the blinds in the galley to head off the death rays piercing through the windows, I looked out over the bay.
The port of Yeusu, South Korea, was in blood eyeshot.
Our bunkering hub. We always left Chinhae and bunkered in Yeusu.
The bay is littered with ships waiting for fuel. I look over the vast floating parking lot and see the port town.
The night before starts to come back to me.
The Night Before
“You going to shore tonight?” The chief mate said to me during dinner time.
“Yeah, I think so. Why not?” I replied, not realizing there would be a great reason to say why not in a few short hours.
We wrap up dinner service around eighteen hundred and rush to clean the galley and ourselves. Down the gangway, we go.
A group of six sailors headed to shore, thirsty and bored. We all carefully descend the rope ladder onto a rickety wooden launch…
