Red Shirt
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Long ago, when sailing ships ruled the waves, a captain and his
crew were in danger of being boarded by a pirate ship. As the crew
became frantic, the captain bellowed to his First Mate, "Bring me my
red shirt!". The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain's red shirt,
which the captain put on and lead the crew to battle the pirate
boarding party. Although some casualties occurred among the crew, the
pirates were repelled.
Later that day, the lookout screamed that there were two pirate
vessels sending boarding parties. The crew cowered in fear, but the
captain calm as ever bellowed, "Bring me my red shirt!". The battle
was on, and once again the Captain and his crew repelled both boarding
parties, although this time more casualties occurred.
Weary from the battles, the men sat around on deck that night
recounting the day's occurrences when an ensign looked to the Captain
and asked, "Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before the
battle?".
The Captain, giving the ensign a look that only a captain
can give, exhorted, "If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not
show the wound and thus, you men will continue to fight unafraid". The
men sat in silence marveling at the courage of such a man.
As dawn came the next morning, the lookout screamed that there
were pirate ships, 10 of them, all with boarding parties on their way.
The men became silent and looked to their Captain for his usual
command.
The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, "Bring me my brown pants!"
Robert Houston
Santa Teresa, NM
'74 Midget
63 TR4
.."America, be strong. My love and sympathy is with all of you. God bless
America."bMohan Velayudhan of Kuala Lumpur, author of <A
HREF="http://www.iuniverse.com/marketplace/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0%2
D595%2D14511%2D6&linkid=em100101">Naked in a Sandstorm</A>
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