The Istanbul Incident, a short story by BobboFCM. Date added: 2011-06-07. Times viewed: 1695.

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Intro: Two Sailors in Turkey

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                             THE ISTANBUL INCIDENT 

                                     By Robert Copple

 

 

 After sailing up the Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles, and into the Sea of         

 

Marmara, we finally reached our next port of call. It was Christmas, my ship, the  

 

USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier, was anchored off the channel at Istanbul, Turkey, 

 

I was a sailor. My good friend Henry, also a sailor, and I left the ship in a launch 

 

to explore Istanbul. We walked awhile enjoying the secrets of that mysterious 

 

place. The old world architecture along the narrow shiny streets was especially     

 

interesting. In order to have some souvenir pictures we bought tourist slides 

 

that were readily available from the numerous vendors around the city. After    

 

satisfying that part of our visit we set out to indulge in the more personally 

 

gratifying parts. After indulging in various bars, along the way, we were             

 

accompanied by a pair of attractive young girls. One was a native Turk and other 

 

was British, she’s the one I was with. We began bar hopping and carousing about 

 

getting pretty tipsy when we found ourselves deep in a seedy run down part of 

 

the city. It was getting dark, the architecture lost it’s charm, there was a          

 

suspicious aroma in the air of someone cooking dinner. At one point we entered 

 

another bar to continue our escapades and ordered drinks.                                                                                                                                                             

 

With a leer suitable for Boris Karlof the waiter, also the bartender, asked Henry 

 

for his order purposely ignoring the Turkish girl. I ordered for all of us thinking 

 

there was some kind of custom involved and Boris left. He disappeared into a 

 

smoky back room. We sat quietly wondering if it was a mistake going in there. 

 

When Boris returned he growled to us about it being forbidden for him to serve  

 

Henry’s girl friend but he could the rest of us. Henry, in a drunken haze, stood up 

 

preparing for combat. I was able to calm him down and with help from the girls, 

 

got him outside. Across an alley from the side of the bar was, luckily, a taxi   

 

complete with a driver looking bored to death. Seeing us in front of the bar he 

 

began to yell and wave his arms, He was sort of a nervous kind of guy who 

 

spoke terrible English, speaking way too fast to apply grammar.                                                                                                                                                

 

We piled in trying to decide on what to do next. A crowd began to gather around 

 

the car, we looked at each other wondering what was going on, hoping the 

 

driver would start driving. Things escalated to a violent level, the crowd began 

 

rocking the car yelling things we didn't understand. One of the girls began to 

 

scream. Henry was franticly trying to find out from the driver what was 

 

happening. I was trying to calm the girls, they were beginning to get really 

 

scared. I wasn’t exactly playing chess myself. We were shaken by the 

 

suddenness of the attack and tried very hard not to panic. At one point I thought 

 

the driver was going to abandon us and run for his life but I insisted he step on it 

 

and thankfully he did, Henry’s arm was clenched around the guys neck. Not 

 

knowing where we were or where the hell the ship was, I screamed, take us to 

 

the Hilton, it was the only American symbol we saw on our earlier travels through 

 

the city. After a cab ride I won’t forget, we arrived in front of the Hotel, threw some 

 

money at the driver and went inside. The four of us spent the rest of the evening 

 

relaxing and partying feeling lucky to have successfully made our escape. From 

 

the bar on the top floor we looked out at the Intrepid, she was decorated with 

 

Christmas lights from stem to stern, what a welcome sight that was. Soon, it     

 

became time for us to say goodbye to the girls and head back to the ship, our  

 

Cinderella Liberty was over. Of course a cultural element may have been the 

 

reason for the hostilities but we had no idea in 1960 what that was about, things 

 

are much clearer these days.

 

                                                     End

 

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