Sam's Horrible Day

She still couldn't shake the previous night's dream. Sam had always been a reasonable sort, and not given to superstition or hocus-pocus. It was the kind of thing that should scare anyone, she guessed, since after all, in her dream, her dad was drowning.

Sam grabbed her phone. She snapped it open and called her two best pals. Alex and Dana should have no problem getting there if she called them now. It was only four in the afternoon. Dana answered right away. No problem, she said, meet you there. One down, one to go. For Alex she left a message. She didn't really feel like telling either one about the dream, she just wanted to go have fun, and didn't want either of the two of them trying to cheer her up - she could do that just fine on her own, thank you.

She hopped in the shower. The water was still cold as it hit her, and it made her think of the dream. Could this horrible feeling ever end? It really didn't help that her dad liked to go deep-sea fishing and owned his own boat, which he took out often. And it really didn't help that he was now and had always been a risk-taker. It didn't take any longer to get cleaned up than usual, so Sam's mind turned on her again when the phone rang as she was just getting her hair wrapped in a towel. She actually jumped.

It was Alex calling back, sure, she'd be there, would actually get there ahead of Dana this time. Sam just wanted to have a night away from the apartment, a decent trip to a bar.

After a short while, she heard a car pull up outside her apartment. She wasn't quite to the window to see who it was when her doorbell rang. She got to the door and there was Alex, who burst into the place with her usual energy. "Hello Samantha!" She drew out the hello, and Sam threw it right back, "Hello, Alexandra!"

Sam was glad to have the company. Right up until Alex started talking.
"Girl, you ready to drown your worries this evening?"
Sam winced at the word 'drown' and hoped it didn't show. But Alex picked up on it.
"Alright, Sam, what's up? I saw that look on your face."
"Nothing, Alex, it's nothing. I want to go to Stan's and shoot some pool, have a night away from the house. I just have to get out for the evening, and relax. You know the deal."

"With you, Sam, who ever really knows the deal?" The comment came with a flip of the hair. Alex was teasing Sam with a running joke from some time ago. Sam actually smiled for the first time in hours. It actually felt so different to Sam, that she thought her face might have cracked.

"Yeah, let's get the heck outta here." Sam said.

The two hopped into Alex's car and headed for Stan's, a local bar where they were known by all the regulars, some of the irregulars, and one weirdo. The phone rang. It was the weirdo - Dana - on the other end. Dana was the girl you invited when you wanted someone to run interference. Dana was incredibly hot, horribly outgoing, and way too easy. Whoever said girls didn't have a master plan before they ever left the house didn't know these two, or perhaps didn't know any women at all and never would. The phone rang again before Sam could get it from its place in her purse and answer it. She checked the faceplate, which showed Dana ringing in.

"Hey Dana!" she said as she answered.

"Sam! Hi! I'm gonna be late getting to the watering hole!"

"Okay, get there quick as you can." Sam said. Great, she thought. Another water reference. Could the bad omens just quit, for once? She was trying so very hard to forget the dream.

They got to the bar, and went inside. After about an hour, another car carrying two guys pulled in and parked in front of Alex's car. The two men got out and went inside. On the newly parked car's windshield, in the lower corner on the driver's side, was a military base sticker - for the Coast Guard.