First line of Against the Day?

[Ya Sam]

"For it's said (and not without reason) that no sooner does a ship like the 
Scaffold single up all lines than certain Navy wives are out of their 
civvies and into barmaid uniform, flexing their beer-carrying arms and 
practicing a hooker's sweet smile; even as the N.O.B. band is playing Auld 
Lang Syne and the destroyers are blowing stacks in black flakes all over the 
cuckolds-to-be standing manly at attention, taking leave with me and a tiny 
grin."

http://www.harperacademic.com/catalog/excerpt_xml.asp?isbn=0060930217

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