Chapter 10

It was sad to sign out from Shades of Green. The resort was so relaxing, and with a little BX and Commissary, it was familiar to Paul; it felt secure, like it was his next duty station. They posed for a family photograph in front of the gigantic Christmas tree in the lobby and when the fellow veteran handed Paul his phone back, Madeline told the fellow, “Poppa has a Christmas tree just like that one!”

“Not quite, sweetheart. This one is much bigger,” said Andi.

“It just looks that way because you’re taller than us,” said Sandy.

From the Disney parks, they headed straight east to the Atlantic shore, a much longer drive than Andi expected. First-time visitors don’t realize how huge Florida really is, but it’s behind Alaska and Texas to be the third largest state. Eventually, they found Patrick Space Force Base clinging to a narrow spit of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River.

First, they took the suggested visit to the Base Exchange, which wasn’t the biggest that Paul had ever seen, but Andi was impressed with the size. They picked up some snacks for the girls because they weren’t sure how the boat was going to be stocked and grabbed a second bathing suit for everyone. Then she checked the prices. “I thought everything was cheaper for the troops and the veterans,” said Andi.

“Nope. That idea went out the window years ago.”

“But what about the poor airmen and privates with children who hardly make any money?”

Paul shrugged. “No one seems to care anymore.”

“At least it’s still tax free,” she grumbled.

Paul took his family to the Patrick Beaches, a beautiful stretch of beaches right across US A1A from Patrick Space Force Base. On the base side of the sea grape covered dunes is parking, picnic, and shower/changing areas, and on the seaward side of the dunes there were beautiful white sand beaches. They pulled the twins and a cooler in the Twin Hauler over the dunes using the wooden ramps, and when the girls piled out of the wagon, they were so excited they ended up running in circles, trying to decide what to do first.

At the beach, the twins had the time of their young lives. The girls were so small they had to wear bathing suits made for two-year-olds, which were made with plenty of room for diapers in the seat, so their bottoms were very saggy. They didn’t like the floaties, but they had to get used to them because Andi was not about to allow them on the deck of the boat without them.

The twins loved the feel of the water on their feet and running away from the waves through the wet sand. They discovered the joy of sandcastles and spent a lot of time watching their mommy and new daddy play Frisbee in waist deep water and keeping an odd score that they both seemed to enjoy. What the twins loved the most was trotting up and down the beach with their sand pails and shovels, looking for shells.

Occasionally, a military airplane would scare them by flying low and fast and roaring so loud it caused the twins to drop whatever they were doing and cover their ears.

“That’s the sound of freedom!” a young man told them and looking up, they realized that this was a stranger and did what their mom told them, and they ran away as fast as they could. A moment later, they ran back to the young man and scooped up their sand pails and shovels, both said “sorry”, and ran off again, leaving the young lieutenant and his date doubled over in laughter.

Andi and Paul came ashore after splashing and playing Frisbee, and Paul was exhausted. They sank down to sit on the sand and Andi handed Paul an aluminum vessel and said, “I prescribe 355 milliliters, and it must be taken internally.”

“Is it safe?”

“I’m a doctor, trust me,” said Andi with a smile.

“Will this cure me?”

“It’ll cure what ails you. Let’s go, doctor’s orders.”

Paul pulled the tab on the can of Hard Lemonade, then took a sip. He smiled and pulled Andi close for a kiss. “Why didn’t I find you earlier, Doctor Roberts?”

“Because I wasn’t in your network, but if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor...”

Just as Andi delivered the worn out punchline, a shadow covered them, and a powerful voice said, “Colonel Jarecki!”

Paul peered up at the figure that was casting the shadow, thought for a moment, then said, “Wobbler?”

“That’s Colonel Wobbler to you, sawbones!”

“Wobbles! Pull up some beach. Andi, this is Lloyd Weber, call sign Wobbler.”

Lloyd and an elegant platinum blond in a one-piece bathing suit that looks like it costs about the same as a Mercedes car payment sat down with Paul and Andi. “Hot damn Pea Jay, how long has it been?” said Lloyd as they shook hands.

“Fifteen years. Allow me to offer you a cold one and introduce you to my bride, Doctor Adrianna Roberts, A.K.A. Mrs. Andi Jarecki.” Andi noticed Paul gleamed when he called her his bride. “And who do you have here, Colonel Wobbler?”

Lloyd grinned, “Remember that general with the fine young daughter that half the eagle drivers on base were trying to ... ahhh ... meet?”

“General Hughes, yeah, I remember. Then this is his daughter?”

The blond held out her hand. “Close. I am, I mean I was, the general’s daughter’s nanny, Zoe. Zoe Weber for the past 12 years.” The foursome had a laugh over that and toasted each other’s marriage with white wine infused canned lemonade.

“How long have you two been married?” asked Zoe.

“Hmmm, how long was that, four days?” asked Paul.

“Yep, we got married on Christmas Eve. How did you know Paul?” asked Andi. “was he your flight surgeon?”

“There was no ‘flight’ involved in our relationship,” said Lloyd. “every time I went in to see Pea Jay, he found a new medical reason to ground me. I was a medical tackling dummy. Then I’d end up “Supervisor Of Flying” for a week. The S.O.F. mostly drove around the taxiways and runways in a mini pickup truck looking for pieces that fell off of airplanes.”

Andi turned to Paul and said, “Can I ask him? Would he know?” Paul just held his hand out, inviting Andi to talk to Lloyd. So she did. “Ok, when you do a Google search on my husband, there are reports that he got thrown out of the Air Force for beating up another colonel. Is that true?”

“Absolutely Not True. No credibility to that rumor at all. Completely untrue ... sort of. I was there at his going away party on Kadena Air Base in Japan, and he was heading back to “The World” with honors. I even handed him his last Japanese beer.”

“Wobbler was allowed that honor by being the only fighter jock to get me to puke in my years of flight surgeoning.” Andi looked at him, confused. Puke? Paul explained, “every flight surgeon is required to go up in an airplane every quarter, so I’d have to ride in the back seat of a 2-seat fighter and the boys...”

“ ... and girls,” chimed in Lloyd.

“Oh, christ on a crutch, I had forgotten Brunhilda ... and girls, thank you for that memory. They all thought it was simply great fun to shake and spin the hell out of me, trying to get me to vomit. Lloyd won the honor of attempting one quarter...”

“I didn’t win it, I bought it. I bought the honor for 20 pizzas and 4 cases of coke.”

Paul addressed Andi’s confused look. “It was an F-15 unit, and we were deployed to Saudi Arabia and there was no alcohol, so he bribed the deployment commander to take me up for ... wait!” Paul did a few quick calculations in his head. “For forty-five bucks? You bribed him with forty-five bucks?”

Lloyd grinned and nodded his head and knowing where this story was going, Zoe snickered and looked off to sea. “Anyhow,” continued Paul, “we pull on to the runway and he announces on the radio ‘Hold on boys and girls, the Wobbly Goblin is primed and ready to launch,’ and the tower replies, ‘May the lord have mercy on your souls Goblin.’ And we launch ... we went straight fucking up. He’s got the afterburners wide open, and he doesn’t even blink. He’s giving me a travelogue. ‘Looking quickly to your left, you will see all of Saudi Arabia in its entirety.’ Then he levels out at 30,000 feet and says, ‘ladies and gentlemen, we are now at our cruising altitude. Feel free to move about the cabin.’ Then he rolls it over on its back and drops like a rock straight into the Persian Gulf. ‘Looking straight ahead, you will see the Persian gulf in all of its natural splendor.’ I swear he pulled out of that dive at wave top level and goes barrel rolling past a supertanker. The guys on deck had to look down to see us. I spent the rest of the flight filling puke bags.”

Zoe and Andi were howling with laughter. “I’m a certified hero,” said Lloyd with a huge grin.

“He tells your story better than you do,” said Zoe, between gales of laughter.

“He should. I think he was the sober one on that flight.”

When the laughter died down, Andi said, “You said that the rumors of Paul beating up an officer were completely untrue ... sort of ... What do you mean ‘sort of’ not true?” Andi still wanted to know about the rumor that Lieutenant Colonel Paul “Pea Jay” Jarecki beat up a commanding officer.

Lloyd looked at Paul, who just said, “Tell her.”

Lloyd continued, “So we’re at his going away party, and everyone knows what happened with Melony. There aren’t any secrets in a flying squadron, and the bastard that was doing Melony, Abernathy Blecher, call sign Buzz, walked up to Pea Jay, puts his hand on his shoulder and said,” Lloyd effected a deep southern drawl, “son, shit happens.”

“He said that?” Andi almost shrieked.

Lloyd nodded to Andi, “Just like that. Your man, honest to God, says ‘Here, hold my beer,’ and he turns to me and hands me his beer, then he turns around and knocks that bastard out. One punch. He went down like a sack of oats. Ol’ PJ looks down on him and says, “Sure as shit does,” then finishes his beer. And to this day, no one saw a thing. Not even me”

“I’m not proud of that,” said Paul.

Andi looked at Paul with a shocked look on her face. “You really did that?”

“It wasn’t really my finest moment.”

She put her arms around his neck and asked, “What would you do if you saw him again?”

“I would profusely and profoundly apologize and beg his forgiveness.”

Andi gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “That’s my man of God.”

“I hope he’s conscious to hear it.”

Andi sighed and turned to Zoe. “He’s a work in progress.”

Just then the twins came roaring at them, arms outspread, yelling at the top of their lungs. They crashed into the sand in front of their mom and rolled over, grinning. “What’s all this?” Andi asked.

“Sound of freedom!” said Sandy, and Madeline nodded her agreement.

The two couples chatted for a while, then Paul announced it was time they got going. Captain Stan would be ready to pick them up soon, so saying their goodbyes, the two families walked back to the air base side of the protective dune. The twin’s sand pails were full of bits of shells, and they were enormously proud of their collections, so Andi found a plastic bag and poured the shells in the bag for safekeeping, then they rinsed the sand off of the twins at the outdoor shower and changed them out of their swimsuits to shorts and t-shirts, then loaded up in their rental car and headed up to Port Canaveral.

They pulled into the rental turn in, piled out and unloaded their luggage and even before Paul could finish the paperwork with the rental agency and before Andi could handle the inevitable “Why are they taking our car?” questions from the twins, a middle age Asian woman pulled up in a small van. She hopped out of the van and loaded their baggage into the van.

Having settled Sandy down and convinced her the car really belonged to the rental agency and they were not stealing their car, Andi realized Madeline had wandered off. She found Madeline “helping” the Asian woman put their baggage in her van.

“Um, excuse me?” said Andi as she walked up to the van.

The Asian woman stopped and turned. “Are you Adrianna Jarecki?” She was dressed in white mid-thigh shorts and a white, short sleeve top with blue piping, deck shoes and a white and blue sun visor. Her raven hair was well past her shoulders and braided in a French braid.

“Yes, I am,” Andi started.

“I’m Sung-mi Carlson, the first mate of Andi’s Dream. I’m so glad to meet you. My husband, Stan, is captain on this trip, and he’s getting your dream ready.”

Just then, Paul walked up from the rental office. “Sung-mi! How’s my favorite juicy girl?”

Sung-mi suddenly switched from her slight accent to a heavy Asian accent. “Ah! Docka Paul! Ay numbah wan! You buy me juicy drink?” She laughed, and they hugged, and she said, “Your bride is beautiful! And you didn’t tell me you were bringing along some beautiful preemies to play with!”

“They are my new daughters, Sandy and Madeline. How is Bitty doing?”

Sung-mi smiled proudly. “Bit-na is six years old now and she will be the cabin steward on this trip.”

“Andi, this is Sung-mi Carlson, our captain’s wife. She is a Pediatrics RN, and one hell of a navigator.”

“A little help here?” called Madeline, but the grown-ups were too busy with introductions to notice.

“Your babies are just beautiful,” said Sung-mi to Andi, as they shook hands. “They were born at thirty weeks?”

“Twenty-eight weeks. You could tell by looking at them?”

“A little help? Please?” begged Madeline.

“Yes, there is no one thing in particular to look at, but delicate hands are one thing that is a bit of a giveaway.”

“HELP!”

Paul looked at the source of the cry and found both Sandy and Madeline trying to wrestle a large suitcase into the back of the van. He could have easily grabbed the handle and hoisted it in, but instead he grabbed the handle and said, “Oh gosh, this is heavy, everyone push!”

The twins lifted as hard as they could, and Paul lifted the bag into the van with the twins ‘help’. “Good job, girls!” and held up his hand for a high five. “Twin power!” The twins high-fived and flexed their muscles, looking for even greater weights to lift.

Andi and Sung-mi watched in amusement. “You found a good one, Doctor Andi.”

“Actually, he found me.”

They piled into the van as Andi told Sung-mi the story of being caught in a Western New York blizzard and how they spent almost a week in the cabins. “I love the cabin,” said Sung-mi, “and the pond is so relaxing!”

“It’s under a few feet of snow, so I haven’t seen the pond yet,” said Andi.

“You will love the pond, and the pond over on Josh’s side of the road.” As Sunny talked about how she and her husband vacation with Paul’s chickens, they pulled into the Cape Canaveral Yacht club and drove along the shorefront. Pier after pier of boats went by. Sailboats and rowboats and speed boats and fishing boats of all make and model went past. “Will we get to go to Jupiter and take the sailboat out, Paul?” asked Sunny.

“Are you an astronaut?” asked Sandy.

“Jupiter!” said Madeline.

“We might,” said Paul. “Nothing is set in stone.” Then he explained to the twins that Jupiter was the name of a town in Florida where he and Uncle John own a house and a sailboat.

They turned a corner, and they weren’t looking at clusters of small boats anymore. There were piers with some enormous yachts tied up. “There’s your boat,” said Sung-mi as she pointed toward a boat that looked like a cruise ship to Andi, and the closer they got, the bigger it looked.

“That’s mine?” Andi’s jaw dropped as they got closer. “My god!”

Paul leaned forward between the seats and kissed her cheek. “That’s all yours.”

Sung-mi navigated the van through the yacht marina and finally pulled up to Andi’s Dream. “Oh my god, it’s huge!” gasped Andi, looking at the yacht that cost her so much in human dignity and tears. It was a beautiful 72-foot Riviera Sport Motor yacht with a white tarp covering the stern. A man close to Sung-mi’s age, a young Asian woman in her 20s, and an Asian girl about six years old, all dressed similar to what Sung-mi was wearing, were standing alongside Andi’s Dream. The man stepped forward and shook Andi’s hand.

“Dear,” said Paul, “This is Stan Carlson. He’s going to captain Andi’s Dream for us. Stan, this is my wife Andi.”

Stan smiled at her and said, “Welcome aboard Andi’s Dream.”

Eight years ago, Dr. Adrianna Roberts married a “schlub” that her mother thought was safe. Andi’s father was an officer in the US Army, and he died in the Middle East. Andi’s mom Heather didn’t want her daughter to endure that kind of heartbreak, so when Andi fell in love with a fighter pilot, Heather pressured Andi into marrying Frank, whom Heather thought was harmless. Frank turned out to be a liar, a thief and a smooth talking gambler whose dreams exceeded his skills at the poker tables.

He turned out to be a true bastard. Frank beat Andi and cowed her into wearing revealing outfits as he paraded her past tables full of high end gamblers and mobsters. He would leave her blindfolded and tied to the bed in their room and if he got behind, he would trade Andi’s body for his debt. Frank did all of this so he could buy his dream boat, an Australian built Riviera 72 luxury fishing yacht.

After Frank abandoned Andi, who was pregnant with twins, he eventually bought the yacht, but he quickly fell behind in the payments. Andi’s new husband Paul was a man of integrity, and he had the money to afford the boat, so he bought the boat from the bank, renamed it to Andi’s Dream, and showed pictures of the boat’s name being changed to Frank. Now on their honeymoon, Paul, Andi, and their twin girls, Sandy and Madeline, come to see Andi’s Dream for the first time.

Andi was completely in shock; she’s seen the pictures of her boat but in real life Andi’s Dream was HUGE! Being born and raised in land-locked Denver Colorado, she’s never seen a watercraft so big. The largest body of water she ever saw was Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota and the largest boat there was a 20 foot bass boat. Andi’s Dream was three and a half times longer than that and more than twice as wide. The flying bridge was nearly three stories above her head, and everything sparkled in the sunlight!

It was a magical living thing tied up to the pier in front of her. The sunlight sparkled off of every bit of chrome and woodwork. She could understand why her ex-husband desired it so much. She turned and clung to her husband Paul and wept in a confusion of emotions. He comforted her and said, “Honey, we have a crew to meet. Are you ready?”

She sniffed and wiped her nose on Paul’s arm, then said, “Oh, kay.”

“This is Stan Carlson, who is captain of this trip. I’ve known Stan for years and trust him completely.” Andi shook hands with a jovial middle-aged man as Paul said, “Stan is an Air Force veteran like me.”

“Shouldn’t you be a Navy veteran?”

Stan chuckled. “Most squids wouldn’t know what to do with a beauty like this. They’d probably paint it gray.”

Paul continued, “You know the first mate, his wife, Sung-mi. She’s a peds nurse and she’ll be navigating for us. This is Stan and Sunny’s daughter, Yi-jin. She’s a professional chef, and she’s also a brilliant mechanic, so she’ll be the head engineer.” Yi was a tall and slim Asian girl with a darling figure, a beautiful face and long ebony hair braided like her mother’s hair in a French braid.

“You’re fired,” said Andi as she and Yi shook hands.

“What?”

“This is my honeymoon. I’m supposed to be the prettiest woman on the trip,” said Andi, as she gave Yi a hug. “Besides, who ever heard of a skinny chef?” Despite Andi’s jokes, the women had an immediate liking for each other.

“I promise to scowl more, ma’am.

“And this is our cabin steward, Nit-noi,” said Paul, introducing Andi to a small Asian girl.

“I’m Bit-na!” said Bitty with a stomp of the foot.

“She’s our special bonus,” said Sunny.

After introductions and handshakes around, Andi was about to step on the transom of the yacht and see what all her pain and the countless rapes cost her when Stan stopped her. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re not allowed on the boat until she’s been re-christened. It’s tradition.” He looked at her with a stern expression.

“Tradition?” asked Andi. She wasn’t sure if she even wanted this boat and now she’s not allowed aboard?

“It’s a tradition of the sea that a ship and its name have a bond for good or for bad. When you simply rename a boat, it clings to that previous reputation and everything it stood for unless you retire the name and rechristen it.”

Paul stepped in to help. “I told Stan how Frank paid for the Regal Dream through gambling,” then he whispered in her ear, “I didn’t tell him the low lights.” Frank whored a tied and blindfolded Andi to pay off gambling debts.

Stan still looked uneasy. “When you pay for a boat through immoral gain, the boat takes on an immoral spirit. From what I heard, this boat was pried out of a corrupt man’s hands and given to you to celebrate your freedom from him. Is that true?”

Andi smiled and leaned back against Paul. “Yes, this hunk did exactly that.”

“If that is true then we need to rescue this boat and release it from him too.”

Andi thought for a moment. Frank had the Regal Dream for a few years. What did he do on it? She was sure that he stopped off at Epstein island a few times. “Let’s set her free from him too.”

“That’s the girl!” grinned Stan.

Andi turned in her husband’s arms and kissed him. It was then she noticed that a crowd of people were gathering around them. They were all well attired in the Florida heat, Bermuda shorts and polo shirts. “This boat was the second best Christmas present ever.”

“What was the first?” asked a woman in the crowd.

Andi gave Paul a saucy glance and a waggle of an eyebrow and said, “there are children present. We’ll talk later.” Her remark caused knowing laughter in the crowd.

“I’m not superstitious,” said Paul, “but these traditions go back centuries. There’s got to be something to them.”

Andi thought about it for a moment ... there probably isn’t anything to this, but anything to purge the memory of Frank Rosetti was fine by her. “Let’s do it.”

“Then let’s do this right.” Stan handed Andi a 3 by 5 card, a bottle of champagne, and a coin with the words “Regal Dream,” stamped on it. “At the stern you read this side of the card and follow the instructions, then you walk to the bow, read the other side of the card and follow the directions. That will lift the curse the previous name held.”

Andi read the card and said, “Ok, but why can’t Paul do it?”

“It’s bad luck,” said Yi-jin, “a boat must be christened by a woman.”

“But what if I’m not superstitious?” asked Andi.