Chapter 29

Andi’s Dream purred across the Caribbean like a swan crossing a calm, glassy pond. In the flying bridge, Stan and Sunny sipped coffee while planning today’s fishing excursion. The plan was to show Don Atherton that a boat as big and as luxurious as Andi’s Dream could fish, even with a swimming deck mounted to the stern.

Yi had come aboard early to get the breakfast started and ensure the engines were ready to perform. She was feeling smug believing she was the first one aboard, but when she came out of the engine room, she discovered Bitty and the twins playing with small bait fish in the sporting cockpit. Bitty was dipping the mullets out of the bait tank and tossing them on the deck and the twins were running around trying to catch the fish as they hopped and flopped around on the deck. The sound proofing in the engine room prevented Yi from hearing their squeals and laughter.

“Bitty, dad’s going to get mad if he catches you doing this.”

Yi’s little sister frowned at her. “He told us to do this!” she whined.

“It teaches them how to handle fish!” Yi heard her dad call out from above. Yi looked up and saw her mother and father watching the activity with great amusement from far above on the flying bridge. “You did it too when you were a little guppy.” He called down.

Yi sputtered. “Well, you’re not wearing your floaties right.”

“We have them on!” yelled one of the twins, probably Sandy. Yi couldn’t tell in the pre-dawn light.

“They need to be inflated. Come here, you three.” And one by one, Yi inflated the floatation arm bands and put them back on the little girls. “Where are your parents?” she asked the twins.

“Probably sleeping,” answered one.

“Yeah, sleeping. Mom was up late last night singing,” said the other.

“Yeah, singing.”

Yi had to learn to tell the difference between the twins in low light conditions. They get quite upset when you misidentify them. She let the girls get back to their game with an admonishment not to let a bait fish get into her engine room. She then headed up to the galley to start breakfast. There she met Macy, who was bundled up in a blanket, cradling a cup of coffee. “Was I the only person to sleep ashore?”

“Oui, I think that is so,” answered Macy.

“What was Andi singing about? The girls said they heard her singing.”

“Oh, that. When their lovemaking is very good, Andi can be quite vocal. It must have been very, very good last night.” Macy grinned as she took a sip of coffee. “I need to go get dressed,” and she opened the blanket and flashed Yi a quick view of one exquisite chocolate brown breast, then turned and headed through the salon and below deck to dress in her cabin. Yi shook her head with a grin and got to work preparing breakfast as she dreamed of the possibility of singing a duet with Andi.

Shortly, they left Nisi Arcadia in the pre-dawn light with Don Atherton and Miss Nicoletta on board to test out her luxuries. Paul had arrived on deck shortly before Don and Miss Nicoletta arrived and welcomed them aboard. As Paul gave the Athertons a quick tour of the upper decks, Yi went below and started on the engine startup checklist. Once the big MAN diesels were purring, she transferred the electrical load from the pier power supply to the internal generators. Up on deck, her mom Sung-mi and sister Bitty had completed the casting off and collected all the fenders as soon as Stan edged the floating palace away from the pier. Miss Nicoletta and her husband Don watched in awe at the ease with which Stan handled the big craft, first edging away from the pier, then heading up the channel and out to sea, steering into what was promising to be a beautiful sunrise.

“Oh, my goodness! The bridge is phenomenal in its appointments, but this dining area here, and the docking helm controls, even a wet bar up here, it’s like a luxury suite!” Miss Nicoletta gushed.

Sung-Mi grinned and swept her hand over the luxury of the bridge. “This our cabin, the couch converts to queen size bed, and if it is a pleasant night, this table and couch convert to bed, so we sleep outside. We only go downstairs because there’s no head up here,” she added to the Atherton’s chuckles.

“So, when you’re fishing, you control the boat from here?” Donald asked as he looked over the secondary helm out on the aft end of the flying bridge.

“One hundred percent,” smiled Stan. “There’s an open intercom between the bridge and the fighting cockpit. The helmsman has a better view of the fish from up here. Also, there’s a set of docking controls over on the starboard side in case we have to dock to the starboard side, and there are thruster joysticks down on the mezzanine.”

“Actually, the whole rescue was coordinated by Stan and Gus from up here because of the view,” said Paul.

“You would, of course, allow charter passengers up here. Is that correct?” asked Miss Nicoletta.

“Not after sunset!” said Sunny as she topped off the Atherton’s coffee. “This is our cabin, the biggest, best cabin on the treasure coast and we do not share!”

Heading back down to the mezzanine, Paul promised the Athertons a tour of the cabins after breakfast. As they entered the salon, they met Andi and Macy coming up from below deck, both wearing identical outfits, white shorts and peach tank tops. Miss Nicoletta, who has already complimented the Carlson family’s uniforms, said, “Oh my, do the passengers have to wear uniforms, too?”

“No, we dress alike because we are sisters,” said Macy with her 1000 watt smile. She put her arm around Andi’s shoulders.

Andi was about to add to that sentiment when the twins ran up to the mezzanine, each holding a flapping mullet. “Mommy! I got a fish!”

“Me too!”

“Ok, you two, put your fish back and wash your hands, then get dressed. Your outfits are on the bed,” said Andi. The girls dashed toward the stairs leading down to the cabins when Andi yelled, “Fish first!”

“Oops!” The girls turned around embarrassed and ran to the open hatch leading to the side deck and threw their fish overboard, then ran down to their cabin. “Sorry!”

Andi walked slowly to the table and sat down, extremely gingerly. Paul served her coffee, then sat down next to her. “Rough night last night, dear?” asked Miss Nicoletta with a knowing smile.

Andi smiled and sipped her coffee. “We were up late, uh, singing.”

“Yeah, that’s the story. We were singing,” agreed Paul.

Don, Miss Nicoletta, and Macy sat down with the Jareckis and enjoyed the morning coffee. Miss Nicoletta continued to give Andi that knowing smile which embarrassed Andi to no end. Soon the twins and Sunny appeared on deck dressed for breakfast, Sunny in her sailor outfit and the twins dressed the same as their mother. They slumped down in their chairs at their side table, looking like little zombies. Madeline leaned over and crossed her arms on the table, then lay her head down and closed her eyes.