Chapter 31

As always, Sandy and Madeline woke up at the same time. They never had to wake each other because their little bodies have the same sleep schedules. They rose to find mom and poppa missing and the boat was bouncing, so they explored. First, they went to their cabin and put on their swimsuits and floaties because they knew poppa was going to take them swimming, and of course they had to grab their stuffies. Sandy had a misshapen creature from a children’s cartoon, and Madeline had a baby Kermit the Frog. Fully armed for action, they looked around.

Bitty wasn’t in her cabin, so maybe she was doing laundry or getting lunch ready. In fact, all the cabins were empty, so they headed up to the salon which they found empty, as well as the galley. Yi wasn’t cooking a lunch, but she set out bread, lunch meat, and condiments for sandwiches.

“Maybe they all fell off the boat,” said Sandy as she attempted to craft a bologna sandwich. “We will have to drive the boat.”

Madeline thought and made a cheese and Miracle Whip sandwich. “I think I can steer, but I can’t reach the steering wheel. The chair is too far back.”

“We’re not allowed upstairs anyhow.”

Getting nervous with the thought that they were alone on the boat, they took their sandwiches and juice boxes aft toward the fishing cockpit. If everyone fell overboard, who was going to put the straws in their juice boxes? When they reached the dinner table, they saw poppa and Mr. Donald sitting down in the fishing cockpit looking at a lot of papers. They were drinking something out of cans and smoking cigars. Good! There is someone here to put the straws in their juice boxes, open their soda cans, and pour their milk. They won’t die of thirst. They climbed down to the fishing cockpit and wordlessly held their juice boxes up to poppa.

Poppa was delighted to see them, which was a bit of a surprise. Mommy told them that when poppa was fishing to stay away. “Good afternoon sweeties! Did you have a good nap?”

The twins nodded their heads, but to be honest; they weren’t sure if they had a good nap or not. They slept through the whole thing. Poppa put the straws in their juice boxes and, handing them back, he said, “Mommy and Aunty Macy are up front. You can stay here and help fish, or you can go up to the front with them.”

Daddies are handy, thought Madeline; they can open anything. Poppa Paul opens the biggest cans and jars for Miss Yi. And even though “helping fish” was fun because they got to hold bait fish, she wanted to see mommy and Aunt Macy ... wait! He said AUNTY Macy!

“It’s AUNT, Macy!” the girls shouted at nearly the same time.

“Aunty Lucy is aunty; Aunt Macy is aunt!” exclaimed Sandy.

Paul grinned. He knew their aunt/aunty rules; he was just trying to get a rise out of the little tykes. “Ok girls, I’ll take you up front.” Then to Mr. Donald, “I’ll be right back Don.” He had a hand full of papers that he handed to Mr. Donald, then he led the girls up to the galley. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you guys make your own sandwiches?” He surveyed the damage to the luncheon setup, which was quite extensive.

They nodded enthusiastically and displayed their creations. Both of their faces and hands were covered with excess Miracle Whip, but as far as Paul knew, this was the first time the twins had made their own lunches.

“Good job, but let’s clean up the counter here before Miss Yi sees the mess.” Paul first wiped their smiling faces, then put the lunch meat back in the plastic bags, resealed the condiments and cleaned up the scattered lettuce, cheese, and bread, then wiped the countertop clean. “Would you like some pickles, too?”

“Yeah!” their eyes opened wide in anticipation. “But not the big yucky ones,” warned Sandy.

“We want cute baby pickles,” Madeline added.

Paul grinned and put a few sweet baby gherkins in two sandwich bags. “There, now let’s go find the ladies.” He tapped the intercom and said, “Hey baby, the twins are up and want to come sit with you.”

Andi replied, “Give us a moment to get decent...” then after a pause, “Ok, we’re ready.” Paul smiled. The women were tanning and probably putting their bikini tops back on. Macy had mentioned to Andi that a sunny day in a Western New York winter was as rare as chicken teeth, so they were working hard to get incredible tans to display at the up-coming Woman’s Ministry meeting.

The girls weren’t allowed alone on the side deck between the salon and the foredeck, where the women congregated to drink wine, talk, and tan. And with a juice box in one hand and a sandwich in the other, and a stuffie under their arm, there was no way they could safely navigate the twelve-inch-wide walkway, especially with the boat rocking. Poppa Paul gently convinced them to hand him their juice boxes and stuffies, and to hold their sandwiches in their right hand as they stepped out on to the narrow walkway. Now with their left hand free to hold the railing and with Poppa Paul gently guiding them, they made the trek forward where they found momma, Aunt Macy, and Miss Yi.

“Hi babies!” momma said, smiling. “Did you have a good nap?”

Sandy and Madeline nodded, their standard answer to that question, still unsure what was a good nap vs a bad nap.

“Come sit here with Aunt Macy, Miss Yi and myself. Did poppa make you lunch?”

“They made their own sandwiches,” said Paul as he handed the girls their stuffies, juice boxes, and pickles.

“Really? I’m so proud of you!” Andi hugged her daughters. They nodded vigorously, but they didn’t talk because their mouths were full of sandwich.

“Hey! I’m the chef on this barge,” said Yi. “Let me check this out...” She took Sandy’s sandwich and inspected it carefully. “Good meat to cheese ratio, excellent mayo coverage, proper crust alignment ... I’d say that this is a well-made sandwich. You may put me out of a job, little one!” Sandy grinned with joy as Yi handed her sandwich back.

Madeline took a bite of her sandwich and handed it to Yi for her inspection. “Cheese on white bread, a brave choice in its rustic simplicity. Let’s see what we have here ... American cheese, a very patriotic option by the way, Wonder Bread, the favorite of 5-year-olds across the nation, and what’s this? Miracle Whip! That’s a confident choice for such a young chef! My hat is off to you, Chef Madeline.” She handed the sandwich back to the grinning five-year-old, who was beaming with pride.

As soon as Madeline got her sandwich back, she dashed forward to join her sister at the bow. The twins were looking over the side, hoping to see some dolphins joining them in their dash across the blue Atlantic, then Sandy turned around and yelled, “Mom! You’re bare naked!”

“There’re no boys here,” Andi defended herself.

“Yeah,” said Madeline, “Miss Yi is bare naked too. You can see her pooter, and so is Aunt Macy!”

“Why?” Sandy didn’t have a problem running around with no clothes on. She liked to do that after a bath, mostly to embarrass her mother. It was fun. But there was no bath or swimming here, so why?

“We’re tanning,” said Miss Yi as she rolled over on to her stomach, taking up most of the port side lounge.

“What’s tanning?” asked Madeline.

“When you let the sun cook you a little, your skin turns dark,” said momma.

“Like Aunt Macy?”

“They wish,” grinned their Nubian Aunt.

“Even Aunt Macy’s skin gets darker when she lays out in the sun,” said Andi motioning the girls to come over to her for a coating of suntan lotion, which was hard to do as the girls were more interested in inspecting the women’s tan lines.

“Why do we need that goop?” demanded Madeline, as she turned up her nose at the suntan lotion. The smell of coconut didn’t appeal to her.

“So you don’t get burned,” said Andi as she wrestled with her slippery child.

“Aren’t we supposed to get toasted?” asked Sandy.

“Tanned, you’re supposed to get tanned, silly. This will keep you from getting burned,” smiled Andi, as she applied lotion to Sandy’s cheeks and forehead.

“Remember when Uncle John made you pizza rolls?” asked Macy as she applied lotion on Madeline.

“Yeah,” said the girls in unison. Their first lunch with Uncle John was a disaster. Burned pizza rolls and weak strawberry Kool-Aide.

“This is so the sun doesn’t turn you into one of Uncle John’s pizza rolls,” said Macy with a playful smack on Madeline’s butt. “Now put your floaties back on.”

Just then, Miss Nicoletta appeared wearing a sarong and carrying a small cooler which contained wine, ice, and a few juice boxes for the twins. “Look who woke up in time for the party!” she said cheerfully. The twins looked up from the remains of their sandwiches and looked around to see who Miss Nicoletta was talking about. “I’m talking about you two silly girls! Your daddy told me you made sandwiches; did you bring enough for everyone?”