Chapter 4

The girls were eating Starfish and Buddy and I had to try 3 different ones and tell them which was best. Star had a paper and was keeping score. She told me they had cooked the fish different ways and some of them didn't even come close to working. They had one method that would stick together and not break so we could make the finished product star shaped. We had to get out of the kitchen so they could finish dinner so I gathered the Flying Burrito Sisters and laid out what had to be done in the next few days. They would need to take a check to the butcher, the color charts to Don, and see if they could get stoves, refrigerators, freezers, tables and chairs, trays, and whatever else they needed to get the first shop ready to go. Stop at Lupito's and get the star cutters. I needed to talk to Doc Morrison about building and owning the taxi dock at Chapel. It wouldn't be very busy but I was not going to let anyone else charge us rent if I could get around it, and someday I might get to charge them for using my dock.

The rest of the evening was used up with starfish tasting and voting. We had a definite winner and we would need to order either pressure cookers or steamers to cook the fish. That would require at least two more cook stoves because we would be cooking fish, beans, barbeque sauce, and potatoes. I had no idea what was involved in making tortillas. I knew how they were cooked and the electric presses would do that. I asked about a potato peeling machine and they said that they would use the younger kids for that. They would use girls over fourteen to run the stands and cooking. Those under fourteen would be stuck with whatever jobs they could do. Elke said if they didn't keep them busy, they would be kids and get in trouble. I had been around the younger kids but I had never spent a lot of time with their schooling or work. I knew there was always more kids to help. Heidi and Jimmy had always been put in the position of which ones could not be helped and how to best help the ones who could. I did know that the kids understood from day one, that if they did not follow the rules they could not stay. Heidi took my credit card and they went to the office to order some more cookware.

I was just setting there wondering what to work on next when Rae joined me. We talked about how they were doing on the drug boat cleanup. The girls that were working on that project were getting it done but it was a slow and messy job. She asked if I had noticed Rachel and Troy and I told her I had noticed they were pretty close. Then she said she was going to need a new sidekick. I told her to just promote one of the other girls, and then she told me what I had never been able to figure out. She said she had the same problem that I did. She was just unhappy unless she had someone who needed her, and depended on her help to make it in the world, when no one needed her, things just sort of fell apart. I told her that I damned sure understood what she was talking about but I had never been able to figure it out on my own. I told her to take a few days off and go see Jimmy, go to the farm and look around. Talk to the girls working the freight business for Jimmy. If you find somebody, bring them back with you. I told her I would help her do anything she wanted to do. She had a job as long as I had one, and if she ever wanted her own business I would give her the money to start it. She said she was going to stick with me because she felt like I needed her. I told her she was right about that too.

I got my credit card back and it wasn't smoking so maybe it will survive. I went to the boat and got some money and gave Elke and Heidi two thousand each in case they needed small items. Four other girls were going shopping with them so I wasn't worried about them feeling that I was just trying to get rid of them. I just wanted them to be able to say they had started the business.

At breakfast I saw Rae telling Rachel that she had to stay at the boatyard while she was gone, and that she could check with me if anything big came up that she couldn't handle. I watched her and the Burrito Sisters Shopping Team leave for the city. I talked to Twilia for a few minutes about the total injustice of paying rent just to stop at a dock, then Brende finished eating and told her she was ready and they went to help Clawdy, or watch Clawdy, check the website and log in the bookings and make whatever arrangements were needed for transportation to the islands. I told Sandy that I was going to see Doc at Chapel Island.

There were still several boats so I started to untie one when Clawdy came out so I waited for her and asked how her project was going and got quite a surprise when she told me that she had documented the entire recovery of the relics with many pictures and was still working on getting it wrote up. She said we were going to have a fight on our hands on this one because the items were stolen about 50 years ago. I told her to just give them to the government. Nope, she was not going to do that. She said that several of the pieces were gold or had gold along with turquoise, coral, and pearl. Since I had an agreement with the government for 60% of the value of any gold recovered, but in that agreement I was to turn over any artifacts to them, we had a problem. Although the gold used in one piece was very minimal, the value of the piece was probably in the millions. Since the government had paid us antique value for the gold scepter and several other pieces, we had set a precedence on being paid antique value for gold items and currant collector value of gold coins. She said she would need a copy of my agreement to send to her lawyer when she got everything ready to send him. I asked if the items were safe and she said that Rubi and Dani had selected the hiding place when they hid them, so they were not going to be found unless they wanted them to be. I untied her boat and gave her a push from the dock and she waved. I think the government of Belize is going to be sorry they ever pissed that girl off.

At Chapel I saw what must be Wainwrights boat, a big deep mono hull. Not much use around these parts put a fine long distance traveler. I found Doc in the restaurant and he waved me over to a table he was sharing with several others. He introduced me to all of them but I was not paying much attention until he got to Wainwright and his wife. They were not even close to the age I would have thought them to be. They thanked me for getting the harbor and channel dredged for them and while I was talking to them Doc went into his office and brought me a check. I looked at it and saw it was written by Wainwright. I told him thanks and put it away. I told them that once Lena's Island was open that a new taxi service would be stopping at their island and for a small fee their guest could use it to go wherever they wanted but I would need to build them a dock and a small building with chairs for the people to set as they waited. They asked how much it would cost and I told them that Brende and Twilia who were part of L Team were starting a taxi service and if they would give them exclusive rights, that I would build and pay for it. They agreed to that and I told them that I would need to place a flag pole at the dock and when one of their guests wanted the taxi to stop, they would need to raise the flag. When the taxi stopped, the driver would lower it. I would need them to provide the electrical service to which they agreed.

We talked about boats and what type boat they would need to leave here for their use and I was able to sell them a new 28" cat with canvas top and side rails. I told them they would need to go to Lupito's and choose the canvas colors. They were planning a trip to the city and would stop and visit with Lupito

It was around 10:30 when I got back to Caulker so I thought I would wait until after lunch to go see how Herb and troy were doing. I was bullshitting with Sandy when the phone rang. She handed it to me and it was Jimmy. I needed to come to the city because Rae had beat the living shit out of a guy who was whipping a kid with a broom handle, and she was at the police station. I told him I was on the way and got out my big boat and went on a flying trip to the city. I tied up at the dock and Jimmy was in the freight area talking to some kids and told them to stay there, that he would be back. On the way he told me that he and Rae were just at the edge of town on their way to the farm when Rae yelled for him to stop. There were some people walking along the road carrying dragon fruit in bags to sell at the market. The guy in charge of the group was whipping one of the kids because they would not get up and carry the bag. Rae told him to stop hitting the kid and the guy hit the kid again and that is when she went nuts and stomped the shit out of him. I told him it sounded like the guy needed it and he agreed.

We got to the police station and they had Rae in a holding cell just inside the building. I yelled at the nearest cop and told him to let her out of there. Another person came over and said she was not going anywhere until she paid a fine. I told Jimmy to go get his friend the judge and he left. I asked what she was charged with and the stupid bastard told me she hadn't been charged. We got into an argument and Jimmy showed up with the judge. He told the cop to let her out of the cell. We set down at a table and Rae told us what happened. He asked Jimmy to tell what he saw. He asked the cop why she was here and he said that she had put the guy in the hospital and they were going to make her pay a fine for fighting. The judge told the cop to go get his boss. When he got there he had Rae repeat her story and then had the cop repeat his story. The police captain told the cop to apologize to Rae and to bring him any paper work that he had filled out on the incident. The captain handed the papers to the judge and told Rae that she was free to go. I heard several loud female voices and looked up to see the Burrito Sisters Shopping Party being led into the police station along with two male tourist that didn't look to be in very good shape. When the girls saw us they started to run to us, when a cop grabbed Jamie and she slammed him into the wall. Several other cops went running over to restrain the girls. I walked over and told them to stop. The judge and police captain came over to see what was going on. The girls were shopping and the guys started bothering them and following them. They went into a store and were buying something when one of the guys snatched the money out of Elke's hand and Jami smashed his face with her knee. At the same time the other fool tried to help his friend and Roma broke his arm. The shop owner ran out of the store yelling that a robbery was taking place and a police car stopped and took them all in. The judge told the police captain to put out the word that it was not a good idea to bother the girls in the yellow L Team T shirts and to not try to arrest them unless they were sure they needed it, and to have plenty of help. He told the guys that he was going to have a statement typed up, they could sign it, go to the doctor, and then get the hell out of Belize and don't come back. Two policemen took the guys away. The judge looked at me with an evil eye and I told him I hadn't done anything. He told me the next time I came into the station on business to be a bit more polite when I told them what I needed. He told another policeman to take the girls back to their shopping. He looked at Rae and shook her hand then gave her a hug. He told her that the country could use a lot more like her. He told Jimmy to keep up the good work and went back the direction the cops had taken the guys. Rae started crying, I told her not to do that because it was contagious. Jimmy said we better go check on the people at the freight shop.

Rae was really crying by the time we got there and I'm so stupid I didn't know what to say. When we got out of the truck one of the kids came over and told Rae that she was sorry she got her in trouble. And then she hung onto her as if her life depended on it. We took them all in the bakery and Julie and Rita along with some of the other girls started bringing them food. After they ate Rae stood up and asked who the man was. He was just a man they worked for. Where were their parents. That got several stories none of which was very good. Jimmy told Rae that he would take care of it because she was about to start crying again. None of them really had anywhere to go. Out of the six three said they would like to work on the farm, two would work here and then work at the burrito business. He didn't even ask the girl that was clinging to Rae. I gave Rita some money and asked her to go get some clothes for the kids. I told her that all she would need for Rae's girl was underwear because I was sure if we had shorts and shirts to fit Joci that they would also fit her. Rita got two other girls to help and they went around talking to each person and measuring a few, then left to get clothes.

Jimmy asked the kids how much they were to have been paid for their work. Food and a place to sleep. Rae's new sidekick Alison was brought here along with two of the other girls from Honduras. They were told that they would work until they were big enough to have husbands then they would be married off. Most of them could speak enough English to get by but all of them had Spanish as a first language. They had gathered fruit and sold it at different towns and settlements. None of them were young enough to get into an orphanage even if there was room for them. The youngest was 12 and the oldest 15. Alison said she was 15 but she was sure small. The only boy was 13 and Jimmy had already convinced him that he could be world champion tractor driver one day. We set around and talked for another hour before Rita and her helpers got back. Jimmy and Rae got them in the showers and into new clothes. You could tell by their actions that it was the first new anything they had ever had. The way these kids were treated sure made you want to do like Rae and just stomp the shit out of those responsible. Rae told me that if I told anyone that she had cried that she would kick my ass. I just told her not to tell anyone that I cried and she had a deal. Rae got her bag out of the truck and along with Alison, we left for home.

By the time we got there Rae had Alison filled in on what we did and that we had lots of girls here and some of them came from some conditions as bad as those she had come from. She told her that all the girls were doing good, had plenty to eat, and made good money. She didn't have to stay with us but she hopped she would. She had to explain sidekick a couple of times before Alison got it but I think she will make a good one.

Joci was thrilled because she was no longer the smallest girl. Rae told her no, we now have a new smallest girl that was going to learn to kick some ass. They got Alison fixed up with a bikini and I told Joci that she might still be the smallest up top then ran and got behind Sandy. They were so close in size that I think we had a tie and they were instant friends. Alison had a few bruises on her but she didn't look to be in bad shape. Rae gathered up Alison's new shorts, shirts, deck shoes, and bikinis and told her they needed to get her a room and meet everyone in the boatyard. After they left I had to tell everyone the story and Ireni and Joci said that Rae was not somebody you wanted to piss off because she was one of the baddest girls of the bunch. I asked Joci where she was on that list and she let me know that she was high enough to kick my scrawny ass. I told her that my ass was not scrawny and she said she had seen it and it was, so I gave her a spanking. She said she was going to tell everybody that I gave her a spanking because she was the only one of them that I could spank. I told her I could spank Alison, and she told me that might be a bad idea considering the last guy that did was in the hospital. I told her yeah that I probably better stick to her nice little ass. She told me I could stick to it anytime I wanted to. Ireni told Joci that she had work to do then she told me to quit spanking her helpers ass because she was as kinky as they came and liked it to much. I turned around and ran right into Sandy and had to grab her to keep from knocking her down. I left with all three of them giving me a bad time.

I didn't have time to go see Herb so I hid out in the shop for a while then went down to the boat yard where Rachel and Rae were teaching Alison to drive the four wheeler. They were having a hell of a good time so I went to see how Nina and her crew were doing on the drug boat. They were throwing carpet over the side so I climbed the ladder to look at what they had done. She told me that they had the bathrooms and the kitchen looking pretty good but would need redone by the time they got the rest of it cleaned up. Andy had ordered new carpet but they would not install it until the engine work was finished. She said Andy wanted the through the hull seals removed so he could steam clean the engine rooms and let the water run out. The bilge pumps were all clogged up and other than that, it was coming along fine. I asked if she was upset about Rae's new sidekick and she told me that she was just not a sidekick and preferred to lead than follow and that Rae had made a good decision on her choice because Alison was going to take a bit of mending and a lot of schooling. The way she saw it was when Rachel went to work dredging that she would be the new assistant and she was completely happy with that. I told her if anything changed in the way she felt to come and see me before she tried to change it back. She said thank you Levy and gave me a kiss. I thought it was way past time for me to be somewhere else and left. As I turned around I saw Buddy looking at me from the patio where he was working on a hull. I stopped and asked him if he was OK with Nina replacing Rachel. He told me that over there in the boatyard you had to earn your way to the top and Nina had done that and she was the only one the others would have accepted.

The shopping crew came in and I had to give them hell about being jailbirds. Heidi said that the judge didn't chew their ass out but he did mine. Then she told me that they had it all under control until the store clerk went running out the door screaming. Then I had to tell her what I was doing there. I told her I was there to keep Rae from kicking the cops ass and then told them about Alison and the other kids. They all thought that Rae had handled it just right.

Brende and Twilia came in covered with mud. They had been helping Herbs crew unload mud barges. I told them to go out on the patio and use the shower to get the mud off then go upstairs and wash out those bikinis by hand and wear them tomorrow if they were going to be working with Herb. The dive boats came in and we had to tell the story a few more times. Then Brende and Twilia came in all cleaned up and we told them the story. They thought it was funny that Jamie had slammed the cop into the wall. Rae and Rachel came in with Alison and they went to talk to her.

I asked if they got all the shopping done and they had got most of what they needed but wanted to get some table cloths for their burrito stand. I told them they were nuts if they put table cloths anywhere near barbeque sauce. Then I told them that I had seen places with rolls of paper towels setting on the tables and while the sauce would be in the burritos it would still get on the cloths. That changed some things and they would need to go shopping again tomorrow to make a few changes and could they have some more money I asked if they were saving the receipts and they said they were. I told them that I didn't get to talk to Herb so they needed to find some of the other girls to go with them. Any of the girls that were off work would be happy to go. Sandy would need to take Alison to the doctor.

The next morning I caught Troy and Rachel to find out where we were on dredging. They told me that Herb was suppose to come in and give us an update on available equipment and operators and thought we could start on the island within a few days, but when Herb came in he had a different view. He said he needed his people to bring out the steel for the island. They were reaching the point where it would have to be installed or they would have no way to reach it with a boom mounted on a barge. He had a lot of it welded into components to set on the piles and weld in place. I told him to go ahead because I didn't want Lena on my ass. I needed to help get the burrito shops open. After he left I told Troy to take one of the old taxi boats and get the shape for our new island figured out and try to determine how many barge loads of dirt and sand we would need, and the closest place to get it. We would also need a rough estimate on the number and length of piles we would need to get Herbs people started on.

Elke and Star were playing with the recipes for the fish sticks, it was fun to watch Star, everything she said, she went through the motions to make sure she was understood. While I was waiting on the Burrito Sisters, I asked Brende and Twilia where they were going to have their fuel tanks for the taxis located. I could tell that it was another thing they had not worked out. I told them they needed to talk real nice to Rae and see if she had room for them on the boatyard dock, or maybe a separate dock close to Lena's, and that it would not be a good idea to have it at their taxi dock due to it being very busy and a possible fire hazard. I also told them I didn't want to hear a bunch of their wizard bullshit conversations, I was not paying for their gasoline.

Heidi and I went in the office and I called Eddy to see if there was an official I could talk to about putting some powerful radios in the taxis. He gave me the phone number of the guy that took care of their radios and told me that he was a government employee so, good luck. I called the guy and he gave me the address of Belize Communications and I told him we would stop by. I told Heidi to see if she could get Elke out of the kitchen and on to the boat.

It turned out that the guy was only a government employee when he was doing work for them as it was a service contract type thing. I told him I needed better radios in our new taxis, ones that would reach from the city to San Pedro. He asked about quantities and I told him probably 6 to 10 because I would need base stations at the four docks. He said what the taxi companies really needed to do was put a repeater on Caulker and the units we had now would work. He said if we had a boat that wouldn't work for us that it was probably the unit or the way it was installed. I told him that I had personally twisted the wires together on the boats and he said "Yep that's what I mean" We talked another 30 minutes and I had spent just under fifty thousand dollars. We were getting a tall tower with a solar powered repeater at the boatyard on Caulker. Two base station towers, with repeaters, one at San Pedro and one at the motor shop. Also a few radios and all the labor. He would guarantee the ability to transmit and receive anywhere between San Pedro and the City. It would be up and running within 3 weeks. I was to find a place for the tower in San Pedro and either lease or buy it.

We stopped to see how Don's crew was doing on the burrito shop. There were a lot of people on this project and they were all busting ass to get it done. The front had a new door and all the trim around the big window had been replaced. The concrete ledge in front of the window now had a row of arrow looking spikes to keep people from setting on it and leaning against the glass. The sidewalk area is concrete and it had several places patched. The guy working on the front said they were going to stain the sidewalk a dark burgundy color. The girls liked that idea but it just didn't do much for me. They all said it would be beautiful with the red orange, and magenta paint. I didn't say anything and told them I needed to talk to Don. Once you were inside the place, if you stopped moving you would get stuccoed or nailed to the wall. Four guys were smearing wall plaster and one guy was following them making tracks in it with a trowel. I had always wondered how they did that. The counter that divided the dinning area was up and they had built in a work table and storage cabinets on the kitchen side. The bathrooms were finished and had fixtures and Don was watching all of it and looked like he was about to cry.

He had not found any work for his crew and when he finished the burrito stands at the docks he was going to call the bank and tell them he couldn't make his payment., pay off his help, and give up. He had 15 years invested, a lot of equipment, a nice shop building with a fence enclosed yard, a house, two trucks, several trailers for various things, and a hell of a loan at the bank. I told him we needed to take him to lunch and he said it might be the only way he would get lunch.

We ate lunch and talked about why he had no work. There was plenty down the road but nothing now. When we asked if he would be interested in a partner, he said yes, or he would sell it to me. We went and looked at his shop, equipment and trucks. We met his very pretty wife and daughter. They both asked Heidi about jobs at the burrito business and she hired both of them to work at the main store. She pointed at Don and told them that he was the reason that they couldn't start in the morning. His wife said they would be there in the morning to find out what the hold up was. I told Don I would make one offer, I would separate his house deed from the shop deed and give it to him. I would pay off the bank note and put 200K in the bank account. In return I wanted 51% of the business. We met them at the bank and got the contract wrote up. He and his wife both had signed for the loan so all of us went in to see Mr. Lewis and got everything done. I told Don that if the guys wanted to work, that they could all work at Herbs steelyard or dredge work on the islands, when there was construction work to be done, they would do it, but I needed him to spend his time finding work.

Three days later the burrito shop was open but Mary and her daughter Judy were still learning from Heidi, Elke, and Star. Judy had the Starfish cutting down to a fine art. She took the pressure cooked fish and potato mixture and with a stainless steel press sheet, she could mash the mixture to a consistent thickness on waxed paper. She would put it in the freezer for about five minutes, then use the star shaped cookie cutter. It sounds slow, but she could knock them out as fast as you could get them out of her way. They were looking on the internet to find a way to wrap them so you could just grab a pack and dump an order of six in the fryer. They were also weighing the fish and potatoes to see how many they could make with a fixed amount to determine the cost and sell price. They were doing the same thing with the burritos and I told them I needed to go to Herbs steelyard and take care of some business.

I did go by Herbs but he was at the island and there was way to much work going on for me to hang around so I went to the taxi dock to see how much they had done on the burrito stand. I got there in time to hear the sign painter telling Don that there was no way he could make the building look exactly like the drawing because it was way the hell out of scale. I took the drawing and looked at the building. I had not seen the complete drawing before but I had seen the girls working on different parts of it. They had a simple drawing of the building with numbered circles on it. Then they had numbered drawings of what was to be in each circle, and, he was damned sure right, it was not going to work. I pointed to a bench and told him we needed to sit down and figure out what would work. I asked him how he would do it and get the picture of the starfish chips and the burrito worked into it. He opened his sketch pad and went to work and I walked over to look at the building. Instead of having a large window that you lifted up in the front, it had what looked like 1 X 4 slats with rounded edges. They had 1/8 cable run through them holding them together and they fit into "U" shaped channels on either side of the window. At the top a small para-cord looking rope was attached and ran through two pulleys. The rope hung down the back wall. To open it you pulled out two pins that locked the slats, and then pulled the rope. It would pull the slats straight up, and then you hooked the rope on what looked like a coat hook on the wall to hold it up. I ran it up and down a few times and it was a lot easier than it looked.

The sign painter brought me his drawing, he had the starfish chip looking like a shooting star with a comet tail and the star had a cartoon face with a big smile. The burrito looked like someone had taken a big bite out of it, and the fried pie was part way in the wrapper and had a bite out of it. He said that the background would be like a fireworks air burst with lots of colors. I told him to do it because his ideas were a lot better than what the girls had. He told me that when he painted the big window at the burrito shop it took longer for the girls to agree on what to put on it than it did to paint it. I told him he would probably be doing it again after they saw this building. He asked if Lena was going to have any sign work, murals, or fancy painting to be done. He said he liked to do fantasy art but nobody wanted to spend the money for it. I told him that she would probably need some basic signs but the high school would probably do them with vinyl. He was an interesting guy and had worked at a lot of different things, and started out to be an architect but ran out of money for school. He had also been a lot of places and had been in Belize for about two years. I hired him to work with Herbs crew when he finished the buildings. I watched for another half hour as he outlined the signs with a pencil. He gathered up his sketch pad and said he would start early in the morning and it would be complete before he left the next day.