Chapter 2

The month crawled by and was over before he knew it. Time was spent at his solicitors making smooth the transition between owner and owner. First on the order of business was tying up the move so tightly that no husband would be able to access Abby’s accounts. The solicitor set up a Board of Trustees who must agree on spending decisions and an auditor who must have access to every dime. Oddly enough the best person for the job was Sarah Sutherland’s twin sister; Sheila. One would have to look long and hard to find a more perfectly matched pair.

“Why should I hire you?”

“Because I hate my sister.”

“Why?”

“She’s never forgiven me for being born first,” she said. “The stories I could tell you about stolen boyfriends.”

“Good enough.” HIRED was stamped on her application, followed by his initials. He gave her the spiel that was normally done by HR, took her to the vault, opened it, showed her how to change the combination, walked away and let her wing it.

Twenty minutes later she ran him to earth and started to tell him.

“No, I don’t want or need to know. This is your baby.”

All the real property, house, cars, money, gold and whatnot had been put into Abby’s name while she was still a minor. She didn’t know it ... yet ... big surprise!

An older large single handed rig sailboat was purchased straight out out of lien and word was given out that he was going cruising. “Nope, no destination ... just out there.”

“Abby will know,” in response to a query.

The boat was completely stocked including massive amounts of feminine products, “Because one never knows, does one?”

A girl turns 18 once ... it was a huge party. The boy she introduced was not the one he met a month ago. This one was a considerable nerd and it looked like a match made in Heaven ... out of left-over parts.

Extremely intelligent, totally inept and socially graceless, he was a runner.

“I like this one,” he said.

“I thought you might,” she kissed him on the cheek and... “Good bye, daddy. Hello, Jim. Good bye, Jim.”

The new accountant/auditor drove them to the airport. They boarded the company 1954 Beech H18, David sat left seat and flew to Sydney. A flight of under an hour, they landed and commenced the post flight check list.

The chores done; fuel tanks filled, oil and hydraulics topped up ... they towed the restored Beech to the corporate hangar, stowed the aircraft, locked up and headed for the Fixed Base Operators office. A FBO driver took them to the docks.

“Cast off,” said the Grandfather.

Some months later, the boat was seen sailing between Choiseul and Bougainville in the Solomons. The boat made no response to hails from passing ships or boats. For the next several years sightings of the boat occurred throughout Oceania and as far away as Monaco in the Med.

Mistaken identity was also rife.

David was not on This Earth. The Earth he Was on was so close to identical that there were no fatal differences. The food was equally nutritious; the drink was compatible. The main difference was a hundred years.