Chapter 14

Meanwhile, Karl went into the boatshed and found two long coils of rope and then returned to the others who were moving all the baggage, shifting it from the dock and into the shelter of the boatshed.

“Let’s leave this for now,” he said sharply and everyone turned toward him. “I won’t feel all that safe until the ‘Skolka’ is moored back at the buoy and pointed toward the cut. Let’s get that done first. We’ll take care of sorting and moving this stuff later.”

“Yes, boss,” Ely snapped.

Karl frowned slightly at that comment, but decided to ignore the remark.

“David, you’re going to help me, while Linda can help your mom, but both of you should stay on the boat. I’m going to take the end of one of these ropes and tie it to that big tree over there,” he pointed to one side of the cliff at a tree well above the water line and perhaps fifty feet away.

“Your mom is going to take her rope and tie it to that fir tree over there,” he pointed to a tree on the other side of the dock and less distance away, but slightly higher up the other bank.

“David, you and Linda will have to stay here on the boat, out on stern deck and each of you will need to pay out the rope to either Ely or me as we move. Can you do that?”

“Sure Unca-Dad,” he responded instantly

“Ely, use a bowline to tie off with, okay?”

“Yes, Boss,” she answered once more.

It might have taken twenty minutes to get the ropes tied and the ends strung out from the ‘Skolka, ‘ but it was done as fast as they could. With both lines strung out the way they were, Karl had Linda stand on the stern of the boat as he slowly headed away from the dock. Easing forward, he had Linda tell him when the shortest rope had paid out until it was almost at the end, then he brought the boat to a full halt. With Ely and David at the controls, he went back to the stern to join Linda at the stern.

“Now what, since these two ropes aren’t long enough to get us out to the mooring buoy?” Linda asked.

“Oh, I never thought they were, this length is perfect,” Karl grinned. “Just keep them together and out of my way for now.”

He proceeded to pull out the stern anchor then dropped it and it’s chain over the stern, stopping its fall when he came to the splice where it was joined to the anchor lead. He took the ropes from Linda and fastened them to the anchor chain with a clevis, then threw the lot overboard, grinning at Linda as it sank.

“Now, you go forward and tell Ely to move us slowly forward and I’ll stay here to pay out the anchor line. I’ll call out if I want her to stop, but tell her to go slowly and to stop when we’re about a hundred feet from the mooring buoy, if I haven’t called out first.”

He stayed where he was and when he felt the boat begin to ease forward, he began to slowly pay out the line on the anchor winch. When the boat halted, he locked the winch, but first he ran a loop over a cinch cleat to tie it in place, then he hurried forward.

“Ease her ahead again, but at very low throttle, please Ely,” he smiled at her “We need to keep the stern line fairly tight for now, but we don’t want to stress it. Linda, I want you to handle a forward line for me.”

Linda followed him forward and he pulled a long heavy rope out of a forward locker, stringing it across the deck and near a cleat.

“Now, I’m going to get the dinghy and I’ll row out to the mooring buoy to tie this off. All I want you to do is to pay this line out slowly, then cleat it off once I have the other end fastened.”

“I’ve never even heard of a boat being tied this way,” she commented.

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” he laughed softly. “This whole operation is just in case we get a huge wave entering the bay. I want the ‘Skolka’ to have the best possible chance of surviving anything nature can throw at her.”

He rushed off to the stern, but was soon in the dinghy and back at the bow. Taking the end of the line from her, he rowed to the mooring buoy and used another clevis to tie it off, then rowed back to the ‘Skolka’ and went aboard once more.

“Can I ease up on the throttle now that it’s all tied off?” Ely called out as he passed the wheelhouse.

“Not yet,” he grinned. “I’ve still got to drop the bow anchor and tie off the bow line. Give me a few minutes.”

He went forward and treated the bow line the same way he had the stern lines, dropping the anchor overboard and tying the line to the splice at the chain using another shackle. After he had tied it and removed the rope from the cleat, he called to Ely to have her cut the engine.

As she came out on deck, he grinned up at her.

“Now we drop this anchor part way,” he said as eased out the line on the winch.

The ‘Skolka’ slowly eased back until the ropes on both the bow and stern dropped into the water at an angle and Karl was able to cleat off the forward anchor line.

“Now if everyone else would go over the boat from stem to stern and make sure everything is shut off or closed down, emptied or filled, whatever should be done. Make sure the ‘Skolka’ is going to be okay for a long rest. While you’re doing that, I’ll set up anti-chafing gear on the bow and stern lines.”

“Why don’t you do the shut down with David, while Linda and I do the anti-chafing gear?” Ely asked. “I think that would make more sense, since you know the boat much better than we do.”

Karl paused a second and then smiled at her, “You’re right. Come on David. Let’s put the ‘Skolka’ to bed, so she can ride here safely. The old gal has earned it for all the hard work she’s done in the last few days.”

“Right, Unca-Dad,” David answered with a broad grin.

Karl let David do a lot of the checking, but when it slowed their progress, he stepped in and did the job while explaining his reasons for every action. In fifteen minutes they were back on deck and Karl was carefully locking up the last hatchway, making sure it was tightly sealed. He sighed deeply as he walked with David to the side of the boat where Ely and Linda were standing.

“Well, that’s it,” he said slowly. “She’s in storage mode. Boiler full, tanks full, solar panels all working and everything shut down, except for the emergency systems. Let’s go ashore.”

All of them seemed sober as Karl slowly rowed them ashore in the dinghy. Several times each of them looked back at the ‘Skolka’, now resting quietly on the calm water in the drizzling rain. The bow and stern lines dropped into the water and so did the two lines from the shore. Karl actually rowed over the anchoring lines and David pointed them out below the boat in the clear water.

“Is there any chance the anchors will actually hook?” Ely asked.

“No,” Karl answered firmly. “I only let out fifty feet or so of anchor line on both the bow and stern and there’s only fifty feet of chain on either anchor. The water where she sits is more than a hundred and fifty feet deep. Even at low, low tide there’ll be at least fifty to seventy-five feet of water under each anchor.”

“Well, like I said, I’ve never seen a boat anchored out that way,” Linda commented. “I like it, lots of rope to let her move up and down, but no way she can swing or foul the lines. I have to ask though, why use two ropes to the shore on the stern instead of one. Wouldn’t that have worked as well?”

“Just one line would have let her swing a lot further on a low tide, especially in a crossing wind.” Karl answered as they came to the dock. “Catch that forward end would you please, Ely?”

When they came ashore, Karl had Ely and David make up packs for each of them to carry from the pile of what everyone had considered essentials. Meanwhile he and Linda lifted the dinghy out of the water and stored it in the little boat shed. Then everyone set to and shifted everything else that was on the dock into the shed as well. It wasn’t long before they had the area cleaned up and the shed closed.

“Well, I guess that’s it for now,” Karl sighed softly. “I suppose we’d better get back to the cabin.”

They all had bulky packs tied on their backs as they headed uphill, even David carried his share. They all felt slightly sombre as they climbed, so it was several minutes before anyone spoke. It was actually David who broke the silence.

“Mom, is Grandpa’s house ruined?” he asked softly. “Is that why we’re going to Unca-Dad’s?”

“No, it’s not ruined, just messed up,” she said firmly. “But you and I are going to live with Karl anyway, and I think he’d like it if you called him Daddy.”

“It doesn’t feel right,” David shrugged, then moved over to walk at Karl’s side, taking his hand.

“What do you think?” he said looking up at Karl with a seven-year old’s innocent gaze.

“It doesn’t matter,” Karl laughed softly. “It comes more naturally for you to call me Unca-Dad and it sounds more familiar to me too. I don’t mind at all.”

“Thank you, Unca-Dad,” David grinned. “I think it’s going to be fun living with you.”

“Will it be all right for Keri and me to live there too?” Linda asked in the silence that followed.

“If you want to,” Karl shrugged.

“Well, both of us want to be there with you, besides Keri seems to think her Dad doesn’t like us being together,” she sighed.

“I think that’s George’s problem,” Karl snorted. “I don’t think he thinks you and Keri are quote ‘natural’ unquote.”

“That’s not Dad’s only problem, but that’s beside the point, it is one of them,” Ely said shortly. “Just how do you feel about it?”

“Well, I don’t understand it. I mean, I couldn’t get involved with another man, there just isn’t any attraction. Besides, I think it’s damn unusual for two woman, let alone three, to be involved in any way. This is going to get complicated.”

“It already is, asshole,” Ely laughed. “Now the girls are throwing you into the mix. I hope for your sake that there are still some oysters along the shore of the bay.”

“Me too,” Linda giggled softly. “It’d be a shame to ruin Keri and my dreams.”

“Now just a second...” Karl started to speak.

“Be quiet,” Linda ordered. “Don’t say one damn word. Not one. Aren’t you the one that they always quote as saying ‘Just let things develop naturally‘?”

Karl just shook his head slowly from side to side.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments as they came to the steepest part of the path, just before it split at the wye to go to either house. They paused at the shelter to rest, sitting on the bench inside.

It was only a moment or two after they got there when Trudy and Keri appeared, coming around a curve in the path. Keri was pulling a large rubber tired wagon that Karl had built years ago and had stored in one of his sheds.

“Hi Guys, we thought this might help,” Keri called.

“Where’s Dad?” Ely asked.

“He and Mary-Beth are oblivious to this world. They’re listening to Karl’s radios. Both of them are wearing earphones and scanning across the dials, with a drink on one hand and a sandwich on the other,” Trudy answered. “George’s only bitch is that he has to go upstairs to go to the bathroom.”

“Well,” Karl laughed as he slipped off his pack and dropped it into the wagon. “I guess we can fix the floor and then move the toilet from my old cabin into the house. The old cabin is only used for storage anyway.”

“Oh no,” Keri protested. “We were going to ask you if Linda and I couldn’t fix the old cabin up and live in it. That would give us a place of our own and we wouldn’t be crowding you.”

“Hmm,” Karl said in a very hesitant tone. “It’s really rough now. No one’s lived in it for over a year and I’ve been using it for storage.”

“Come on, Karl, it would be a hell of an idea,” Trudy said standing directly in front of him. “If we started soon and cleaned it out, George and I could move in there with Mary-Beth and David for now, until we get our place fixed up. After we move back home, the girls could live in the cabin.”

Ely and Linda set out with David, all of them pulling or pushing the huge load on the wagon, leaving Trudy and Keri blocking Karl’s way as they did their best to convince him of their opinion.

“I’ll think about it,” Karl sighed. “But there’s so damn much stuff to move out of there and I don’t want it ruined by the weather.”

“So, we keep the goats outside for a few days, use their shed for storage, and either build them a new shelter or build a new storage shed,” Keri replied quickly. “For now we could just knock up a lean-to roof for them next to the shed.”

“Well, that was easier than carrying it,” Linda sighed as she stopped pulling the wagon and sat on the front step of the house. “How far is it from here to the dock anyway?”

“Almost a mile, the way the trail circles around,” Ely laughed. “But, it would be only half that if we could fly.”

She pointed off to a stand of trees at the edge of the clearing. “Just over there you can stand on the edge of a cliff and look down at the bay and the boat. However, you can’t get down there from here. The cliff is way too steep and you’d end up in the water anyway, well actually in the stream, I guess. When I think about it, we’ve just walked over half way around a circle.”

“Mom,” David interrupted. “Can I go inside and find Grandpa? Maybe I can help him.”

“Okay David,” she smiled at him casually. “Tell him that Karl and Keri may have taken Trudy to see what Grandpa’s house is like and what needs to be done.”

“Okay Mom,” he answered, already dashing inside.

“Are they really going to the other house?” Linda asked.

“Perhaps not,” Ely laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “However, I think they’re all grown up kids. What they do is their business. I’m quoting Dad by the way, from the time I told him I was carrying Karl’s child.”

“So David really is Karl’s son?”

“Yep, David was a bargain. All he cost me was a bottle of scotch, some Chinese herbs, and few years of frustration,” Ely giggled softly. “Well worth a hundred times what he cost.”

“If Karl is David’s father, why aren’t you two together? Well, until now.”

Ely smiled sadly. “It wasn’t until the other night that I realised he loved me as much as I love him. I’m sorry if I’ve screwed up your life.”

“You haven’t screwed up my life,” Linda frowned. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Well, you and Karl were together,” Ely almost whispered. “Then I came along and stole him away from you.”

“Oh come on, woman,” Linda smiled softly. “I saw Keri and I fell in love. It’s not that I don’t care for Karl. It’s just that I have to be with Keri. Then once I found out that the feeling was mutual, I had an extra lover on my hands. Don’t get me wrong, I love Karl for what he did for me and I owe him my life. If he wants me, I’m going to do my best to screw his ass off. Not that I mind, I mean, he’s a great lover, but I...”

Her voice faded off to silence for a few seconds then she took a deep breath.

“Any way,” she continued. “I did my best to orchestrate getting you and Karl together, just so he wouldn’t be too badly hurt when I moved on to Keri.”

“So, you’re giving him away,” Ely grinned.

“Oh don’t be an ass,” Linda smiled. “I’m the one who seduced him and I think even then, I was a substitute for you. He loves you.”

“He loves you too, you know.”

“Unh uh, he likes me. He loves you and I think he loves Keri as well. Anyway, she wants his kid and I wouldn’t mind having one either, so...” she paused, staring at Ely.

“Are you asking my permission to seduce him occasionally?” Ely grinned at her.

“I guess so,” Linda whispered as she blushed.

“On one condition,” Ely smiled softly.

“Oh, what’s that?”

“You sleep with me on the nights that Keri sleeps with Karl,” Ely winked.

“Just sleep?” Linda asked mischievously.

“Lady, if you get any sleep it will be because I’m exhausted,” Ely laughed as she reached out to hug Linda close.

“That’s your first mistake,” Linda whispered in her ear. “I’m no lady.”

“Prove it,” Ely challenged her.

In thirty seconds Ely was kissed, groped, and aroused. Pressed back onto the porch floor, she suddenly couldn’t help herself and began to giggle. Linda lifted her head from suckling an aroused nipple and grinned down at her.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“We’re outside, on the front porch of the house and you’re practically raping me,” Ely giggled. “I thought it was Keri you had the hots for?”

“Oh, is that all. Let’s be honest, I like sex, any kind of sex and you’re so, well so exotic.” Linda laughed softly and sat up. “I do tend to get carried away though. Would you like to go inside?”

“I think we’d better find a place for all this baggage we’ve got,” Ely laughed softly as she fastened the buttons of her blouse that Linda had opened. “Come on, into the living room with it.”

Before they could take everything inside, they had to clean the living room floor. That lead to them wanting to start a meal, so the kitchen had to be cleaned up better than it was. Which lead to more clean up upstairs in the bedroom area while supper was cooking, but by then they had been joined by Keri and Trudy. Karl was outside, hunting for an old toilet which he thought he might have in storage.

It was as they were working that they felt the ground begin to tremble again. It wasn’t a massive quake, just a small one, but it was enough for all of them to rush downstairs. Trudy and Keri were ready to get George when David came out of the den, looking excited.

“Grandpa says it shouldn’t be too bad. It’s a volcano venting, somewhere near Seattle,” he announced.

“What do you mean by venting?” Ely demanded instantly. “Is it erupting or what?”

“It’s just blowing out steam and smoke,” David smiled, happy to know something that the others didn’t. “Grandpa said as long as the vent doesn’t get blocked and the winds keep on blowing from the west, we should be all right.”

“I’d better talk to him,” Trudy sighed.

She walked into the den and stood behind him for a few seconds, then she coughed to get his attention.

“Oh, Hi Dear,” George said quietly. “Just a moment, I’m listening to something rather important just now.”

“Everything’s okay for now Mom,” Mary-Beth piped up from a seat near her father as she took off her earphones. “Daddy is trying to find out if there’s any danger of a volcanic eruption on Vancouver Island. It’s west of us and if one of them lets go, we could be buried under ash and pumice. So far only a couple of volcanos further down the chain in Washington State and a couple in California have exploded or erupted and the wind is carrying the smoke and ash away to the east.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Grandpa doesn’t think so,” Mary-Beth smiled. “But, he wants to talk to Karl if you could find him.”

“I’ll get him,” Ely said from the doorway where she and everyone else were waiting.

She started for the door and David followed.

“Shouldn’t you stay with Grandpa?” she asked. “He might want your help.”

“Unh uh, there are only two sets of ear phones and Mary-Beth is still there,” David answered. “Besides, I want to be outside right now. I hate earthquakes. They make houses and trees fall down.”

The ground had settled down again, but they could feel a vibration through the soles of their feet.

“I know what you mean,” Ely smiled down at David, caressing his smooth head lightly with a stroke of her fingers. “I like the ground to stay put underneath my feet too.”

David grinned up at her, then noticed Karl coming out of the trees, leading an old red and white cow, followed by a half-grown calf.

“Can I go help Unca-Dad?” he asked.

“Sure,” she chuckled and watched as he sped off.

“Take it cool,” Karl called softly to slow him down. “This old gal is spooked as it is and the calf is half wild. I don’t have a clue where they came from.”

David stopped where he was and Ely waited where she was as well. When Karl had gotten close to David, Karl said something to him very quietly, then David slipped off to one side and as Ely watched he circled around behind the calf and encouraged it forward. Karl and the cow, now closely followed by the calf, came up to Ely.

Karl gestured toward the ground.

“Is this being caused by one of George’s volcanos?” he asked.

“Yes, he wants to see you for some reason. It seems to have worried him and it’s scared the hell out of me.”

“What, that he wants to see me, or the quake itself?”

“The quake, asshole,” Ely laughed uneasily. “Dad hasn’t scared me for years.”

“Why is this worrying you? It’s not bad.”

“I like the damn ground to be solid underfoot,” she declared. “It isn’t right for my toes to be jiggled around like this.”

“Oh, is that all?” Karl grinned. “Well, there isn’t anything I can do about that. I don’t see what George might want me to do either.”

“I think he want’s you to go to his house and bring back some books,” David said from behind them. “If you go over to Grandpa’s house, can I go along?”

“I can’t see why not,” Karl grinned at him.

“Now, I’m not so sure,” Ely frowned slightly. “It might be dangerous and...”

“Hold it, woman,” Karl said firmly. “Is David really my son?”

“Well yes, but...”

“Then I should have some say in the way he’s raised,” Karl frowned. “Shouldn’t I?”

“I guess, but I should have some say too. I mean I’ve raised him on my own until now and I don’t think I’ve done a bad job.”

Karl wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

“You’ve done a marvellous job,” he laughed softly. “I was pulling your chain.”

“David, I was wrong. Your mom and I need to talk about your going with me,” he said in a louder voice.

“Okay, Dad,” David replied.

“That does it, woman, you’ve got an argument on your hands,” Karl whispered so only Ely could hear. “My son just called me Dad, and that ought to get a reward as far as I’m concerned.”

“Alright, I agree. However, if you do go and he goes along, both of you be bloody careful.” Ely answered, almost as quietly.

They put the cow and calf into a pen near one of the sheds, then all of them went to the cabin. Karl went immediately to his den, then George shooed everyone else out of the room. Once they were alone, George turned on a loudspeaker so that the radio blared, then faced Karl with a frown on his face.

“Karl, we may have a hell of a problem,” he whispered.

“What’s that George?” he asked, turning the volume of the radio back down.

“I turned that up so the women couldn’t hear,” George frowned.

“George, is that why you have me in here all alone? If so I might as well leave,” Karl growled. “You might as well face it, George, these women and kids are just as tough as we are. Besides, they’re in this as deep as we are and without them, we’d never have gotten back home. I’m not going to be party to keeping any secrets from them.”

“I do not wish to frighten them,” George replied adamantly.

“George, if you’re worried that the volcanos on the Vancouver Island might erupt, they already know. David told Ely and me, by now they will have told everyone else.”

“It’s not just that, I’m worried that this island might be part of a volcano.”

“George, this island is an upthrust of sedimentary rock. It’s got limestone, shale, and sandstone as well as granite and gneiss inclusions. The mixture is common in upthrusts. If it were a volcano there wouldn’t be any sandstone and certainly no shale or limestone. The heat and pressure of an eruption would change them,” Karl opened the door into the hallway and called out “Everyone come here.”

Ely and David were the first to appear, followed almost instantly by Linda, Mary-Beth and Keri.

“Trudy has gone to see if she can get some milk from your cow, Karl. Do you want to send someone to get her?” Ely asked.

“Hell yes,” Karl responded. “That damn cow is dry to start with, the calf is weaned. And there’s no way I want the cow disturbed right now. She should calf again in a week or two and she’s upset as it is.”

“Oh, David, run quick, before Trudy-Mom gets hurt,” Ely ordered.

“I’ll go too,” Mary-Beth announced, racing after David as he ran for the door.

“Wait up!” she called as she raced after him.

“There you see, George,” Karl snorted. “Our womenfolk are inventive and independent, not some sort of kewpie-dolls that we need to protect.”

“That is as it may be,” George answered. “And I am not about to argue with you. However, I still feel that there is a good possibility that this island is in some way volcanic in nature. I willingly admit that I would never have survived if it had not been for my wife and my daughters. However, the indisputable fact is that there are dormant volcanos on Vancouver Island and they are within destructive range of our present position. If they should come out of dormancy and erupt as those on the mainland all seem to be doing.”

“Which volcanos on the mainland are erupting,” Ely asked.

“Mount St. Helens is in full eruption and has a burgeoning lava dome, Mount Rainier is venting as is Mount Baker. As well as that two volcanos in Oregon, one in California, four in Alaska and one in northern British Columbia are presently active in various states. If the present trend continues there is no reason that the dormant volcanos on the near mainland and on Vancouver Island itself should not erupt,” George paused to look at the faces surrounding him. “If the volcanos on the island erupt then because of the predominant winds at this season being from the west, we would be in trouble. We would almost certainly be inundated by a heavy fall of volcanic ash at the very least, perhaps pumice grit and possibly lava bombs which have been known to carry for many miles. As well as that, there are poisonous gasses, pyroclastic clouds and various other natural phenomenon associated with volcanos with which we may have to contend.”

“The key word there, George, is may,” Karl smiled. “None of this is definite, is it?”

“No, but I lived on the edge of the effects of Mount St. Helens when it blew last time. I had a home destroyed by the mudflow’s, and to escape its effects, I travelled through mile after mile of ash falls. I saw whole forests blown down, not just small areas, but a whole region of trees was flattened for miles. I have a great fear and respect for the power of an erupting volcano.”

“Just a minute, George,” Linda interrupted. “I got to ride a tsunami in boat and I got to see what it did to a town that it hit. I lived there alone for a week. There’s a hell of a lot more danger of a tsunami wiping us out than there is of a volcano doing the job. I’m a lot more worried about a bigger tsunami than a damn volcano.”

“Well, since we’re mentioning danger,” Trudy said sharply as she came in from outside. “As a nurse, my fear is more from this super flu than from the dangers that are presented by earthquakes and tsunamis or even volcanos. With volcanos blowing as well as everything else, people will be moving to get away from them and they’re going to be desperate. They’re going to be running away, whether they’re sick or not and that’s our biggest danger. What do you think Karl?”

Karl smiled slowly, realising that everyone was extremely overwrought on top of being badly frightened. He sat down on the edge of the bed in the room and looked up at everyone calmly.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about our luck,” he glanced from face to face. “We all lucked out when you talk about the tsunami. I was on a boat in deep water. Linda was on a boat and got hit by the tsunami, but rode it out fairly well. The rest of you were sheltered because it came from the opposite way to the lay of the land where you were living. It even left you a working boat that you were able to launch and use. So it was just because of lucky circumstances that we all survived the tsunami.”

George looked as if he was about to speak but Karl raised his hand and George waited instead.

“After the tsunami, I just happened to be in the right place to rescue Linda and we just happened to get away from the quasi-military. Then the radio just happened to clear up, so we just happened to hear you and come to your rescue. We just happened to see the trap those pirates had set and so on and so forth,” His eyes roved from face to face.

He leaned back, silent now, waiting for someone else to speak, but everyone was very quiet.

Finally he spoke again; “I think we’re just lucky, just - plain - lucky! Somebody here in this group has a horseshoe stuffed up their ass. Maybe it’s me and maybe it’s one of you, but we’re all benefiting from being together. I don’t really know who the lucky one is and I don’t really care! Now, I don’t think we should stop worrying altogether, but I do think we should just carry on and do the best we can with what we’ve got.”

It was as if Karl had dropped a bomb shell. When no one had spoken after a moment, Karl sighed heavily.

“George, I’ve just been thinking, how much of your information did you get from a reliable source. I mean someone who wouldn’t pass on a rumour as a truth?”

“I would imagine that most of it is reliable. However, almost all of it did come to me from independent sources.”