Chapter 48

I woke up around five thirty to slide from bed, shower, and dress quickly for work. The girls looked comfortable, but I could tell they were about to wake up.

As soon as I went out to the patio, Maggie appeared. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down with me at the small table in the lounge area. "Steve, I want to thank you for taking me in and making me a part of your family out here. I just love being around all the people and the little ones. This is a perfect job for me to be here with you everyday. That's what I need to talk to you about. Glenda and Sue kind of made it so that I'm not here everyday and not for the whole day. Steve, I don't have anything else to do and I'd rather be around here than watching soap operas at home. You don't have to pay me to be around. I just want to be here with you guys and enjoy your company."

Glenda had quietly come in the side door and came up behind Maggie. She hugged Maggie, startling her, and they were both overcome with emotion as big tears began running down their faces. Glenda said, "I'm sorry I didn't see what you wanted or needed, Maggie. I know I couldn't stand to not be a part of everything that goes on over here all day, everyday. The only reason Martin and I have our own trailer is because we need a place to sleep and closets for our clothes. This patio and the kids' home are as much our home as that place over there. You come and stay everyday with me and the girls. Just enjoy being here with the kids."

Maggie acted a little embarrassed about what she was going to ask next, "This might be too much to ask, but the next time you go out on your sailboat, could you take me too. I grew up on the water. My dad had a big sailboat that we took all over. We lived on the boat most of the time, so I know how to take care of a boat. I was the oldest, so I took care of my sister and brother when they were young. If you ever have a need, I love the water and can help with the kids when you go somewhere."

A barefoot Sue, in a big fluffy robe, said, "I heard that. You may regret telling us that. We're about to have a bunch of kids added to our three, so we will need some help around here and on the boat if we go sailing. Steve, you should plan on taking the big boat out this evening for a while. Maggie can go with us to see if she still has her sea legs. We'll give those guys from Onan a thrill, and we need to plan on some kind of food while we're out."

Mercy came out, carrying Mike and Liz. She handed me both babies, saying that she would bring me something for them to eat in a minute. The two little ones were happy to sit fairly still on my lap. They were still a little sleepy so not totally awake yet.

Maggie wanted to hold Mike and had him cradled between her big breasts. The kid enjoyed the warmth and almost fell back asleep.

When Mercy came back out with two bowls of Cream of Wheat, she said to Maggie, "I hear you're a sailor. I just love to be out on the water. The trip we made through the canal was the most exciting time of my life. That's not true. Meeting Steve and Sue, and having Mike, were the most exciting times of my life. The trip would be next though."

Mercy turned to me and asked, "Is it true? Are you going to take the boat out this evening? Sue and I can run over and get it ready for company. We could turn on the ice maker and dust."

Maggie perked up, "Can I come along to help you? I'd love to see your boat and help to get it ready to go out for a while."

Folks were streaming into the patio, getting coffee while watching for the bellhop from the hotel who brings the sandwiches. He arrived just as the Onan guys drove up. They were all dressed in jeans and S&S T-shirts so they blended into our group a little better.

Crystal eyed the group and asked, "Can I have one or two of those swingin' dicks to help in the body plant today. We're mounting a couple of bodies and could use the extra hands."

Abe asked, "The superlift shop needs a helper today. Rod is taking his GED today, so we'll be short. Give me two of these guys for out there."

Shawna looked at me, and then at Sandy and Mandy, "Can you two handle at least one of these guys today. We need to teach them how we do perfect work."

It went on this way until all eight men were assigned to work at either the shop, the utility body plant, or out at the park. I told everyone that I wanted the men back here on the patio by three, as I was going to take them out on the sailboat. There was a bunch of hisses and boos along with, "We want to go too, Boss."

"I'll take a bunch of you guys out for a nice cruise on Saturday. This is just a sampler for the visitors."

As the patio group split up to head for work, I asked Sue if she should go to the doc to see if she was pregnant or not. Sue smiled and said, "Juanita and I did the test this morning. You're going to be a daddy again." Sue wrapped her arms around me and said, "This is so special. We are a true family all together. With seven little ones, we will be busy. What are you going to do about flying? We won't fit into the 200 anymore."

"I'm going to look for a Super King Air. It holds thirteen passengers. There is a larger one that holds nineteen but the thirteen passenger model should be just right. We might have to see if Maggie likes to fly as well as sail."

Kate was sitting with Jim before he left to do repairs within the park. She came over and said, "If you guys need someone to come along with you when you sail or fly, have me go. As long as we can bring Carson, Jim will be probably enjoy having us out of his hair sometimes."

Maggie wanted to give Kate some insight, "Will Jim put up with you gone for a month or two? Sailing is different than getting on a plane and coming back in a day or two. It takes days to sail the same distance it takes to fly a couple of hours."

Jim was looking at us expectantly, "If you could use Kate when you take off, she should go. I don't have a problem with them traveling at all. She put up with me while I was in the service, so it would be fine if she needed to travel."

Sue looked at me a little funny and said she would be back. As she got up to go into the house, she motioned for Kate to follow her. They disappeared into the house together.

Maggie was staring as if she were daydreaming. Glenda reached over and patted her arm, "Don't worry, Maggie, the kids meant it when they said they will take you along the next time. They even gave me a pill so I could sail with them. I wonder if I'll need another the next time that we go. I may not, I may have gotten over my motion sickness."

Even though there was plenty of time before we would need the extra space, I called out to the Aero Park to talk to our air charter captain. "John, don't laugh at me, but I want to begin looking for a Super King Air or a similar aircraft that will hold at least twelve to thirteen passengers and is as fast as the 200. It has to be something that's easy to fly like the 200. Think you can find something like that?"

"No problem, Steve. There are dozens of commuter airlines that are going belly up. We can probably steal one by picking up a lease or buying out a contract. It might cost to put the plane into the shape you want, but nothing like a new one or a used one that's in first class shape."

"Well, put your feelers out. I have some time before I'll have to have it, so let my mechanics know so they can put the word out as well."

"I'll do that. You know what though. I do know where there is a nineteen passenger Super King Air 1900D that is a heartbeat away from being repossessed. The bird is in real good shape and is pristine inside. The guy that owns it got sick and hasn't been able to keep up the payments, and of course hasn't been able to fly it to pay for it. He's been too proud to let someone else fly it, and now he has to sell it or have it repossessed. Do you want me to check it out? If you don't want to use it, we could always charter it. The size is great for a pretty big group, and it's just about as fast as the 200. Not quite as efficient, but that's reasonable considering it is bigger."

"See what kind of deal you can make, John. If you need to complete the payoff, do like always and contact Tiny. He'll figure out how to pay for it. I still want to look for the thirteen passenger model though. In this case, that size should be perfect. I'll tell you about it when I see you."

I told Sue that I was going to make a check on the Onan guys to see if they were doing as instructed or gold bricking. The guys working at the truck body shop were working with the other men, getting the body on the chassis. There was another Onan guy at the cart plant bolting on an engine. It was a little amusing as one of the regular workers was standing over his shoulder directing him. It was Suzie Chang, a four foot seven dynamo Chinese descendant, who ram-rodded the engine group at the cart plant.

At the main shop, the president was sanding, grinding, polishing and weighing engine parts as Roberta was assembling heads. Another guy was looking through a microscope at some oil Sandy had put on a slide.

Two guys were in Abe's shop, one tearing down a rusted generator, and the other was holding up a huge bar while it was being bolted onto the front of a superlift. All eight guys were busy doing something. They wouldn't have time to learn much, but they should get the idea of how we stressed quality at every level.

I went home to have lunch and go to the gym with several of the ladies. After lunch, we walked up to the pool to swim and get a little sun. Glenda and Maggie love to sunbathe up at the pool. On this day, Sue had Kate go with us, as Sue said she should begin to get a base tan. If she were to go sailing with us, she would need to get a tan for some sun protection.

When we got back to the house, Sue, Mercy, Juanita, Maggie, and Kate took off in the Expedition to go shopping and head out to the boat to get it ready. Tiny called to tell me, "I'm sending them to the hotel to clean up, and go over to patio. I'm having Ryan and Michelle drive the big fifteen passenger van so you can all go over together. Phil and I will meet you at the yacht club."

Right at three, Ryan showed up with the big van full of people. I jumped in and we drove to Dunedin. As soon as we were walking to the dock, one of the Onan guys saw several boats with the S&S logo and asked what they were. Tiny was there and said, "It's part of our charter fishing group. We currently have eight offshore boats and eight flats boats. You'll get a taste of deep-sea fishing tomorrow, but if you wish to charter a longer trip, give us a call, our prices are very competitive, and our captains and guides are the best."

When everyone was on board the sailboat, Sue and Mercy gave them a little safety talk and what to watch out for when we change directions. They made sure to have them either keep covered up or to apply lots of sunscreen.

Juanita already had the engine compartment fans running and all of the shore connections disconnected, so I started the engines to let them idle to warm up, and turned on all of the electronics. When it was time to castoff, I was surprised to see Kate hop onto the dock and release the bow line, run back, and release the stern line. She climbed back on board to help Maggie coil the stern line. I knew Maggie had boat experience, but it looked like Kate did as well.

We were out in the gulf raising sail by four PM. There was a decent breeze from the northeast, so I let it push us southwest, then due west for about twenty miles. The visitors were able to get the feel of open water sailing and the thrill of the wind lifting the boat to the top of the swells.

About six, the girls began serving some baked mahi-mahi up on deck. They had set the deck table for what looked like a formal dinner. I asked Sue where all this had come from. "I rented it from the yacht club. They have all of this stuff for trips just like this. We might get some for ourselves later, but this works great for little trips. Take down some sail while we eat so it isn't as breezy."

When I joined the group to eat they wanted to know who was manning the helm. "The auto-pilot, my friends. The collision avoidance system is on so if any vessel is within ten miles and on an intersecting course, an alarm sounds to give me plenty of time. I can set it at up to fifty miles out, but for today, ten miles gives me about an hour to react."

After the great supper and cleanup, the men mostly sat on lounge chairs outside or in the salon. Can you believe that several had the TV on watching a game show?

Mercy had taken her favorite place on the bow, feeling the wind in her face. This time though, she was joined by Kate who was enjoying the wind and sea spray as well. Sue and Maggie stayed with me in the cockpit area, chatting about nothing in particular. Sue asked Maggie, "What do you think about traveling with a couple of pregnant women and three kids?"

Maggie smiled, "The pregnant women shouldn't be a problem, but how do you handle the kids out on deck?"

"Stevie has to wear a life jacket whenever he's on deck, and so far he's minded about not playing next to the rail. He's already found out he can't roll a ball around on deck. He lost one of his favorites the first time he tried to play on deck. Now he saves some of his toys for either the main lounge or the below deck lounge."

Sue continued, "Lizzy and Mike are just starting to walk, so we don't let them walk around out on the deck. We do bring them out and let them sit in the sun. We've even had them crawl around a little on the deck, but we put jackets on them even for that."

Maggie was nodding, "If they're good with that, then you should be fine. Can any of you girls run the boat if something happens to Steve?"

"Steve has taught us all how to operate the boat under sail, as well as using the engines. We still have some learning to do, but both Mercy and I are working toward our captain's licenses."

"Well, you folks seem to know what you're doing," Maggie praised. "This is a very fine boat. You could use another stateroom or two, especially if you want to take both Kate and me with you. The two of us could probably bunk together, but sometimes a younger girl wants to room alone."

"We can have the boat builders remodel if we want. I'm sure they could design the staterooms differently so we could have three or four guest rooms. Right now we keep the three kids in the same room. When the new babies are here, we'll have to have them in the Master suite in the beginning, and in the connecting stateroom where the big kids are now. We should probably have a design where the bigger kids are in the next room down and have two guest rooms after that."

You could see Maggie suddenly coming to a conclusion, "Juanita sleeps in your bed too?"

Sue smiled, "She does. We're kind of like one big family and our beds are large enough for all of us."

"My, my you are an enlightened group, aren't you? A lot of boat people are different like that. I should have known the way you three ladies are always together. Ah, to be young again."

Maggie looked over at me, smiling, and asked, "Do you have the same problem a lot of sailboat captains have?"

"What kind of problem is that, Maggie," I asked.

"Keeping clothes on your female crew when you're out on the water?"

I laughed, "That does seem to happen often. Are you susceptible to losing your clothes out at sea?"

"Only on warm sunny days, Captain."

Kate and Mercy had returned to the cockpit area in time to hear the conversation. They both laughed along with Sue. Kate said, "My grandfather had a big sailboat that I used to sail on every summer. I learned a lot about how to live aboard a boat and the enjoyment of sailing. I haven't sailed in about four years, so this is a treat. When granddad became ill, my folks sold his boat to put him up in a rest home. The inactivity killed him. Without the sea, he didn't want to live."

This trip had become a good time to get acquainted with Maggie and Kate. I personally didn't know whether I wanted to go on a long trip with five women and a bunch of kids. I guess it won't be my decision, as my two women, especially Mercy, sort of dictated our sailing adventures.

Mercy began talking about a near future trip as I turned to tack back toward Dunedin. "Why don't we sail across the Atlantic now that the summer storms are over? We could stay fairly south to stay warm, and head toward the Mediterranean. I heard Phil talk about Italy, Sicily, and the Greek Isles. We could do that and also visit the Spanish and French Riviera. We could leave right after Christmas, sail for a couple of months then be back for the uncomfortable days of carrying the babies. With only the three kids, we wouldn't need Maggie and Kate unless you wanted to bring them along."

Sue said, "If we waited till after Christmas, it would give us a chance to have the boat remodeled for the extra rooms. It would also give Mercy, Juanita, and me time to finish our captain's licenses."

Before I could voice an objection, Mercy said, "I've already talked to Tiny about doing a trip like that, and he's all for it. He said going would be good advertising. He thinks we should go to the United Kingdom, as well. It would be cold, but we could do it as a goodwill venture if we needed to."

"You guys are always way ahead of me in planning things," I said, thinking of how big of a voyage they were planning. "The kids and I are kind of along for the ride. I guess I don't have any objections to the trip but it is a pretty big undertaking. That's a lot of days out on the open water. You know we'll hit some bad weather at least a couple of times, so it won't be all fun and games."

As we neared the yacht basin, we started the engines and dropped the sails. The girls worked together to secure and cover the sails as I guided the boat in, turning it around to slowly back into the slip.

All of the visitors said how different it was to sail instead of being in a large motor driven boat. The feeling was more relaxed, and you were able to feel the sea differently than in a motor driven craft. They would all have good memories of the short sailing excursion.

We cleaned up the boat and carted off the perishables and trash to take home. The rental equipment was left on deck where the yacht club attendants would pick it up later.

Ryan dropped the men off at the hotel, and we went to the patio to meet the women. Kate was excitedly telling Jim and Carson about the trip. Every time Kate would say, "You should come with me," Jim would cringe and grimace.

Maggie was huddled with Glenda and Martin, talking about how nice it had been to go sailing again.

Our charter manager and chief pilot was having a drink on the patio, waiting for us to return. He waved Tiny and me over to him. Sue knew something was up, so she trailed along.

As soon as Sue had a Diet Coke, and Tiny and I had a drink, John said, "I have that nineteen seat King Air 1900D out at the Aero Park for you to look at. You really need to consider it, as it is a steal. We can buy it for less than half its value right now if we pick up the note. Steve, I want you to come out tomorrow and fly this thing. You can own this bird for less than you paid for the 200."

Sue said, "That's really a big plane. Wow, nineteen people." She thought a minute then said out loud, "There's Mercy, Juanita, Stevie, Mike, and Lizzy, that's only five. Then there will be Mercy's trio and my new one so that would be nine. If Maggie, Kate, and Carson were to both come with us that would be twelve, so we would still have room for seven more people. It may be too big."

She turned to John and asked, "How does it fly. Is it nice?"

"The plane flies exactly like the 200 but it feels a little more sluggish getting off the ground. It takes a little more runway, but you'll like it." John added, "I will also have a thirteen passenger Super King out there tomorrow for you to look at. It's another plane waiting for repo. It's a good deal too, but isn't as good a deal as the big plane. You'll have to pay about sixty percent of value for the thirteen passenger plane ... The bank financing the plane knows what its worth, but is willing to cut me a deal because I've helped them in the past. This plane is almost brand new. It hasn't even had its first annual. Look at it. If it's too much, don't buy it. If you like it, then you would have a decent deal, but you have to take the deal on the bigger plane."

Sue looked at Tiny, "If nothing else we could lease them into our charter fleet. I want to keep one just for our use though, like we did with the 200 before it became popular to charter all the time. Tiny, can we sell the 200 to the charter company so we could buy one of these other planes?"

"Not a problem," Tiny said. "We were going to try to pick up another 200 anyway. It's a very popular charter. We get a lot of five to six people charters in the five to fifteen hundred mile range. The 200 is a very economical way to go. We've been using your plane for charters two to three times a week, anyway. You're actually making money on it. I'm not sure how you would do on the Super King Airs. We would have to see."

John asked, "What time do you want to meet out at the hangar?"

"How about eight to eight-thirty. That way Sue and I can fly both planes to see how they feel. Mercy will probably want to come along, as she needs to see how they ride and feel."

"Can you make it closer to nine? We have a bunch of charters and students leaving the hangars from eight to eight forty-five. You can come out earlier and poke around in the planes, but I need to wait till the other business gets off the ground before we can play with the new stuff."

DeeDee came up to us and said, "John checked me out in the 1900D today. Nice plane. It's a real junior airliner. Are you guys adding to the harem or what?"

Sue laughed, "Mercy and I are both pregnant. Mercy's having triplets so with four more kids we'll need at least nine seats. We usually have Juanita with us, so that's ten and we were considering bringing some more help along so that would be eleven or twelve."

DeeDee thought for a second. "You know most 200's are 13 passenger. Yours is one of the short ones that has the executive desks and only has seven seats." She turned to John, "Is that 200 that I saw in the other hangar a 13 passenger model?"

"It is," John said. "And yes, it's for Sue and Steve to look at. That 1900 is a good buy though. You can stand up straight in it if you're normal size, not Tiny's size, and it does fly around three hundred miles an hour. Not bad for a prop driven plane that size."

"I'm convinced, John. We'll look at the 1900 very seriously. The thirteen passenger 200 might be just the ticket for us though. We could always swap planes if we needed the extra seating."

The excitement and airplane talk finally died down. Folks left for the evening so we could all go to bed. I did the Dad thing by kissing the three little ones goodnight, and joined the girls in the big bed. Sue and Mercy were both worked up from sailing, so it took a while to get them unwound. The activity stimulated Juanita, so they worked as a team to get me interested in loving her up before I crashed. With my ladies, it's easy to get to sleep.

Waking up is funny. Sometimes, you wake up fully aware of where you are and what you're going to do next. At other times, you wake up so groggy that you're out of bed and into the bathroom before you even realize you're up. This morning, it was one of those days when the brain engaged before the eyes opened. Something was running around in my head that was developing into a full-fledged idea.

I sat up in bed, thinking the idea through, then almost zombie like, I slid from the bed to quickly shower and dress. When I was dressed and came out of the closet, Sue and Mercy were looking at me funny. I felt self-conscious so I asked, "What's up?"

Sue said, "I've seen that look before. It usually means you're going to start a new business or buy more land. What are you thinking about?"

"That's the way he was the morning he began talking to that trucker down the street," Mercy said. "He gets that far off look, then begins heading straight for something."

"I've just got an idea. I'll work on it this afternoon at the shop. It might work and it could save us a little time with our welding equipment. I don't even know whether it'll work yet. It's just an idea." I smiled at the three beauties and said, "Come on, let's get going. We're going out to look at airplanes this morning, so we need to get going."

"Humpf!" Sue exclaimed. "It's barely six o'clock. We have time for some wakeup fun. Come back to bed and we'll show you a good time, sailor."

"You're very tempting, sweet thing, but I want to jot down some notes real quick and make a drawing so I don't forget my idea."

Mercy laughed, "Can you believe a red-blooded boy like that turned down some morning loving. What has the world come to? Come on Sue, Juanita, let's get a shower before the critters wake up."

I made a pot of coffee in the kitchen and opened the doors to turn on the patio light. I went back to the counter to write some notes on a yellow pad there, quickly making a couple of drawings. It looked like it would work so I tore the pages from the tablet, folded them up and put them in my pocket for later."

I heard the screen door slam and looked up to see my morning buddy, Glenda, come in and go to the big coffeepot. The day has now officially begun.

Sue came out of the house as Tiny and Ruth came in. "You better watch him, Tiny. He woke up with an idea and he won't tell me what it's about. You know what that usually means."

"He can't do too much damage if he's planning on taking a cruise after Christmas. He only has a few weeks to do whatever he's going to do. Next week is Thanksgiving, so he's going to lose a couple of days, then there is about a month till Christmas. I'll watch him, but we're all probably safe."

"Not to worry, Tiny. It's just an equipment idea. It might be a way to save some time in the welding shop. It may be patentable if it's a good enough idea, we'll see."

We all ate, until about eight fifteen when Sue, Mercy, Tiny, and I went out to the Aero Park to look at planes. We drove through the gates, across the runway, and parked in front of the charter office. We said hi to Star and her assistant, and walked across the access area to the far hangar.

Looking at the four hangars with their big doors open was impressive. There was a ton of activity. The hangar with the Gulfstream had a tow vehicle pulling the Gulfstream out, while our 200 was obviously being prepped for a charter too. The other hangar over on that side had four 152s and two 172s parked in front, with students and instructors doing preflight inspections. There was also a 210 out front that was getting ready to leave on a charter.

Next to the hangar where the new planes were, was the helicopter hangar with the companies' two and the sheriff's department helicopters all sitting out front. S&S had definitely increased the activity out here. Besides the 1900D and the new looking 200 sitting in this hangar, there was another 200, plus a Lear, in the back where the maintenance techs had their benches. Both planes looked like they were in the middle of an annual teardown.

Sue went straight for the 1900D and climbed the stairs. "Wow, this thing is big. Come look, Steve, we could tear out seats and have room for a play pen."

Mercy beat me to the door; when I walked into the plane I was able to stand up and look at the seating arrangement. The plane was big enough to even have a small potty room in the back. I would have to look at the baggage storage. With nineteen passengers, there would be a lot of baggage. When I considered that the plane probably normally had a hostess, that meant only eighteen passengers plus the flight crew. Still, this thing was big. I looked into the cockpit area to find it had some instruments I didn't recognize. Oh well, you always have to learn. The plane was clean and in very nice condition on the inside. It had been well kept and had not been used that much.

I got off the 1900 and walked over to the long 200. I looked inside and found six rows of seats and the potty seat behind a partition. The cockpit was familiar but it didn't have all the instruments we were used to having. That would be easy to remedy. I was impressed though, as the plane looked brand new. The cockpit didn't look like it had been used and smelled new.

John and one of the charter jockeys came into the hangar as I was getting out of the 200. "Ready to go flying? I brought Bob along so he can check one of you out in the 1900, while I go with the other in the stretched 200."

Sue said, "Let me fly the 200 first, then the big plane. I haven't flown for a month, so I need to warm up in something more familiar."

Bob said to me, "Come on let me show you around the plane while we wait for the tow motor to take the plane out."

Bob opened an access panel on the outside and pulled out a laminated checklist. We began a step by step preflight inspection. This gave me a chance to look over the plane at the same time we did the check. The nose had a modification. It was an extension that could hold more luggage. Bob showed me the luggage storage in the rear of the plane as well. There was a lot of room.