Chapter 11

Liz, or Elizabeth, was shaking me, "Wake up, Chuck, Bonita said I had to wake you since she isn't supposed to get up yet."

I groggily looked at the miniature Sue and smiled, "Okay, I'll get up. Go ahead and go tell her I'm getting up."

"No, she said I have to wait until you're up, she says she waits until you're through in the bathroom and dressed."

I closed my eyes, trying to think of a way out of this problem.

Mercy came into the cabin and smiled at me, "You can't keep the women of this boat out of here can you. Come on, Liz, let Chuck get up and get dressed. You've got him awake."

"But Bonita said I should wait until he's dressed to make sure."

Mercy was near laughing as she saw my distress. "Let's give Chuck some privacy. I know you like to have some privacy sometimes."

Liz looked at me, then at Mercy, and told me, "You better get right up. Bonita will be mad if you go back to sleep."

"I promise to get up and get going, Liz," I said, acting as if I was getting up as Mercy and Liz left the cabin.

I quickly did my morning ablutions and dressed before I walked down to Bonita's cabin to say good morning. Kathy, Serene, and Gloria were clustered around her as they checked her incision. Serene looked up at me and said, "You look at it, I think it looks fine. If we all agree, we can get underway."

The area around the incision was barely pink. The doctor had made a tiny incision and stitched it with some very tiny sutures so there would be just a minimal scar. The area didn't look stressed or tight, so there was no real swelling. "Looks good to me. Bandage her, and if she'll take it easy, I think she could walk around today."

Kathy hugged her youngest and put some fresh clothes on her. She took her into the head, then led us to the galley where the family was preparing for breakfast.

Gloria said, "Your boat is so much fun. So informal, so much like a family, I just love the atmosphere."

Mercy quietly said so only Gloria, Serene, and I could hear, "You just like the sleeping arrangements. They can be fun."

Gloria turned crimson, while Serene just smiled. I just shook my head at Mercy's teasing. Gloria looked at me and asked, "Did you tell her? Are you a braggart?"

Mercy came to my rescue, "I read minds. Right now you're thinking someone will inform the ladies of the Irish Bell and the jig will be up. Don't worry, I'll never tell."

Gloria was still blushing and Serene said, "She's like my sister. My sister was always able to know what people were thinking. She could put thoughts in your head as well."

Mercy gave me a sly look, but didn't say anything.

Breakfast is always fun when all the kids are together. The smart ladies served pancakes, so the kids ate well, without any protest, before they adjourned to the big salon next to the dining area. The adults then took a turn at the table, chatting and discussing the day ahead.

Little Dewey and Stevie came up and asked the adults, "Can we older kids stay on Dewey's boat for a night? We'll be good and promise to be a help over there. Dewey has some video games we haven't played yet and we can play games over there while the other kids play over here."

Sue said, "We need to ask Dewey, Sheila, and Sheena, and we'll also have to talk to Michael, Chanda, and their ladies."

Sue and Juanita headed toward the main deck to go talk to the other parents to make sure everyone was in agreement. Gloria gathered what she had brought, and as she headed to the Irish Bell, said, "I'm sure that I'll be needed on the Bell since they won't have an attendant for the main salon. If most of the kids are here, they'll probably leave Serene here." Gloria turned to me and touched me on the wrist, "Please come visit us some more. It's fun to have a new friend."

Soon Michael, Chanda, Lucille, and Margaret came on board and said they were agreeable to the children staying on the other two boats for a night or two. They did want for Serene to stay on board with their children and to be able to attend to Bonita. Serene had a big smile on her face as she went to get some changes of clothes.

By eight o'clock in the morning, we were on our way out past Cook's Inlet, heading toward the Pacific. The wind was much more favorable today and we were able to unfurl the sails and get up some decent speed, going nearly fourteen knots. I spent some time on deck with Steve who was at the helm.

About ten, Kathy came out and asked me if I was up to going below to give some music lessons to the kids on board. She said Bonita was organizing them so I could teach.

When I reached the lounge below deck where the kids played, they were all sitting with their guitars, strumming to the music in front of them. They cheered my entrance, making me feel very important. Serene was sitting on a sofa away from the children, so I asked her, "Serene, don't you want to be a part of our fun?"

She stood, but held out her hands as if to ask, what should I do? "Hang on a second, Serene, I'll get us a guitar."

I went to the storage locker and pulled out one of the extra guitar kits, then passed by my cabin to get my trusty old Gibson, not the Blues King. When I entered the lounge, I held up my hand to call for quiet. In front of all the kids, I asked, "Bonita, you saw and heard Serene play the other day, do you think she should have her own guitar?"

"Oh yes, Chuck," Bonita said, excitedly. "Serene will be a wonderful help teaching us."

I presented Serene with the guitar case. She sat on the couch next to Bonita and gently opened the case, looking inside at the collection of extra strings, a variety of picks, the electronic tuner, and an assortment of beginner's music. Serene gently took the guitar from the case and picked at a few strings.

Bonita took the tuner box from the case and took it out putting the batteries in it then handing it to Serene. In a few short minutes, the guitar was tuned and ready to play. Serene strummed a few things, then sat looking at me, just like the children in the room.

"Okay, how about let's start out doing some exercises by doing the chord progressions. We'll do a regular scale, a sharp scale, and a flat scale. Let's try."

The children all pulled their music sheets out and put them in front of them so they could see the notes they should play. Some still had the fingering charts, but all of them began with me. We did that for a while, then I said, "Let's see if you can recognize the chord I'm playing. If you do, play it with me. You'll know if it's wrong."

We did this game for a while then we began picking the individual strings for a single note at a time. We went through the major scale from very low to very high. These kids had been practicing and were getting pretty good.

I asked if any of them could think of a song that we could learn to play.

Greg said, "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys."

Bonita giggled and said, "Let's play that one about 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy."

The kids bantered for a while, trying to convince me the first two suggestions were what they wanted to learn. I told them I would go on the internet to get the music and lyrics. They continued practicing the scales as I left.

It didn't take a lot to get sheet music downloaded. I wanted some real classics, so I found the "Wabash Cannonball" and "Hey Good Lookin'" as both would be fun lyrics. Then I thought a love song would be good, so I found a Willie Nelson song, "Always on my Mind" and got that as well. I printed copies of the music, which also had the lyrics on them and took them back to group.

The group decided to do "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys" first. I told everyone that we would learn the chords and the words at the same time so we could play and sing together. I said to Serene, "It may not sound professional, but it will sound great to us.

We were interrupted by lunch but returned to the lounge right after. Bonita wanted to try to play the piece on the piano and soon found she needed a lot of practice to learn to play with both hands. She was at least able to pick out the notes and interpret what she read to the keyboard as well as the fret board of the guitar.

By three PM, all of the kids were looking tired, so I suggested that if they wanted to, they could practice later, but we needed to go outside for some fresh air. You can't believe how fast kids can put a guitar in a case.

The weather outside was still brisk, but it felt good to be in the sunshine. Juanita was at the helm so I stayed and chatted with her awhile. She needed to use the potty, so I stayed at the wheel while she went below while I looked at the huge sails at they propelled us through the water.

When Juanita returned, Sue asked me if I had used any of the gym equipment yet. I had to admit I didn't remember exactly where it was, so she took me below and showed me the small room that had some free weights, a multi-station exercise machine, a bike, and a treadmill. Knowing that I needed a workout, I went to my cabin to put on some shorts and my sport leg, and went back to the exercise room for an hour.

When I came out, the ladies were in the final stages of fixing supper. The kids were all hanging around in the lounge as they were getting hungry. They commented on the funny spring foot of the sport leg, so I had to tell them that was how I could run now.

I quickly showered and dressed, coming back out just in time to eat. Kathy was missing, so I assumed she was at the helm. I ate quickly and went up to relieve Kathy so she could come down to eat with the family. She tried to tell me it wasn't necessary, but I insisted. She said, "Let's open the inside helm for the night and close this down. You watch things here while I turn everything on inside.

We soon had the outdoor helm closed up and weatherproofed. Kathy showed me some radar targets she had been watching and went below. About a half hour later, Steve came up and complimented me on giving Kathy a break to eat. He looked at the targets on the radar then using a grease pencil marked them on the screen. After making the notation, he said that we would plot the targets to see if they were on an intersecting course. At this time, they were about fifty miles out, moving on a course similar to ours.

Steve radioed Dewey's boat. Ben answered and the two had a conversation. Steve said he wanted us to stay a little closer together tonight, never more than five hundred yards apart. Steve did the same with Irish Bell. The Captain of the Bell asked Steve if he had been tracking the movement of the vessels to the west of us, and of course, Steve told him that was why he wanted us to stay close.

That evening, everyone was relaxed and enjoying having nothing special to do for a change. I watched a movie with the kids and helped put them to bed, checking Bonita's incision with Serene and Kathy. She was healing well and would be at full speed in a couple of days.

After checking with Steve to see when he was on duty, I went to bed until two in the morning so I could be on watch with the teacher. Serene came and joined me in bed, but we didn't make love. This time we just snuggled, kissed a little, and drifted off to sleep.

My alarm went off at one thirty, so I showered, dressed, and went by the galley to get a mug of coffee. Up at the weather helm or bridge in the main salon, Mercy smiled at me and asked, "Are you enjoying having company at night?"

"Of course, Mercy. Snuggling to a warm body is a perfect way to relax. You don't even need any sexy stuff to enjoy another's company."

"That's good to hear, us girls are about to go into our monthly shock. We're pretty good about not being bitchy, but we do get a little touchy. I'll remember that you enjoy just snuggling. I'm sure Kathy will want to know that too. Juanita gets all excited when the rest of us are out of order. Since she began her change, she thinks it's the perfect time to monopolize Steve."

I said, "I can understand that. She probably feels as if she should take up the slack."

Steve came up with a cup of coffee and was briefed by Mercy. He marked the new location of the far off targets, mentioning that we were now within about forty miles of each other but still not rapidly closing. Steve told me to watch the helm while he checked the rigging.

We spent the two hours learning about the various ways to use the different sails. He had a big notebook with pictures of the various sail configurations with printed notes on each picture to explain the type of wind conditions you should use the sails in. When Kathy relieved us, Steve sent me to check the rigging once again. I stayed up a little while, talking with Kathy before going below to get some more sleep.

When I went into my cabin, I assumed the form in my bed was Serene and snuggled down to sleep some more, but Barbara said to me, "Are you going to see me in your bed and just leave me alone? I could have stayed asleep in my own room for that. When Serene came in to sleep, I knew you probably weren't here, so I wanted to be next."

"There is no next, Barb. We were just sleeping last night. Don't you want to get your rest?"

Her hands and body language gave me my answer, as we were soon demonstrating the beast with two backs, enjoying our enthusiasm for each other. She did fall asleep quickly as soon as she had reached her peak. I stayed awake awhile, thinking about women, Bobby, Brandy, Lisa, and all the other women back home.

The days and shifts began to run into each other. We had been at sea for eight days and were within a day or two, at the max, of arriving in Honolulu. Since they had a yacht club that could handle our three large craft, they had been chosen over some of the outer islands for our first landing.

The radar targets that had been near us for the whole trip turned out to be a tanker full of refined diesel fuel. The closer we came to Hawaii, the closer the target came to us until we were within a mile of us and we could see what it was.

The children and I had entertained the adults last night with our four new songs. We played and sang the four tunes to everyone gathered on the Mercy Mercy. The three boats were tied together as the kids and some of the adults swapped boats for the last days of the trip into port.

The kids who had learned the music were proud. The kids who didn't get to learn yet were envious and vowed to learn some music to compete. I switched boats to the Executive Suite (Dewey's boat), while some of the kids, along with Serene, went onto the Irish Bell. This time I had the older little ones. We picked out some music to learn and downloaded it then began the process of learning the words and music. They practiced diligently and you could actually recognize the back up music by the end of the first day.