Chapter 9: Runaway

Tony read the local paper while sitting on the back deck early the next morning. The front page headline read:

Rock 'n' Rescue
Teenage Rock Band Rescues Four on the High Seas
By Beatrice Wallace

Bea had been, at least, factual. She was perhaps a bit more dramatic than he would have liked. The article included the concert in Savannah with an excerpt from the paper there. The cruise to Cape May, the Gilchrist festival, and the Teen Beat article were also covered. It was pretty much what she promised to do. There was a picture with everyone, including Anita, on the back deck of Kalliste taken from the dock at the rear of the boat.

It was 7:30 and Tony was still the only one up. He headed below to get another cup of coffee when the thing he dreaded happened. The phone rang. He sighed as he hurried to answer it before it woke anyone up.

"Hello"

"Mr. Smith? This is the front office."

"Yes, this is Tony Smith."

"I'm sorry to bother you sir, but there's a young girl here. She insists she's a relative."

"Umm, there aren't any relatives of mine here. Let me talk to her."

Tony waited a second and a soft girlish voice said, "Hello."

"Hi, this is Tony Smith. Who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for Rebecca. Rebecca Harris. Is she there?"

"Sure she is, but she's sleeping. Can I ask who's calling?"

"Cheri Harris, Rebecca's my cousin."

"Of course! Rebecca's told me about you. It was just a little odd when the lady there said I had a relative here. Of course it would be Rebecca. Why don't you come on down and I'll wake up Rebecca. Hand the phone back to the lady there and I'll tell her to let you in."

"Mr. Smith?"

"Yes, please allow Miss Harris in and direct her to our berth. And go ahead and add her to our access list please, she's a family member."

She hesitated a bit the finally said, "OK if you're sure Mr. Smith. I'll send her on out."

Tony moved back to his and Rebecca's cabin and let himself in. She was a vision as she slept. She was on her side, her head pillowed by her mass of curly red hair, a dusting of freckles across her upper cheeks and button nose. She was nude with only a sheet covering her from the waist down. He moved to her and bent down and kissed her cheek. She rolled toward him so the next kiss was on her lips. Her arms went behind his neck and she attempted to pull him down onto the bed. Tony countered by putting his arms behind her shoulders and pulling her up to a sitting position.

"Sorry Sweetie. You need to get up. You have a visitor."

"Visitor?" she said groggily, "who?"

"It's a surprise," Tony said smiling at her. "But a good surprise I think. Now come on and get dressed."

"OK, I'll be up in a couple of minutes." Tony released her and stood to leave.

"Tony." She said. He stopped and looked down at her.

"Umm I'm pretty sure you proved you were good enough for me last night." She winked at him.

Tony laughed at her and bent down and gave her another kiss. "Good, because I love you and I like showing you how much."

"I love you too Tony."

When he got back up on deck Tony watched the young girl walk down the dock. She was only a couple of inches taller than Rebecca and skinny. Rebecca had gained a few pounds of muscle with all the therapy and activity. Even with the extra couple of inches this girl probably didn't weigh as much. She had dark, stringy hair pulled through the back of an old baseball cap into a pony tail. She was wearing only a thin strapped tank top that was probably white at one point with obviously nothing underneath, and cutoff jeans. She just didn't look healthy to Tony. She was clutching a rolled up newspaper like it was a lifeline.

Cheri Harris couldn't believe they actually let her in here. The guy on the phone said Rebecca was here and the lady in the office pointed her to the dock and even put her name on a list so she could come back. Now she walked past a sparkling blue swimming pool to the dock and a forest of luxury boats that gleamed white in the early morning sun.

As she gawked at the ostentatious display of wealth she wondered exactly what had happened to Rebecca. Could she really be in a band like the paper said? How did she end up in a place like this? And she was standing in that picture, with no crutches!

Can she help me?

As she neared the end of the dock she saw the last boat on the right where she was supposed to go. Instead of just white this boat was blue on the bottom, white on the sides and polished wood on top. The back was completely wooden with Kalliste written in large, flowing gold script across the top and 'Savannah, Georgia' written in smaller block lettering underneath. This had to be right. That's where Rebecca had moved to last year.

She saw a man, or maybe a boy, on the back of the boat looking at her. He waved her towards the side of the boat. "Hi," he said. "Come on around this way, the stairs are over here. I'm Tony."

Seeing no one but Tony on the boat Cheri hesitated at the bottom of the gangway. "Uh, are you sure Rebecca is here?"

"I just woke her up a couple of minutes ago, she's getting dressed and she'll be right out. I didn't tell her who was coming though. I thought you'd like to surprise her. Everyone else is still asleep."

"Everyone else?"

"Yeah, it's not just Rebecca and I on board. My sister Tina and our friends Jerry and Anita are here too. They're all still asleep. Come on up, we're all friends here, OK?"

Cheri stepped up onto the wooden deck of the boat and followed Tony to a large group of couches that formed a 'U' around the back of the boat. "Please, have a seat. Can I get you something, some coffee or orange juice maybe?"

Cheri wanted to refuse, but the thought of a glass of orange juice was just too much to pass up. "Some juice please," she said.

Tony smiled at her and said, "Sure, coming right up."

Cheri watched him head back toward the front of the boat but before he could get to the stairs she saw someone (Rebecca?) walking up them. It sure looked like Rebecca. She was wearing a yellow sun dress and she stopped and kissed Tony! "Rebecca? Rebecca is that really you?" she gushed. With that she stood and rushed over towards a very surprised Rebecca.

Tony heard Cheri call out to Rebecca from behind him and turned to see the girl rushing toward them. The two girls collided in a hug with predictable results. Rebecca lost her balance and the two started to fall. He moved quickly and grabbed the two to steady them with completely unpredictable results.

Cheri screamed!

The girl released Rebecca, fell down, and scrambled back across the deck leaving Tony holding Rebecca awkwardly. "Let her go!" she screamed. "Let her go!"

"Whoa, whoa, hang on Cheri," Tony said. He set Rebecca on her feet like he'd done so many times, released her, and took a step back. "OK, she's fine now. She just has a little problem with balance still. You can't tackle-hug Rebecca unless you really want to tackle her."

"It's OK Cheri, really," Rebecca said as she went and knelt down by her cousin, once again embracing her in a hug. "Tony's my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, boyfriend, you know, like you and Phillip in the eighth grade, only more so."

"Um, OK, I just..."

"Never thought I'd have a boyfriend? Neither did I, but there he is and he won't hurt you. Tony would never do anything to hurt one of my friends and certainly not my family."

"But he grabbed us!"

"Cheri, have you noticed anything different about me, other than the whole boyfriend thing? Like, maybe that I'm walking on my own now?"

"Yeah, that's so cool!"

"Well I can. My knees are better but I never learned to walk normally growing up. My balance sucks. I've almost fallen down so many times in the last six months you wouldn't believe. Tony's so used to catching me or steadying me or whatever I need that he does it without even thinking. Believe me with that hug I was just about to hit the deck."

"Tony what's going on? Did someone scream?" Tina asked from the bottom of the stairs.

"Umm yes actually. Could you come up and give us a hand please?"

"I'll be right up, I need to get dressed and Anita's awake too."

"OK, hurry on up, I'll take care of Anita. I've got a job for her this morning."

"What job?" Anita asked as she passed Tina coming up the stairs. Tony remembered that the first night she had an ankle length night gown. This morning she was only wearing a T-shirt that came to her knees. It was one of Tony's T-shirts of course. He shook his head and gathered the sleepy girl in a hug, standing up and pulling her feet well off the ground.

"Good morning my little flower, did you sleep well?"

Anita pulled her head back from Tony's shoulder, looked him in the eye at close range then cocked her head to one side and asked, "little flower?"

Tony winced visibly. "A bit much I guess."

"Tony I'm not six," she said.

It was statement that was punctuated by the small, but noticeable bumps pressed into Tony's chest. "OK, I'll try to do better."

Anita gave him a peck on the lips and when she pulled back and began to speak he heard Rebecca shout, "Hey you! No sampling the goodies!"

He felt Anita move one of her hands from his neck and inferred that there was a certain non-verbal communication passing from sweet, innocent, Anita to his girlfriend.

Rebecca just giggled.

Anita released his neck and he set her down. "And what job do you have for me this morning Captain?" she asked and rendered a mock salute.

"This morning you are the cook's mate. Umm, can you cook? Like breakfast?"

"I like to make French toast."

"In that case you're promoted. You're the cook and I'll be the cook's mate. Now get cleaned up and dressed and we'll make breakfast. The girls have a guest this morning and I think they're gonna be busy."

"OK, give me a few minutes to find my chef's hat and I'll be back." She turned and sauntered down the stairs with entirely too much sway in her hips. Tony wasn't sure if it was meant for him or was another non-verbal communication in case Rebecca was looking. Rebecca giggled again, so it could have been either, or both.

When Tony arrived back on deck a few minutes later he was carrying a tray. Tina was sitting with Rebecca and Cheri on the starboard side. He set down a small glass of grapefruit juice for Tina, a large glass of orange juice for Cheri, and a cup of coffee for Rebecca.

"Thanks Tony," Rebecca said. She was sitting next to Cheri holding on to her right arm.

Tina flashed him a smile. Big brother was doing everything right so far.

"Anita and I are making some breakfast. Does everyone like French toast?" he said.

"Tony, do you even know how to make French toast?" Tina asked.

"Nope, but Anita does. I'm just going to try and not burn some bacon," he said with a smile.

"Ahh, OK that's fine then."

Rebecca beamed a smile at Tony when, twenty minutes later, he brought another tray up with three plates of French toast, bacon, and grits along with more juice and coffee. "I hope you're hungry. Anita's a cooking machine in there."

"Are you guys coming out to eat?" Rebecca asked.

"Nah, we're eating downstairs with Jerry. We thought you three may want your privacy."

Tony left and the girls started in on their breakfast. It was obvious to both girls that Cheri hadn't been eating well. The good news was that she had a healthy appetite and had eaten most of her plate when she finally spoke. "Is he always like this?"

"Who Tony?" Tina questioned back.

"Yeah, I mean does he always make you breakfast and stuff?"

Tina laughed. "Tony is probably the worst cook on the planet. He didn't burn the bacon and probably did make the grits but that's about it. He might have managed scrambled eggs if Anita wasn't here. But that's not really your question is it?"

"No, I guess not," Cheri said.

Rebecca picked up from there, "Then the answer is yes. He's always like this. He's a very kind and considerate boy unless you mess with his friends or family. Then he can be a bit of a bear. He considers you family because you're my family so you'll never be on the wrong end of the bear side."

"He doesn't even know me."

"Oh he knows a lot about you. He's my boyfriend Cheri. We talk about my past sometimes. Who else would I talk about? He knows that you're the only really good friend that I ever had before moving. The boy will move heaven and earth for you even if you never say another word to him. He's that loyal."

"Look Cheri," Tina said. "Did you have girlfriends that had older brothers?"

"Yeah, a few."

"Did any of them like them?"

"Well not really, they always complained mostly."

"Well let me know if you ever hear me complain about Tony. He treats me like a princess. He would do anything for me. You don't have anything to fear from any of our friends, Tony least of all. You know when he touched you he wasn't trying to hurt you now right?"

"Yeah, I know. It's just my step-father..."

"Tony is not your step-father Cheri," Rebecca said. Neither is Jerry, or Dewayne, or Kyle, or Daddy, or Tina's dad. OK?"

"But I can't go home, what am I going to do?"

"Cheri," Tina said. "Don't you see? You've already done it. You found us, it's all over now. We won't let you go back there."

"I can stay with you?"

"Of course you can," Rebecca replied. "What did you think?"

"Well its Tina's parent's boat right? Will they let me?"

Tina giggled. "Well no, it's not my parents' boat, actually it belongs to Tony."

"Will he let me stay here?"

Rebecca stared hard at Cheri and gave her a condescending look as if she were a total idiot.

"What?" Cheri asked.

"That's the look Tony would give me if I asked if you could stay; like I was a total idiot. You can stay."

"What would I have to do?"

"Well to start with you have to finish your breakfast, after that you need a bath!"

Cheri's possessions, such as they were, were contained in a small yellow nylon duffel bag at the base of the pier not far from the marina. She had been spending her nights there since she left home right after school. Other than the duffle bag that Tony and Jerry didn't open there was one old and one surprisingly new looking blanket.

The two were walking back to the rented van when they were stopped by, of all people, a lifeguard. "Hold it guys!" He shouted as he ran toward them. "You can't take that stuff!"

Tony and Jerry stopped and turned toward the running guy. He was bigger than Tony and more muscular. He looked, Tony thought, like ... a lifeguard. "What's up man?" he asked.

"That stuff you have there. It belongs to the girl, it's not yours!"

"Uhh Cheri said it was hers. She sent us to get it."

"Who?"

"Cheri. Um five-three, less than a hundred pounds, dark hair. Her name is Cheri. She's my girlfriend's cousin. She kind of showed up on our doorstep earlier today."

"Just like that huh? I don't think so. Besides, she won't even go near a guy."

"Don't I know it," Tony replied. "I tried to keep her from falling this morning and she screamed. She's with Rebecca and my sister now, Jerry and I are keeping our distance. But she said her stuff was here so we came to get it."

"Why do you need her stuff?"

"She's my girlfriend's cousin. Rebecca is her cousin. We're gonna take care of her now, she's safe."

"So out of the blue some cousin shows up? Look man, we've been looking after that girl. We can't get close, but we make sure no one else does either. We drop off things when she leaves, like food, and that blanket there."

"Well, yeah, she saw Rebecca's picture in the paper this morning and found us."

"The paper?"

"Yeah, we're plastered all over the front page. I guess you don't read the paper. Is there a box around here?"