Chapter 34

Steve

We picked up a nice wind the first day out. There was a low pressure area stalled to the northeast of us, providing us with an almost direct stiff wind from the south-southeast. If we can keep this up, we'll be home in four days easy.

Chuck had the helm this morning and seemed to be contemplative about going home. I went up and handed him a fresh mug of coffee. "What's on your mind, Guy, anything to worry about?"

Chuck smiled and said, "I love being out on the water, but I really want to get home now. Part of me wants to get back to work doing all the crazy shit I do for a living, and part of me wants to take it easy. Lisa has the same "Jones" as I do and wants the excitement, but is a little apprehensive about the danger. I do have some new members of the family on the way, and I'll have four new little girls in less than a month. In about seven or eight months, there will be three more, and if Taiying and Sing get over their past implants, there will be two more from them. That's nine kids in a year, Steve, and that's about as scary as it gets. I know the women will be able to handle all of the kids, but will I? Should I go back to taking risks? Is flying even too big a risk?"

I put a hand on Chuck's shoulder as he watched the monitors and gauges. "Chuck, you always make good decisions, so I'm sure you'll make the right one now. Don't give up part of your life that you've enjoyed and felt you were contributing. That's the satisfaction you get out of life, contributing. You are doing great helping so many people. Tiny even told me you want to begin sending the wheelchair guys to law or medical schools, and others to be accountants. That's a hell of a commitment, but you know what? The rewards from that will be great. When those men have been educated and are practicing their professions, they will probably move out of your village and build something for themselves. You'll have another house to use for the next unfortunate man that comes along. How many houses are you going to be able to build at your village?"

Chuck smiled and said, "I think I'll do it in five sections, with a hundred houses in each section. The first hundred should be complete and furnished in another month. Over seventy men and families have moved into homes so far. The single guys are going to need some help along the way, so I'm having some help from Quality Wear to get some part time housekeeping staff. There seems to always be someone who needs a part time job for some extra money. I'm trying to get some of the housewives from the trailer park to do it, but there are not enough so far."

I told Chuck, "You know that with all of the kids that you are moving in with their disabled parents out there, we might soon need another elementary school. Sue and the women are teaching a big bunch of our close friends' kids at our home school program, but it's just not big enough to take care of your village. We both might have to contribute to get another school out our way. I'm worried about high school, since when all of our kids begin high school, they should probably go to a public school. Who knows though, perhaps the women will continue to home school right on through."

Chuck smiled, "Glad I don't have that to worry about for a while. It'll be what, six years before I have to do the school thing?"

"Not a chance, Buddy, in three or four years it will be preschool, in five it's kindergarten, then on and on. You'll be knee deep in books in only a year to a year and half. If you're lucky, some of the grandmothers will come and teach the kids to speak and read. That seems to kick the kids off right. First it's animal books, followed by kid mysteries, followed by the fantasy stuff. If your women are like mine, there won't be that many movies or TV programs the kids will watch. They'll keep them busy and outdoors as much as possible."

Chuck was smiling again, "What are we going to do with four Italian kids? Do you think they will be able to catch up to yours for schooling?"

I told Chuck, "Not to worry, the ladies will tutor them privately to get them up to where they need to be. I think our kids are all pretty advanced for home school kids, and I know the women are trying to teach them far beyond their age or grade group."

Chuck laughed, "I know you have one hell of music program."

We both laughed, thinking about how much music the kids had learned and been involved with this past couple of months. Chuck was smiling now, so I suggested, "How about I take over here and you go out and open the outdoor helm? The sun's hot enough that you might want the shade cloth, but the weather is perfect for manning the outdoor wheel."

Chuck headed out to the station there, and I watched as his equipment came on line. When Chuck used the intercom to say, "All set up," I shut down most of the inside monitors, leaving the two radar and weather displays up.

I was going to go out to sit with Chuck, but saw Gina, Julie, and Lisa get up to go out to sit with him.

Going below, Missy, Kathy, and Juanita were finishing up breakfast cleanup and I noticed all of the kids in the big lounge watching a DVD of the concert they had played in. Several of them had their guitars and were quietly playing along with the music.

I checked the cabin and found it straightened out with the bed already made. From there, I went below to the crew quarters end and found Sue, Mercy, and Mickey cleaning the kids' area. The ladies had a pile of clothes out by the crew galley ready for the laundry room.

As I walked by the storage room toward the rear of the boat, the two big cabins, and the office, I found Ben busy on the satellite phone. He was excitedly talking about another big deal. The man doesn't quit, that's for sure.

Passing the big laundry room, I saw Beth and the Asian sisters busy in there. Two were ironing and one was folding while waiting for the next batch out of the dryer.

I checked the desalinization room and did the water test. I noticed that even with all of the washing and cleaning going on, we were nearly full of potable water. There were a few things to do in the engine room, so I went in and began wiping down the two big engines. I went for a bucket and soap to do the walls and floors, as the engines could put a film of oil on everything if you let it go. By the time I had all of that cleaned, it was coming up to noon. I was hungry and would be relieving Chuck soon. You know, I didn't see Dewey or his women. I wondered where they were. I went up to the main deck, through the rear sundeck room, and there they were. All three, along with all of the band people, were lying back in lounges out in the sun, reading. Dewey glanced over his book, "Isn't this great. I love it back here. Now all Chuck needs on this tub are some waitresses to chase some drinks."

As he laughed, Sheena got up and asked, "What would you like, Master? Perhaps I can pull it out of my hat -- or would that be my panties?"

Dewey rolled his eyes before answering, "I'll wait, it's almost lunch time and I'm about ready to rest the eyes."

I toured the rear of the Lucky Lady, checking the lines and pulleys. Making my way past the helm and up to the bow, I did a thorough check of all the rigging. As I came back to the helm, I said to Chuck who was showing Lisa the sail configuration book, "All shipshape, Captain, how about I take the helm while you eat?"

Chuck said, "Go ahead and eat first. Lisa and I will eat when you take over. I'll bet the kids and the band will want to play some music this afternoon. You know how that will be. Once they get started, they won't want to quit. I think I will chase them out to run around on deck for a while before we start with music so they get some fresh air."

I told them both, "All of the kids are below in the big lounge, watching concert DVDs. They should be getting tired of music by now."

Lisa said, "Once that music bug takes a big bite, you're hooked. It passes with some kids, but a lot of them will become more and more interested in learning to play."

Below, in the galley, the women had the kids at their table with some tomato soup and a platter of ham sandwiches. Sue waved me to the big table that was filling up with people for some of the same fare as the kids. Even Dewey and the group from the back deck had come down for lunch.

Mercy asked, "Have you talked to our immigration attorney about Gio and Gina yet?"

I answered honestly, "I only asked him to research what it was going to take. He'll need their passports to do any more. Don't you think we need them to get a chance to see if they like being around us twenty-four seven? They may think we're too crazy for them or they may get too homesick. Let's take it easy and not get in a rush."

Giovanna looked up at me with a smile, "Do you not like that I want to be with you and your family?"

Gio did speak the better English of the two sisters.

"Sure, I want you to be with us Gio, but if we start the process too soon, you could find out later it was a mistake, not tell me, and be miserable. What do you think, shouldn't we wait?"

Gio answered, "Don't wait for me; I am home with you and your family and I wish to say, my family. Perhaps Gina, but she is happy too. Why would we get homesick if we have each other and our children? If we want to see our father and aunt, all we have to do is call and they will come. You see, we have chosen you, and Chuck, will you keep us?"

Now that was direct, and all of the women, actually everyone at the table, were looking at me. "I will call this afternoon to make sure you two have the proper visas. You all know we went to Costa Rica and didn't even see a customs agent. Do you think Chuck just told him we were only going to be there a short while?"

Dewey said, "I know Chuck talked to someone about us being there. He gave them names, sexes, and ages. I guessed it might be a customs person he was talking to."

Sue said, "I have to call in this afternoon, so I'll talk to our man and give him the particulars. I think all of their passports are in the office below."

That got me off the hook for the time being, but I wondered if Chuck was going to put his foot into his mouth the same way I did. I should probably warn him before he comes below to eat.

Sue got up from the table and announced, "I'm up next to captain this boat, so you all better hang on. I wish there was a little chop to give us a thrill or two."

Dewey laughed and told her, "Just come on out west and I'll let you sail up to Alaska this fall. You'll have all the chop you could want. I think the water is rough up there all winter."

I told her, "I thought I was up next," but she showed me the schedule they had made. She said, "Chuck stayed at the helm most of last night and turned around to do eight to noon. I think he could use a break, even though I know how much he's enjoying being at the helm."

Kenny said, "I want to practice a couple of pieces this afternoon. It will be a great time to work up a couple of productions with the whole group. We won't be able to do this very often once we're back home. I want to get all the time I can with the kids. Chuck and Lisa too, but I know they will play with us almost any time they can."

I went up with Sue to relieve Chuck. Lisa, Gina, and Julie were sitting with him as he guided the big boat north. When Sue told Chuck she was taking over, he said, "There is some traffic out here, but I doubt if there is anything to worry about. There are a lot of merchant ships that travel this route. They're going faster than we are, so just watch and keep your distance so their wash doesn't toss us around."

Sue and I stayed at the helm together and she said, "What do you think about the Irish operation. Was that a mistake or do you think it can actually benefit the people there?"

I told her, "I don't know that much about the fashion world, but you've proven there is an everyday market for something like your basic blouse. If I was doing it, I would make that basic blouse first before I did anything else. Have your people turn out a quality product that you can sell throughout Europe, and branch out from there. And, Baby, who says you have to do this to only help the Irish? This should be profitable for the company or you shouldn't do it."

After a pause I added, "When your European sales people begin getting orders, we can probably begin selling T-shirts there too. If we do it right, we can ship them from our factories at home to supply the market. If we can't keep up, we'll build, lease, or rent another plant in Ireland or the U.K. somewhere. I think the important thing is to keep the manufacturing process that we know works. Watch your costs and branch out from there."

Sue said, "We do some mail order from all over Europe now, but I think our products will be more readily accepted if we have plants in Europe, and besides, despite all the free trade agreements, it's still cheaper to sell EU-made goods inside the European Union, as you have seen with your golf cart and industrial lift truck businesses. We'll just have to learn the market and the people so we continue to be successful."

"You know that who you choose to manage is what will make your brand successful over there," I said, thinking of how important it was to have the right people in place at my dealerships.

Nodding, Sue agreed, "That's for sure. Now that I have strong people in each of the big buildings, our production has gone up and the quality is still as near perfect as you could want. The T-shirt operations all have good people too. I'll have to watch for some people to move up and possibly to go to Europe to manage over there, at least to help the operations get a quality start."

Kids were coming from the salon, the boys running, and the girls clustered together walking around the boat. By the time the girls had made one trip around the boat, the boys had passed them several times and were now near the stern throwing some tennis balls around. I wonder how many tennis balls we've lost on our boats.

That's what we can research, some dissolving tennis balls or the equivalent so when a ball goes overboard, there's no chance that a big fish could swallow it. We've seen dolphins bat them around and even flip them with their tail but I'd bet a shark or two have decided the balls were snack size. I'll have to talk to Dennis about that. Gerry might even be the person to talk to about that.

Thinking about these subjects reminded me that I should go down and call Tiny to see how everything is going. "Sue, I'm going down to call Tiny. If you need to call in, I can relieve you now or later."

Sue said, "Why not relieve me now so I can have a long discussion with our immigration attorney. I want to get that stuff started."

I know I was probably treading in unstable water, but asked, "I know you girls always have a reason for something, but why Gio? Mickey was our special friend for a long time and lost Samantha, but Gio is or was a stranger. How come?"

Sue looked at me thoughtfully, "You know, Mercy and I have talked about it with Juanita, Kathy, and Mickey. We all really like Gio and Gina, and think they will be good for us and I know we will be good for them. They didn't have a life back in Italy as their father was always afraid for them. The kids were restricted as to where they could go or what they could do. Look at how our kids have taken them in. It's like they have been brothers and sisters forever. I don't know, Steve, but I do feel that keeping her is right. Perhaps she'll find someone else here that will make her happier, but she loves the idea of us all being together. I feel like she's fallen in love with all of us, and that includes you, Steve. Let's keep her, but let her keep her wings if she decides to fly."

Sue smiled, hugged and kissed me, turned, and went toward the salon to go below. I asked, and I suppose I was given as good an answer as there was. Did they just feel sorry for the two families, or had we all formed some kind of strange bond faster than we could have thought possible?

The kids were going back into the salon and I was hearing some electric guitar sounds, as well as strains of piano and organ coming out to my ears. I smiled, thinking about how crazy Bonita and Lizzy were about music.

About a half hour later, the collision avoidance alarm began a slow beep. I could see a small blip on the long range radar, seemingly heading toward us. The target would have had to be coming toward us for over fifteen minutes at that distance for the alarm to sound. The blip was just under twenty-five miles, so I switched the resolution to twenty-five from fifty miles. I configured the tracking so I could get some estimated times of intersect, or would that be intercept.

The system came right back with the information the oncoming craft was twenty-three miles out, approaching at twenty knots with an intersect time of an hour and five minutes.

Dewey was standing at the salon door, so I yelled at him, "Have Chuck come out here for a minute."

When Chuck arrived at the helm, I showed him the radar and the analysis of the collision avoidance system. Chuck commented, "That is kind of nuts. Are there pirates around that will take us on in broad daylight?"

Dewey had come over and told us, "Almost all of the piracy on the high seas occurs in the daylight. There are very few instances of night attacks, even though you've often been involved in night attacks. But they were not straight pirate attacks that we experienced on our way out of Florida waters."

Chuck sighed, "I think we'll scare the shit out of anyone who gets near. We won't do anything but line the side of the boat with armed people. We might put a rifle round into something on their boat to tell them we aren't messing with them and see what happens. I know if I was a small boat and I saw a dozen armed and ready people, I wouldn't bother. If they do act like they are going to attack and get within fifty yards, I'll just sink them and let them figure out what to do."

Mercy had come out to the helm to see what was going on, and after hearing me said, "What if it's like that family who was being held on their own boat. Should we find out about them first?"

Chuck said, "We are pretty far south to get any Coast Guard help. There is no help out here, and probably no law enforcement that could reach us. Let's give them a display of force and see what they do."

Mercy said it again, "But what if there are innocents on board that are being held? Shouldn't we at least find out?"

Chuck just shook his head, "Mercy, what do you want me to do? If we let them board us, we could have someone get hurt. The other side of this is that if we turkey shoot them all before they get here, you know we're going to tear up the boat and still possibly get someone hurt. If there are innocents aboard, it's called collateral damage."

Mercy looked angry, "That's just too cruel. Just shoot anyone who displays a weapon and let's make sure there is no one who needs help."

Now Lisa had joined us and was trying to get Mercy off to the side, but Mercy wasn't listening to any of our suggestions.

I told everyone, "Okay, we'll get everyone we want topside armed and ready. We'll get everyone else below. Dewey, go open the inside bridge. Sue and Lisa, go get the rest of the women and break out the rifles and shotguns. Chuck, get your big gun out in case we need you to sink the boat."

When Chuck came back out of the salon, he had his armor on, a field vest, his MP5 over a shoulder, and his big fifty over the other. His field vest was stuffed with magazines, and I noticed he had his sidearm as well. He said, "Go break out the weapons. I can't believe we keep getting into shit like this. There is just no way we can be this unlucky. I'll go put out fenders in case we do offer to tie up. At least the boat won't get scarred from the encounter."