Chapter 17

We got off the plane in Nassau, collected our baggage, such as it was, and found a cab to take us to the marina. Chuck and my dad had figured out it was easier, safer, and quicker to rent a slip for Matt's Helm there than it would be to hire a boat to take us to the island whenever we went down there. We couldn't expect Bob and Sue to give us a lift every time we wanted to spend some time in the sun!

I had emailed Bob to let them know we'd be coming down. He replied they would be in town earlier in the week to do their regular shopping, and offered to pick up supplies for us. I talked over what we'd need with Beth, and emailed Bob back with our list and told him we'd reimburse him when we got there.

After we got the boat ready to sail, including stowing the few things we'd brought with us, we cast off and I maneuvered us out of the harbor. As soon as we were in open water I shut down the engines and raised the sails. Meanwhile, the girls changed into a couple of wickedly brief bikinis and stretched out on the foredeck.

"Well little brother, I think it's time for some navigation lessons," I said.

"Okay, what do you want to know?"

So he was going to be like that, huh? I pulled out a chart that had the island marked on it and handed it to him. "Plot me a course and show me how you'll get there."

"You mean I don't get to use the GPS and do it the easy way?"

"Let's pretend the GPS doesn't work. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be stuck out on the water with no idea where I was or where I was going."

Kev grabbed a pair of dividers out of the drawer and started scribbling on a scratchpad. Next he pulled out the sextant, stepped out on deck and proceeded to take a sun shot. Then he did something I'd read about but never done. He held the sextant horizontally and aimed it at two of the nearby islands.

"What are you up to, Kev?"

He grinned at me, grabbed the dividers and a compass and pointed to a spot on the chart.

"Well, that's where we are, more or less." He scribbled on his scratchpad a little more and drew a course on the chart. "This course should get us to the island," he said proudly.

I looked over his shoulder to double-check what he'd done—by using the sextant to measure the angle between the two islands he got our current position and calculated his course from that. As we continued our cruise it was pretty obvious somebody had been studying.

"Were you that sure you'd be coming down here with us that you studied navigation just to show me you could do it?"

"Well ... no. One day after class I asked my trig teacher if he knew what a sextant was and he asked if I wanted to do a report on navigation for extra credit. When I mentioned we'd be sailing he suggested a paper showing how to use trig to determine position and calculate a course.

"I even got an "A" for my work," he said with just a little pride in his voice.

Hmm. So much for thinking my brother was just a kid. Since he seemed to be able to handle the boat I left him to it and went below to find the GoPro camera and the mounts that came with it. Back on deck, I was going to try to find some interesting angles to shoot some video.

"Tommy, get that thing out of here!"

Oops! I'd forgotten Beth and Gail had removed their tops as soon as we were alone on the water.

"Sorry about that! I was just looking for some good places to mount the camera."

"Well, you could have warned us," my lady grumbled as she and Gail slipped back into their tops.

I found a good spot forward to mount the small camera on the aluminum brace between the two hulls. Since the camera was waterproof I wasn't worried by the small amount of spray that might hit it and tried to get the camera as close to the water as I could.

This was going to be my first experience with shooting video and I was curious to see what would work best. I shot maybe thirty seconds at a time, fiddling with the settings for each shot. I pulled the camera and tried several other spots, just walking around looking for interesting angles. I even lay down and held the camera off one side of the hull, shooting as close to the water as I could get without falling overboard.

"Okay, girls, I'm done now," I said as I opened the hatch and climbed back into the cabin.

Kev was sitting at the wheel grinning from ear to ear.

"Damn, Tommy, I could get used to this!"

"So are we on course?"

"Of course," he replied with the obvious pun, pointing out our position on the chart. I turned on the GPS and damn if he wasn't right!

"Tommy, what were you doing with that camera? I mean besides trying to get some pictures of the girls."

"That's NOT what I was trying to do," I responded.

I explained that I was going to try to get some interesting video for Joe in return for the use of the camera. "So if you can think of some interesting camera angles, let me know."

It wasn't too much longer before Kevin brought us up to the dock. We were home for the week.

After tying up, Kev and I woke our snoozing ladies—and reminded them to grab their tops. It was pretty obvious the islanders' easy attitude about dress had caught on early this trip.

We got the beach house opened, and decided to grab a meal before anything else. We found everything that Bob and Sue had picked up and while the girls tossed together a salad—literally—Kev and I got the grill going and started the hamburgers.

"Tommy, will we be seeing the Webbers this trip?"

"Oh, yeah. We'll have to, if only to pay them back for the food they bought for us. Why?"

"I was just wondering if Bob would be willing to let me dive again."

"I don't know. Beth had talked about having them over for dinner, so that might be a good time to ask."

When the burgers were ready the girls brought out the salad and more drinks for everybody. Gail and Beth had decided to leave their tops in the house and both Kevin and I had a problem focusing on the food, good as it was. We just lazed around after we ate and Beth had to nudge me awake to catch the sunset.

We were in bed that night when the silence was broken by lively noises. Beth giggled. "What kind of bird has a call like that?" she asked.

"Hmm, sounds like a horny brother bird to me," I said as I reached for my lady.

Soon there was another call echoing through the house.

The next morning we got an early start. I unlocked the shed and we pulled the jet skis out of storage. Kev and Gail won the coin toss for first chance to ride. As they cut through the water I remembered the GoPro camera and soon I stood in waist-deep water as the pair tried to play chicken with me—getting as close as possible before cutting away, leaving me drenched but grinning as I shot both video and still pictures of their antics. That gave me an idea.

When Beth and I finally got a chance to play I strapped the camera to the handlebars of the jet ski before I took off. The video I shot yesterday turned out pretty good and I hoped I could match it today. I didn't want to disappoint Joe. After all, it was his camera!

We'd decided to take a break and were just finishing up when a boat pulled up to the dock. A Royal Bahamas Police Force boat. With several uniformed men on board.

What now?

"Excuse me, sir, may I see some identification?" What is it about a British accent that sounds so damned polite?

"Um, well I'll have to go up to the house to get it."

"Perhaps you could just tell us what you are doing here?"

"We're just down here for Spring Break from college."

"I see. And how many of you are staying here?"

By this time Beth, Kevin and Gail had walked up to join me.

"Excuse me, officer, may I ask why you are asking?" Leave it to my lady to get to the point.

"We are checking on some reports of break-ins on some of the islands. And who might you be?"

"My name is Bethany Jones. This property is owned by my parents."

"Jones you say? That is not in accord with the information we have."

I glanced at Beth and could see her starting to heat up. It looked as if the bureaucrats had messed up again. This time with the title transfer.

"Perhaps your records still show Matt Phillips as the owner?" I put in. I didn't think getting into a shouting match with the local cops was a good idea.

"Yes, that is the name we have. When did your parents buy the property?"

"Hi, you guys!" I turned and saw Sue and Bob. Sue was carrying a large platter.

"Um, hi. Could you give us a hand here?" Maybe the local fuzz would believe them.

"What's wrong officer?" Sue asked.

"Sergeant, ma'am. Sergeant Smith and this is Constable Hutchinson," he said, motioning to the cop standing behind him. "And you are?"

"I'm Susan Webber. This is my husband, Robert."

"Ah, I see you own the adjacent property. Will you vouch for these four?"

"Certainly. We know them quite well. Beth's parents bought this property from Matt Phillips last year. Why, is there a problem?"

"We've had reports of groups of juveniles causing damage to some properties. Apparently they come down here and lose all sense of proportion."

"I can assure you, Sergeant, you'll have no problems with these kids," Sue responded.

Half an hour later, and only after we'd all produced our passports, the local constabulary wished us a good day and—with a reminder to have Beth's folks get all the paperwork straightened out—were on their way.

"We just can't leave you alone for a moment, can we?" Bob said, trying but failing to keep a straight face.

"I guess not," Beth replied with a matching grin. "And who are Susan and Robert anyway?"

"Just treating officious officials as they expect to be treated. With just enough obsequious deference to stroke their egos."

Hmm, going to have to remember that I thought.

"Anyway, we thought you guys might like lunch," she continued. "Nothing special. Just cold cut sandwiches.

"Oh, by the way, Beth, here's some beach reading for you," she said as she handed my lady a thumb drive.

"What is this?" Beth asked.

"It's my latest book. I thought you might enjoy it. That's a printer-ready copy, but it won't hit the streets for another couple of weeks."

"Wow. Thanks! Of course I'll have to fight Tommy for first reading rights," she said grinning in my direction. I tried to look offended at the thought that I'd be reduced to reading a romance, but, truth to tell, I found some of our friend's books fun reads.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's just a PDF file so you can copy it to both your machines. I trust you to not pass it around."

"Of course not, although I might brag to some of my friends about getting a copy before it's released."

Sue chuckled. "Be sure to tell them how much you like it. Maybe it'll sell some more copies!"

"So, what do you have planned for the rest of the week?" Bob asked.

"Mainly just relaxing. And not shoveling snow!" I responded. I glanced at my brother.

"Well," Kev said, "I was wondering if we could go diving again?"

"Sure! Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?"

"No, tomorrow would be great!" Kev answered immediately. I glanced at Beth and Gail to see what they thought of the idea.

"Ladies, are you going to come along or are we going to have to batch it?"

Sue looked at the other two.

"Sounds great!" Gail responded.

"Yeah, it does sound good," Beth surprised me. I mean, it wasn't that long ago when she was afraid to go in water more than waist deep, or maybe she just wanted to go along for the ride.

"Could you teach me how to dive, like you did for Tommy, and Gail, and Kevin?" Beth asked as she looked at Bob. No, she didn't just look at him, she gave him her little-girl-lost look. I've never been able to figure out if she did that on purpose when she wanted something, or if it was just natural. Whichever, it worked as well on Bob as on every other man who'd fallen under its spell.

"You bet," Bob responded. "All right. We'll see you tomorrow morning. Is nine too early?"

Now normally getting up that early on vacation would cause some grumbling, but not this time!

The Webbers left shortly after we finished lunch. The four of us decided a nice island cruise would be a good way to spend the rest of the afternoon.

"So where should we go?" I asked.

"Aim for the second star to the right, and then straight on till morning," Gail replied as she snuggled back against Kevin.

"Sounds like a great idea, but a little long for an afternoon cruise, don't you think?"

"An afternoon cruise?" Beth said with fake dread in her voice. "Which of you is Gilligan?"

After the appropriate moan, we decided to just visit one of the nearby islands and walk around for a while.

We were on our way back when Gail jumped up and pointed behind us. "Oh, look at that sunset! It's beautiful!"