Chapter 20: Runaways

Under the careful guidance of Anita, Kalliste headed south. There was no specific destination in mind. One, or really any, of the islands on the South Georgia coast would do. Their goal was pretty simple. Tony and Anita were running away from home.

Tony had told his parents. He figured they wouldn't care one whit where he ran away to, but they probably should know he took their adopted daughter along with him. Besides, Kalliste was a handful even with two people. It would probably be possible for Tony to sail her alone, but he'd never tried and considered it an unreasonable risk.

He hadn't told the girls he was leaving. In fact he and Anita had just decided that morning. They grabbed a bit of food, their guitars, and some clothes and simply cast off. They intended to explore some of the islands to the south without actually crossing into Florida. The real reason was just to give Tony some time to sort his mind out. Well, that and to stay off the warpath of three teenage girls.

He had called the Harris home the night before. He hoped he hadn't sounded slightly tipsy, although he certainly was. Tina and Rebecca declined to talk to him, but Cheri came to the phone and told him that the girls were fine and she herself was OK and not anxious about anything. To Tony that was a good sign, at least as far as Cheri was concerned.

"I want to see Blackbeard Island!" Anita said seeing it on the charts.

"We'll take a look." Tony pointed over the starboard side of the boat. "I've no idea why it's named that. As far as anyone can figure Blackbeard was never there. I think they named it that just to get tourists. Not that there is any way to get there without a boat. There were pirates along the coast here in the day. Blackbeard even blockaded Charleston once and ransomed the city. Some say he repaired his ships here before he did that because there used to be plenty of timber on the island. No one can really find proof that it ever happened though."

"So no buried treasure?" Anita asked.

"I'm thinking myself that if there was an island here named 'Blackbeard's Island' for about two hundred years even if there was once buried treasure we aren't likely to find it."

"Probably not," Anita said with only a bit of disappointment in her voice. "Where are we going anyways?"

"Not sure, St. Simons and Jekyll are further south. There's like real civilization there. I figure we'll find somewhere to dock and go to dinner. Maybe see some sites or something. The good thing about running away from home is that you really have no real place to be."

"Running away huh?"

"Yeah, I told Mom we were just going to head south for a day or two. I'm pretty sure running away doesn't mean we don't have to be back at school on Monday."

Anita laughed. "So I guess that means Key West is out huh?"

Tony chuckled with her. "Eh, check the charts. Let's not go into or beyond that big red area there."

"Restricted on the chart, what is it?"

"Submarine races," Tony replied.

"Tony, I wasn't born yesterday."

"Really, it's a submarine base, King's Bay. They have those really big missile submarines there. I don't think the Navy would appreciate us anywhere near there. You do know where we are now, don't you? I've been trusting your navigation so far."

"We're not even close to the restricted area, another 50 miles to get anywhere near there. Play that again, the Allman Brothers' bit."

Tony wasn't just paying no attention to Anita's navigation, he was playing his guitar, accepting the fact that he had trained her. "You know that piece? Have you been spending time with Dewayne?"

"No Tony, but I practice. I can do anything you let me onstage with. I can do most of the band's songs really. Mom just won't let me go to the clubs."

"Rhythm or lead?"

"Mostly rhythm, I kind of practice what you or Tina play. What Dewayne does is, well, who knows? What the heck does he do?"

"Dewayne invents. He doesn't just learn anymore. He makes up new ways of playing guitar. If I could tell you what he does I might understand it myself," Tony replied.

"Huh?"

"He and Tina exist on their own little musical planet. All the rules I know and we've tried to teach you don't apply. They make new rules as they go along. It's hard to explain if you aren't one of them."

"What about Rebecca then? I mean anyone knows she's special when she sings."

"True, but she doesn't break any rules. She sings by them so precisely and with such a huge range that almost no one has heard it before. Sure other singers can hit that same note she's singing, but they have to struggle to do it. For Rebecca it's effortless almost. That allows her the freedom to experiment a bit with it. She already does that quite well and she's only going to get better. She's really going to be famous. I don't mean just make a record and be on the radio. She will be long time famous for her voice."

"How do you know all this Tony?"

Tony sighed. "Well for Dewayne it's obvious. I could play for probably ninety of the top hundred bands out there today. Dewayne isn't just better, he's a lot better. Dewayne will go down in history as one of the top guitar players ever. Not just as someone who's mastered the instrument, but as one of those who add something new that no one ever thought of before.

"Tina, she won't be all that famous. If she decided just to stick to flute or violin she would make it as one of the tops in the world, playing with big symphonies and all that. She's not satisfied with that though, she wants all music. Once she masters something she has to go onto the next thing. It all fascinates her. That's why I call Cobblestone her studio. She thinks of all the possibilities, of all the types of music that will come through there that she can work with, and it just fills her up inside."

"That's why you were so mad, right?"

"Yeah, you know me, I think I'm responsible for everything and I never knew how I was going to make Tina happy. Just playing in a rock band isn't it. I doubt even playing with a major symphony would do it. Having a recording studio where she can play with it all? Oh boy, that might just do it. I mean it's not money, god knows we have enough of that. No worries, we have it back, just a few months to rebuild is all."

"Huh?"

"I learned yesterday. I bought it, the land and all where the studio was. The government put the land up for auction by secret bid and I bid the most. We're going to rebuild it right where it was and we can build it however we want to."

"Cool!"

The two were silent for a minute or two. Tony wasn't just playing his guitar, he was assaulting it. It was part of Invisible Lover, one of their new songs for the album, and when he was done with the piece Anita commented on it.

"That is good Tony. I haven't heard you play it like that before." She threw in an offhanded comment. "It's like you play for Rebecca."

"What? What does that mean?"

"Tony, when you play in the band you play in the band. When it's one of Rebecca's songs there's only two people in the building."

Tony scrunched his nose up and looked back at Anita.

"You don't know do you?" she asked.

"Well no, why should I play different?"

"Tony the band plays and cues off of Jerry or Kyle. That's called the rhythm section I do believe. When Rebecca sings you cue off of her and the rest of the band cues off of you."

"Really? I never noticed that. I'll have to work on it."

"I do believe Tina would object to that. It's special."

"It's not fair to the rest of the band," Tony said. "I should be doing everything I can on every song."

"Well maybe you should start sleeping with Kyle then, I'm sure not."

"Anita!"

"Really Tony, it's just there. I don't think you can change it. I don't think you'd want to change it. What is that classical bit called in one of her songs? Rachminov Concerto?"

"Rachmaninov."

"Yeah, whatever. You know that song, uh, concerto, backwards and forwards. If we put you with a symphony you'd suck. OK, that's not true. You would be very good, but not great. Put Rebecca onstage though..."

"Now you're making my head hurt. Let me take over, we have to be close to St. Simon's and I don't know this area very well."

The obvious result of their lack of planning was that there really was no place to secure Kalliste. The dock at the one marina that had enough room alongside was a bit flimsy. Tony was sure that the yacht could be made fast to the dock. The real question was how much of that dock would detach itself and try to follow the large yacht out to sea when the tide went out. When twenty-two tons of yacht decides to follow a five-knot current it's fairly important that it's tied to something other than the end of a floating dock, and this dock was right in the current. The comment "Wow, we've never had a boat this big before." was all he needed to hear to confirm that.

Tony was actually looking for a sheltered anchorage on the back side of Jekyll Island when they came across the restaurant. While its dock was not long it was most certainly hammered into bedrock on twenty-four inch piles. The two decided at the very least to tie up and see if the restaurant was any good; well Tony decided, Anita wasn't so sure.

"Will it fit there Tony?"

"Yep, she'll stick out a bit at each end, but it certainly looks solid enough."

Just approaching the dock brought several gawkers out onto the deck that was attached to the restaurant. Someone with a little boat sense saw Anita handling the lines and actually came down to lend a hand. Tony thought Anita could handle it just fine, but he wasn't going to refuse help. As usual Tony brought Kalliste to a dead stop within a foot of the dock, but she really didn't want to stay there until the lines were made fast then cranked down with the winches to pull her tight against the dock. There was a bit of current he wasn't used to here as well.

Tony thanked the man and he and Anita went to do the few chores aboard needed for a short stay. The generator provided hot water for showers and both made themselves presentable for dinner at what appeared to be a decent restaurant. They figured it wasn't the first time someone had arrived for dinner by boat, but a fifty-five foot yacht was probably unusual. Probably very unusual actually.

They certainly did get some curious looks coming in the back door from the deck. The obvious question was where the adults were. Tony just acted like they did this every day and asked for a table for two. They found they were at BJ's Sunset Restaurant. The good news for Tony was that it was on the west side of the island. If the sunset were on the other side then his situation was even worse than he thought.

"Hey folks!" their server said. She was thirty-something with dark hair and a complexion that said she spent a lot of time out of doors. She handed them each a menu and asked if she could get them a drink. Tony opted for tea, and Anita a Coke.