Chapter 30: Life Returns To Normal.

I gave the girls their welcome-to the ship lecture. They seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. Everyone on board had a job, including them!

We began taking on shipments for delivery again. We steamed about the Med, the Emirates and the Black Sea. Occasionally we were sent to India or South East Asia, or as far as Australia. We never were sent to New Zealand, for some reason that I could not fathom. The Indian Ocean became our back yard. We became a familiar sight in the various ports. We never stayed long: there was a quick cargo exchange, a bag of Kruggerands was taken in payment and our tanks were serviced. Next, we were off to our next port of call.

I rose with the sun and Julie followed me. We went out on deck and stretched, then did Tai'Chi. It was the same every day. Before long I taught her Shotokan punches, leg sweeps, kicks and joint locks. Before long she was learning submission holds and combination moves. Soon after came katas. I knew that she thought that I was being an evil bastard, but that was a painful lie. One never appreciates their drill sergeant until one has to apply that which has been so painfully learned.

I used the ship's books to teach her accounting, then a copy of the hotel's books to teach her some forensic acounting—hot to detect if someone was cooking the books. She learned quickly.

Our pilot trainees had the most intensive homework of all the trades. They had to test out of more medical requirements than the other ratings and had to memorize the major features of the top twenty ports in the world. This was a new type of studying to them, and it came hard at first. Only intensive one-on-one traingin got them through it. Julie kept right up.

We also exchanged facility with our native tongues. (No, you dirty-minded pervert! We taught each other our birth languages.) Soon I found myself able to think in four tongues. Later I found myself dreaming in them! What an odd thing.

I didn't know when I made the decision but there it was. Julie was being groomed to take my place as Purser, Quartermaster and Ship's Agent. She followed me about each aday as I performed my tasks. I described what I did and related how it tied to the six or eight other things that made the ship run.

The kid had guts. She kept at it. I had hertake her pilot's tests and the first of many certifications for her first responder certificate.

One day a group of the women braced me in an informal delegation. I was reading Cervantes in the original Spanish. Fascinating stuff. They all wanted to learn 'the stick'

"Eskrima? Singlesitcks? I asked.

No, patron. The Bo stick."

I sighed. We had not the space, the tools or the padded training garments to teach the Bo. I explained my regret and the difficulties I was confronted with, but made a counter-offer. I would find them training at a dojo at my earliest opportunity. For now, many of the preliminary katas could be taught. These would facilitate the learning of the bo. They got some singlestick trainging as well to keep their taste whetted for the longer staff. They didn't know it, but they'd progressed through several belts in Wushu. Their determination gave me much pride and satisfaction.