Chapter 7

CHUCK - DAY SEVEN - Sunday

This morning after my usual busy shower, I watched as the mothers fed their babies – something I never seem to tire of doing. Then, because my muscles were tighter than usual, I did my usual half hour's exercise accompanied by half my household this morning.

This was a day of rest for most people, except for those at Spring Field, where it was going to be a normal working day. At Lutz, many just relaxed or used it to plan out what they would do the following week.

When we arrived at the patio for breakfast, we found Kurt there with his step-daughter, Jane. She had arrived late last night and joined her dad at the Holiday Inn. Both Lisa and I immediately took to her. We were joined by Ruth, and both she and Lisa spent an hour with Lisa's new assistant, filling her in on her duties. It was agreed that she would spend two days with Ruth before moving out to Lutz, where the pilot applications received so far were now standing at 37 in total, with a further 9 being from pilot/mechanics. There were also 7 applications from men who were only mechanics. All of these were from ex-military personnel.

Ruth said that Jane should use the office next door to Marty, and that she would move an extra desk in for Lisa when she was wearing her HR hat, as well as getting the office fully equipped, ready for their arrival. Jane might also understudy Ruth as the assistant furniture and equipment buyer for all the combined businesses, in addition to her other duties. Jane looked really happy.

Lisa had to leave, as she had to fly a charter to Memphis with some good customers who always asked for her as their pilot.

I had only just finished my second mug of coffee with some delicious bacon and eggs (Cooking these was usually Steve's job on a Sunday, but his ladies wouldn't hear of it today.) when Jim and Fran walked in.

"Jim says you want to talk to me - have I upset anyone?" she asked, with a straight face that was belied by the twinkle in her eye.

I tried hard not to grin.

"Definitely," I replied, "Why else would they want to send you all the way to California?"

Fran looked bewildered for a second, then realized that Jim was bursting with laughter behind her back. She cuffed him, and sat down with the coffee that Mercy handed to her, before she also sat down next to me.

"We've got a job vacancy out there, and were wondering whether you would consider it? Last week, Jim said that you were finding that you had a lot of time on your hands and were bored. Well, we need an architect to draw up plans to convert a nice Manor house into a really upscale hotel and spa – I'd be aiming at the same clientele as our main Costa Rican resort. But that's just part of it – we need to convert the stables there into staff housing, and our airpark needs upgrading – a new control tower and admin section, extending the runways, and so on. Terrell's started the work by selecting contractors and doing the initial supervision, but he has a lot of other duties back here in Tampa. He thinks you would be perfect for the job."

"Well ... but," Fran paused, and I continued my pitch before she could continue.

"You could either do it as a one-time consultancy, or join S&S Construction as Terrell's assistant – he told me yesterday that he really needs someone like you on a permanent basis. What do you say?"

Jim nudged his wife.

"Come on, Darling," he said, "It's just the challenge that you said you'd die for last week. When you've completed this job on the West Coast, I bet there'll be another interesting one, then another."

"But it's in California, right? Oh. Hell – yes, I'd love to do it."

Mercy patted her on the shoulder, then produced a pack of photos of the Lacy Estate and Spring Field, which Terrell had taken and sent via the Internet.

"That's where you'll live with Star and her people," she told Fran, pointing to a view of the Mansion with the park behind. "Do you think you can make it into a hideaway for the West Coast super-rich?."

Tina came up. I mentioned at breakfast on Friday that I wanted to go over to the new yacht club this morning. The Lucky Lady had just returned from a three month charter to the South Sea Islands and Australia, and I want to satisfy myself that she has been well looked after. Mercy had overheard me, and the two women weren't going to let me go alone.

Mercy had, of course, frequently been to our new Clearwater Dockyard and Marina, so she guided me across the causeway and over the bridge to the road which led to the inter-coastal beach area. We came up to Steve's new Yacht Club almost at the end of the intercoastal island and it was all but finished, except for the new resort and condos which were rapidly taking shape further along between the road and the Gulf. We'd been asked to leave the Dunedin yacht club because they were doing a better business, and all our boats were taking up too much space,. so Steve had bought this large unused area and the few homes with itand thrown a big crew in from his S&S Construction Corporation. They'd obviously done a good job. The land to the right of the road had been landscaped and made into a nice park for everyone to enjoy.

We drove past the dock's proper on our left, then the chandlery, clubhouse, and the Harbormaster's office, turning in under an archway sign that had "Safe Harbor" in large letters, leading to a big parking garage that was already quite full. Mercy directed me around to the right, past the dockyard where vessels were being pulled out of the water to be worked on, then along the quay beside a large yacht basin surrounded by a pier. It was lined with jetties and moored boats of all sizes, and was quite colossal, at least 300 x 200 yards. I could see the Lucky Lady at the far end, with one of the Mercies, and a number of our fishing catamarans beside her, all proudly displaying the S&S logo on flags which fluttered in the breeze from the mastheads.

I was directed to a reserved parking space next to the Harbormaster's 4x4. A man wearing a Captain's hat came out. Mercy introduced me to him as Capt. Andy Burton, who was in charge of all the yacht club portion of the site. The dockyard we'd passed earlier was a separate business.

"Ah. The missing owner," Capt. Andy exclaimed, as he enthusiastically shook my hand. (Missing owner? Oh, yes, Ben mentioned something about my being in for half, but I think Steve and I only each have 45%, with the 401K having the rest.)

"The Lucky Lady looks fine after her long voyage," he enthused. "Can I show you all that we have achieved since the jackhammers and dozers moved in?"

We couldn't really say no, so we were given a thorough tour of the place. It really looked good, and was already doing well, judging by all the happy boaters. Capt. Andy was glad-handed wherever we went, but had the tact not to introduce us. There must have been at least a hundred boats, in addition to our own, moored in the basin.

Finally, he took us to a gate in the fence that divided the marina from the dockyard.

"I want you to meet an old friend,." he explained.

An older man in overalls had seen us coming and walked over to meet us. I was really surprised to be greeted by Joe Magellan, the oldest of the three brothers.

Seeing my surprise, Joe patted my shoulder.

"You obviously didn't expect to find me here," he chuckled. "There really isn't enough work for all three of us in the Miami yard these days, so I let John Morgan persuade me to get this corner of the dockyard renovated and running again. We've got most of it straight now. The dry dock gates are in and being tested as we speak; we've got our first large yacht on the slip (we can take anything up to 150 feet – it's near the largest on the Gulf Coast) and our workshops are getting quite busy with subcontract work from S&S.

"John has heard of a small ex-Navy floating dock that would fit nicely up along the pier there – I hope we can get it.

"I suppose you're here to look the Lucky Lady over. She's fine, but I'd like a word with you, so I'll walk over when you've finished, if I may?"

The girls went off with Cap'n Andy, and I walked up the left hand pier almost to the end where it turned to the right and ran across the outside of the basin, almost to the end of the right hand pier, dividing the yacht basin from the open gulf. This left a gap for boats to enter and leave the harbor.

As soon as I stepped on the Lucky Lady's deck, it felt as if I'd come home. The crew had left everything spotless, and I couldn't find anything to criticize during my inspection. So I decided to check the armory. None of the ammunition had been used, and the weapons were fine, except for a thin film of dust that I wiped of with a slightly oily rag.

When I'd finished, I went on deck just in time to greet Joe, who was just walking up.

"I hope you don't mind," he began, as he sat down beside me on a large bollard. "I wanted to talk to either Steve or yourself. I'm on a consultancy contract at the moment. Is there any possibility that I could be made permanent as the Dockmaster here? You see, my wife is an invalid, and she is both far happier and healthier up here on the Gulf than down in Miami. She's been very good about living there as the yard's been my life, but I'd like to move her up here permanently if I could."

"I'll speak to Steve," I replied, "But I'm sure he'll be as delighted as I am."

"One other thing," he said, as we stood up. "I've been thinking about that land over the fence to the south where you've cleared all of the houses that used to be there. I don't know if it's been earmarked for anything, but you could build some neat boats there. We could call it Magellan's of Clearwater."

We shook hands just as Mercy ran along the pier calling my name. She was followed by Tina and John Morgan, our Marine General Manager.

"Chuck, you'll never guess," she panted. "John says that a hundred and fifty year old schooner was damaged in last week's gale and the Coast Guard towed her into Naples.

"But Chuck – her name. She's called the "LISA J" - please can we go and see her? Like now? Please, Chuck."

This was more than just an excited woman, I thought. It must be Mercy's intuition at work again.

So I got my cell out and spoke to the duty lady at the airpark. She transferred me to Joy.

"So you want a ride?" she asked.

"Yes please, if possible" I answered. "We'd like to go and look at a boat down in Naples."

"How many of you are there?"

"Four, no, five." Old Joe Magellan was gesturing that he wanted to come too.

"You're in luck," came the response. "I'm just about to test a 407, so I'll pick you up – where are you?"

John took the phone.

"Hello, this is John Morgan, is the parking garage at Safe Harbor OK?"

"Fine – see you in twenty."

Joy arrived in our top club-style 407, and after John had shown him where we wanted to go on his map – Pickett's Boat Repairs in Crayton Cove, Royal Harbor – we all climbed in. Mercy grabbed the right seat by Joy.

On the one hour journey, John told us about the research that he'd already done.

The "Lisa J" was built up in Rockland, Maine, in 1845," he started. "It seems she was rebuilt in 1860, after which she is listed as having a length of 73ft, a beam of 21ft, and a registered tonnage of 91 tons. It sounds mad, but this means she could probably carry a cargo weighing over 110 tons. She was, and is, a two masted, gaff-rigged schooner. It's known that she operated in the East Coast trade, because the New York Marine Intelligencer lists her as calling in there at least once according to one Internet source.