Chapter 24

'Well, ' those of you who say, 'Why didn't Andie use her watch to get them out of the storm?'

'Well, ' those of who you say, 'Why didn't David use his watch to get them out of the storm?'

Hmm?

Before the storm; 'Damn it all, ' thought Andrea and David in stereo, 'I can't use my watch. If I was alone I could.'

Andrea didn't know David had a time piece.

David didn't know Andrea had a time piece.

(This is sounding like a Dick and Jane reader.)

(With bigger words.)

(I was going to say that.)

(I did.)

(Oh, yeah. Right.)

( Carry on.)

(My wayward son.)

(Quit! Just quit.)

"Andrea? We need to get going." David said, "They're expecting us."

"Who?" and it dawned, "Oh yeah ... that island."

"Oh, I need to pay the mechanic, got any money in your magic bag?"

Andrea fumbled, looked up questioning.

"I have his bill." David waved it under her nose.

She grabbed it and gawked ... and squawked, "What did he do? Install new engines?" She marveled at the cost of siphoning out the old oil, changing filters, checking the old filters for metal flakes and installing new oil.

"It wasn't what he did," David said. "It was knowing what to do ... skill costs money."

"I could have done it myself," she grumbled as she counted out ten one hundred dollar bills, "For fifty bucks."

"Yeah," agreed David. "Me too ... except for checking the filters with that damned expensive microscope."

"Evidently, we passed."

"Yup ... clean as a new penny," said the mechanic, as he stepped on deck. "Just normal wear ... no burned or melted shavings. From the looks of the little bit of metal I did find, I'd have to say that this is a brand new boat."

He opened a folder and showed them photographs of new metal shavings.

"Those came from our boat?"

"Nope ... samples from Federal Mogul." He laid out some different pics. "These are from your filters." He laid out another set. That set showed blue metal and lumpy bits. "This is what burnt bearings look like. If your bearings had looked like these I'd have had the Coast Guard tag your boat. If you'd moved it after they tagged it ... you'd have been impounded. You actually just slid under the break-in hours. You were due for a change.

"Most of what I did find was junk left in the pan from original construction. I certified your hour meters and entered my findings in your log. You can leave with my blessings ... as soon as you fork over." He laughed.

She paid ... nowhere near as reluctantly as she had planned.

"Now ... here's a real problem," the mechanic said, holding up a glass. "This is water. Somewhere along the line, you got fuel with a lot of water. Where did you fuel?"

"Manitowoc when she was new, Chicago at the Yacht Club and Pentwater and Frankfort." David said. "But the boat sat on the hard for a couple of months in Pentwater."

"This that boat built in Manitowoc by the now closed Glass Boat Works?"

"Yeah."

"Ok ... sabotage. Folks weren't all that happy at losing jobs. I got nearly a gallon of water out and added a bottle of Diesel Stabil. I'm surprised you made it here. Where you off to now?"

"The Island and eventually Panama."

"Say Hi to Junior for me. She's really something."

"Oh yeah ... she's something alright. What I don't know ... but she's family."

"Commensurations, I'm sure." The mechanic said, "I had the boat pumped and filled while you were eating," he looked at Andy, "That's on the bill too."

He looked at the foreign flagged ships, "Looks like the big ships are ready to go. We'll let the Black and Red Nippon out first and then you can get going."

As they were docking at the Princessapality, Junior came aboard.

"Mechanic at St. Ignace said Hi."

Junior actually shivered. "He's not pretty ... but if I was just ten years older ... Hi, You're Andy ... I'm Wendolyn ... show me your watch."