OVERBOARD!

ith some light classical music playing for our background, we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the sunset and the early twilight while talking after our dinner. Kaitlyn had put on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt she pulled out of the bag she was carrying when I helped her onboard and she showed she was capable with the simple dinner I had the makings for. She put together the sandwiches while I made the soup. Cooking on an alcohol stove can be tricky if you are not used to it. We had already done our cleanup, not that there was much to it, the knife and cutting board Kaitlyn had used, the pot and stirring spoon I had used, those and the spoons we ate with were all that had to be washed since we used paper plates and bowls for the food. My boat has a table that can be mounted in the cockpit so we ate there instead of in the cabin. If I had been alone I wouldn't have bothered with the table but since I had company I broke it out and set it up. My boat is self-contained and can actually be lived aboard by up to four people (if they are friendly) for a couple of weeks. My fresh water tank and my holding tank will stretch that far and my cupboards and chill box will hold more than enough food for that period.

"Well I know your name and that you are a college student but not much more. Would you care to fill in the picture I have of you?"

She said "Sure, let's see, I turned twenty this past May and I've finished my sophomore year at San Diego State. I am in the Aerospace Engineering program and have all my basic requirements done now. I was cheerleading because I needed the P.E. credits but cheer really isn't my thing so I won't be doing that anymore. It is how I met that dumb jock, Todd and without doing cheer I doubt I'll run into him again. He was cute, on the football squad and seemed to be an okay guy. Boy was I wrong about that! So it is safe to say I don't have any current romantic connections, I've only had a few anyway and none that went beyond the third date. I'm not real big into partying; I know I need to concentrate on my education. My parents, Robert and Janice, have a farm in Kansas but I never could get into farming, its 24-7-365 and there is always something going wrong. It's okay though as I have two brothers, one older, one younger and they are already talking with the parental units about taking over the farm. Junior, my older brother, graduated this year with a degree in Agronomics and a minor in Soil Conservation while Tommy, my younger brother, is starting this fall in an Animal Husbandry program. Between the two of them, the family homestead will be in good hands and as long as they can find suitable mates I see things going on successfully for a long time to come. My parents were hurt that I was leaving the farm and farming but we're still on good terms and I know I can always go home. I'm not home now in the middle of the summer because I'm trying to sock away some money for a car and I have a job waiting tables at the Outback, the pay sucks but the tips are good, particularly now during the tourist season, and every now and again the manager will let us take home things he would have to throw out otherwise. I live in a two bedroom apartment near the campus and the restaurant with one roommate, Robin, but I don't think she will be returning for the next semester, she was having a real hard time with the curriculum so I see a headache coming. It is doubly a problem because she and I were the only women in our class in the Aerospace Engineering program and other than her I don't have anyone I can say is even near close. I don't know yet what I am going to do about my living arrangements but I know I don't want a college guy for a roommate. I'm afraid I'll end up having to fight him off or interfering in his love life, eww. Now what will you tell me about yourself?"