Chapter 4

Begin Again: 4.

"What would you like to do with it?" David asked.

"I don't know," she whined. "Fix my face?"

"What's the matter with your face?" Nyoman said.

"This huge divot in my chin," Connie cried.

"Where?" asked David. "You look perfect to me."

She put her finger under it, "Right here."

Andrea got right up close... "Point at it again?"

Connie did and started sobbing, "Right here?"

"David, go get my magnifying glass."

David took the rumrunner out to the Penny and snatched the magnifier from the chart table holder and boated back to the crew.

"You have to see it ... my whole family sees it ... it's awful!" she said.

"Thanks David," Andie said, "Show me again."

For the third time, Connie stuck her finger under it. "Right here!"

"Not a thing," said Andrea as she closely examined the designated area. "Here Nyo, you look."

She handed Nyoman the Zeiss VisuLook Style 8D Aspheric Handheld Magnifier that came with the boat.

"Wow, nice optic," said Nyoman Sanchez ... the Balinese dancer Chief Sanchez had kidnapped from an evil situation. Now, she was like the woman in the shoe.

"Nope, can't see a thing," Nyoman agreed. "Who told you your face was disfigured?"

She began ticking them off on her fingers, "Mom, Dad, my brothers makes five. Two sisters and their husbands and their kids." She had to start counting over. My grandparents ... both sides. The guy who caused the scar ... what?"

"The guy who caused the scar. Who was he?" asked David.

"The laser operator ... I had three hairs growing out of this mole."

"What mole?"

"This one," Connie said.

"Tell me something, Connie."

"If I can."

"Are you an heiress?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have a great grandparent or uncle that couldn't stand his kids and left everything to you?"

"Everything?" she asked, "You mean like great great uncle Mort Snerd. Never met him but when I was nine there was a lot of talk before the funeral about how much money he had and who was going to get it."

"Yeah ... like that," David said. "Who got the money?"

"Nobody."

"When did people start talking about you?"

"When?"

"Yeah," David said. "Was it before the reading of the will or after?"

"When mom and dad came home from the lawyers, they looked like they hated me," she said. "It was just after that."

"Which lawyer?"

"My uncle Snerd's lawyer?" she asked ... it took some real thinking but she finally said, "Bill ... Forest? Something like that."

The family loaded the boxes into the rumrunner. They left the mountain of Nike shoes that didn't fit piled on the beach. Due to the lap-lap-lap of the gentle waves the shipping container was settling into the sand. The first big storm would either bury it or sink it.

There were so many boxes of money that most of the family had to ride on the decks and the rumrunner was plowing instead of planing.

The loading done, David Googled Lawyers in Flour Bluff. The town didn't have any, but Corpus Christi had a William Treeman ... estate management and things of that nature. Belize and Corpus Christi were both Central Standard Time. It was late: Four-thirtish but the hours were given as 10AM to 7PM.

"Here ... call this guy." He handed her his phone.

David said, "Ok, people. Let's get this circus on the wagons. Set the special sea and anchor detail."

Everybody scattered to their posts. The capstan was manned, Chief Sanchez read off the evolutions for leaving port.

Angel and Angelica went throughout the boat securing hatches and portholes.

Nyoman Sanchez checked and stowed the galley. The boys sojourned to the engine room and checked that valves that were supposed to be open were open and those to be closed were closed. Of course, everything was electronics and the master board tech was Jake but it's nice to know that the GREEN light matched the condition of the valve.