Chapter 7

Begin Again: 7.

Connie had a 'moment'. There's a fancy name for it ... begins with E and ends with y and there's a p and an h in there somewhere ... Epiphany ... yeah ... that's it.

She ran up to Nyoman and said, "I'm happy."

"That's nice," she said.

"You don't understand," Connie said.

"Explain it to me, then," Nyo said.

"I'm not researching or watching gulls," Connie explained. "The only time I was happy was when I was alone with the gulls."

"Oh?"

"I dreaded going home ... school was awful. My brother was a jock and sat at the lunch room A table because he was popular," she said. "He always had money and I was awkward, clumsy and broke."

"And," Nyo made that 'tell me more' gesture that people who have to talk with their hands make when they're sure there's more to come. Italians and French do it ... the English never do.

"I realized it was my money he had," Connie said. "Nobody liked me because he talked bad about me to everyone. My face was my family's fault."

"What?"

"They had this trick mirror installed in my bathroom. It slightly distorted my face ... and I never looked in another mirror until I was on this boat. My mirror at home made me look awful ... I used it all one summer and I never looked at myself at school because I didn't like how I looked."

"You mean to tell me you actually think your ugly?"

"Not any more."

"Connie, you're ... let's ask the boys."

She picked up the intercom and said, "James, John, Art, Al, Charlie, Chester. Your presence is requested in the galley ... now!"

And, of course the girls, Rose, Rosalie, Bethany, Barbara, Angela, and Angel didn't want to miss out on anything the boys were getting ... especially from the galley ... mom being the marvelous cook she is ... so they traipsed along behind.

The boys crowded in.

Nyo said, "Without any prompting ... what do you think of Miss McDavid?"

James, John, Art, Al, Charlie and Chester actually blushed. Six variations of she's beautiful were voiced. The girls ... beauties in their own right, agreed.

"Boys ... If you had the chance, would you date her?"

"You bet," in six assorted versions.

"Is she as pretty as your sisters?"

Charlie said, "Apples to oranges, mom. They're fruit ... they both taste good."

Nyo said, "Good save."

Connie shyly smiled and hugged Charlie, and Chester ... she moved to Art and Al and hugged them too. She shook hands with James and John. "You two are too old."

The girls cracked up.

The Penny was headed to Ecuador to apply for a scientific exploration visa for the Galápagos. Andrea was reasonably certain that her doctorate in History would be sufficient for the permits. Normal voyagers didn't need more than passports and some identification cards.

Because Ecuador has claimed jurisdiction of the islands they needed to go to Ecuador for the permits.

The coastline of Panama has a myriad of little coves and cuts where drug runners looking for transportation to LA can hide out and spring unawares on unsuspecting boaters. Starting about Puerto Piña and south to the Colombia border, there are chances for piracy ... after the border ... it gets terrible.