Wendolyn Too Number 4 in STOPWATCHChapter 17
- 4 years ago
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Thank the Powers that Be ... my vacation resumed being sun, fun and boring.
You're welcome.
I'll be switched ... it's the Powers.
'Hey.'
What?
'Is my life going to be normal?'
Oh no Missy. That is out of our MOS.
'MOS?'
Military Occupational Specialty code
'You're military?'
Damn it, Danny! We can't leave you alone for five seconds!
Sorry, guys.
'Military, huh?' Sometimes it pays to ask twice.
'I asked a question. Military?' No answer ... but I could hear breathing.
There was a good fifty sixty seconds of silence.
'Fuckers!'
uproarious laughter
Yeah, my life was boring, except ... why is there always an 'except'? ... for the Coast Guard's demand that I clear out the new boat.
"It's taking up space on Federal Property, Wendy," said the Chief.
"Yes, sir."
I needed someone who had an inkling ... Anderson Salvage was under new ownership. I called anyway. When there is only one game in town and you're a player...
"Anderson," she said.
"Hi, I'm Wendy Too and I'd..." I started to respond...
She cut me off, "My name isn't Wendy."
"Oh ... I get it. I'm Miss Austin. I'd like to talk to someone about a tow job."
"You want Cindy, although I don't know why a girl would want a blow job. We do salvage work. Cindy works the Antler Friday and Saturday nights." I thought I heard a faint slice of sarcasm ... Either that or...
I am beset with idiots. I'm sure it's a government conspiracy.
"I have a boat I need towed." I said.
"Oh ... You need to talk to the owner." 'I know ... you won't let me.'
"Alright, put him on," I requested.
"Can't, he's in the South Pacific."
"Who is running the place?" I was afraid of the answer. I was right.
"I am."
I sighed, "Can you help me?"
"Probably not."
"This is Anderson Salvage?"
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Who does your towing work when the Salvor is away?"
"Mr. Anderson."
"May I speak to him?"
"Just a minute. He's fishing at our dock. He's old and slow."
Without covering the mouthpiece or even pulling it away from her mouth, she hollered, "ANDY! TELEPHONE!"
When I could hear again I asked, "Who am I speaking to?"
"You should rather say, 'To whom am I speaking?'"
"I know you ... you're Mrs. Anderson ... school teacher. Now I understand what the kids say about you."
"Oh?" She voiced a specific question with that 'Oh?'
"Not on your life." I am not a stool pigeon.
I heard Mrs. Anderson tell Mr. Anderson my name.
Mr. Anderson took the phone. "Anderson." Mr. Anderson sounded like a 'take charge' man.
"Mr. Anderson, I have a boat I need towed ... today."
"From where to where?"
"Ludington Coast Guard Basin to the Boat Works ... If I can get them to work on it."
"How big?"
"Ninety-seven."
"Big Money?"
"Yes, Sir."
"What needs to be done?"
"Hauled, dried, pickled, and thoroughly cleaned. Storage for the year." I needed it out of the water, dried out, the engines drained and preserved and someone to make it pretty again. And inside storage.
"Are you the girl with the big sailboat? Wendy the second?" Nobody gets it right.
"I own a big sailboat but I'm Wendolyn Too. That's Tee ... Oh ... Oh."
"I'll be at your dock in fifteen minutes." He said, "Bring money."
"How much?"
"Thousand for me ... Boat Doc is going to want a deposit of a pretty fair amount. Maybe five grand?"
"I can do that."
I knocked on Momma's door.
"Go away, Wendy," Daddy said, he sounded ... out of breath?
"Momma, I need ten thousand."
"You know where it is," she moaned. "Oh God!" She's been calling daddy God often.
I shrugged ... and ran down to the boat. I picked up the ladder and locked it to the overhead. This revealed the safe. The combination is my birthday backwards. I need to change that, but not today. I grabbed a bundle, shut the safe and spun the dial. I felt a gentle bump as the tug nudged the dock. Mr. Anderson tooted his horn. I unlatched the ladder and let it down, stuffed the bundle in my purse and ran to the tug. Mr. Anderson was standing on deck with a single line around the dock bollard.
"Got money?" he asked.
"Yes sir."
He stuck out his hand.
"I need to count it. You have someplace?"
He pointed to a little cubbyhole ... I suppose someone somewhere would call it a cabin. I certainly didn't. I counted out ten one hundred dollar bills. Shit... 1928 or older. Two of them were payable in gold ... it's what I had ... and what you have is what gets spent.
'Wendy?' Mom was in my brain.
'Mother?'
'Your language is unbecoming to a girl of your tender years. You know what is going to happen when you get home?'
'FUCK!'
'See?'
I paid the man and started to get off the boat. Mom was going to clean up my act ... I hate the taste of soap.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Home."
"Nope ... I need you to go. Someone has to steer the other boat."
Since I was pis ... upset with mother, I said, "How much you going to pay me?" I was totally unprepared for his response.
"Half," he said, "I'd have to hire help and that's what I'd pay them."
"Done," I agreed. But we weren't moving. He was looking at the money.
"This is very old ... you have given me a great gift. I collect and I don't have any of these." He pulled out his wallet and peeled out five one hundred dollar bills and gave them to me.
Then he said, "Cast off and let's get this job done."
The lake was calm, the only wave action was the wash from the freighters out in the middle of the lake. Barely noticeable by the time it got to us. Anderson's tug was old and slow but very powerful. The twenty miles to Ludington was accomplished by noon. We chugged into the Guard Basin.
The CPO stepped out of the pretty white house with the red stripe between the windows ... it was fresh paint. (Some things never change but sometimes they just go away. The guard station in Pentwater is gone. In its place is a memorial to the men who died trying to rescue others.)
The chief saw me, "Come after your junk, Wendy?" He pointed at the big yacht. "There it is. Andy! Good to see you. Where's David?"
"He's gone for awhile. Guiding an Historian to Hawaii. Sailing lessons. I wish I could have gone ... just too old."
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Cockatoo Part 19 I live for feedback [email protected] We finished dinner in the restaurant, then walked upstairs to the flat and sat out on the terrace, drinking and talking about what our next steps should be in the plan to launch the new club. We threw around ideas for possible names, some better than others, and we provisionally settled on Cockatoo Cabaret as a tie in with the bar. I also mentioned that when I had googled Koh Samui Blue, I discovered there were barely...
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Cockatoo Nikkie Silk It’s a cliché, isn’t it? Man comes home early and finds his wife in bed with someone else. Only slightly less of a cliché in my case, as the ‘someone else’ was my wife’s closest girlfriend – closest in every sense of the word. It was a quick divorce, no k**s, only a rented flat, so the only squabbles were about books and cds. In the end I told her to keep the lot. I wanted to make it a clean break. I managed to fit all I owned into the boot of my small car. I was 28...
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Cockatoo Part 5Following the call to Kritsada, I stayed in Cockatoo, chatting to Ninwho had brought me another beer. I asked her to join me for a while, andwe talked about last night. She had really hated Tony and was delightedwith what we had done. I was quietly impressed; she was pretty, herEnglish was excellent, had a great sense of humour and a charmingpersonality. I didn't know if Alex or Areeya had mentioned the job toher, so I didn't say anything, preferring to leave it to the girls....
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Cockatoo Chapter 24 I love feedback [email protected] twitter @nikkie_silk Pao's eyes flicked across my face looking for reassurance. "Miss Alex told me it OK." I smiled, "Pao, it's fine, Miss Alex just forgot to tell me it would be tonight." I walked across to her and gave her a kiss on both cheeks. "You look beautiful, that dress looks lovely on you." She giggled and looked up at me. "Thank you, Mr James. It one of Miss Areeya's. She say I can keep it if I...
Cockatoo Part 11Nikkie SilkAreeya returned to the apartment sometime after we had gone to bed as the moorings needed more attention than Areeya had initially thought. After she and Shane had eventually got Cockatoo 3 safely secured on the pier, he had gone back to his hotel and Areeya headed back to get some sleep in the apartment. In the morning I had changed back into being James, albeit with a little reluctance. Alex had suggested I go on the boat as James and change into Scarlett for the...
Cockatoo I live for feedback [email protected] Part 2 Everyone had said that Alex was good looking back at Uni and many of the girls had even said he looked quite pretty. As she held her hair back I could see that it was Alex's face looking back at me. "Oh my God." I couldn't think of anything more original to say. "It is you." She smiled and stood up, took my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Come on James, give me a hug." She pulled me into a hug and instinctively...
Cockatoo Part 22 I live for feedback [email protected] twitter @nikkie_silk Following the call to Kritsada, I stayed in Cockatoo, chatting to Nin who had brought me another beer. I asked her to join me for a while, and we talked about last night. She had really hated Tony and was delighted with what we had done. I was quietly impressed; she was pretty, her English was excellent, had a great sense of humour and a charming personality. I didn't know if Alex or Areeya had...
Cockatoo Part 30 Nikkie Silk I love feedback [email protected] Areeya returned to the apartment sometime after we had gone to bed as the moorings needed more attention than Areeya had initially thought. After she and Shane had eventually got Cockatoo 3 safely secured on the pier, he had gone back to his hotel and Areeya headed back to get some sleep in the apartment. In the morning I had changed back into being James, albeit with a little reluctance. Alex had suggested I...
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Cockatoo Part 46 "Dao, Dao, calm down. What do you mean she's been taken?" Alex wrenched the phone from me and talked to Dao in Thai. At the same time, Alex's phone rang. "Jamie, it's Shane. I tried to call your phone, but it's busy." "Alex is on my phone to Dao. She says Areeya's been taken. What the fuck's going on?" "Thaksin just called to warn me. Jandaeng was being taken under guard to hospital to have treatment on his arm. They were jumped between the prison and the...
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Cockatoo Part 11 I live for feedback [email protected] It was at this precise moment that Areeya looked up, stared straight into my eyes and winked. I staggered back in shock. Areeya must have seen me when she glanced at the door. Either that or she was some kind of a witch. I managed to bang my knee as I stumbled backwards and it was a miracle I didn't scream. I made it back to bed and managed to fall asleep but slept fitfully for the rest of the night. I can remember...
Cockatoo Part 20 I stopped dead in my tracks. "What did you say, Pao?" "Miss Sam, she meet the man. The horrible man. Nin follow him and saw them talking." "Was Nin sure it was Sam?" "Yes, Mr James, she say she saw them clearly outside hotel he staying." I couldn't believe it. What the hell would Sam be doing with this creep? Areeya was now well ahead of me on the way to Cockatoo, I didn't want her to hear this until I go there. "Pao, please don't say anything to Alex or...
Maybe things could have been different, I don’t know, but I found myself in a taxi on the way to Samui airport. I was struggling to come to terms with what had happened and I felt physically sick at what I had heard. I had to get the taxi driver to stop so I could retch at the side of the road. I managed to buy a ticket on the next flight to Bangkok and by mid afternoon I was back in the city. I booked into a hotel close to Nana Plaza and sent a couple of hours stewing in my room, drinking the...
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Cockatoo Part 13Nikkie SilkJandaeng’s voice came through loud and clear and chilled me to the bone.‘It seems you’ve had some trouble at your bar over there, James.’Bad news travels fast I thought. I hated the sound of his voice. It mademy flesh creep and took me straight back to the bar in Bangkok and whathe had done to me that night. I took a deep breath and tried to keep myvoice as calm as possible.‘Yes Inspector, the mamasan was stabbed in a bar fight. I’m surprisedyou know about it.’‘It is...
Cockatoo Part 12Nikkie SilkPreviously in Cockatoo: Jamie and Nin had made it back to Koh Samuiafter their journey to Bangkok to warn Kritsada. Jamie, Alex and Shanehad sailed to the West Coast for a short vacation where Jamie and Shanehad made love. The trio had sailed back and were in Cockatoo where theywere attacked. Pao had stepped between Jamie and the attacker and beenstabbed.There was pandemonium inside Cockatoo in the moments after Pao had beenstabbed. As I cradled her in my arms I felt...
Cockatoo Part 10Nikkie SilkMy heart skipped a beat as I heard Shane’s voice from behind me and felt his hand on my shoulder. It couldn't be, I thought, I must be so tired I was hallucinating. Alex said, ‘Hi Shane, glad you could join us.’ Nin looked as if she had seen a ghost, Areeya was smiling in welcome and I felt like I would pass out. The hand moved off my shoulder and Shane’s massive frame came into sight.‘Hi Nin, Hi Areeya.’ he said, then paused and looked at me, ‘Hi Jamie, how are you?...
Maybe things could have been different, I don’t know, but I found myselfin a taxi on the way to Samui airport. I was struggling to come to termswith what had happened and I felt physically sick at what I had heard. Ihad to get the taxi driver to stop so I could retch at the side of theroad.I managed to buy a ticket on the next flight to Bangkok and by midafternoon I was back in the city. I booked into a hotel close to NanaPlaza and sent a couple of hours stewing in my room, drinking the gutrot...
I had no idea how long I had spent under water but I could see a brightlight above me and I thought it must be the sun shining through thewater as I clawed myself towards the surface. But, I thought, ‘No, thatcan’t be. It was dark when I fell in.’ The light grew brighter andbrighter and I wondered ‘Maybe I’m dead’. I tried to open my eyes but itwas so bright I couldn’t force my eyelids open. I heard sounds from along way off and it sounded like voices, but they were muffled and Istrained to...
Cockatoo Part 1 It's a clich?, isn't it? Man comes home early and finds his wife in bed with someone else. Only slightly less of a clich? in my case, as the "someone else" was my wife's closest girlfriend - closest in every sense of the word. It was a quick divorce; no kids, only a rented flat, so the only squabbles were about books and cds. In the end I told her to keep the lot. I wanted to make it a clean break. I managed to fit all I owned into the boot of my small car. I was 25 ye...
Cockatoo Part 5 I lived for feedback. [email protected] "That's nice, baby," I heard Alex say. Something was wrong though, Alex's voice wasn't coming from on the bed and if she had my cock in her mouth how could she say anything? Her voice seemed to be coming from the somewhere further away. I opened my eyes and saw her sitting in her robe on one of the couches. It took me a good few seconds to process that and as I looked down the bed I saw Areeya, naked, smiling and...