Steve and ChuckChapter 55
- 3 years ago
- 29
- 0
Steve
We picked up a nice wind the first day out. There was a low pressure area stalled to the northeast of us, providing us with an almost direct stiff wind from the south-southeast. If we can keep this up, we'll be home in four days easy.
Chuck had the helm this morning and seemed to be contemplative about going home. I went up and handed him a fresh mug of coffee. "What's on your mind, Guy, anything to worry about?"
Chuck smiled and said, "I love being out on the water, but I really want to get home now. Part of me wants to get back to work doing all the crazy shit I do for a living, and part of me wants to take it easy. Lisa has the same "Jones" as I do and wants the excitement, but is a little apprehensive about the danger. I do have some new members of the family on the way, and I'll have four new little girls in less than a month. In about seven or eight months, there will be three more, and if Taiying and Sing get over their past implants, there will be two more from them. That's nine kids in a year, Steve, and that's about as scary as it gets. I know the women will be able to handle all of the kids, but will I? Should I go back to taking risks? Is flying even too big a risk?"
I put a hand on Chuck's shoulder as he watched the monitors and gauges. "Chuck, you always make good decisions, so I'm sure you'll make the right one now. Don't give up part of your life that you've enjoyed and felt you were contributing. That's the satisfaction you get out of life, contributing. You are doing great helping so many people. Tiny even told me you want to begin sending the wheelchair guys to law or medical schools, and others to be accountants. That's a hell of a commitment, but you know what? The rewards from that will be great. When those men have been educated and are practicing their professions, they will probably move out of your village and build something for themselves. You'll have another house to use for the next unfortunate man that comes along. How many houses are you going to be able to build at your village?"
Chuck smiled and said, "I think I'll do it in five sections, with a hundred houses in each section. The first hundred should be complete and furnished in another month. Over seventy men and families have moved into homes so far. The single guys are going to need some help along the way, so I'm having some help from Quality Wear to get some part time housekeeping staff. There seems to always be someone who needs a part time job for some extra money. I'm trying to get some of the housewives from the trailer park to do it, but there are not enough so far."
I told Chuck, "You know that with all of the kids that you are moving in with their disabled parents out there, we might soon need another elementary school. Sue and the women are teaching a big bunch of our close friends' kids at our home school program, but it's just not big enough to take care of your village. We both might have to contribute to get another school out our way. I'm worried about high school, since when all of our kids begin high school, they should probably go to a public school. Who knows though, perhaps the women will continue to home school right on through."
Chuck smiled, "Glad I don't have that to worry about for a while. It'll be what, six years before I have to do the school thing?"
"Not a chance, Buddy, in three or four years it will be preschool, in five it's kindergarten, then on and on. You'll be knee deep in books in only a year to a year and half. If you're lucky, some of the grandmothers will come and teach the kids to speak and read. That seems to kick the kids off right. First it's animal books, followed by kid mysteries, followed by the fantasy stuff. If your women are like mine, there won't be that many movies or TV programs the kids will watch. They'll keep them busy and outdoors as much as possible."
Chuck was smiling again, "What are we going to do with four Italian kids? Do you think they will be able to catch up to yours for schooling?"
I told Chuck, "Not to worry, the ladies will tutor them privately to get them up to where they need to be. I think our kids are all pretty advanced for home school kids, and I know the women are trying to teach them far beyond their age or grade group."
Chuck laughed, "I know you have one hell of music program."
We both laughed, thinking about how much music the kids had learned and been involved with this past couple of months. Chuck was smiling now, so I suggested, "How about I take over here and you go out and open the outdoor helm? The sun's hot enough that you might want the shade cloth, but the weather is perfect for manning the outdoor wheel."
Chuck headed out to the station there, and I watched as his equipment came on line. When Chuck used the intercom to say, "All set up," I shut down most of the inside monitors, leaving the two radar and weather displays up.
I was going to go out to sit with Chuck, but saw Gina, Julie, and Lisa get up to go out to sit with him.
Going below, Missy, Kathy, and Juanita were finishing up breakfast cleanup and I noticed all of the kids in the big lounge watching a DVD of the concert they had played in. Several of them had their guitars and were quietly playing along with the music.
I checked the cabin and found it straightened out with the bed already made. From there, I went below to the crew quarters end and found Sue, Mercy, and Mickey cleaning the kids' area. The ladies had a pile of clothes out by the crew galley ready for the laundry room.
As I walked by the storage room toward the rear of the boat, the two big cabins, and the office, I found Ben busy on the satellite phone. He was excitedly talking about another big deal. The man doesn't quit, that's for sure.
Passing the big laundry room, I saw Beth and the Asian sisters busy in there. Two were ironing and one was folding while waiting for the next batch out of the dryer.
I checked the desalinization room and did the water test. I noticed that even with all of the washing and cleaning going on, we were nearly full of potable water. There were a few things to do in the engine room, so I went in and began wiping down the two big engines. I went for a bucket and soap to do the walls and floors, as the engines could put a film of oil on everything if you let it go. By the time I had all of that cleaned, it was coming up to noon. I was hungry and would be relieving Chuck soon. You know, I didn't see Dewey or his women. I wondered where they were. I went up to the main deck, through the rear sundeck room, and there they were. All three, along with all of the band people, were lying back in lounges out in the sun, reading. Dewey glanced over his book, "Isn't this great. I love it back here. Now all Chuck needs on this tub are some waitresses to chase some drinks."
As he laughed, Sheena got up and asked, "What would you like, Master? Perhaps I can pull it out of my hat -- or would that be my panties?"
Dewey rolled his eyes before answering, "I'll wait, it's almost lunch time and I'm about ready to rest the eyes."
I toured the rear of the Lucky Lady, checking the lines and pulleys. Making my way past the helm and up to the bow, I did a thorough check of all the rigging. As I came back to the helm, I said to Chuck who was showing Lisa the sail configuration book, "All shipshape, Captain, how about I take the helm while you eat?"
Chuck said, "Go ahead and eat first. Lisa and I will eat when you take over. I'll bet the kids and the band will want to play some music this afternoon. You know how that will be. Once they get started, they won't want to quit. I think I will chase them out to run around on deck for a while before we start with music so they get some fresh air."
I told them both, "All of the kids are below in the big lounge, watching concert DVDs. They should be getting tired of music by now."
Lisa said, "Once that music bug takes a big bite, you're hooked. It passes with some kids, but a lot of them will become more and more interested in learning to play."
Below, in the galley, the women had the kids at their table with some tomato soup and a platter of ham sandwiches. Sue waved me to the big table that was filling up with people for some of the same fare as the kids. Even Dewey and the group from the back deck had come down for lunch.
Mercy asked, "Have you talked to our immigration attorney about Gio and Gina yet?"
I answered honestly, "I only asked him to research what it was going to take. He'll need their passports to do any more. Don't you think we need them to get a chance to see if they like being around us twenty-four seven? They may think we're too crazy for them or they may get too homesick. Let's take it easy and not get in a rush."
Giovanna looked up at me with a smile, "Do you not like that I want to be with you and your family?"
Gio did speak the better English of the two sisters.
"Sure, I want you to be with us Gio, but if we start the process too soon, you could find out later it was a mistake, not tell me, and be miserable. What do you think, shouldn't we wait?"
Gio answered, "Don't wait for me; I am home with you and your family and I wish to say, my family. Perhaps Gina, but she is happy too. Why would we get homesick if we have each other and our children? If we want to see our father and aunt, all we have to do is call and they will come. You see, we have chosen you, and Chuck, will you keep us?"
Now that was direct, and all of the women, actually everyone at the table, were looking at me. "I will call this afternoon to make sure you two have the proper visas. You all know we went to Costa Rica and didn't even see a customs agent. Do you think Chuck just told him we were only going to be there a short while?"
Dewey said, "I know Chuck talked to someone about us being there. He gave them names, sexes, and ages. I guessed it might be a customs person he was talking to."
Sue said, "I have to call in this afternoon, so I'll talk to our man and give him the particulars. I think all of their passports are in the office below."
That got me off the hook for the time being, but I wondered if Chuck was going to put his foot into his mouth the same way I did. I should probably warn him before he comes below to eat.
Sue got up from the table and announced, "I'm up next to captain this boat, so you all better hang on. I wish there was a little chop to give us a thrill or two."
Dewey laughed and told her, "Just come on out west and I'll let you sail up to Alaska this fall. You'll have all the chop you could want. I think the water is rough up there all winter."
I told her, "I thought I was up next," but she showed me the schedule they had made. She said, "Chuck stayed at the helm most of last night and turned around to do eight to noon. I think he could use a break, even though I know how much he's enjoying being at the helm."
Kenny said, "I want to practice a couple of pieces this afternoon. It will be a great time to work up a couple of productions with the whole group. We won't be able to do this very often once we're back home. I want to get all the time I can with the kids. Chuck and Lisa too, but I know they will play with us almost any time they can."
I went up with Sue to relieve Chuck. Lisa, Gina, and Julie were sitting with him as he guided the big boat north. When Sue told Chuck she was taking over, he said, "There is some traffic out here, but I doubt if there is anything to worry about. There are a lot of merchant ships that travel this route. They're going faster than we are, so just watch and keep your distance so their wash doesn't toss us around."
Sue and I stayed at the helm together and she said, "What do you think about the Irish operation. Was that a mistake or do you think it can actually benefit the people there?"
I told her, "I don't know that much about the fashion world, but you've proven there is an everyday market for something like your basic blouse. If I was doing it, I would make that basic blouse first before I did anything else. Have your people turn out a quality product that you can sell throughout Europe, and branch out from there. And, Baby, who says you have to do this to only help the Irish? This should be profitable for the company or you shouldn't do it."
After a pause I added, "When your European sales people begin getting orders, we can probably begin selling T-shirts there too. If we do it right, we can ship them from our factories at home to supply the market. If we can't keep up, we'll build, lease, or rent another plant in Ireland or the U.K. somewhere. I think the important thing is to keep the manufacturing process that we know works. Watch your costs and branch out from there."
Sue said, "We do some mail order from all over Europe now, but I think our products will be more readily accepted if we have plants in Europe, and besides, despite all the free trade agreements, it's still cheaper to sell EU-made goods inside the European Union, as you have seen with your golf cart and industrial lift truck businesses. We'll just have to learn the market and the people so we continue to be successful."
"You know that who you choose to manage is what will make your brand successful over there," I said, thinking of how important it was to have the right people in place at my dealerships.
Nodding, Sue agreed, "That's for sure. Now that I have strong people in each of the big buildings, our production has gone up and the quality is still as near perfect as you could want. The T-shirt operations all have good people too. I'll have to watch for some people to move up and possibly to go to Europe to manage over there, at least to help the operations get a quality start."
Kids were coming from the salon, the boys running, and the girls clustered together walking around the boat. By the time the girls had made one trip around the boat, the boys had passed them several times and were now near the stern throwing some tennis balls around. I wonder how many tennis balls we've lost on our boats.
That's what we can research, some dissolving tennis balls or the equivalent so when a ball goes overboard, there's no chance that a big fish could swallow it. We've seen dolphins bat them around and even flip them with their tail but I'd bet a shark or two have decided the balls were snack size. I'll have to talk to Dennis about that. Gerry might even be the person to talk to about that.
Thinking about these subjects reminded me that I should go down and call Tiny to see how everything is going. "Sue, I'm going down to call Tiny. If you need to call in, I can relieve you now or later."
Sue said, "Why not relieve me now so I can have a long discussion with our immigration attorney. I want to get that stuff started."
I know I was probably treading in unstable water, but asked, "I know you girls always have a reason for something, but why Gio? Mickey was our special friend for a long time and lost Samantha, but Gio is or was a stranger. How come?"
Sue looked at me thoughtfully, "You know, Mercy and I have talked about it with Juanita, Kathy, and Mickey. We all really like Gio and Gina, and think they will be good for us and I know we will be good for them. They didn't have a life back in Italy as their father was always afraid for them. The kids were restricted as to where they could go or what they could do. Look at how our kids have taken them in. It's like they have been brothers and sisters forever. I don't know, Steve, but I do feel that keeping her is right. Perhaps she'll find someone else here that will make her happier, but she loves the idea of us all being together. I feel like she's fallen in love with all of us, and that includes you, Steve. Let's keep her, but let her keep her wings if she decides to fly."
Sue smiled, hugged and kissed me, turned, and went toward the salon to go below. I asked, and I suppose I was given as good an answer as there was. Did they just feel sorry for the two families, or had we all formed some kind of strange bond faster than we could have thought possible?
The kids were going back into the salon and I was hearing some electric guitar sounds, as well as strains of piano and organ coming out to my ears. I smiled, thinking about how crazy Bonita and Lizzy were about music.
About a half hour later, the collision avoidance alarm began a slow beep. I could see a small blip on the long range radar, seemingly heading toward us. The target would have had to be coming toward us for over fifteen minutes at that distance for the alarm to sound. The blip was just under twenty-five miles, so I switched the resolution to twenty-five from fifty miles. I configured the tracking so I could get some estimated times of intersect, or would that be intercept.
The system came right back with the information the oncoming craft was twenty-three miles out, approaching at twenty knots with an intersect time of an hour and five minutes.
Dewey was standing at the salon door, so I yelled at him, "Have Chuck come out here for a minute."
When Chuck arrived at the helm, I showed him the radar and the analysis of the collision avoidance system. Chuck commented, "That is kind of nuts. Are there pirates around that will take us on in broad daylight?"
Dewey had come over and told us, "Almost all of the piracy on the high seas occurs in the daylight. There are very few instances of night attacks, even though you've often been involved in night attacks. But they were not straight pirate attacks that we experienced on our way out of Florida waters."
Chuck sighed, "I think we'll scare the shit out of anyone who gets near. We won't do anything but line the side of the boat with armed people. We might put a rifle round into something on their boat to tell them we aren't messing with them and see what happens. I know if I was a small boat and I saw a dozen armed and ready people, I wouldn't bother. If they do act like they are going to attack and get within fifty yards, I'll just sink them and let them figure out what to do."
Mercy had come out to the helm to see what was going on, and after hearing me said, "What if it's like that family who was being held on their own boat. Should we find out about them first?"
Chuck said, "We are pretty far south to get any Coast Guard help. There is no help out here, and probably no law enforcement that could reach us. Let's give them a display of force and see what they do."
Mercy said it again, "But what if there are innocents on board that are being held? Shouldn't we at least find out?"
Chuck just shook his head, "Mercy, what do you want me to do? If we let them board us, we could have someone get hurt. The other side of this is that if we turkey shoot them all before they get here, you know we're going to tear up the boat and still possibly get someone hurt. If there are innocents aboard, it's called collateral damage."
Mercy looked angry, "That's just too cruel. Just shoot anyone who displays a weapon and let's make sure there is no one who needs help."
Now Lisa had joined us and was trying to get Mercy off to the side, but Mercy wasn't listening to any of our suggestions.
I told everyone, "Okay, we'll get everyone we want topside armed and ready. We'll get everyone else below. Dewey, go open the inside bridge. Sue and Lisa, go get the rest of the women and break out the rifles and shotguns. Chuck, get your big gun out in case we need you to sink the boat."
When Chuck came back out of the salon, he had his armor on, a field vest, his MP5 over a shoulder, and his big fifty over the other. His field vest was stuffed with magazines, and I noticed he had his sidearm as well. He said, "Go break out the weapons. I can't believe we keep getting into shit like this. There is just no way we can be this unlucky. I'll go put out fenders in case we do offer to tie up. At least the boat won't get scarred from the encounter."
Steve I was laying on my back, with Gio on my left shoulder and Juanita on my right. I could see the clock on the other side of the room showing that it was right at six AM. We were up later than usual last night. Even after coming to bed, my ladies were more active than usual, but what is normal for these women? Poor Gio, I could tell she wanted to be loved, but all she received was a lot of kisses and hugs. Our baby is more important than sex. The other girls are being almost overly...
Steve I had just discussed the medical laboratory plant with Sue and we agreed that this was an important project. We both wanted to continue to assist Chuck in helping vets any way we could. It was past time to run into work, so I went to see how the company was functioning. A walkthrough of all the shops is always the best way to get a feel for what's going on. I saw Hank in the rear of the motor shop, painting one of Shawna's chopper creations. He was doing it from a chair with his...
Chuck Holy shit! There are babies everywhere. All of them are hollering/crying and they all need attention right now. Literally hundreds of babies were demanding diaper changes, demanding a breast to nurse, and looking for loving attention. All I could do is stand in the middle of the bedlam with my mouth open, too terrified to do anything. Someone was shaking me, "Wake up, Chuck, you're having a bad dream, wake up, Honey." I opened by eyes to find Brandy looking at me with a concerned...
Steve I was having coffee in my room at the resort. I had the patio doors open, looking out from the ninth floor toward the beautiful lagoon or small harbor in front of the hotel. It was still too early for beach people, but there were workers cleaning the beach. Two tractors were dragging the sand, smoothing it out to make it more appealing to the tourists. In the harbor and at the dock were several large yachts and sailboats. None, however, rivaled the Have Mercy, the Mercy Mercy, or...
Steve Mercy was shaking me, "Steve, Steve, wake up. Chuck may need you. I think Maria's in trouble." I sat straight up trying to think why Maria would be in trouble. Oh yeah, she's about to hatch. "What kind of trouble, Mercy, what is it?" Mercy just shook her head, "I don't know, but she just woke Chuck up. He may need us. Let's get over there to make sure they are alright." I began putting some clothes on. Sue, Kathy, Mickey, and Juanita woke, seeing Mercy and me dressing,...
Steve I had been told first by Mercy, then by Sue, that all of the women wanted to talk to me. That usually is almost instant death, or maybe it was going to be an execution, mine. At least they had waited for me to finish eating breakfast before the hanging. It was with great apprehension that I was following Sue, Kathy, and Mickey up the stairs, or more appropriately, the broad curved ladder that goes up to the salon. Mercy was at the helm, with Juanita sitting beside her . Juanita...
Chuck A speaker in the room was broadcasting reveille. It had the desired effect, as I swung my foot and stump out of bed. Across from me, Lisa was sitting up, rubbing her eyes. She looked up at me and said, "Old habits are hard to break, aren't they?" Wanda was trying to pull a pillow over her head, but Lisa gave her a shake and said, "You better get up, or you won't get a shower and breakfast." Lisa looked up at me, "Since you're fast, go do your thing, and I'll go next after I...
Chuck Lisa and I were having fun doing what we liked to do when we were relaxing. We were both sitting on a little raised stage at the bottom of what was like a theater in the round. The platform had a baby grand with a bench and two chairs, with Lisa and me sitting on them. An interesting part of this is that there was absolutely no sound system. If you were looking for un-plugged, this was the ultimate. The acoustics in the theater had been designed so that what was played on the little...
Steve I was up early, as usual, sitting in the parlor on one of the fixed stools at the bar in the suite. You know how it is; waiting for coffee to brew can seem like an eternity when you don't want to sit there and wait. There was no place else to go and nothing else to do. If I went out to the patio, I would just have to come back in. If I went back into the room, I would probably disturb someone. Wonder why I can never sleep late? Only on rare occasions can I sleep until seven or eight....
Steve As soon as I stepped out on the patio, Tiny came in the back door, waving some papers while grinning his conspiratorial grin. I asked, "What are up to, Tiny? What's got you wound up so early?" "I've just heard from another Saudi sheik who is buying a new 737. The man heard we were buyers and called our office. The night customer service people transferred the call to me and we will get the new or rather new/used bird today. The Sheik's agent said we would like the price. I...
Chuck When Sue and Don relieved me at midnight, I went down to the office to check the rings I was going to hand out later that night. I separated eight of the rings, along with the special one I had made up for Lisa. The only difference between the special one and the others was that it had two brilliant blue diamonds on each side of the big diamond while the other rings had two bright red rubies on each side of a big diamond. The bands were wide, much wider than what a normal engagement or...
Chuck I woke up in a sweat. Remembering the night before didn't help with the PTS, with maybe a D on the end. That was close. I wonder why the bomb detonated, did it have a timer? Was there another person with a remote detonator? I doubt I'll ever know. I do know I was grateful to have carried Lisa out of the way. A heavy-breasted person was at my back and it wasn't Frieda as the belly wasn't bulging. That's when I remembered Gina. My, oh my, what do I do after hearing Giovanni's...
Steve Chuck had come out for breakfast this morning to talk to me about something. When we had our coffee and were sitting at the bar away from people, Chuck said, "There's a bunch of things coming together all at once. Magellan called to say the boat's ready to be picked up. I've transferred funds and paid them, so we can bring it up any time." He took a sip of coffee and said, "You want to go to Hawaii for a few days, which at a minimum is a day going and a day returning. I can get...
Steve Amazing, one night the little ones don't wake you up, and the next they wake up a couple of times. It wasn't bad either time, as Mickey and Giovanna were quickly up to take care of them. I can't imagine what Chuck is doing with ten of them in his big suite. Chuck has made some very nice plans for us, considering I thought the resort was sold out to other customers. Chuck is sneaky that way. He'll have had this planned for months now, and was able to coordinate holding the Costa...
Chuck It seemed like just a few minutes ago I was totaled, dead tired, completely exhausted. So what the heck, what's the matter? I never have trouble sleeping. I can even sleep soundly on the hot sand snuggled up against a track, like an APC or an Abrams tank. The shade is always good unless it's too close to mid-day. What's in my head now that I'm having trouble sleeping? I looked at the clock to see it was only two o'clock, and I was wide awake, tired but definitely wide awake. Oh...
Chuck I heard a baby cry and the bed shifted a little. There was activity over by the small table that I was told was a changing table. I raised my head to see who was up and saw Nancy changing a diaper. Her little one was making noises, but not crying. I suppose since she was getting attention that was what she wanted. Wanting to watch what the process was, I turned on my back and propped my head up on a folded pillow. After she changed the diaper, she put the infant back into the...
Steve We had eaten a great supper and were all relaxing on the patio when Wanda came to get me. She asked if we could go somewhere to talk. Not knowing what was up, I took her to Sue's offices in the other end of the trailer from the bedrooms. Wanda and I sat down and she said, "Steve, I don't know what to do. I talked to Chuck this morning and he's been shot. Lisa, Nightfox, and him, were all shot. He says they're not too serious, but I'm not sure about that. When I called our base...
Steve I had just kissed Sue goodbye when she left the airpark to go to work and Chuck was inside the hangar going over evidence. This was going to be a busy day. Turning back to the charter office, I found a new person at the desk. "Hi, Charlotte, I thought Star was working this morning." "No Sir, Star is right seat on the G5 out there leaving in a few minutes. If you need to talk to her, she's probably on the aircraft now." "That's okay, I'm sure she's fine. Do we have the other...
Steve, Sunday mornings are always fun around home. Chuck showed up with his crew, dressed to stimulate as much as my ladies did. As breakfast was eaten, Chuck said, "I want play with the new boat. What do you think, Steve, could we take it out for a while?" People heard Chuck's request and were speaking up, "Yeah, take us out on the new boat." "Let's see if Chuck can captain his new boat." "Come on Steve and Mercy; let's help Chuck check out his boat." Sue rolled her eyes and...
Steve Now that Chuck was back from hiding out in the Gulf, life around home seemed to be getting back to normal. He was busy with a bunch of federal people and his prisoners were all transported to DC where they would be held or given an option to be bailed out. I told Chuck that I didn't care what happened, as long as they left me and my company alone. Tiny told me that a major military supplier was negotiating to have us produce bodies for their equipment. That is what we wanted in the...
Steve Three weeks later Wes was sitting on an overturned bucket, staring at the right wing of the parts that Jeff's team had molded before he had been hired. He had been determined to have this bunch of parts flying within a week or two. No such luck. He kept finding flaws in how the pieces fit together. He kept checking the blueprints that were downloaded from the internet with the finished product, and found the pre-made parts to be exact to the print. The problem was they didn't fit,...
Chuck This party is an amazing testament to all of the girls' ability to organize, plan, and carry through to their objective. There were many people who showed up that I would not have expected. John, the Marshal, and their families came followed shortly by Dewey and his family. I was honored to have him here, as that man has some "cool." I had to ask John and the Marshal, "I thought you two were staying down in Costa Rica?" John answered, "I wanted to surprise you. You know we had...
Chuck I was on my way to Cut Bank, Montana. Way up in northern Montana. My Aunt Etta-Mae had called saying she was in trouble. Lisa had just asked me to tell her what was really happening. The cabin satellite phone was ringing. Julie went to answer it and looked up at me. I told her I could transfer the call to my headset. "Johnson." "Is this Charles Johnson?" I told the voice, "It is. Most call me Chuck." "Chuck, you have an aunt named Etta-Mae Johnson, right?" Being wary I...
Chuck Waking up in a strange bed, or in this case, on a strange couch is disconcerting. I had to look around to find my leg before going to the bathroom. As I traversed to the toilet, I thought I smelled coffee brewing. When I left the bathroom, I went straight to the kitchen and found Julie and Missy sitting at the big kitchen table with fresh cups in front of them. In a chair across from them was a steaming cup of coffee. Julie smiled, pointed to it, and said, "Good morning,...
Steve Last night had been strange. Chuck was in a fight, no that wasn't right. He really didn't have a fight. That monster guy attacked him, and Chuck just tossed him. He did whack the guy in the nose, but it could have been the heel of the hand into the nose, a killing blow. We all learned that one. That wrist thing Chuck did was so quick that it was just something that happened as the big guy went over the top of him. I was sitting drinking that first cup of coffee contemplating what...
As soon as we all made it back to Mac's after the kidnapping, Sue, Mercy, and Kathy cornered me. Sue said, "You shouldn't have been involved in that. You are the father to a bunch of kids with another on the way. What in the world were you thinking?" Before I could answer, Mercy said, "I know you felt you had to help Chuck, and we all love him, but you have to be careful, Steve. We need you, we don't need you hurt." Kathy actually defended me, "Steve is a man. He has to defend his...
Steve I woke up several times during the night, hearing things that were normal sounds. Sure wish Chuck had stayed, I would have felt a lot more secure. Funny how a guy like that can make you feel safe. He's just a guy, a one- legged guy with a crooked smile, who is as friendly as a kitten. He can be vicious when he's on the job though. Drinking coffee at 5:55 in the morning is a good way to enjoy the day. I called down to the gate guard to see how everything was going and he said that...
Steve (Tuesday) Mercy and I were in the restaurant early, having coffee, when a couple of salt and pepper guys came in. I stood and both came toward me with their hands stuck out to shake. They sat with us and were brought coffee. Bud Anderson, said, "I've been working on this case for a year and thought we had most of it put to bed. There must be more to it, as you've turned up a significant group here in Nevada." Jim said, "Chuck split me off as his backup a while back to work with...
Chuck A few days later, we were passing Gibraltar. Everyone on board was out on deck to view the sight that was so familiar from the kids' geography books, the thick yellow National Geographic magazine pictorials, and advertising. The iconic view we all remember from the Prudential Insurance ads, though, is visible only from one angle, on the Mediterranean side of the Rock. Fortunately, our course kept that view in sight for quite a while. Gibraltar looks unrecognizably different from...
Steve As I passed through the galley, I was confronted by Glenda, still in her robe. I asked, "Are you going to stay in today?" Glenda said, "I think Martin and I have been overdoing it. The scooter thing we did yesterday helped, but we were both so tired last night that we thought we should stay home and rest a little. I can spend the day doing some dusting, and I need to wash some clothes for my man. The two of us could use the rest. I thought I might give home a call this afternoon to...
Chuck The last baby had been fed her middle of the night feeding, and I was really deep asleep. Lisa was shaking me. When I came out of my fog, I heard her say, "Your cell phone is ringing. Hope that isn't a problem." I got up from bed and hopped into my closet/dressing area to retrieve my phone from the tray I put pocket junk in. "Johnson," "You son of a gun, we did just like you've been doing and let it ride, all of it, we kept letting it ride. Brother Chuck, Tiny and I have hit...
Chuck I woke being hugged between Julie and Brandy. The two were really hanging on, but I needed to offload pretty soon. Sliding from the grasp of the two women, I saw that Lisa was sleeping with her head on Gina's cushions. I was going to go back to bed after using the head, but saw it was five fifty already and we were going to shove off early this morning. Instead of going back to bed, I hopped back to the head, showered, shaved, and quickly dressed to go see if anyone else was up. The...
Steve On Monday and Tuesday, Sue and I went through our local plants, visiting with the managers and workers, assuring them of what a great job they were doing. A highlight of the visits was my time spent in the recently expanded R&D building. The new guy, Sandy Flowers, had become an integral part of the team there. After setting up software to track testing and modifications, Sandy had begun helping Gerry on one of her quests to create a special polymer composite that would resist...
Chuck Life was settling down all around. I was just doing the usual office work with no flying everywhere on an almost daily basis for a change. John Scott seemed to have settled down in DC and was enjoying his job again. I had the flying lessons and was checked out in the new Citation X but had no reason to go anywhere. The charter company used it once for a quick trip to San Diego and back, but Lisa took that one. She said it was great to have an aircraft that could fly that far, that...
Steve Oh, what a night! My lovely ladies must have thought I needed the attention as they were absolutely on fire. I think they were trying to help me set a record as they all had some of my loving and started over again. The surprise among the players was a sneaky person, as all of a sudden, when Mercy fell to the side, two large bazooms were in my face and they did not belong to Sue. Sue's mother was sitting on my pride and joy, smiling down at me. She said, "Oh, Steve, this feels so...
Chuck How can that be? My cell phone is ringing. I don't remember leaving it on. Jesus, who could be calling at, I lifted my head to see it was six thirty? I was on the outside of the pile of female flesh, so I was able to get up and hop to the table where my pocket stuff and cell phone was. "Hello." A sort of familiar voice said, "Hey, Chuck, how're you and that sweet Lisa doing?" Trying to figure out who this was I said, "We're all fine, ah, who is this?" "Hey man, this is...
Chuck Sunday mornings are fun out at the park. The women wear near nothing, driving us men crazy. I anticipated a good time. When I woke and began my exercises, John joined me on a treadmill, followed by some weights. He said, "It sure would be nice to have you close by. We could workout together. It's a lot more fun to do this stuff when you have a buddy." About that time, Lisa, Brandy, and Tiani came in and began using the other treadmill and the stationary bikes. Little Tiani said,...
Chuck Sunday Waking up in a strange place is always weird, but this is too much. I'm hugging someone different, my hand is around a soft full breast, and if what I feel is real, I'm balls deep in a very juicy unfamiliar pussy that is sliding slowly back and forth. I can feel breath on my shoulder and hear Lisa breathing. She has a little catch to her breathing when she is sleeping and when she's excited. But her hand is holding and squeezing my balls so she is probably not...
Steve It was after seven when I woke up to an empty bed. I was still sleepy, but got up to at least start the day with everyone. When I sat down and joined the regulars with a cup of coffee, Sue came over and kissed me good morning, "Morning, Sleepyhead. I know you didn't get back until after four, but it's unusual for you to sleep late." "If there was not so much to do today, I would just go back to sleep for a while," I said, looking around while hugging my wonderful wife. "I see...
Steve Perhaps things are getting back to normal, or for what may pass as normal lately, and that has been near chaos. Everyone at the shop that had some activity to report visited with me, until Ruth looked in on me and said, "Its lunch time, and Sue has called to make sure you come home. DeDe said you are scheduled for a flying lesson this afternoon too. What's that about? I thought you could fly already." "I can, Ruth, but I need to be checked out in the new aircraft, and I have to...
Steve I feel as if everything is going faster. Time was rushing by the closer it comes to the time for us to sail. When I woke up Monday morning, I felt a sense of urgency to get up, do something, prepare for something, to take care of last minute anything. Mercy hugged me and whispered, "Relax, everything is taken care of. You have wonderful people who will take care of everything while you're gone. They can call you anytime, and can even e-mail you with pictures or other information, if...
Steve I had slipped out of bed while the girls were all sleeping soundly. Sue raised her head, smiled at me, looked at the clock, and lay her head back down. While I was taking a quick shower, Kathy joined me and was very amorous this morning. It wasn't long before the shower degenerated into doing her while she leaned against the wall. When we both successfully and enjoyably completed our coupling, we clung to each other as the water rained on us. Kathy said, "This is nice. Sometimes I...
Steve Monday mornings are always fun. Everyone is getting started on a new week, with new energy, new ideas, and new motivation. My first task was to return a stack of non-urgent calls that had come in the previous Friday. The first was that the St. Louis cart plant was concerned their production was not keeping up with orders. The easy solution was to ship the extra production from Florida since the local plant was working at less than sixty percent capacity. I think the St. Louis plant...
Chuck For me to not sleep well means there is a crisis. I guess there were many crises going on. It was just after five, but I was wide awake, so I slipped from bed, used the bathroom, mounted my peg and went outside to relax by forming for a few minutes. I was concerned about getting the cash and gold down to Ben in Costa Rica. If I could get out of here with all of it, I could leave here and fly direct. I might have to pull some tricks in Costa Rica to get the stuff to a bank, but I...
Chuck This had been a busy day. We docked in Ireland this morning and have been busy all day. The kids demanded a lot of Lisa’s and my time, as they wanted the two us to help the Irish kids to learn what they had learned. The Irish kids were lucky to have Serene to teach them at home, since she was a lot more accomplished than I had thought. That was the fun part, and then there were Julie’s adult kids. Sue had made the call for me so they could take the ferry to Ireland, be here for the...
Steve Thursday Tiny, Sue's dad Ben, and I were in the helicopter shop with Bret and Carter. Tiny handed each of the two men a check and said, "That's exactly half each of all the numbers we agreed upon. If you two have some cross debt, handle it yourselves. We can put a fork in this deal." Bret said, "You should have heard that asshole from Alcam when I told him I'd already sold out. He cussed and threatened me until I finally hung up on him. He called back and demanded to know who...
Chuck There was a noise in the room. I couldn’t place it right away, but I finally realized it was my cell phone that was still in my pants pocket. I moved over Tiani and Lena and hopped to my pants. I pulled the phone from the pocket, flipped it open, and said, “Johnson.” The voice was very dry, very curt, “We have a job for you. You need to be in DC in four hours.” I said, “Who are you?” The voice once again with a very curt response, “We have a job for you. Get in your plane and get...
Steve My pile of women was surrounding me, with Sue doing her sleeping best to smother me between her triple Zs. No boobs are that big, but Sue has enough for three or four women. Don't you just love those big balloons? I sure do. I slid to the edge of the bed without waking anyone, but knew that we needed to get up and get going this morning. We have to leave around seven-thirty. I stretched before beginning to gently wake the women. Oops, there were two extras next to Juanita. Trixie...
Steve I rolled over and almost rolled off the bed. My movement, while catching myself at the last minute, woke Sue who looked at me funny. She smiled at me and asked, "What are you doing up? You were on duty until two this morning! Sleep a little more." I looked at the clock and said, "It's already six and we should be near port by now. I want to be up when we enter that lagoon at the yacht club. Chuck probably won't have a problem but I should probably be there to help tie up. Let's...
Chuck I checked on Lisa as soon as I woke up. Yesterday's encounter was too close to the confrontation on the island. This time it wasn't her adrenaline that got her, it was the cruelty of the men who had been dumped into the sea. It's hard to believe people could just kill the young couple and make the parents watch them get tossed overboard. It makes me shudder. Then that poor older woman, about Missy's and Beth's age, just walked out and shot those men in the head. There could have...
Steve As I opened my eyes, I realized it was Wednesday and we would be sailing in a week. That almost scared me, thinking there were suddenly too many loose ends for me to be taking off like that. As I thought about it a little more, I realized that it will always be that way, and that's why we have good people working for us. I sat up and made a decision, the guys needed to get on their horses, or airplane in this case, and get over to Hawaii as they needed to be back at home while I'm...
Steve Ah, Wednesday morning! I was still half-asleep, but knew something was happening today. I sat up straight and said, loud enough to disturb the sleep of the ladies next to me, "We're going sailing today!" Mercy rolled over, looking up at me while stretching, and said, "Only because Chuck is back." I asked, "He is? Did he call last night?" "No, Silly, he came home while we were playing up at the hot tub. His girls should have called, and may have tried, but I think they were...
Steve The girls have been all over me for letting Mark be everywhere, helping as many people as he could, and I had not put him on the payroll. Crystal should have done that, but she didn't really know whether he was going to be full time or part time. Ruth sort of made up my mind, as she signed him up as a full time employee with the employee benefit plan. I suppose that was alright, but you never knew. My cell phone rang, "Steve here." "Steve, this is Chuck. Can I use your shop up...
Chuck Julie whispered into my ear, "It's almost four. Get up and get a shower to get your motor running." When I slid from bed and checked the clock, it was only three thirty. Wonder why so early. I can do everything necessary in five minutes flat. As I slipped from bed, peed, and started the shower, a sexy older, or more mature, lady stepped under the spray with me. Julie whispered some more as she held on to my growing interest. "I need you, Lover; you make me feel so good, so alive....
Steve Life around the park and S&S is going very well. The family was busy getting the kids through their current school year so they could be free of most classes while on the coming sailing adventure. Chuck is busy with some kind of intense investigation out in Omaha that has him tied up for a while. Mercy is acting worried, so whatever Chuck is doing has her concerned. Lisa and Mercy have been seen huddled together, obviously discussing what they know Chuck is involved in. The...
Steve Monday As soon as everyone was eating breakfast this morning, I checked with Abe about the engine he had been working on for our entry into the light sport aircraft market. So far, the engine showed it was generating between 115 and 125 horsepower. This would put it in competition with the Rotax 914 or the Continental engine. We knew that the Rotax engine retailed for about thirty five grand and the Continental for around twenty, but Abe figured we could sell ours, fully certified,...
Chuck I awoke when the clock clicked over to five thirty. My internal clock was working as always. As I moved from between Lisa and Tina, Tina raised her head, "Do you have to get up so early? I don't have to go in until nine this morning." Lisa also woke up and told her, "The man is flying to his islands this morning with all of the investors and architects. I'm sure he's strung pretty tight this morning." Tina grinned at me and patted the bed, "Lie down here, Lover, and let me...
Chuck When we woke up the next morning, I went up to the galley and made coffee. Up in the main salon, I opened the sliding door to a cacophony of birds in the nearby trees. I watched a turtle run down a log into the water, and even saw a set of eyes back in the mangroves looking for something to eat. Lisa brought me a mug of coffee and we sat out on the deck, looking around at the peaceful setting. A boat would come down or go up the river, but we were fairly obscured and someone would...