Summer went from leader to leader and did whatever she could in monitoring their conditions and nursing them back toward health. There wasn’t much she could do except encourage. There was a large first aid kit available on the boat, but nothing to really help in dealing with primitive stitch jobs and the high possibilities for infections. Sure, there were ointments, but not enough for the dosages that each man needed.
So she did what she could while the other passengers just settled in during this display of peacetime. No one had any ideas what to expect. This trip, after all, was nothing that anyone could have ever thought would happen…ever.
Meanwhile, Rusty took Razor on a tour of the yacht. There was nothing out of the ordinary as far as size or accommodations or anything else. There were just twenty two passengers and their humble belongings…er…twenty one passengers now. As pirate booty was concerned, other than the boat, the passengers really didn’t have much to offer she noted. It appeared that no one was of any status higher than middle class or slightly above, so Rusty’s outlook was downright dour about extorting any money for their captives.
“Damn” she reacted to the thought that they would come up relatively empty on this takeover. “Guess we have some decisions to make…”
“Decisions Rusty?” Razor asked. “I’d say so…may I speak freely?”
“Kill the sarcasm Razor. What’s on your mind?”
“My mind? Well, Rusty, for openers, we killed someone…” he opened.
“Yeah…that’s what we do…” she lamented
“Yeah, but we killed someone…how many people have we killed in the past?”
“Okay okay, I get your point. Though, we have killed in the past…” she replied.
“Yes we have…under different circumstances. I have no problem killing…but…”
“But what?” Rusty asked sternly.
“But, what did he do to deserve that?”
“Are you questioning me Razor? You better be careful, Mate” she answered.
“I was speaking freely. I mean no disrespect, but killing innocent people…do we really need to?”
“Razor…we’re pirates. We do what we want when we want. Obviously I need to remind you of that?”
“No Rusty.”
“You another one getting soft on me? Don’t any of you have any balls left?”
“It’s not a matter of balls, and not being soft. Maybe just a matter of right and wrong.”
“Right and wrong?”
“Yeah, right and wrong” he replied.
“What the hell do you mean by that? We are PIRATES! We are right, period! What the hell is wrong with you Razor? When did you get a conscience?”
“Rusty, you and I know that I’ll always be a pirate. And I have no problems doing whatever we need to do to survive. Rob, hurt, kill…”
“Exactly! Rob, hurt, kill…” she interrupted “that’s what we do.”
“Yes…but an innocent guy? What did we gain from doing that?” he countered.
“We gained respect and believability. That got us what we needed. Now we can do whatever we want with them.”
“Which brings me back to the original point. We have decisions to make” said Razor.
“Yes we do. But we need to check on the others. Need to make sure the Captain is okay…then we can go from there.”
“Aye, Rusty.”
They were gone no more than thirty minutes. The boat was sailing in the direction of a tiny island that was a long way’s south of Paradise Key, where the rental boat was signed over to Jim Stowe and his crew of twenty one.
It was as beautiful a day as what possibly could be. The sunrise was a golden type of light orange with hints of a brighter orange and red, the antithesis of the adage ‘red sky at night, sailor’s delight, red sky in morning, sailors take warning…’. Well, then again, based on the current situation, maybe that old adage was correct indeed.
The twenty two friends, some life long, all met at the dock for the first time on the trip. All were on different agendas, coming by plane from as far away as Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota and Bay City, Michigan and by car from as far away as Long Island, New York and Cleveland, Ohio. They were all on their own schedules, the only thing in common was meeting at five in the morning on Monday August 8th, at the docks in Paradise Key, Florida.
There were no cancellations from Jim’s friends who were invited. He handpicked all twenty of his friends to accompany him and his wife Dyane on this adventure type of vacation around the Keys and the Caribbean. Jim, who had previously done this on a smaller scale, was so excited about his first voyage that he raved about doing a second with this group of friends.
Dyane was sold from the get go. She was an outdoorsy woman through and through. She loved camping, hiking, biking, you name it. And she always scoffed at those women that she would meet that whined about their own family vacations in the sand and surf of exotic locations like the Florida Keys or Cancun. They would complain about the sand, the hot sun, and the stickiness that would dominate their days.
Of course, Dyane would have none of that childish babying. She welcomed any time outside, whether playing golf in the rain or playing Frisbee in the cool sometimes frigid ocean. She was a captain of a mud volleyball team up in Blaine that played in summertime leagues. And she loved it with a passion.
Although Dyane and Jim didn’t have any children, their zest for life and adventure kept them young at heart and soul. Moreover, they acted like children most of the time, without being childish. Their passion and excitement for most things were unsurpassed by anyone that they knew…or knew them.
They had an inner circle that they considered best friends. Most shared their visions of adventure, and it was those friends that they started their invitation list with. The list was from all over the country, as both Jim and Dyane were almost considered gypsies during their childhoods.
Dyane was the youngest daughter of an Army family, both Mom and Dad were career Army officers. Her childhood took her to several states, never really attaching any roots anywhere until she met Jim in college at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dyane went there because a couple of her close high school friends wanted to go there and she needed to get away from home. She was living in Pennsylvania attending high school at the time her and her friends decided on Michigan. Dyane was an easy sell to go there, mainly because Michigan offered pretty much the same climate and surroundings for her outdoorsy type of existence. One of her friends, Jessie Sherman, had some cousins living in the Ann Arbor area and had some connections to the university. And that’s where she met Jim…
Jim spent a good portion of his teen years nomadic on Long Island, but also had residential stints in Cape May, New Jersey and Sandusky, Ohio, as well as stops in Minnesota and Michigan. He was not quite a basic jock, but more of an advanced one. He possessed size and strength much like a lumberjack. He was blessed with a scholarship offer to Michigan, and signed on the dotted line quickly. Playing football, he had a jock mentality in a jock body…but his demeanor was that of a good ole laid back country boy.
The two had met at a campus get together for freshman in Dyane’s dorm. He was there as a guest of a team friend, and she was there with Jessie and her other friend from home, Chrissy. They somehow met over a glass of punch and the rest was an epic fairy tale of romance. Love at first sight both would say.
Jessie and Chrissy were both on their inner circle list of invitees. Both were in the same mold as Dyane: very beautiful independent women who loved the outdoors and had a great passion for life and living it. Their physical statures were almost carbon copies of Dyane: athletic on five foot seven or eight frames. The three were known for doing almost everything together when together, whether it was volleyball, snow ball fights, or drinking. Jessie and Chrissy, who both moved to Blaine after each’s divorce a few years earlier to be closer to their soul mate Dyane, was on the boat.
Other inner circle invitees included Summer, who currently was watching over the injured Jim and just as injured Captain Bones, who was a nursing student and had come to Blaine with her Mom, Jessie Sherman, following her divorce from her father. She was a model child, student and daughter.
Hunter James and his wife Elaine were also on the boat, Hunter also nursing a nasty concussion from the original boarding fiasco that took place with the pirates. Hunter and Jim were childhood friends whose friendship only became stronger as the years went by. They had shared many experiences along the way…Hunter just as adventurous as and much more mischievous than Jim. Their experiences were always filled with two things…trouble and laughs.
Joe Mont and his wife Karen were also childhood friends of Jim from Long Island. They also kept in touch over the years, even though the Monts did eventually move down to Stuart, Florida for new career beginnings for Joe. Joe was a miniature golf professional who spent his summers touring up and down the east coast to play in events sponsored by the Miniature Golf Association of America. That all began on a simple little Putt Putt course on Montauk Highway in Islip, New York when Joe and his friends were all eight years old. Saturdays were free from nine a.m. through three p.m. and the parents would drop off their kids for an afternoon of fun each Saturday. Joe was blessed with talent and developed into one of the best trick shot artists of his time. The east coast was miniature golf heaven with several cities in several states known for their courses and tournaments. When Joe wasn’t pocketing in the neighborhood of sixty grand during the summer months, he worked part time for the State of Florida in their transportation department doing road work. Karen was a part time model when not taking care of their two daughters. This was a family who thrived on the sun and the beach whenever possible.
Alan and Scotty Mayes were brothers who were also in the Stowe inner circle. While their big connection was golf, both Alan and Scotty loved the outdoors and always wanted to learn to sail. They also shared a love for the beach and the ocean. Their sense of adventurism is best told in their stories of how they devised their vacations. Each summer, while others would spent countless hours planning and changing their vacation plans, both Alan and Scotty would set the time aside, pack a gym bag of clothes for a couple of days, pack their golf clubs in the back of Scotty’s truck and head in a direction. Every day, wherever they were, they would stop at each golf course they would drive next to and play eighteen holes. On any given nine day trip, they would play a minimum of twelve rounds. On most trips, they played at least sixteen rounds. Obviously improvised, no vacation was ever in the same city or ever played on the same golf courses.
Dylan and Mandy Dodge were close friends of the Stowe and James families. Dylan was the son of Chris Dodge, who went to school with both Jim and Hunter on Long Island. Chris and his wife both died in a car crash with a drunk driver several years ago on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge returning from Staten Island, and both Hunter and Jim were there to help and support Dylan in any way possible. He was a playground equipment salesman while she was a student at Hofstra University studying fashion design. Dylan and Mandy were newlyweds and this trip was sort of a delayed honeymoon for them. As of now, what a way to celebrate a honeymoon…
•••
Rusty and Razor made their way back to the others on deck.
“What’s the status of my husband?” she asked Summer.
Summer looked up at her, her red mane shielding the sun from her eyes.
“The stitches are holding well. He’s still in a lot of pain.”
“Treat him right for being so lame” she quipped.
“Excuse me, but may I make a suggestion?” Summer asked.
“What? Little pretty thing wants to make a suggestion?” Briggs chimed in playfully.
The other pirates made fun of her as well, especially the fact that Summer’s voice was unusually high pitched. The chatter went on for a good twenty seconds or so with Summer just sitting there in silence taking the vocal abuse when Rusty put an end to it.
“That’s enough! She has something to say…err…what is your name Honey?” Rusty commanded.
“My name is Summer. I suggest that we move both of these men inside to a bed where they would be more comfortable and out of the sun. Both are movable right now.”
“You think we should move them?”
“Yes, it would make them both more comfortable.”
“Your leader…what’s his name?…is movable as well? He has a lot of my stitches in him too.”
“Yes he is holding on fine. The stitches are fine. I’m just saying that both men would be more comfortable inside and out of the sun.”
“More comfortable? We’re not here to make things more comfortable” shouted Briggs.
Summer turned to Briggs and gave him a face that would kill. She let her aggression out.
“Look, you want two more dead bodies on your hand, that’s your business. What’s the point of stitching them up if you’re gonna let them suffer and eventually die anyway? You all put me in charge of making sure they will be okay. Well, I’m telling you that they should be in a more comfortable way if they are to hopefully recover from their wounds. Those are serious wounds to both.”
Rusty was impressed with Summer’s outburst.
“Now that’s a woman taking charge” she noted to all, shaking her finger at her. “Hell yeah!”
Summer gave Rusty the same deadly face.
Before Rusty could react, Summer chirped “Well, what’s it gonna be? Move them or not?”
Razor drew his sword and pointed it toward Summer.
“You show respect to her.”
“Easy Razor, put the sword down…” directed Rusty. “Summer, if you believe we can move them, then let’s move them. You there…” she said as she pointed at Alan Mayes “come help move them. Razor, you help this guy move them down below, too.”
And within a matter of five minutes, both Captain Bones and Jim Stowe were transported to the cabins below, to aid in each’s recovery. Everyone else was directed to stay on the deck in the hot sun.