Friday, September 30, 2011

I Saw You




I saw you standing by that window last night.
Where long ago you used to stand looking for me
And I, I sigh.
We were too young for our love to survive,
But something still puts that lump in my throat,
Tear in my eye.


When I see you by that window again,
Once a year when I come back to our home town,
Just for one night.
The town reunion is a wonderful thing,
But I never speak your name out loud.
Feelings I fight.

I drove by your old window last night.
You’re never there, yet I see you just the same,
Sunshine or rain.
Your long shinning hair. Your warm smile glowing.
Your eyes melting my heart, as you wave at me to come in.
I love the pain.

It’s just a dream, just a dream from long ago.
It’s my dream though, and I’ll keep it safe,
Safe in my heart.
No one ever knows I think of you.
I’ll drive away at close of Saturday.
It’s a new start.

I’ll wait for a new year to pass away.
Then the gathering home will happen again,
And I will go.
I’ll try to see you at that window at night.
Where you stood so many,
Many years ago.

And your long hair will shine.
Your smile will appear and it,
Will melt my heart.
Your perfume will fill the air.
And I know my tears,
Once more will start.

And your eyes shall take me back,
To our world full of love, passion.
Void of cruel hate.
Now I just look at the picture of your old home and you.
Dream of a girl in a wander filled place, in my past,
And I wait.




By  A. L. Shipman Jr.
     


© 2011 A.L. Shipman, Jr. All Rights Reserved. Watermark template. Powered by Blogger.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The bottles= The Tenth Blog of this short story. [ 10 ]

     Bay a Honda came into view.  They passed by the old metal railroad bridge, came to Big Pine Key and left the Atlantic behind as the Tight Schedule, Two Nichols and Holly Lynne slipped under the two bridges into Spanish Harbor.


     Bill, Marcy and Zack took their boats up their canal to their houses and secured them. 

     Dennis eased the Holly Lynne over into his canal. It was a joyous return to her homeport. She had served her captain and crew well. By the time, Junior and Wesley had her tied up securely, the others were already over at Dennise's place.

     Larry came out onto his porch, yelled and waved at them all.  Bill yelled back at him, “Come on over Larry.  We got something for you!  And how is your hand?"

     “I’ll be right over,” Larry quickly responded.  "The hand is better."

     Soon the whole band of treasure hunters were gathered together at Dennise's place on the Holly Lynne.  The treasure was divied up. They weren't rich but they definitely had searched and found real, honest-to-goodness treasure.  Seen smugglers, been captured, fought them off, heard pirates blow up a smugglers boat, had a hurricane party out on a key with a couple of new friends, Saw Old Tom the shark, some up closer than others, and ate good food all the while.  And drank the best water ever, out on The Deep Blue Sea.

     That night the ants were back down in the ground at home.  That green gecko was anxiously awaiting the ripening of a green papaya in Bill and Marcy's front yard.  The iguana was hunting across the street from the canal where the Tight Schedule and Two Nichols set secured back at their homeports.  Mangos were growing on Zack's tree in his backyard and the ones that had been blown off had been gathered and given to some friends.


     Not a few were destined for Arkansas.  The corn snake was lazily laying in his lair a few houses away with a belly full of rat.  Two crabs looked at the Tight Schedule and seemed confused, then faught over a piece of fish that had somehow been left there.

     Out on The Deep Blue Sea Titus and Beth visited with their granddaughter who had come out to see about them after the hurricane and brought the things that had been ordered a month ago.  She had only forgotten one thing, the wolf berries.

     She ask Titus as they sat out on the front porch of the cabin, “Grandpa how can things change so fast just because of a chance meeting?" Then Titus knew it was the beginning of a new story he would never forget and it had to be written down for future generations.

     Back on Big Pine Key, Wesley and Junior called home.  Wesley set out back in the blue-ruffed gazebo and called on his cell phone.  Junior stood out front watching the moon rise over Big Pine Key, its palm trees and pines as he talked.




     They both were ripped for not getting out of the keys before Horatio hit them.  Then were told how glad they were that they were okay.  “It was just a little blow," Junior said. “I've seen worse wind up in Arkansas."  And it was true.  It just hadn’t been that hard that long, was the part he left out.  Not to mention all that massive water movement.  No mention of Old Tom either.


     Finally they slept one last time in Bill and Marcy's guest bedroom with the large palm tree just outside the window toward the east. The next night they would spend in Key West, then head up to Sarasota to see a friend, Clifford, who was coming over from Ocala to meet them there for a short visit.  A night spent near Port St. Joe, then on home to Arkansas.  At least that was the plan.


     The next morning came bright and early with only a few clouds here and there. Packing was completed and goodbyes said as pictures were taken.  Bill and Marcy would be up in Arkansas soon themselves.





     




     The drive out to Key West was a pretty one. The waters were still a little torn up from the hurricane.  In spite of it all they continued to be those rich blues and inviting glassy greens with spots where white sand glowed through shallow water covering so many barely subsurface mini keys.

     They would visit the southern most point again, then start their journey home from Mile Marker 0. So many things were being left undone but someday they hoped a return visit would come to be a reality truly happening to them again similar to this one they were still enjoying.


     Key West was almost back to normal, for it, by the time Wesley and Junior got there.  A few sandbags were seen near doors as they walked Duvall Street.  They bought more cigars made by Cubans, ate more Cuban food at that Cafe, Bill and, Marcy had taken them to and just looked at all the unique architecture everywhere.  Took a sailboat trip out on what was said to be the last large wooden sailboat built in Key West.

     Sunset Key was easily recognized when Wesley and Junior stood near the waters edge for a good view westward.



     They watched the sunset as a man walked a tight rope on Mallory Square.




     Toured the aquarium and two museums.  As they were walking toward their hotel a crowd gathered up ahead of them.  As they came near to it they could hear a man playing a guitar and singing.  Some people were dancing between parked cars.  It was a fast song.  Then he played a slow song called, Teardrops Upon the Strings.  Money fell into his open guitar case.  Change, ones, twos, fives, tens and even twenty’s.  This guy was good and appreciated.  He looked to be in his fifty’s.  When that song ended he said. “I learned that song from the man I call my inspiration and mentor, up in Memphis.  He used to sing it at the end of his sets.  But I heard this last song I’m going to do, over in north central Arkansas at a little towns yearly festival.  Decided I’d come down to the keys to see what I could find down here.  It's called, Blue Sky Sailing.

     Wesley and Junior looked at each other at the end of the third verse and whispered, “That sounds like Titus and Beth."

      The song had a fourth verse and for them it confirmed that the song was about Titus and Beth.

     “What some know," Wesley said as he dropped a ten in the guitar case.

     “And what some don't."  Junior added as he dropped his ten in also.

     They walked the rest of the way to their hotel room feeling very fortunate and blessed.

The end I think?

   





         Here is the song Wesley and Junior heard in Key West that reminded them of, Titus and, Beth, and their home out on the Deep Blue Sea.

Blue Sky Sailing
He was a fresh water mountain man, from the Ozarks he had come.
Loved to eat that seafood, but never touched the rum.
Told some he’d come for the sunshine.  Told some he’d come for the rain.
The locals said, “ He’s a loner.”  Then said that he’s insane.
When he went blue-sky sailing.  All alone he wanted to be.
Searching for an answer.  Looking for the Key.
Seeking the place, they called, “ The Deep Blue Sea”,
Where the waters seem to flow, from there to eternity.

He bought an old thirty-foot sailing boat.  Quickly passed every test.
Set sail early one morning, out upon his lonely quest.
Held a heading to the south, seeking The Deep Blue Sea.
He was looking for someone, who lived out on that Key.
So he went blue-sky sailing.  All alone he wanted to be.
Searching for an answer.  Looking for the Key.
Seeking the place, they called, “ The Deep Blue Sea”,
Where the waters seem to flow, from there to eternity.

He was seen in Key Largo.  Then in Marathon.
Camped out on Bahia Honda, but sailed again at dawn.
Never made it to Key West.  Showed up on Big Pine Key.
Was seen there with a lady.  Was heard to say, “I’m free.”
Then they went blue-sky sailing.  All alone they wanted to be.
He would ask the question.  She controlled the Key.
Slipped out to the place, they called, “ The Deep Blue Sea”.
Where they would decide, what their future would be.

They docked again at Big Pine Key, two weeks later around noon.
Called for a preacher, to come over real soon.
Said they wanted to be married.  Live together forever more.
In her home way out yonder, on that secluded shore.
Oh they went blue-sky sailing.  All alone they wanted to be.
He had his answer.  To her heart he held the Key.
Sailed out to her home, she called The Deep Blue Sea.
Where the fire of their love, would blaze on through eternity.
Where the fire of their love, would blaze on through eternity.
They went blue-sky sailing.  They went blue-sky sailing.  They went blue-sky sailing,
Out to The Deep Blue Sea.





© 2011 A.L. Shipman, Jr. All Rights Reserved. Watermark template. Powered by Blogger.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Bottles= The Ninth Blog of this short story. [ 9 ]

     At dawn Wesley, Junior, Bill and Dennis woke up to the sounds of footsteps on the dock next to them.  It was the language being used that alarmed them.  It wasn’t English.  They all looked out toward The Dolphin Moon and saw Titus talking to three men, as Zack stood close by.  A fishing boat had slipped into the canal and docked early on this bright morning.  Apparently a decision was made and the three dark complected men walked back to their boat.  Titus and Zach talked for a few seconds, then Titus said in a loud voice so anyone awake could hear him.  “Zack, let’s go wake up the Holly Lynne.”  All four men aboard the Holly Lynne were half way out of their jungle hammocks by the time Titus and Zack had taken the few steps between the boats and Titus yelled, “Ahoy Holly Lynne!”

     “Ahoy Dolphin Moon,” Dennis loudly replied.

     “Breakfast in thirty minutes.”

     “We’ll be there,” Wesley answered.

     Zack told Titus he would be on up in a couple minutes.  Titus went on up the stairs to the cabin sprily with a zeal for life in every step as he called out, “On the approach Beth.”

     Beth stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door behind her. He handed her something that looked like a white canvas bag.  They sat down on the porch in the swing.  She took a letter out of the bag and read it as Titus looked on beside her.

     “Who were those men?” Bill asked Zack.

     “This is international water here.  The US Post Office doesn’t deliver this far out.  Those were fishermen who are friends of Beth and Titus.  They deliver things out here to them including their mail.”

     Jr. was the first one up dressed and ready to go.

     “Junior, would you help me carry up that ice chest they are sitting off near the Two Nickels?” Zack asked.

     “Sure nuff,” Jr. agreed.

     “Got to get something out of the Two Nickels, then I’ll be ready,” Zack said as he walked away.

     “This sure is a beautiful day.  It not only feels great, it smells extremely fresh.  Maybe that means we will find something today,” Junior said to Wesley as Zack boarded the Two Nickels.

     The breakfast was great.  Beth and Marcie decided they needed to visit for the day.  The five adventurers were going out on the Holly Lynne and the Two Nickels to look for treasure and fish a little, Zack insisted.  Titus was going out to help his friends with something, just what is was, was not made very clear.  It was revealed that they came from Cuba. 

     The waters were not as calm as they had been before the storm.  Snow Top was found again.  The Holly Lynne was anchored securely on the east side of it.  Dennis stayed aboard her and was going to fish while Zack took Bill, Wesley and Junior in the Two Nickels around to the west side of Snow Top.  The water on the east and west ends of it dropped off much more slowly.  Fishing was good both places.  These early hours were for fishing, Zack had persuaded them.

    
     Wesley had bought some deep-sea fishing equipment at a yard sale on Big Pine Key. He had a brand-new, to him, rod and reel and some truly brand-new artificial lures mixed in with some older ones.


     Zack found the location he wanted to fish at and shut down the motor on the Two Nickels.  Bill was instructed when to drop the anchor.  When Zack announced all was ready to start fishing, the lines were hooked, baited and they hit the water.  Zack had the chum floating in the water and fish were being caught.
    
     Wesley was fishing with one of his brand new artificial lures he was really proud of, instead of live bait.  It was his favorite of all the lures he had bought. Suddenly he let out a, “Oh no.” 
    
     Everyone knew he was hung up on the bottom somewhere.  They were fishing in 26 feet of water.  Wesley talked Jr. into going down with Bill’s tanks and his mask, fans and knife to get his new lure loose for him. Wesley went on and on about how it was his favorite lure.  Zack said he didn't think it was a good idea but Wesley insisted because it cost him fifteen dollars and he kept exaggerating about how much he loved that lure!

    
     The chum Zack had been putting out was being eaten by lots of small fish.  As Junior went down to see what he could do, a barracuda tore into a yellowtail sniper.  Blood entered the water.  A school of red snipers came around.  Another barracuda attacked a big sniper.  More blood flowed into the water like a small red cloud building into a thunderhead.  Junior watched the action from the bottom of the ocean, as he was about to unhang Wesley's lure from a piece of dead coral.  Suddenly a great white shark appeared.  The shark had been attracted to the feeding barracuda by the fresh blood in the water.  Junior froze there on the bottom and then hunkered down as low as he could get.  To his amazement the anchor started being pulled up as the engine started on The Two Nickels.  The boat slowly moved away.  Two dolphins swam by.  No help.  Thanks a lot Flipper.  After a few minutes past the snapper, barracuda, and shark were drawn away and completely out of sight.  Junior remained still where he was until the bottom of the boat showed up again.


     When the motor was killed he slowly, with as little movement as possible, made his way to the back of the boat and it’s entrance ladder.  He took off his fins. Wesley took one. Bill took the other.  He climbed into the boat and safety.

     “Here's your lure Wesley!” 

     “Bill snickered and said, “You've got something to write home about now.”
 
     Junior looked sideways at Wesley and said, “It was certainly an adventure.”

     “Was it worth it?" Bill laughingly ask Junior.

     “Ask Wesley,” Jr. returned.

     Zack calmly started baiting some more hooks and matter-of-factly stated, “I told you it wasn't a good idea.”

     “What drew them away,” Junior asks?

     “Zack chummed them away.” Wesley laughed. 
Junior shook his head and stated, “Zack is a hero and I was almost the chum.”

     
     They fished for about an hour longer. Bill, Wesley and Junior got anxious about searching for bottles so since they were obviously finished fishing Zack let them out onto Snow Top.  The sun was up well into the sky.  Bill, Wesley and Junior started walking ankle deep across the thin sand that covered the coral reef island or key.  No vegetation grew on it.  The white sand shifted like fine powder in places.  With the heavier sand settled deep in the cracks, crevices and indentations in the dead coral foundation.  After going about a hundred feet Wesley said, “If there was to be bottles filled with heavy gold and sand, after all this time here, they would be settled to the lowest point they could come to rest in.  They’d be covered with sand.”


     “That’s right,” Bill agreed.  “I been wondering why none of these keys show up on any of the new maps.  Just show up on Larry’s old one.  And why are they called
     “Leon’s Cays” on those maps?  It’s like they were just wiped off the face of all maps after a time.  Uncharted at first, then charted by the Spanish, then unchartered again.  Just too small and insignificant I guess.”

     Junior grinned, “I like the name.  Leon’s Cays.  But seriously, must have been named that for Ponce da Leon.”

     They walked on and finally made it to the Holly Lynne an hour later.  The two nickels was tied up to her starboard side.

     Bill sang out the announcement, “Three coming aboard the Holly Lynne.”

     “Come aboard,” Dennis called out.

     Zach was cleaning fish he had caught.  Dennis was looking over Bill’s metal detector.  “I think I’ve got it fixed,” he announced as they walked around to the middle of the boat where it was shaded.  “Better not submerge the handle but the rest was not hurt or compromised at all.  You find anything?”

     “No,” Bill answered.  “Thanks for fixing it Dennis.”

     Zach suggested, “Why don’t you test it out on Snow
Top there where the board goes across to it.  The current deposits the sand on this side and I suppose, if they drifted, it could have left them around here.  And you know, if I was to hide bottles full of gold and sand, it would be where the water current ran so as to deposit sand on top of them instead of rolling it off of them.”

     “That makes sense,” Wesley said.

     Dennis handed Bill his metal detector.  “Here, go try it out.  It’s already set on gold.”

     Bill took it and went to the bow, walked onto the board aways, sat down on it and ran the metal detector as deep as he dared into the salty water towards Snow Top.  A faint reaction was heard.  “It’s weak but it says something is down there.  It’s only set for gold.  You think some gold is really down there?”

     Junior and Wesley hurriedly slipped on their scuba gear and went down.  They had their gloves on, a gaff hook in one hand and bait net in the other.

     Zach looked on with a grin.  Dennis watched and had visions of what the old bottles would look like.  Bill kept the metal detector pushed down into the water as far as he could without getting the top wet.  The reading kept being faint but still there.  Wesley and Junior gently raked their gaff hooks through the sand.  They both moved something at the same time.  Each picked up a bottle at the same moment, looked at each other through the clear water, showed off their finds, pointed up and headed for the surface.  They saw nothing but smiling faces as the two bottles were placed on the Holly Lynne.

     The bottles had no corks in them.  They were full of sand.  Bill’s detector showed a trace of gold present.

     “I’ll wrap them up so they don’t break and then put them in those big zip lock bags you guys brought along for the fish we been catching.  We can sift through the sand for the gold back at Big Pine,” Dennis suggested.

     Soon Wesley, Junior, Bill and Dennis were all in the water searching for bottles.  Zach stayed on board the Holly Lynne and kept a look out for everything.  An hour of searching was rewarded with eleven bottles full of sand but none had remained corked.

     Zach asked, “Have you tried sifting the sand through the bait nets any?”

     Wesley answered, “No not much.  We’ve just been looking for bottles.”

     “Try it and see if you can find a chunk or sliver of anything,” Zach suggested.

     Ten minutes later Wesley came up with a coin, handed it to Zack and asked, “What is it?”

     The other three divers surfaced to see what Wesley had found.  Zack cleaned it off a little more, turned it over a couple of times, tested it’s weight in his hand a little then said, “Wesley I believe you’ve found a doubloon.”

     “How did you find it Wes?” Bill excitedly asked.

     “Used the bait net and grabbed up hand fulls of sand and sifted it through the bait net and there it was.”

The four divers went down leaving their gaff hooks on board with Zack.  Three hours passed and seven doubloons lay on the deck of the Holly Lynne.

      “I'm dug out,” Bill announced.    

     “So am I,” Dennis stated.

     “Could be more,” Wesley suggested.

     “Probably is somewhere but we've gone through this place at least two feet down in a big crescent shape around the key.  This was a great place to drop off treasure. On a down current side of Snow Top. That is still dropping it on Snow Top, technically. Just not on top of it but in a very exact spot that could always easily be found.  No X needed.

     “I think I'll go back down for just one more look,” Bill seemed revived a little with the treasure talk and the seven doubloons and eleven bottles resting high and dry on the Holly Lynne.

     “There.  In the east-southeast.  Is another cloud building,” Dennis pointed out.

     “Au, it’s a ways off,” Wesley said. “I’d like one more try at it.”

     Zack spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

     Bill looked all around while asking, “Why? What?”

     Junior spotted what. “Old Tom is back!”

     “Well I guess I'll call it a day,” Wesley nonchalantly said.

     “Yeah.  We got plenty for today,” Bill said as he slipped his fines off.

     Dennis shook his head,  “That's one big shark!"

     Back at the cabin Beth and Marcy waved from the screened in porch, as Titus stood ready on the dock to take a line and secure the Two Nickels to it.  He and Zack were ready and waiting for the Holly Lynne’s lines as Dennis brought her into dock next.

     The treasures were taken up to the cabin.  All were inspected by Titus and Beth who agreed the doubloons where real and the bottles appeared very old. “How do they divide up for you boys?”  Titus finally asked.

     Bill began, “Well there is a doubloon for Larry, Dennis, Zack, Wesley, Junior and me. Number seven is yours Titus.  Then there are the eleven bottles full of sand and maybe a little gold shaving.  One for Larry, Dennis, Zack, Wes, Jr., me, Marcy, Larry’s two boys, Titus and Beth.  That's how we agreed to it all on the way in.

     “We appreciate the offer boys but Beth and I have found our own treasures out here on The Deep Blue Sea. You keep all that you found.  We insist.”

     “We owe you two so much for the food, safe harbor, stories and we did find them on one of your keys,"  Junior said.

     Wesley added, “We got great memories and I just hope I can remember some of those great stories you told so I can share them with the folks back home.  Some of these pictures on the walls look a lot like places Junior and I know well up in Arkansas."

     “I grew up in Arkansas," Titus said.  “Farmed, fished, hunted, then joined the army at about, what turned out to be, the last two months of World War II. Got sent to the Hawaiians. Me and a buddy, Vance, fought the battle of the hula skirts, it's been said.  Anyway, I got sent to Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and numerous other places in the Pacific. Vance stayed in Hawaiian.  Boy did he ever love pineapples.  Anyway I fell in love with the sea. Got out of the army and promptly joined the Navy.  Had a lot of ports but ended my career up in the Indian Ocean.  Some interesting places over around Madagascar.  Saw a bit of Africa where Livingston and Stanley trod.  Now in the middle of my Navy career I was stationed in Key West.  Met by Beth, fell in love and sure enough, got shipped out not long after I realized I was in love.  I told her I'd be back as soon as I’s free.  I made my way back to Biscayne Bay, found an old thirty-foot sailing boat called, “The Dolphin Moon" and here we are. And now here you all are.  You've come looking for fish and bottles, I understand, and found doubloons.  I came down in the Navy and found Beth.  I'm happy with my treasure I found in Florida.  How about you all?"

     “I kind of know what you mean Titus" Bill respectfully said. “I came to Florida without, and found Marcy on Big Pine Key."

     “That's the ticket, Titus snapped his fingers and laughed.  “Anyway, I've had The Dolphin Moon and Beth ever since.  We've lived out here a long time.  Had a daughter out here.  She got married and had a daughter.  Fact is that girl should be bringing some goods out I ordered from her pretty soon.  She's a busy girl that granddaughter.  Has her own deep sea fishing boat called, “The Himme Way."  Got two of the hottest engines in it I've ever seen or heard in a long time.  Them Chryslers are something.  How you going to divy up the extra loot now?"

     Bill, Dennis and Zack talked a bit and decided the extra doubloon should go up to Arkansas with Wesley and Junior to be given to Doretha, their mother.  Amy and Marcy should get a bottle apiece.

     As the final goodbyes were said on the block, Titus gave them a request. “Now be sure you don't tell about want treasures you've got and especially where you got them.  You found the legend of, “Snow Top.” Found bottles and unexpected doubloons. Found news friends.  Come back anytime but keep it all mum.”

     They waved goodbye. The Tight Schedule with Bill and Marcy aboard slipped away first through the canal, then, The Two Nickels, with Zack went next.  The Holly Lynne was last to leave with Captain Dennis at the helm and his crew, Wesley and,  Junior.

     As they were starting to pick up speed away from the four Keys, a deep sea fishing boat came flying toward them.  It slowed as it came near the three boats leaving.  Zack waved and the richly tanned girl operating the vessel waved back at him.  As it turned toward the east end of the canal and sped up quickly, they all read its name.  The Himme Way.  About ten minutes later they saw a forty foot, maybe bigger, sailing boat in the distance south of them.  It looked like it flew a Jolly Roger, but surely not. 

     The trip back was beautiful but uneventful.  A square groper was seen floating aimlessly along in the water about half way in.  Wesley and Junior were curious about it but all remembered Titus' warning about not picking up anything adrift in these waters for a while.


CONTINUED TO BLOG  TEN  (10)  BOTTLES

© 2011 A.L. Shipman, Jr. All Rights Reserved. Watermark template. Powered by Blogger.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Bottles= The Eighth Blog of this short story. [ 8 ]

     Just as they decided to weigh anchor and motor over to the other side, the old man appeared rowing, the Key Clipper their way.  “Ahoy there Holly Lynn,” he yelled when he saw them all look his way.  “It’s time you fellers come on into my canal.  You ain’t got time to beat that storm back to Big Pine.  She’s a comin’ in super fast.  We’ve weathered many a storm in that sheltering canal.”
 
     “I don’t see no storm clouds,” Bill protested.

     “I’ll turn the weather radio on again.  I’ve just been saving battery and figured Jr.’s cone report would come through if a storm was close.  Forgot about the towers being out.”  Dennis turned it on and immediately it was giving an extreme warning of a super cell moving unexpectedly fast toward the Keys.

     “See!” the old man said.  “And besides that, they’s pirates out in the waters just beyond my claim.”

     “Pirates,” Dennis half laughed but half looked serious as he thought about the drug smugglers that had visited them. 

     Wesley and Jr. looked at each other but said nothing, just listened.

     Bill asked, “And what do you mean, just beyond your claim.”

     “This is international waters and these four keys are registered and recognized as belonging to Titus Bartholomew, in the US, Cuba, Spain, France, and England, and yes even Ireland and a few more places.  I’m inviting you into safe harbor if you want.  It’s up to you.  Safe from the storm and from pirates.”

     “Pirates?” Dennis asked again.
“Yes Sir Captain.  Pirates.  Even the cruise ships have had trouble with them at times.  Just last night they blew up a drug smugglers boat.  Them pirates don’t care who it is they attack if they think they have cause.  They take what they want.  It’s kinda odd though, those pirates blew up that boat last night but most times they don’t do that.  That boat of drug runners must have really made them mad.  They hate drug runners but rum is entirely a different story,” he laughed.

     “Well, I certainly understand that,” Bill said.  “You got to have rum to keep your water pure out on the high seas.”

     Wesley snapped his fingers, “That’s what I heard last night.  That boom was the drug runners boat being blown up.”

     “But are they really pirates?” Dennis asked.

     “Well,” the old man started in.  “I’ve heard them called pirates and by one definition they are.  I’ve also heard them be called high seas vigilantes.  They’s all kinds of rumors about where they come from.  Seem to pick their prey pretty strictly.  Don’t bother everyone only certain kinds.  It gets rather rough sometimes like last night.  If you see something floating out around here for the next few days, I’d steer clear of it.”

     Junior looked up from his notepad and asked, “What kind of boat do they have?”

     “Oh, they got all different kinds.  Can’t tell them by the look of their boats.  Well, fellers, I’ve got to be on my way now.  Things to do.  Get ready for another big blow.  You men are welcome to come into my canal for safe harbor if you will.  It will hit here about 1400 hours or 2 pm.  Fair ye well.”  With that the old man rode away from them and was far away in the Key Clipper before anyone onboard the Holly Lynne said a word.  It was the weather radio that caught their attention away from the Key Clipper.

     “Tropical storm Horatio became the seventh named storm of this season just yesterday with amazing speed.  It is one of those rare storms that seem to appear and form out of the blue.  Sixty mile an hour winds yesterday.  At midnight it had built to ninety mile an hour winds.  This morning it is up to one hundred fifty and still increasing out over the warm waters of the Caribbean.   It is projected to pass over Cuba and be near the Keys very soon.  The Keys are definitely in the cone of concern.”

     “Turn on the FM and let’s hear what they are saying out of Miami,” Bill said.

     Dennis turned the weather radio down and turned the FM on.  It was tuned to a Miami station already. 

     “Yes, Shirley.  We have had a large increase in reports of pirates in the last few months.  I wonder where they go when a storm like Horatio comes along so fast?”

     “A good question, Thomas.  Perhaps the Coast Guard will get a lead on them because of it.  Well back to some music Miami.”  A song started playing and Dennis turned it off and turned up the weather radio again.

     “Still no cell phone signal,” Bill said as he checked his out.  “I need to call Marcie.  I need to call Zack.  We may be in trouble boys.”

     “I wouldn’t call home now and tell where we are and what is going on even if I could,” Jr. said.

     Wesley half grinned, “They would be mad, worried, scared and then mad again at us.”

     “Yea, they would,” Jr. agreed.

     Dennis was looking toward the east-southeast when he said, “There it is.  I can see the top of the storm.”

      The sound of a motorboat came to their consciencness from behind them.  “Dad gum!”  Bill exclaimed.  “That’s Marcie in the Tight Schedule!”

     In no time she was pulling up on the starboard side of the Holly Lynne.  She got her question in first, “Haven’t you had your radios on?  There’s a massive hurricane coming dead at us.  I secured the house with help from Zack, and then I slipped off out here to warn you.  The cell phones are all down because of a couple of light planes crashed into two of the towers.  Of all times for that to happen and two of them.”

     “Guess you missed Larry and his boys because they headed straight toward Marathon and you were coming straight from Big Pine,” Bill said. “I’ll tell you about that later.”

     “We don’t have time to get home,” Dennis said, “Even if we had the fuel.  We better all get in the safe harbor the old man has encouraged us to take with him.”

     Bill got in the tight schedule with Marcie and the two boats started toward the key the old man had pointed out as being the one with the safe canal in it.  They hunted for what felt like a long time.  The storm seemed to be bearing down on them.  Finally the east opening was found.  But as they started to enter Zack appeared coming in at a high speed in the Two Nickels.  “I’ll follow you in,” he yelled as he came close enough to be heard. 


     The three boats entered the canal.  Mangroves grew thick on each side but the bottom was deep and as the old man had said, the current was fast flowing against them.  The canal curved to the left first, then it curved back to the right.  The mangrove trees were getting very large as they traveled deeper into the canal.  Other trees appeared as did sand on the banks in places.


     Bill was looking all around.  No one could hear what he was saying except for Marcie.  “Nothing but Mangroves at first, but now I bet there’s at least six different kinds of palms growing on this key and no telling how many types of vines and trees.”  Marcie nodded in agreement and looked around and saw the same things.

     As they looked ahead the canal curved left again.  The three boats were out of sight of the ocean now.  The key appeared to be as thickly covered with plants as a jungle.  Another curve right.  Marcie noticed the mast of a sailboat first as the canal curved toward the left once more.  She pointed it out to Bill, but everyone saw her motion and saw it at about the same time.  As each came to the point where they could see the rest of the sailboat, they also saw a long dock where three boats were secured.  The Key Clipper was there.  The large sailboat, a thirty footer, bore the name Dolphin Moon (Miami) and a deep sea fishing boat named Aunt Martha (Key Largo) was there next to her.  The dock had plenty of room for their three boats.  The three captains skillfully eased their boats into docking positions and all were soon secured.  They all spotted a small cabin on high pylons that appeared to be secured on the land at that end of the dock.  The old man walked out of it onto the front porch, waved and said, “Soon as you have everything secured properly and the way you want to leave it, come on up.  I’ve got coffee and tea makin’s ready for ya.”

     “Who is that,” Marcie ask?

     “That’s,” Zack paused.  “What’s an old man doing out here?”
  
     “That’s Titus Bartholomew,” Dennis answered Marcie’s question.  “He has legally recognized claim to these keys way out here.”

     “That cabin should be high enough to ride out a hurricane in,” Bill observed.

     “But is it sturdy enough,” Marcie questioned?

     “I’m betting it is,” Zack smiled as he said it.

     “The dock appears old but sound,” Wesley stated.

      With everything secured, they started toward the cabin.

     Junior was at the steps leading the way up and added, “These steps are sound but they look old as all get out and worn deep by use.”

     “It’s all made out of Cyprus,” Dennis stated.

     A fish jumped out in the wide part of the canal.  They all jumped, turned and looked where the splash had occurred except for Zack.  He laughed at them and said, “You’re all a little jumpy, aren’t you?”

     “Guess so,” Wesley admitted for them all.

     The cabin looked like a cross between one you would find in the Arkansas hills and one found on the seacoast in the 1930’s.  The old man opened the screened in porch door and greeted them into his cabin. As he opened the cabens heavy looking door the interer was revilled.  To the right was an old wood and propane cook stove, a thick wood table and four chairs.  Hanging from a large beam was a cedar porch swing much like the one on the front porch, and an old oak rocking chair near the fireplace.  On the left was another table and four chairs that seem to near match the other ones.  A deep-sea reel lay in pieces on it, obviously being cleaned up and repaired.  Rods and reels hang on the walls around many pictures of huge fish that had been caught.  The walls on the right side had pictures of mountains, rivers, bluffs, pastures and hayfields on them.  Junior and Wesley thought they recognized some of them as places in Arkansas they knew.

     As they all sat down with hot coffee or tea to drink, the front door opened again.  A woman walked in and said, “I see we have company for the storm.  Introduce us Titus.”

     “Beth, I found them out exploring the four keys.  Dennis is the captain of the Holly Lynne.  Captain please introduce your crew to Beth and I.”

     Dennis introduced them all.  Just as the formalities were coming to an end a tiny squeak was heard.  A model of an old square masted ship turned its direction.  It was hung high overhead in the center of the left end of the cabin ceiling which was cathedral or open beam on that end.

     “Wind has changed,” Titus said as he looked up at the ship.  “She always sails before the wind.  Ya see, my guest, she is held up by a steel rod that goes up through the roof to my weather vane, which is on top.  When the arrow turns with the wind it turns the ship in here.  Handy way to see which way the wind blows.”

     “As neat a way as I’ve ever seen,” Wesley marveled at the minutely detailed model of a ship.

     The wind could be heard picking up speed outside.  “We better get the food up here off the Dolphin Moon,” Beth said.

     They all followed her out of the door.  The front screened in porch faced the west and the wind was from the east-southeast.  No rain yet, but you could sense it was close.  Clouds were almost over them.  Quickly the food was carried up to the cabin.  Titus cleared his reel work off the table.  He placed a tablecloth on it as Beth put one on the other table.

     “Would you call this a hurricane party,” Junior asked?

     Titus smiled and answered, “I guess I would be calling this a hurricane party.”  He filled up eight glasses with something clear and cool but it had no ice in it.  Gave each of them one and proposed a toast as he held up his glass. “Here’s to new found friends.  May we all grow to be old friends.  Say Aye Aye if ya agrees.”

     They all said, “Aye aye.”

     He tipped Beth’s glass, she was standing on his right, turned to Zack on his left and tipped his.  As each tipped glasses with each other he and Beth smiled.  They truly seemed to be glad to have company.  They shared the look of aging yet their eyes sparkled with youth.  Their hair was full, soft looking.  Tan was their skin and their movements sure without a sign of doubt or weakness.  They all drank together.

     Junior grinned, “That’s the best drink of water I’ve had in a while.  No bottled water I’ve found taste near to that.  Where did you come by it?  And it’s so cool.”

     “Ah, a man out at sea must have his secret sources and ways,” Titus gleefully answered.  “Thanks for the compliment.”

     Beth started setting the tables.  Titus and Marcie started to help.  She made them sit by saying, “You two sit also, this is my part of the party.  But, thank you.”  She proceeded to uncover the bowels.  Revealed to the now suddenly very hungry partiers was a feast of unique seafood letting their aromas fill the air. Huge scallops with a white sauce, no one knew what was, but all loved its smell that was revealed first.  Shrimp boiled in spice water was next.  Bowls of melted butter were passed to each of them for dipping.  Lobster tails and crabs and some unique biscuits in two baskets were placed on the table.  A bowl full of all kinds of fresh fruit was placed on the table next.  There was even corn on the cob. 

     “Just like home,” Junior and Wesley said together when the lid came off the corn.

     “How did you fix all this,” Marcie wondered?  “Why would you have fixed all this?  You couldn’t have known we were going to come in here unexpected.”

     Beth smiled, “I always cook up a lot of food before a storm.  Titus accuses me of cooking up a storm.  He knows I’m to be depended upon.”

     “She’s always been right on the money since I’ve known her,” Titus confirmed.       “We have plenty out here.  We have friends and family that bring us out some things we need from the main land,” he smiled at Zack.  “We have friends that bring us gifts from the sea also.  So we just naturally like to share when the opportunity arises.”

     The wind could plainly be heard gaining speed outside.  “Just listen to it whistle out there,” Titus laughed.

     Marcie looked at Bill and said, “They are predicting it will be a category three around here.”

     “It will be,” Beth stated.  “But don’t any of you worry.  This is in truth a safe harbor for you and your boats.”

     “Aye aye to that,” Titus sang out.  They all relaxed for some reason then.  They believed her and Titus. 

     Titus said a blessing over the food.  The food part of the party lasted for an hour. At that point Titus gave thanks for the food that had just been consumed and new friends on The Deep Blue Sea.

     “Now,” he said, “let us see if we can stand out on the porch for a while before the hardest wind comes along.”

     He refilled all their glasses with that great fresh water, picked up a box off of a shelf near the door and led the way out onto the screened in porch.  He opened the box and Wesley and Junior looked at each other and whispered, “Cigars.”

     The frowns on the palms all around were whipping in the wind.  It was a warm wind with sprinkles of rain in it already.  Fast moving clouds completely covered them now.  Zack, Marcie and Beth sat on the northwest end of the porch.  The rest sat on the southwest side.  Titus passed out the cigars to them.  The view of the canal with the dock and boats secured to it was a picture out of a tropical adventure book.  Lush green tropical plants were whipping around everywhere.  Clear water with all those different types of boats floating on it as the ripples rolled across its surface, was a post card.  It was a riveting scene to watch unfolding before their eyes.  Wesley and Junior were enjoying it more than the rest because the others had set through hurricanes before in the Keys.

     An hour passed.  Suddenly the frowns on the palm trees were not just blowing around, they were being laid flat from the wind.  Some were being torn off and flying down into the water.

     “Time to go in and have another cup of tea or coffee,” Titus said as he got up.  All followed him into the cabin.  The cabin’s shutters had long been secured shut in preparation for the storm.  The light from the oil lamps was as bright as Wesley or Junior had ever seen.  They started studying all the things that hung on the walls more closely now.

     Hot tea and coffee were served.  Time passed as the wind howled outside and the story telling filled the cabin inside.  A hush would come only when an extra violent blast of wind would come and occasionally a tree of some kind could be heard breaking off or being torn up by the roots.  The cabin held firm and for the two most new to the Keys, it all was thrilling.

     Titus was telling suspense filled adventure stories full of highly intense thrills caused by his expertly chosen words. He described minutely all the places, seas, islands, ships, boats and lagoons his stories took place in.  The smells seemed to come floating to your senses.  The colors were extraordinary as was the food he described.  He made you feel like you were with him on the adventures he told about.  You were tense, exhausted, hungry, full, thirsty, satisfied, on a raging sea, in a calm, peaceful, sweet smelling lagoon sleeping in the shade of palm trees as birds sing all around you.   He took you here, there, everywhere.  Beth sat and beamed with delight and admiring approval of her husband and his entertaining skills.

     She politely announced as Titus ended a great story perfectly, that the calm of the hurricane’s eye was on them now.

     “Lead us out onto the porch my lady love,” Titus requested.  They all followed her out onto the porch.

     It was calm.  No wind blew at all.  The palms along with all the plants were battered, whipped, torn and scattered everywhere.  All the boats looked to be in perfect order though.  Leaves and frowns lay on and around the boats in the water, but no damage could be seen from the cabin.

     “Men, let’s go down to the dock and inspect the vessels.  Ladies, we’ll return momentarily.” 

     Junior and Wesley looked up and saw blue sky over them, framed by a round wall of clouds that stretched from thousands of feet high down, seemingly unbroken, all the way to the seas surface around them moving violently just beyond the calm still air that now, temporarily dared them to relax too soon.

     All lines were checked as well as each boat inspected and all was pronounced stable and secured.  There had obviously been a great surge in the water’s level.  The canal had protected the dock and vessels because of it’s twist and turns.  The vegetation covering the key masks its true height above sea level from the uninqusitive and even trained eye.

     Soon all were gathered up on the cabin’s porch again drinking tea and coffee and cake was now offered.  After a time the wind could be heard hitting the trees on the distant shoreline.

     “Let’s go on in my friends,” Titus encouraged.  “It will be a hard wind fast as the other wall hits us.”

     The evening passed with the rest of the hurricane.  Calm came at about 1800 hours.  A few lingering clouds sailed by letting sheets of rainfall under their small bodies.

     “I’ve got a few things to go see about,” Titus announced at the end of a great story.

      “Need any help?” all the men asked  They would have all loved to go with this man who knew so much about the sea and these Keys. 

     “Naw, no help needed.  Just get your sleeping arrangements taken care of.  You can’t follow that hurricane into Big Pine Key.  Power lines will be down and no telling what else would be in your way.  Be back soon.”  And he left in the Key Clipper.  As twilight came upon the Key, about an hour later, he came back to the dock.  The crew of the Holly Lynne slept aboard her.  The ladies slept in the cabin.  Titus slept on the Dolphin Moon and invited Zack onboard also since he had no cot on the Holly Lynne.

     Rain came and went through the night as the trailing outer bands swirled around for one last slap from Horatio.  Birds sang late into the night.  Much later here than on the mainland.  This Key had many more birds on it than any other.

     Back on Big Pine Key the ants had climbed up out of the ground for higher places to ride out the impending storm.  Their instincts had served them well for now the water was surging in from the sea and coming down from the sky like a deluge.  The iguana was huddled up against the foundation of Marcie and Bill’s house where plants covered it from direct rain.  That green gecko was buried deep as it could get into the center of a palm tree’s frowns where the new ones start to come out.  Water stood an inch deep all across the lawn and the brown corn snake gave up on catching a rat, for now, and slivered across the cement walkway from south to north toward thick vegetation and its secret hole in the neighbors house it hoped would be a little drier.  The cicadas were quite and so were the frogs.  All were hunkered down for the duration of this phenomenon called, a hurricane.



     In Arkansas the bullfrogs were croaking in their deep-throated way down on the Buffalo River.  The bass were lurking under logs and rocks.  Perch were in the roots that grew out of the banks into the water.  Minnows were in the weeds and moss and shallow places where the big fish could not swim.  Catfish prowled searching for food.  A crawdad suddenly became a meal for an eleven pound yellow catfish.  The water was warm and low.  No rain had fallen onto the Ozark Hills for a long time.  Farmers wondered if the hurricane coming across the Keys would make its path onto the mainland in such a way that some of its much-needed moisture might possibly fall on their parched fields.  Some ladies were wondering where their sons, brothers, and husbands were.  Worried, concerned, angry and down right mad were accurate words to describe their feelings and state of minds.  The moon was full and lit up the hills magnificently as it rose into the star filled sky.

     The moon was rising over Memphis and over its barbequed ribs near and on Beale Street as the blues was being played on this hot sultry delta night.  The china dolls in Memphis were serving hot tea to people as stir-fry was being cooked at high speed over hot fires.
A politician lied in Washington D.C.  about FEMA being ready to spring into action wherever Horatio hit the US in the gulf states.

     The Holly Lynne rested gently in the water close to the Dolphin Moon.  A shooting star blazed across the tropical sky over the cabin and canal.  The storm had passed but there was always something happening in these waters.  Someone snored.  All seemed to be right to those sleeping out on The Deep Blue Sea.

CONTINUED TO BLOG  NINE (9) BOTTLES

© 2011 A.L. Shipman, Jr. All Rights Reserved. Watermark template. Powered by Blogger.