Steve
When I relieved Sue, she pointed at the ten mile radar, then at the GPS. We were within five miles of the GPS location Chuck had set. Speaking of the devil, Chuck came to the helm and said, "I figured we would be close. We're early. I originally didn't figure on us getting here until tomorrow morning. We've really made good time."
Dewey could see we were looking at something and discussing it, so he came over to check out the radar and GPS. He said, "Wow, we are close. How close in are we going to get before you start the engines?"
I looked at Chuck and he thought about it and said, "We'll drop the sails when we're a mile offshore. That way we can move up to the dock and maybe back in. We have to remember that the Bell may come out here to berth too. Hope the house is big enough."
Julie, one of Chuck's hip growths said, "It's big enough. We used to have as many as thirty people visit at the same time. You know, I didn't think I would miss this place so much. I have been away less than a couple of months, and it seems like forever. Maybe I'm just excited that I'm coming back here with a new family."
Chuck and his other hip growth, Lisa, gave Julie a hug as we neared the island. I suggested to Chuck, "You should call Mark to tell him we are about to get there. He can probably have a couple of people help us tie up."
Chuck made the call and laughed with whoever was on the phone. When he hung up he said, "I forgot, we could have used our cell phones this close. Mark said he'll have a couple of your construction guys that are working down here come out to give us a hand. He will organize a bunch of guys with truck type carts to come for luggage and have the big bus come for us".
Chuck began starting the engines and made the comment, "We might want to run the boat into the yacht club so we can flush the tanks and fill up with any water or fuel we may need."
I agreed, "Being out for almost three weeks probably has filled our waste tanks. They will need a good flush."
When the dock area was getting close, I backed away to let Chuck begin dropping sail to bring his boat into his island. It seemed fitting for him to do the honors.
As soon as the engines started, the salon filled up with people who then moved out on deck to see as much as possible on the way in. We could see two docks, with a nice sized motor launch tied up to the shorter dock.
Chuck did a couple of maneuvers to position the boat to slide up near the dock with the stern as he backed in. There had to be a couple of dozen people on the dock waiting for us. With fenders out along the whole side of the boat, lines were thrown to men on the dock who did a loop around a cleat. Chuck had changed direction on the props to swing the bow to the dock where the forward line was thrown and tied down. The bow, stern, and the two mid-boat lines had a little slack for tides but the springer lines between the key line points were fairly tight. Since it seemed our deck was fairly high for the dock, I assumed the island was experiencing close to high tide.
I put the gangplank that had the stairs out, along with the straight flat ramp gangway with rails. As soon as I did, Julie was off the boat hugging a dark skinned guy she called Miguel. Julie released the man and hugged a lady she called Mina. You could tell the three of them were close.
Mark came over and said to me, "You coming down, or do I need to come up? I think I'll come up since I've not seen this boat." Mark and Carolyn came up the stepped gangway and were greeted by the kids. They knew the couple well and spent a few seconds introducing them to the Irish and Italian kids.
When Mark entered the salon, he was amazed at how big it was and was also amazed at all of the music equipment at one end of the salon area. I took a few minutes to tell him a little about Chuck's concert debut, followed by introducing him to the band. Mark's Carolyn had been caught by Sue, Mercy, Juanita, and Kathy, and was being shown around the boat.
Chuck finally went out on deck and down the gangway ladder to be hugged by the dark Mina. The lady kept telling Chuck, "You are so good to us, you are our patron. All of the island is happy you are here."
As most of the people on board made their way to the dock, they walked funny until they became used to dry land again, I noticed a pretty good sized boat coming into the other side of the dock where the motor launch was docked. A couple of women jumped from the boat and were thrown lines that were immediately tied to cleats. The women were very experienced, and made short work of tying up their boat. It was then that nine women came running from the dock to crowd around Chuck and Lisa. Gina and the Asian sisters weren't excluded, but the nine newcomers obviously didn't know them yet.
One of the young ladies who had just arrived was showing off a ring exclaiming about the soon to be wedding. This was Thursday and the wedding was scheduled for Saturday. There was to be some kind of party tomorrow night for the bride and groom to make their deals with the parents. I didn't understand the ritual, but it did sound like a good time.
The ladies decided that they would come back later for clothes and luggage after they saw the house and the available space.
We all rode in an old school bus up a tree-lined road. On the hillside was a wind turbine farm with a dozen large wind turbines whose blades were slowly turning. The whole time we were riding up the hill, Mark was telling me about all of the improvements Chuck had been doing. We continued up until we came out into a large meadow area that had fenced-in animals grazing in one direction, a group of houses in another, and a huge house on the top of the hill, surrounded by what looked like black walnut trees. That wasn't very likely here, but it could be. Considering how most islands are so low, this could almost be considered a mountain. The closer we got to the house, the more it looked like a small hotel. There were three floors, but a big attraction was a deep porch that surrounded the house.
There were more people for Chuck to greet up near the house. It became apparent that Chuck was held in high regard by the island dwellers. Dewey came up to me and said, "This place is nice, really nice. You saw that turbine farm and just look at the livestock. I'll bet they have a huge garden where they grow their own vegetables.
Julie was leading a tour through the house and stopped in a large room that reminded me of Ben's famous den back in Tampa only larger. There was a snooker table and on the other side of the room was a bar. All of the walls were lined with books letting you know what the entertainment on an island was. It was then that I saw a large screen TV on the wall behind the bar. It was big enough to be seen from anywhere in the room. Julie told Dewey and me, "My husband stocked some very special scotch beneath the bar. Have a little while I show the ladies around."
Dewey and I were joined by Chuck as he looked like he was trying to escape all of the attention. Chuck went behind the bar, looked around in the lower cabinets and stood up, holding a bottle with the simple word 'Scotch' and below it, the words 'Distilled and aged in Scotland.' Chuck held the bottle up and said, "If this is the good stuff, we're in for a treat as there must be thirty or forty bottles under there. There must be every kind of booze and liqueur made stored in these cabinets."
Almost as soon as Chuck pulled three glasses from a shelf, the lady called Mina, came in with a chrome bucket of ice. She said, "Mr. Chuck, if you stay here, Miguel will turn the icemaker on for you. This should do you for a little while." The lady went to what looked like more cabinet doors, and opened what must have been a double door refrigerator under the back bar. The built in unit appeared to be full of beer. I could see some Bud in there, along with Australian, English, and Irish beers.
I asked Dewey, "Do you think the beer is still good? No one has probably had any of the beer in years. I would think beer, even in bottles that are kept chilled would go bad after a while."
Dewey said, "I think it can but what you usually hear about is draft beer going bad. I'll sample some in a little while and give you an opinion."
Mina must have been eavesdropping, as she came in and told Chuck, "Mr. Chuck, all of the beverages in the refrigerator are new. Mr. Mark told us to throw out all of the old beverages and order new. The yacht club sent a big selection just for you and your visitors."
I said, "Well, that takes care of that important question."
Mark came in and said, "I have a big passenger cart outside. Come see some of the improvements we've made since you were here last."
We rode down a rather steep hill and stopped about halfway down. He pointed at a building that had obviously been recently expanded. "That's the new generator building. We feed all of the power from the wind farm to here for distribution. There is another of these buildings going up near the new operations building."
Farther down, another building was pointed out to be the expanded desalination plant. Mark said, "If we find fresh water down deep, we may not need this. We'll probably keep it as a pumping station regardless."
Chuck asked Mark, "Why would you think you would find good water? I know you've found natural gas and that is probably deep, but water?"
Mark said, "While we were drilling, we ran through the high aquifer where the brackish water is, but down another two hundred feet was a large body of water that could be good. The well drilling company has brought their equipment back out here and will begin drilling next Monday. We will know by the end of the week. Even if that aquifer is not very big, it might help with livestock water.
Almost at water's edge of the island was a cleared area with a lot of sophisticated equipment. Mark said, "This is the site of the first gas well. As you can see, we're developing a distribution pipe to carry gas to all of the buildings in this area. We have another well in the new neighborhood we are building."
Mark showed us the docks, then drove back up to the top of the hill, across a meadow road, and stopped at a clear spot to look down on a long expanse of island below. Mark pointed out the new runway and the progress being made to pave it. He said, "I know it may be overkill, but I'm using the same specs Tampa, Clearwater, and Orlando use for their runways so we should be able to accommodate very heavy aircraft. I doubt we will ever need it, but the runway will end up right at 15,000 feet. Even on the hottest days, we'll have enough runway for a big aircraft to take off. The overrun areas are not big, but the water down on the far end is shallow enough that if a plane did set down or over run, passengers wouldn't drown."
We rode down the hill, passing some large tanks that Mark explained were for aircraft and vehicle fuel. The aircraft fuel would be gravity fed and the regular vehicle fuel is like a self-service island. He explained that fuel was pumped up to the tanks from the dock at this end of the runway.
At the bottom of the hill, with the end of the runway and the dock in sight, we came around a group of trees to find two huge hangars. You had to look hard to see them as they were painted with a camouflage design. Mark said, "These two are the same size as your hangars in Tampa. Come on let me show you what we have."
Inside the hangar was more than one aircraft. There was the six passenger conventional high wing aircraft with pontoons. Next to it was one of the high wing LSAs we built back in Tampa, and on the other side of the hangar was a King Air turboprop. Mark said, "Gene flew the King Air in a couple of days ago. He had the Citation come pick him up and he felt you might want the King Air in case you needed to fly back to the states and not want to wait for someone to come for you."
We walked over to the LSA where Mark caressed the bird. "This is one that was built from Wes' and Gene's new high-wing design with one of my special engines in it. It's perfect for me to check out the island from the air and it has plenty of range for shopping trips to Limon. And," Mark paused for effect, I "want you to know that I commissioned and paid for this myself. It is not an S&S bird."
Chuck laughed and said, "You could have had me pay for it. Sounds like a good idea to have a small aircraft for utility trips. I think it's perfect for just what you have it for."
Mark showed us the new pontoon aircraft. It reminded you of a Cessna 185 with six seats and a large cargo area. Mark said, "Gene said that you have someone already qualified to fly this."
We all looked at each other, until Mark said, "Sue has the endorsement from when she received her reinstatement of her license back up in Alaska. Her instructor signed her off on pontoons and skis."
I said, "Oh yeah, she did do several landings and takeoffs up there. That's how she had enough hours to get her ticket back."
Chuck said, "Too bad she's not an instructor..." He stopped in mid-sentence and said, "She is an instructor pilot. She's been giving basic and instrument lessons for several years. Gene wouldn't even have to come down."
Mark said, "He has to bring the avionics installation guys down. We're making this place a real live airport, complete with the modern landing equipment necessary to bring someone in during heavy fog. We don't get it often, but when we do, it is thick."
After hearing that, I had to ask, "If you are going to be an airport, why the camouflage paint on the hangars?"
Mark said, "When you look at our runway from the air, you'll see. Or rather you won't see as it is being laid with the same colors as the sand, a pure camouflage. The operations building will be invisible as well, so if you are looking from the air or using a satellite, we aren't here. We've left as many trees as possible and we are planting more. The hangars and ops building should blend in. It's a perfect way to be left alone. Gene says that way we won't be getting moochers stopping by for a freebie when they say they ran low on fuel. The ILS avionics won't turn on without the proper radio signal. Once it's lit up, there will be nothing invisible about it. We have ALSF-3 lighting just like the big guys. Actually, that 737 you guys have should be able to land here without a problem. Heck, you could invite John Travolta to visit in his 747. You might have to get some kind of stairway for him, though. I don't think that aircraft comes with its own stairway."
We closed the hangar and rode in the passenger cart around the hill and began climbing on what looked like a new road. We came to another large meadow with FEMA trailers on one side, and what looked to be a dozen or more houses in some stage of being built on the far side. Mark said, "This is our village for S&S people. If you notice, we didn't crowd the FEMA trailers together, giving them some room in between. They look pretty nice among all those trees."
We drove over to the houses and found that they were all townhouse duplexes. Mark said, "If we build fifteen of these that will house thirty families. If the single guys stay in the trailers, we'll have enough housing for workers for a long time without upsetting the balance you have around the main house. I'm trying to keep everything hidden. But like I told you, Chuck, we are in need of some form of sewage disposal. I'll show you one of my ideas that may work and won't stink up the place."
We drove around a road that continued from the housing meadow to another ten to fifteen acre meadow that looked to be freshly tilled and planted. Mark told us, "This is the new produce area. We're going to have rotating crops out of here the entire year, the same as the original garden. This should be enough to feed all of the additional people here, including more workers and some for the island residents to use for barter in Limon. The main garden is keeping up so far, but it's a stretch. We probably need more livestock too, but more land will have to be cleared. The one thing we have is good grasslands for stock. I'm having to learn agriculture as I go. I've never paid that much attention to the needs of a farmer."
Mark pointed to a row of concrete bases along the lower edge of the meadow and said, "This will be another wind farm to supply power to this side of the island. I doubt if we will have a backup generator at all."
From this point, we rode on around the hill until we reached the road that looked down on the bay where the boats were. The big Irish Bell was turning to dock on the other side of the big dock or pier where the Lucky Lady was tied up. Steve said, "Let's run down and help them with the lines. I didn't know they were coming out today."
As we rode down to the docks, the bus came up behind us, along with some of the truck type carts. When we reached the dock, some of our women got out of the bus and headed for the Lucky Lady. Sue told me in passing that they were here to get clothes to stay at the house.
Chuck, Dewey, and I helped tie up the big motor yacht. As soon as they shut down, crewmen were setting up the boarding ladder. This was classic to have all of these people from so many different cultures mixed together. There was English Julie; the Irish family; the Italian sisters and kids; the Asian sisters; the local island people; the girls from Limon; Juanita, our Cuban; and of course a whole bunch of us USA types.
We didn't have room to carry much luggage, but we could take a couple of bags. We rode back up to the big house and went inside to enjoy some afternoon iced tea. Mina told us that most of the others had already eaten lunch, but she had plenty to serve us if we would like to go out to the porch near the kitchen door.
We had some excellent vegetable soup and some kind of chicken salad sandwich on home-made bread. A guy could get used to this, but I had to admit, I was always treated like a king back home at the park.
Mark began talking about the coming project, and Chuck said, "Let me talk to Ben to make sure everything is set before we make any more plans. He's still here, right, Mark?"
Mark rolled his eyes and said, "He's here, probably still upstairs with his housekeeper. That man is not young enough to keep up with that one."
At that very instant, Ben, Beth, and Carlotta came out of the house. Ben had a shit eating grin on his face, and I swear Beth was swinging her backside a lot more than usual. The sexy Carlotta slithered up to Chuck and kissed him full on the lips, "Are you going to help Mr. Ben and Miss Beth take care of me this trip? Am I going to have to compete with your little girl housekeepers?"
Beth laughed and said, "Down, Girl, we just did you every which way we could and you still want more?"
Carlotta purred, "You know I always want more. I never get enough. Who is this handsome man? You look like you could help a needy girl. Would you want to see my room?"
It was my turn to blush and laugh, "No Ma'am, I already have a bunch of women to take care of. Perhaps the Captain of the Irish Bell could loan you a few crewmen if Ben and Beth would allow it."
Beth really surprised me, when she said in a husky whisper not intended to be heard by many, "If we get to watch and join in, that could be fun."
My mother-in-law and my father-in-law were really kinky people when they were away from home.
Rosalita came to Chuck, and asked him to accompany the boat girls down to boat so they could talk. Mark told Chuck, "There are no keys to our vehicles, just flip the switch and push up to start. Bring it back up here when you're done."
Chuck
So far the day had been a good one. Mark's guided tour of the island and improvements were impressive. Now I was taking the four boat girls back to their boat. Lisa jumped into the cart to ride down to the boat with us.
At the boat, we went into the small, but very nice salon they had. All of the girls were in front of me, including Lisa. It was Rosalita who stepped forward and took my hands in hers. She kissed me softly on the lips and said, "Saturday, I will be another's. I will marry and be a good wife and mother for the rest of our lives together. Before that happens and before you barter for me, I want one last time in your arms. I want to feel your love one more time. Please, Mr. Chuck, ah, Chuck, give me your love one more time."
With Lisa in front of me with the other girls, I almost panicked. I shouldn't have worried about it, since Lisa was grinning as broadly as the other girls. Rosalita pulled me toward the stairway or ladder to the master cabin. There, the dark beauty undressed me carefully, kissing each newly exposed area. I kept thinking that I should be doing the undressing and savoring her beauty. When I was stripped, she stood smiling at me, so I began to do to her as she had done to me. That was very exciting.
Rosalita and I made love. That's the only way to describe what happened. Yes, we pleasured each other with our hands, our mouths, and our special parts. When we were out of breath, swimming in our juices, lethargic, and kissing softly, Rosalita said, "We all love you for rescuing us. We love you because you gave us honor, by truly hiring us without reservation, to take care of this boat, this prized possession. You have given us the English to speak and you have given us education. I am lucky to also have my new love that will keep me the rest of my life, but I needed to feel your love one more time. Thank you, Chuck."
I had no words; I just softly kissed the young beauty. She surprised me by hollering, "I'm done, come get him."
The door opened and four more naked women, that included Lisa, entered the cabin. They pounced on me, true statement, I mean they jumped up in the air and all four of the girls landed on poor Rosalita and me, a real pile on. Both of us were covered in kisses from our eyes to our very wet lower parts. My interest raged and I was soon making love to the other three boat girls with Lisa's help, until my love was the last to hold me in that special way. We loved, we rutted, we flat out fucked, then loved some more, until I released into her once again. As we held each other, Lisa said, "I love you, Stud. I'm sure glad you like help with your women."
That put a smile on my face as well as the others. I was directed to the shower for a quick clean up and re-dressed, as the girls cleaned up too. When we were topside again, they told me they had many wedding things to work on yet today and tomorrow, before they would meet me at the pre-wedding party tomorrow night.
Lisa and I helped untie them from the dock and watched as they expertly maneuvered the big boat from the dock and out to open water. Watching it go, Lisa said, "I wonder if the three of them left will be able to handle the boat. I thought you had a crew for the boat?"
I said, "They do, Lisa, but I think they wanted to do this alone today. I believe they didn't want any witnesses to what just happened."
Lisa gave me a kiss, "You're such a stud, let's go up and tease the condo girls for a while. You know they are staying tonight, right?"
I sighed as there would probably be no way to handle those four along with mine. I should advertise for a young stud to help me out. But then, I love trying to satisfy all of them, and they do help each other out.
Back at the house, there was some excitement as Dewey told me, "Mark, Sue, and Steve are down at the hangar, getting ready to fly the float plane. Sue is going to check Steve out and will probably fly over the house any minute."
A small float plane with big pontoons did fly over the house, wagging its wings before heading down toward the water. Lisa and I jumped into the cart and rode down to the hangar. I showed her the LSA and the King Air in the hangar. She said, "Hell, if the runway is good enough for that, you can bring your Citation in here."
I told Lisa, "Mark told me Gene has already been down here in the Citation and will be coming down again in a day or two.
We watched as the aircraft made about six waterlandings and takeoffs again. When they finally pulled up to the dock, Steve and Mark got out and yelled, "Come on, get checked out in this thing. It's easy if you pay attention. Mark and Sue are good instructors."
Lisa and I went to the aircraft and Mark got back in. Sue said, "We'll all have to learn to do an appropriate pre-flight inspection on this, but I'll bet you won't have any trouble starting this."
The cockpit mirrored an instrumented 172. Lisa went through the startup procedure by the numbers and soon had us moving out from the dock. Sue guided her across the smooth lagoon until the airspeed indicator was right. The aircraft had a lot of power and climbed rapidly. We did the tour of the house and docks from the air and turned to land on the lagoon where we had taken off from.
Mark and Sue gave Lisa guidance as she landed and both proclaimed Lisa a natural. We repeated the process five more times, until Sue said as we landed the last time, "Let's get Chuck in the left seat, and I think I'll swap with Mark."
I think the hardest part of taking off was pushing away from the dock and jumping onto the pontoon to climb into the cockpit. After starting the engine, I did the warm up, taxing to the end of the area designated to start from. There were two small buoys to mark the spot. Mark said, "It doesn't hurt if you run over the buoys. They are anchored and you just slide over them or push them aside."
You can't hold this aircraft back. You set flaps, push the throttle in, and this plane gets up and honks. It got up "on the step" (hydroplaning) smoothly and quickly, soon after that we took off easily in a very short distance. I kept thinking that this type of aircraft could be sold to those crazy bush pilots up in Alaska and Canada. I did five landings, and after taking off the last time, Mark told me to tour the island and we would also check out our surprise project.
When we hit the southwest end of the island, we flew over a very wide shallow channel and continued to fly over another island. This one was not as large as the one Julie gave me, and the terrain was not as hilly. Mark directed me to the third island in the chain that was farther south than the second. This island was big, very big; probably twice the size of Julie's or our island. There were some structures on it, but nothing fancy. I did a complete circle around the island, getting a feel for the terrain. It had a couple of hills that were not as tall as the ones on our island. It did look to have several meadows, and what appeared to be a large pond or small lake on the south end.
On the way back to our island, I toured the middle island again to get a better feel for it before heading toward our landing lagoon. As we landed, Mark said, "Turn and head for that boat ramp. Don't worry; the wheels will take over as you ease up on the ramp. Stop by those big water tanks so we can rinse the salt water off."
As we washed the aircraft and pontoons, making sure we opened the hatch over the tires and washed that area thoroughly, Mark told Steve who had been waiting for us, "Hope you don't mind, but I've been flying more than the LSA down here. They aren't as strict as the U.S. and I'm taking advantage of it. If I feel like I might be having a problem, I won't fly, I promise."
Sue said, "So does this mean Gene won't come down?"
Mark laughed, " Not a chance. He has to bring the ILS installation techs. They are going to set up two weather stations, one at the house and one down at the hangar. We will be able to check in both directions and exchange information via telemetry. Kind of neat, since we have radios at the house so anyone coming in can check on wind speed and direction. We don't have a crosswind runway, but I'm told the prevailing winds are almost always south to north or north to south. That's probably how the island became long the way it is."
As we rode up to the house after putting the plane in the hangar, Steve asked, "What are you going to do with those other two islands? Do you really want to get involved with that much property down here?"
I told him, "Too late, I already bought them and have some surveyors and architects on the way to help make some plans. Wait until after dinner, I'll get Ben, Dewey, and us together, and Mark and I will explain our plan."
We had a great supper of lamb, prepared with Mina's special recipe. It was sweet, juicy, and tender. Better than any lamb I've ever eaten. The vegetables were all fresh, from the romaine for the salad, all the way to some peas and carrots served with dinner. We had some mashed potatoes that Miguel said was their first batch of potatoes, but not the last, as they had more than an acre planted in three varieties of spuds. Mark said, "I've taught them to plant onions too. They were only growing green onions and buying the others. We should have our own onions in about another month."
Julie was proud of the way the island was coming along. I mentioned to her, "Do you want to see it from the air? We'll go take a short look around in the little aircraft down in the hangar. I want to show you what we plan."
Mark said, "Take my LSA it hasn't been flown in a couple of days."
Julie was eager to get going and said, "We have about another hour of good daylight, if we're going to be able to see, we need to go."
We went to the hangar and pushed the little LSA aircraft out. After a quick inspection, I started the powerful Rotax like engine Mark had created and headed to the runway. We were aloft in seconds. Using our headsets I told Julie, "I'm not going to show you our island first. You know what it looks like, so I want you to see the other two."
Julie asked, "Are you doing something with the other islands? The cell tower is on the south end of the middle one but that's about it. There might be a family or two still living there, but that's all. The south island is big, more than twice as big as ours, but there are not many people who live there and they are very primitive. A couple of years ago, several of their cabins caught fire and most moved away. They don't grow much of their own food and depend on Limon for almost everything."
As we passed over the middle island, I asked, "Doesn't that look like a hell of place for a couple of golf courses. There could be a big clubhouse on far end."
Julie gasped into her headset, "Is that what you're thinking? A golf course?"
"There's more." As I did the tour of the big island, I said, "There can be another golf course on this island, but I thought that three big resorts would really be neat. We could have about a thousand rooms between three buildings and cabanas, with some more primitive cabanas down on the east side that will be hard to reach. Those would be for newlyweds or for people who wanted total privacy. There would be tennis courts and swimming pools, along with all of the expensive resort stuff. We would probably need a staff of about five hundred to take care of the two islands. Julie, they didn't want hardly anything for these two islands compared to their value. The owners were being pushed to put services on the islands and to improve them. I'm not only going to do all of that, but will have the perfect place to sell all of the produce and livestock we can grow. We can probably use some of the middle island for more crops or livestock. Can you picture it in your mind?"
"My God, Chuck, that is a wonderful dream. Are you really thinking of doing this?"
"It's already done, Julie. The only thing left is some paper signing and those two islands are ours. I have Dewey to rely on for developing the resorts, since he has so much experience, and I think there are some investors from Holland who might be interested in the project. I just have to find out how many people can be on the island at the same time and keep it fun for the patrons."
I was coming around to land and was beginning to lose the light. The camouflaged runway was a little tricky. I was thinking it will be good when the runway lights can be turned on. That is when the runway lit up for me. Hmm, a mindreading runway, why not?
I taxied right up to the hangar and spun around to be able to push the aircraft inside. I found the low fuel card and stuck it on the dash. I'm sure anyone flying around the islands would make sure they had a full tank of fuel.
When we got out, Mark came and helped me push the aircraft into the hangar. He asked me, "Well, what does Julie think of the idea?"
Julie heard him and walked over to us, "That is almost an impossible dream. If I didn't know how Chuck seems to make things happen, I would never believe it. This will be a huge economic benefit for the whole country. It is exciting."
Julie and I rode up to the house, with Mark driving a cart behind us. We parked among a row of carts and went inside. As soon as we entered the big den, or club room, as Julie called it, I saw the band and kids with instruments set up on the far end of the room, on the other side of the pool table. When Lisa hollered for me to join them, I waved and said, "Mark and I have to talk to Steve and Dewey first."
We cornered Ben, along with Steve and Dewey, and led them to the kitchen table for some privacy. When the others were sitting, Mark pulled out some copies of the outline of the three islands. I began telling my cohorts what my plans were, and generally where things would be located.
I showed them the three resort areas, and a central building that would house an additional restaurant, nightclub, and shops. I showed how we could join the two islands together across the very shallow channel. Mark said he was getting a study done on it right now. He said there was no tidal flow through the channel, so we wouldn't be fighting that.
I showed them how I thought we could have two PGA worthy golf courses on the middle island and where a big clubhouse and small premium resort could be. Then I hit them, "Dewey, Steve, I want you to do this with me. Dewey, I need your resort knowledge and perhaps some money. Steve, the same from you, as you know about business, and I don't. Dewey, what do you think about inviting our friends from Amsterdam to join us? They might be an asset for northern European tourist traffic.
Ben said, "We don't need any more investors. As a group, we have enough to do this. If we need some more financing, we'll invite Tiny and the 401K plan in."
I told Ben, "I think we could use the expertise and knowledge of the Amsterdam guys, as they know quality hostelries. We have to make sure this is the best of the best to keep the place full all year long."
Dewey said, "We'll see. Let's begin getting all of the numbers together and work on it. We need to get some surveyors and architects out here, along with some geologists and engineers."
Mark was grinning, "They will all be here Monday. The same geologist that found the gas said there are probably good gas deposits under the big island as well. We just saved ourselves a stack of bucks right there. If it works out, we'll build a pipeline to Limon and sell gas to the distributors there."
Steve said, "I don't really know how Sue and I are fixed, but I'm in. Ben says I have money, so let's invest it. This is a bigger deal than the Hawaiian and Alaskan stuff. I want to do this."
Dewey said, "So if Chuck owns the land, how are we going to make this equal shares?"
I told Dewey, "Easy. We set up a schedule for the buildings and I'll wait until we get to the amount of the land purchase before I begin helping to the finance the build out."
Steve and Dewey were nodding, Mark was grinning, and Ben was rubbing his hands together. I felt as if he would cackle at any second, he, he, he.
I told the group, "This is a preliminary meeting. We'll go up and do a fly over tomorrow and walk the properties Saturday and Sunday. I'll have ownership tomorrow. As soon as I pay the existing owners and some taxes on the land, I'll have title."
All of us stood and I could tell Julie was still in shock. As soon as we walked out into the big club room, Gina grabbed Julie as she could see she needed to be calmed down. I made my way to the music group and was handed my electric guitar. Lisa said, "Come on, we need to practice the two pieces these people loved when we were down here the last time. We'll just make it a bigger production."
When I looked at her funny she said, "You did a Hendrix on Summertime and Somewhere over the Rainbow. I remember because that was the most back shivering, leg wetting guitar riffs I've ever heard you play. See if you can do it now, just not as loud."
Lisa gave a lead in on keyboard, with Kenny doing a chord run on the bass, as I used the low frets picking almost at my fingers for notes so high, they hurt. As it progressed, I softened it up a little and slid my fingers a little. That's when I heard Kenny and noticed him playing the newly acquired fretless Harmony. Kenny was making it sing.
The second time through, Corine and Bonita added amped up violins, while Lizzy and Carlos added harmonica. About halfway through, the entire rhythm guitar group filled in harmony as Dan began augmenting with the B-3. These guys had been practicing.
With all of the support, I began to get squirrely and farther and farther out of it, but Fred was holding the theme together. Kenny caught my attention and motioned me to quiet and soften. That's when tears came to my eyes as Lisa's husky singing voice sang the sweet lullaby words with the three women doing backup. My goodness, this was a production. The piece was still pretty tight when Fred and I brought the theme to a synched close.
When the last note was played, and the last sustain quieted, the room was perfectly quiet. It was Jack that broke the silence. He clapped his hands in applause and said, "And I have it all in memory. In a couple of seconds I will have every track on disc, and I don't think I need to do much on it before it goes commercial."
Lisa was smiling and asked, "So, how do you like our production. I knew you would fall right into the mood as soon as those first notes were out and you did. That was really cool."
I asked, "Are we going to do the same thing with Alice in Wonderland?"
Kenny said, "Probably not right now, but it is a thought to put some stuff like that together for a special album of the Lucky Lady Blues Band."
The people in the room came over to us to tell us how beautiful and freaky we had just played. I'm sure they were as shocked as I was the way the group had put the whole piece together.
Kenny said, "We've practice a dozen or so pieces that will be perfect for dancing. We'll do our show ballads and a couple of medium rock blues pieces, and that should cover about two hours which should be good enough for a freebie."
I told the group, "Thank you all. You know that tomorrow night is a pre-nuptial party, that precedes the Saturday wedding and reception, and that is followed by the after wedding party on Sunday that gets a little drunk and risqué. If you guys want, we could play some of the wacky ornery blues pieces we all know on Sunday and be a hit. The people understand English enough to get some laughs. If we can, I'd like to practice something sweet for a first couple of dances for the new couple and for the father, oh yeah, that might be me, to dance to. Anyway, two good ballads with some feeling would be good. Commercial stuff will be fine."
Kenny, Dan, and Fred went over to Lisa and the four began going through the laptop with the fake book and MIDI that had been relocated from the boat.
I enjoyed a couple of drinks while the band practiced a couple of nice slow tunes. I think the kids were finally recognizing that playing good music can be a lot of work. The dedicated kids like Bonita, Corine, and Lizzy didn't mind the stress, but the other kids needed to take a long break, like an all-night break, to recover from the practice. Lisa and the three singing wives were having some fun singing some old Andrews sisters songs while the others tried to fill in behind them. This is what a bunch of music freaks do, they have fun with the music. I ended up playing with the group until it was long past all of our bedtimes. We closed up and sent our dedicated kid musicians to bed.
Jack stopped me and asked, "Do you know if they have a good video shop in Limon? If I had a video of our practice tonight, I think it would have been instantly sellable. I want to set up a bunch of cameras so I can do an edit of a couple of cuts."
"I'll find out in the morning, Jack. You did good capturing what you did."
Jack smiled, "Hey Man, using that controller makes it child's play to get a good cut."
By the time I stripped for bed, we were all bone tired. We didn't have jet lag, so I guess it was boat and people lag.
Primary Editing by Pepere
Proofing and Continuity by Sagacious
European tours, by Rotorhead
Another set of eyes – Knight6
Last one through - Deenara2000