Chuck
Sailing in the north-flowing Gulf Stream, angling east toward the UK is really nice. The weather settled down to a breezy 50 to 70 degrees with a constant 15 to 25 knot wind. When the sky was clear, we manned the outdoor helm and the sun deck was busy during the afternoon.
We would be picking up the North Atlantic current for a while before we split off toward the southern United Kingdom. As it was still winter, we would be getting into some cold weather soon. When we left the North Atlantic current, we could be subjected to some of the winter storms that exist off the coast of Ireland...
The kids enjoyed the time running and playing out on deck. Lisa and I worked out and sparred on the area behind the rear observation deck. The kids began imitating Lisa and me, so we held classes for those that wanted to learn a form of martial arts.
To my surprise, Taiying and Sing became our helpers as both of the sisters had extensive training in Wushu, a form of Kung Fu. As the sisters taught the kids the beginning forms, they taught Lisa and me forms suited to our more advanced abilities. The sisters were excellent partners to spar with, as they were quick and agile. It is exciting and a pleasure to be able to defend yourself against two attackers. One time, Lisa joined them and I tried to defend against three attackers. The activity was so intense, that real blows were landed by all four of us, until Taiying called a halt to our pretend match. All four of us suffered some deep bruises.
That was the bad thing. The good part was that Taiying and Sing were outstanding masseuses. Their training in China encompassed how to relax the body and its muscles. Their ability to soothe aches and pains was wonderful. Their caressing often degenerated into a four person free for all that Lisa encouraged, as she would be overwhelmed with the attentions of the sisters. It was during one of these massages that the Fab Five wandered into the cabin to see what we were up to.
As soon as Brandy saw the nude sisters giving us massages, clothes flew everywhere and soon there was intense activity between eight ladies. They all seemed to enjoy spreading oil over each other using their hands, and often their breasts, to mop across another's front or back. Watching their activity was very stimulating.
That day, Nancy migrated to me and was soon joined with me until she was satisfied and smiling. As she wormed her way back into the female mix, Brandy separated herself and became my lover for a while. Over time, Judy, Tiani, and Frieda took a turn enjoying some time with me, until the five decided to shower and go help prepare supper.
Taiying, Sing, and Lisa were lying back grinning and cuddling each other. I took the opportunity to orally worship the three with lots of kisses and tongue caresses. Very shortly, my maleness was required to satisfy their need for that kind of pleasure.
When Lisa and I were totally satisfied, the two sisters snuggled behind Lisa and me, holding us. We enjoyed a short nap while holding each other, with Lisa and me face to face.
When I opened my eyes, Lisa was smiling at me. My mind was flooded with loving thoughts. I kept hearing Lisa tell me, "I love you, Chuck." I smiled back, trying to convey to her that I loved her in return. When I mentally moved our relationship toward a lifetime commitment, Lisa smiled and flooded my mind with pictures of many pregnant women and lots of babies and children running around.
When my face showed how startled I was, Lisa giggled softly and continued assaulting my mind with these huge family gatherings. I closed my eyes to better see the images, and could see Lisa in the center of the activity holding two babies, one to each breast.
That's when I realized all of the women and children in the images were nude. The infants wore diapers, but many children, and all of the ladies, were nude. There were more women than I could grasp. I recognized most of them, but who were all these others? That's when Lisa whispered to my brain, "You will be my man, but you will also be the leader of many."
I didn't know what that meant, but right then, the grinning faces of Mercy and Missy came into focus as they observed the gathering. Lisa hugged me to her, kissing my lips as all of the images faded.
As I opened my eyes, Lisa asked, "Did you like our future? We're going to be busy, aren't we?"
While Lisa and I kissed, I was being kissed on the back of my neck by Sing, who was now behind me. She was rubbing herself against my butt, while kissing and nibbling on my neck and shoulders.
Lisa and I turned to our backs, pulling a sister on top of each of us. Lisa said, "You two have been a joy to have with us. You are teaching us new forms and have wonderful hands to cure us of our aches."
Taiying said, "We enjoy all that we do with you and with the others. This vacation has become very naughty, as we have intimacies with some of the women almost every day, and almost every night we get to enjoy you, Chuck. Sing and I want to give you pleasure in return. We love to pleasure Lisa as well, because she is so attentive to us."
Sing backed up what Taiying said with, "Oh yes, we love to be loved by both of you. You make us feel so special."
Lisa said, "We need to get cleaned up since it will soon be time for supper. Chuck and I need to practice a little also. Come on, let's shower."
After an invigorating shower, Lisa and I went up to the main salon and opened our guitar cases to practice a few pieces of music written by Pop and Rags. The two had listened to our recordings of their work and that inspired them to create even more for us. While we were working through one of the pieces, Lizzy was slouched back on a couch, giving her harmonica expression of the piece of music's theme.
Liz's contribution to the music was so good, that Lisa kicked me gently to make sure it had gotten my attention. I just nodded at her as I let the bass I was playing accent the Gibson that Lisa really had wailing.
Bonita came up to the salon and sat down at the keyboard. She was standing so she could look over Lisa's shoulder to read the music, but Bonita was also playing. She was playing the keyboard using the Hammond B3 voice. We really sounded good.
Lisa called a halt and said, "Chuck, take this downstairs and run off several copies. I want to set up the controller real quick and we'll do this over again. Pop has lyrics, but the theme is too good for words at first. We'll try it as background to some vocals later, but I want a recording of what we just sounded like."
I ran down two decks and used the copier to make six copies of the music. Back upstairs, I could see that Lisa had positioned some mikes for us. Since Lisa, Bonita, and I were connected to the controller directly from the amps, I didn't understand the mikes.
Liz had her acoustic guitar out and her harmonica brace around her neck. I passed out copies of the music and Lisa said, "Play now, one, two, three, four."
We went right into the theme together, with Liz picking up in the second frame. When we came back to the beginning, Lisa began singing. We then did the whole piece, and as we came around again, Lisa was nodding at me. I sang, as that's what I thought she wanted. The whole time Lisa was really wailing with some far out muted blues riffs.
As we came to the end, Lisa motioned at me and pointed at herself too. This time through, we played and sang together. The piece was not tear jerking blues, but did have a good blues feel. When we came through the last reframe this time, Lisa was smiling and nodding, and brought us to a close.
"Now that's what I'm talkin' about," Lisa gushed. "Wow! That is so good. I need to work on configuring this controller to get some brass. Maybe if I send this to Pop and Rags, they can dub some brass in for us. It needs some percussion too."
I had put my bass down and was picking at my electric. Lisa whipped out a piece of music and said, "This is exactly for you. Play this through once to see what I'm thinking. You might even want to use a slide on it."
After picking through the piece the first run through, followed by playing chords the second time, I began to get the feel, sliding to the next sustained note while picking the next bar, pulling and tugging strings. By the fourth time through, I was lost. The piece had some neat catches in it that made you keep reading the music to get the nuances of the tricky rhythm. As I played, I heard the keyboard playing that beautiful mellow Rhodes tone. Lisa was sitting at the keyboard as Bonita was strumming her guitar for a rhythm background. Liz was cool as there was only a sixteen bar area that really begged for harmonica, but she heard it and filled right in. That section was filled with areas that demanded I use a slide to move from key to key while still sustaining. Combined with the harmonica and the keyboard, this was a good sounding piece.
When we finished, Bonita stood up and put her hands on her hips. "You have to teach me to play your bass. That music needs bass and drums. We're going to have to do something about that. If Lisa won't play the bass, then I'll do it. That just means you have to teach me and help me practice."
"Bonita? When are you going to have time to practice bass along with piano, guitar, and violin? Don't you think you're doing enough?" I asked this while squinting at the little girl.
Bonita replied, "I'll just make time. I practice my violin first thing in the morning, because all the kids are upstairs and I can use the crew galley then. I practice and teach piano after I play outside some, and practice my guitar before lunch. I try to save the afternoons so I can come play with you and Lisa when you're doing something. You can teach me bass right after lunch. I know you have your good bass, but you also have that other bass Lisa bought you."
Lisa commented, "You also have the spare five string fretted bass in the cabinet here and that double-neck bass that has frets. That might be easier for Bonita to learn on. Just use the four string neck and ignore the six string."
"Okay," I said to Bonita, "I'll try to separate some music for a bass with some progressions. I'll make up a scale chart. The fingering isn't the same as a guitar, Bonita, but if you do practice both instruments everyday, you'll begin to not even think about what instrument you're playing, you'll just play."
Bonita said, "I'll bet it's like learning to play the piano with both hands. You practice and practice, then one day your hands are working by themselves without you even thinking about it. If you teach me, Chuck, I'll learn."
Lisa said, "Okay, Twerp." Lisa had directed that to Bonita. "If you're going to get some lessons from Chuck, I guess I better learn too. You and me, Bonita, we'll learn together."
Lizzy was grinning at us and said, "Bonita's been teaching me piano, maybe one of you two can teach me some piano too."
Lisa said, "That is what I had planned for all the kids. I guess I better get with the program. We only have two keyboards, so we're going to have to assign practice times."
Bonita said, "You forgot about the good Yamaha keyboard we have in the crew galley and dining area."
"It's good that you will do that," Bonita continued. "I'm trying to teach everyone but they all want to practice at the same time. If we can use this keyboard up here, that will help."
Lisa said, "I think I'll have Rags ship a couple more used keyboards to Ireland so we'll have more to practice with. There's plenty of room in the crew quarters for two keyboards and plenty of room in the big lounge for two. The kids are going to be using headphones most of the time anyway."
I had to smile at the enthusiasm there was for music. When I looked around, most of the other kids were sitting around in the salon waiting to be able to join in playing.
Lisa and I gave all the kids some music and we practiced going through the music a few times before we tried to put it all together. Our version of what Pop and Rags had written took on a whole new flavor with the acoustic harmony that backed up the electric theme. Once again we could feel the need for some brass, sax, and percussion.
When Maria came to the top of the stairs to announce supper, the adults that were listening almost seemed disappointed. As everyone put their instruments into their cases to go below, little Dewey came to me. "I want to learn how to play the bass guitar. I like my Strat that dad got for me, but I think I would really like to learn bass."
Liz, Bonita, and Lisa were still with me in the salon, and Lisa told Dewey, "You'll learn with Bonita and me. I'll make sure Chuck finds you when he's going to teach us." Lisa turned to me, "Looks like you now need to teach someone how to play drums."
I told them, "That's even more time consuming. To play right, you have to learn to play the rudiments. They are like scales for the other instruments. There are the original 26 rudiments that have evolved into the basic 28, and now there are a suggested 40 rudiments to become proficient at. I suppose I could do it, but whoever I teach will really have to want to learn. It's going to take a lot of practice."
Bonita said, "I know who would be good to teach drums to, Tom. He's always playing his "air" drums and tapping his fingers to the music. Just watch him when we're practicing, and you'll see him drumming his fingers on his guitar body while he listens to you guys teaching."
Little Dewey said, "Bill would be good too. He has a play set that he got with a video game. He doesn't know how to play right, but he sure tries. I'll bet if you were to teach him the correct way to play, he would practice."
Lisa laughed, "Okay, Chuck, let's see. You have guitar lessons, piano lessons, bass lessons, and now drum lessons. Along with the martial arts lessons for all of us, you won't have time for anything else."
Maria was standing at the top of steps with her hands on her hips again, "Will you guys come to supper? Martin is waiting for you to say the prayer."
We hustled downstairs, washed our hands, and stood behind our chairs at our tables. Martin said a short prayer, and Dewey said "Amen," followed by "Dig in."
During supper, Lisa told the other grownups about what had transpired with people wanting to learn bass, and how it had also been recommended that I could teach a couple of kids drums too.
Sheena said, "You have to teach Billy. He has a little electronic trap set that came with a video game that he has beat to death. He's frustrated because he doesn't know how to do a lot of the beats that he hears. If you teach him, I'll bet he'll practice."
Mercy was laughing, "That describes Tommy too. His sisters are always bugging him to quit drumming his fingers on anything they touch. He's really good pretending he's playing the drums too. I know he listens to recordings of drummers all the time."
I mentioned, "Those are the two Bonita and Dewey recommended. I suppose some lessons are in order. We'll have to work hard so they can learn and excel. Learning how to play drums correctly isn't very easy and it doesn't come overnight. It takes a lot of practice, even with natural rhythm ability."
Dewey smiled, "Hey, the kids have a lot of extra time right now, so if you can stand having every day filled with music and kids, teach them. We'll make sure to get them professional teachers when we get back home, just like we did with the guitars."
Brandy said, "I always wanted to learn to play an instrument, but never took the time. Perhaps Bonita can spend some time with me to begin teaching me the piano. I know she taught herself a lot when she first began, but most of all, she practiced almost continuously. I hear her playing at home all the time. I know she plays the keyboard in the lounge down here a lot too."
Lisa said, "My daddy used to teach me how to play for hours on end. Afterward, when he would go out to play in the evenings, I would practice until bedtime. Momma never got tired of me trying to learn to play. She would always hug me and say, "Play some more, sweet Lisa child." I think that's why I love to play so much. It makes me closer to both my dad and to momma."
The next day, and until we reached Ireland, after finishing an early shift at the helm or after breakfast, I began with the mass guitar class. There was extra excitement in our group practice lately, because we were learning to play riffs along with speed and sight-reading of music. The classes were so busy that we were always running over the hour I said we would use to learn.
Next was some outdoor time with Taiying and Sing. Lisa and I taught some basic forms to the kids followed by Taiying and Sing teaching the kids more Kung Fu forms, stances, and lunges.
From eleven to one, Lisa gave piano lessons to those who wanted instruction, while I talked to the office to make sure everything was going well. I would spell Lisa afterwards to expose the kids to a second way of being taught.
After lunch, I taught Bonita, Lisa, and Dewey the basics of the bass. Since all three were good with the guitar, it didn't take long for them to get the basics. At the end of the first lesson, I had them playing some decent bass progressions. They just needed to practice so they would know what tone came from what string with their fingers placed at the different frets. Lisa seemed to be a natural with the fretless. She picked up how and where to put her fingers on the fret board for the note she wanted very fast. We began by pulling or plucking strings. I would teach them picking and tapping later.
Around one thirty Tom, Bill, and Stevie gathered with me to learn drum rudiments. Thank goodness the electronic drum pads had individual stands so the kids could use them individually and stand up to practice. That's the best way to learn and practice rudiments.
Everyday, I would go over the rudiments we were practicing, having each play them for me and introduce a couple more. The kids were being good about practicing as I could tell they were improving. Little Bonita, insisted on learning as well, but didn't practice as much as the other kids. She said she just needed to learn so she would know what to expect from a drummer when they played together.
After a workout in the gym, Lisa and I would practice together, followed by practicing with all the kids in a mass group. I was now required to hook up the electronic drums so we could sample a beat similar to the samples stored in the controller. The kids all wanted to use the drum set after practice too. That was what the real attraction was. It was a good thing they could play using the headphones or else we would have very quickly been banished from the salon.
After supper, the kids, Lisa, and I would play for the adults what we had practiced and learned, followed by playing various pieces from the fake books. After the kids went to bed, Lisa or I or both of us would usually play some keyboard and guitars just for our own entertainment. We entertained everyone else also, but we were mostly doing it for ourselves.
As we neared Ireland, Lisa said, "The kids are getting really good. I think I can play bass for almost anything we play now, and I think Dewey and Bonita can too. Dewey has been practicing a lot with the bass as well as on his guitar. You were right about the drums. Even with all their natural talent, it's taking the kids longer to learn to play than they had thought. Stevie seems to be progressing the fastest. It's probably because of his better coordination as the oldest."
I said, "When the kids are just having fun on the trap set, Tom and Bill seem to be more inventive with the sticks. Stevie is trying to use what he's learned from the rudiments to play the trap set. He'll get smoother faster than the other two, although he seems ragged and stiffer now. All of them could back us up now if we wanted. We'll begin letting them play some quiet background with us."
We had made great time, and on day fifteen, the day before we were to reach Dublin, Steve hollered at me from the indoor helm while I was giving drum lessons. "Hey, Chuck, come look at this."
Steve pointed at a radar target less than ten miles off our aft port that appeared to be coming straight for us. "What do you think of that, Chuck?"
"I don't know, I don't think they have pirates here. Why don't you call your friend here in Ireland and ask him about it."
Steve nodded and picked up the sat phone. From my side, I heard, "Hey Mac, this is Steve, Steve Sharp. We're getting close and should land there about ten in the morning. Thanks, I'd appreciate the meet."
There was a pause before Steve asked, "I have a question. Has there been any strange stuff going on out on the water?" After a pause, "Yeah, ask Brutus, he might know."
In a couple of seconds, Steve said, "Hey, Brutus, what do I have to be aware of out here on the water approaching Ireland?"
Steve listened then said, "Okay, but you think we should be ready just in case. Thanks, Brutus, and I appreciate you calling the authorities. Our boat is called "Lucky Lady." We'll see you in the morning."
Steve turned to me and said, "Brutus says that there are a couple of old IRA groups that refuse to assimilate into society the way the others have. One is reported to be out in this area, but so far have only harassed some fishing boats and robbed a couple of big cruisers. What do you think?"
I said, "Let's prepare our welcoming committee. If they get weird, we'll end it real quick. If they are agreeable and leave, we'll just forget about it. Let me get the girls. Have Dewey take over the controls."
Lisa was up in the salon with the kids taking drum lessons, and when I briefed her, she immediately began getting the kids below. I also went below and began rounding up the women who handled guns. Back in the salon, I told them all to put their vests on outside of their clothes so people could see the vests, and for as many as possible to get shotguns with one explosive shell and the rest regular buckshot. Those with rifles should only need one or two magazines.
Steve, Lisa, and I each took a rifle and handgun, along with the appropriate magazines, then showed the ladies where we wanted them to stand. As an afterthought, I got out the fifty with two magazines of five explosive rounds each. The women were to be positioned so they could be partially seen, but still have cover. Steve, Lisa, and I would be more obvious out by the railing, but would have our rifles standing against the rails.
I told Steve and Lisa that our plan would be to use the bullhorn to converse with the approaching craft, and as they approached close to us we would confront them with a show of weapons and direct them to leave. If there were any overt movements, or anyone appeared pointing a weapon in our direction, that they should immediately fire.
To lure the approaching craft in close, Steve, Lisa, and I put some fenders over the side where we would want another craft to tie up with us. I walked up and down the side of the boat, retelling the ladies that at the sight of any weapon pointed in our direction, to fire immediately. We were over fifty miles off the outer coast of Ireland, so we were in international waters.
To be on the cautious side, I had Dewey drop sail and start the engines for better maneuverability.
The speedy boat was about a forty-five foot pleasure craft flying a flag with only the symbol of the Phoenix on it. The weather was cool enough that there was only one man on the bow, and he didn't look to be armed. As the boat stopped and wallowed in the water about fifty to sixty feet from us, it moved past us a little to give us a look into the rear open deck area. There were several men standing back there, but none appeared to have ready weapons. One man at the corner of the rear of the boat had a line with a large grapple hook.
I used the bullhorn, "Ahoy! What do you intend?"
A man came to the rail as the boat began maneuvering closer to us. He used a powered horn also, "We want to board you and welcome you to our waters."
I hollered back, "We do not want to be boarded, stay back, stay away, do not approach us."
The boat was getting closer, almost near enough for the man with the grapple hook to throw it. The man with powered horn laughed, "You can't resist us, we are the rulers of this area."
I picked up my rifle and loosely pointed it in their direction. Steve and Lisa did the same. I used the bullhorn, "We will resist if you attempt to board us. We will fight you."
The other man said, "Oh, come now, are you saying you won't show some good Irishmen the courtesy of a visit?" He turned to the men behind him and said something. Several went into the main cabin and came back out with what looked like rifles and shotguns. That was a bad move.
As soon as one of the men began pointing a shotgun toward us, thirteen shotguns fired an explosive round at the boat. It looked like probably six of the rounds hit the open rear deck area. The man with the grapple hook was blown over the rail. All of the cabin windows on the side of the boat facing us were blown out. The second rounds fired were all buckshot and peppered every square inch of the exposed boat and passengers. The boat wallowed in the water with the engines idling.
We all watched for any form of movement, and someone was suddenly waving what looked like a white pillowcase, holding it up over the cabin window frame.
I used the bullhorn, "If you don't show any more weapons, we will not fire on you."
We were all surprised to see a woman with flaming red hair stand up. You could see the fear on her face. She was yelling as loud as she could, "I'm not part of this crew. This used to be my boat but they took it from me. Will you wait with me while I see if the boat is operational?"
Using the bullhorn I yelled, "Check your boat and advise if we can be of assistance."
We saw the woman go to the controls and wheel that looked undamaged. We heard the engines rev and the clunk of the gears engaging the prop or props. We could see the lady pushing and pulling levers until she came to the broken out windows again. "The boat is operational. I may need help getting these bastards overboard. Let me see first."
I could see the lady bending over, doing something followed by standing and pulling something toward the open cabin door. She propped a man up over the railing away from us and pushed him into the water. She began going around the boat, looking through the pockets of the men who had been on the boat followed by pushing them overboard. After over a dozen bodies had been pushed into the sea, the woman used the power horn and said, "Thank you for waiting. I only have the body of the bastard on the bow to deal with. You can go now. Thank you again for waiting with me."
We stayed there while we watched the lady go to the bow, go through the pockets of the man there and finish by rolling him into the water. She stood and went to the small ladder by the cabin and got to the roof of the cabin. She reeled down the flag with the Phoenix, took it loose, and threw it into the water.
When she came back down and re-entered the cabin, she appeared to descend from sight, but re-appeared with two young people, a teenage boy and girl. They looked out at us with a satisfied smile and the woman yelled, "I thank you for disposing of those terrible bastards for me. They didn't have much on them, but perhaps enough to repair my boat and replace the fuel they used. That will be the last time I charter to a group of men I don't know. I hope to see you again." The lady waved, as did the two young people. The redhead put the boat in gear, and speedily headed in the direction we were going.
All of the women came to Steve and me and I said, "You guys finished that real quick. Have you all checked to make sure there isn't anyone alive out there, or clutching to our boarding ladder?"
Sue said, "Kathy and I just checked it again. It looks like the bodies are all floating toward land. Should we try to drag them into our Zodiac?"
Steve said, "I'll call Brutus and tell him what happened. He was supposed to have called the authorities. He can tell them there are about a dozen bodies floating out there. I have the name of the boat, the "Green Four," and can give that to him."
Mercy said, "Good, let's put the sail back up and get going."
Everyone went into the salon and immediately began cleaning their weapons. Steve, Lisa, and I had not fired a shot. After the ladies opened up with thirteen explosive shotgun rounds, there was nothing to shoot at, although they did continue to fire their buckshot rounds.
About the time all the sail was back up and taking wind again, I was leading kids back up to maybe run and play outside for a while.
Steve pulled me toward the bar and said, "Come on, you and I need something to celebrate with. You know you and I didn't fire a round? Can you believe it? The women totally destroyed the whole side of the cabin on that boat and neutralized everyone exposed. You noticed that the redhead didn't even check pulses. She just pushed them into the water. I'd like to hear her story. I'm sure you noticed she didn't throw any of those firearms overboard either. I'll bet she'll probably be a little touchy for a while when it comes to chartering to groups of men."
After Steve called Brutus, he and I enjoyed a drink as Juanita took over the helm and Dewey joined us.
The kids weren't even curious about what had gone on. They played on the deck for a while, but because of the chill, they migrated back inside and began playing music among themselves.
The evening was fun, as the kids played over a dozen new tunes they had learned. We did our blues band and had Stevie, Tom, and Bill swap off playing the drum set. Bonita, Lisa, and Dewey split time playing bass. I had fun as I played a little bass, but mostly guitar and keyboard. I think we were beginning to sound very good.
Before we went to bed that night, all of us adults gathered in the salon to talk about our visit and what was coming next. Steve said, "I have several things to do here. The plant here is going to convert to all lift rebuild and manufacturing regular commercial lifts. We are converting the cart plant to expand the rebuilding of major lifts. I'll need to go to Germany for at least a day, and I will be going back there again while we're in the Riviera."
Sue said, "Mac has asked me to look at a potential clothing factory here. He says the economy is hurting and I could have all the labor I wanted at a reasonable rate. There's more to it than labor, but I will look at what he's proposing."
Dewey said, "I have to go into London for a couple of meetings and fly up to the Netherlands for a day. The consortiums I invest with here are trying to become involved in more entertainment ventures up there. The girls and kids can come with me if they want, or stay here, their choice."
Mercy said, "I've talked to the people from home who are meeting us and they are probably all about to arrive at Heathrow. They'll be in Dublin when we get there. Chandra and her ladies are meeting them and will accompany them home."
Kathy said, "I'd like to go into London to sightsee for at least a couple of days. It would be great for all of the kids to have a chance to see the important tourist places."
I said, "Well, I don't have to do anything, so I'll just hang out with whoever wants to hang out. You ladies who enjoy leading me around, you decide where you want to go and what you want to do. I'll be along for the ride."
That required some heavy conversation while I sat back, enjoying a drink. I would be going on duty at two, so I needed to stay sober, but I could enjoy a little liquid libation. That was going to be my last duty for a while.
We had swapped our hours of being up and sleep around to match the local hours so as it neared eleven, or twenty-three hundred hours Greenwich Mean Time, my group exited to bed.
There was some serious loving that took place, but I was thankfully put to sleep in time to get over an hour's sleep before being awakened to go on duty.