Steve
Life around the park and S&S is going very well. The family was busy getting the kids through their current school year so they could be free of most classes while on the coming sailing adventure.
Chuck is busy with some kind of intense investigation out in Omaha that has him tied up for a while. Mercy is acting worried, so whatever Chuck is doing has her concerned. Lisa and Mercy have been seen huddled together, obviously discussing what they know Chuck is involved in.
The newest member of our now big extended family has settled into Mark's old trailer. As was predicted by Sue and Kathy, Betty and Shirley are mothering Stormy, our silent friend. The ladies are dragging him to the patio for breakfast in the morning, as well as helping him keep the little trailer perfectly clean. Both Shirley and Betty are working with Sandy, Mandy, and Sue to learn to sign.
Shawna convinced Stormy to come work with her, Sandy, and Mandy at the shop. He has taken to Shawna's custom bike building instantly and is a big help. When Shawna sent him to Ruth to sign up as an employee, she told me later that Stormy was so happy, he was almost in tears. Apparently, the one thing that Shawna has trouble with Stormy is getting him to leave at quitting time. He kept signing that he should work longer to earn all the money he is being paid. It took Sandy, Mandy, Shawna, and Ruth to finally convince him that he isn't expected to work longer than any of the others unless something needed to be done.
Today I had taken care of all of my messages and mini-conferences and was enjoying lunch with Sue. She asked me, "How about running over to Chuck's boat to look at something? Mercy and I need to decide on a couple of things and we could use your opinion."
"Sure," I said, "I need to look at a few things anyway. I think we're pretty much ready to make the trip, don't you think?"
Sue smiled, "Yes, we are ready, but there is just one more thing."
Because there was an overcast sky with the threat of rain, we skipped the gym and pool and went straight to the boats. Once on the big Magellan, Sue led me to the galley where the boat's first below deck floor plan was laid out on the big table. She took another thin sheet of the same physical size paper and laid it over the printed plan.
I was trying to make out what she was showing me, when Mercy spoke up, "Sue's been talking to Sheila about the trip. Dewey may have to drop out once or twice to take care of business, and of course, we know how Chuck seems to be called away all of the time. The boat is plenty big enough for our three big families, especially if we use some of the crew's quarters for the kids."
Sue spoke up then, "With very little modification, we can have three large master staterooms aft of the galley, dining area, and lounge, with the guest cabins forward. There's probably still enough room for the kids bunk rooms if we want. Dewey's kids will probably want to be with our kids anyway, so that will be easy. We've already planned on bunks for them."
I asked the only question that could make a difference, "What does Chuck think about this?"
Mercy said, "Lisa doesn't think he will care, as long as everyone has enough room. She said that Brandy and the girls all think it would be great to have us all together."
"With the trip coming up so soon, how are you going to get this all done so fast?" I was scratching my head wondering about that one.
Sue said, "I talked to the Magellan people and they can send a crew up to start on the project the next day. All we have to do is to give them the go ahead."
I said, "I still think you need to ask Chuck and get his opinion. The other thing is; have you talked to Dewey about this?"
Mercy said, "You should talk to Dewey and I will call Chuck. If he needs more information, he can come see it when he gets home again. He and Lisa had to go somewhere to deliver something."
We then went up to the main salon to look around out on deck. I used my cell phone to call Dewey.
"Hey, Dewey, how're you doin'?"
"Great, Steve, getting excited about the trip?" Dewey asked.
"That's what I called about, Dewey. I'm told you might have some business to take care of while we're gone, is that right?"
"Yeah," Dewey said, gloomily. "Several things are coming to a head during the next couple of months that may require my personal attention. I thought if I did have to attend something, I could leave the family on the boat, go take care of business, and we could catch up to wherever you might be at the time."
With a smile, I said, "I think our wives have discussed the problem and come up with an alternative. What would you think of all of us being on the same boat? There is plenty of room on the big Magellan, with some minor modifications. Sue has a plan for three large staterooms aft of the galley and lounge. From the looks of the plan she has, it looks possible. What do you think?"
Dewey said, "That is a big boat and should be big enough for all of us. I know the kids would like it and the women would love to spend time with the other women. As far as that's concerned, I'd rather spend the time with you and Chuck anyway. We could split up the captain duties and this would give Chuck some more supervised training as well as his women that want to learn."
I confirmed with Dewey, "So if we can get this done, you would rather us all sail in just one boat?"
"I'd love to sail my boat through the canal then over to Europe, but business may not allow me to have that opportunity this year. Sue's idea is a good one. How does Chuck feel about it?"
I told Dewey, "Mercy is checking with him now, but says that she knows he will like the idea."
Dewey said, "Good; that will cut two weeks off going and coming because we won't have to do the canal thing. I was looking forward to working with Chuck during that time, but this is better, a lot better."
"Okay, Dewey, I'll tell the ladies. I'll send you a floor plan so you have an idea of what we're doing. I'll talk to you soon about a new time line too."
Dewey was smiling when he said, "Thanks, Steve, you've taken that worry away. Talk to you soon."
When I turned to Sue, she was smiling and said, "Mercy just spoke to Chuck and he's all for it. He said it was silly for us to travel in separate boats when part of reason for the vacation was for all of us to be together. Let me call Magellan to get their crew up here or for them to come get the boat."
Sue called and was told that a large crew with materials would be gathered today and will arrive tomorrow. The work shouldn't take more than seven days. Mercy and Sue were smiling at each other conspiratorially. I asked them, "Why did you need me to do this? You two knew what the answers were before the questions were asked."
Sue said, "It's better if you men make these decisions. We women are here to please you, not to boss you."
I laughed loudly as we locked up the boat. "You mean you let us think we're the boss, that's all. Anyway, it's a good idea. When you got Chuck to agree that we join him on his boat, I thought that was a good plan, and with all of us now together, it's an even better way to go."
Back at home, Kathy and Juanita huddled with Sue and Mercy to discuss the new plans. I was kicked back with a cup of coffee when John Truant came in. He said, "We hired another retired military aviator today. He comes with thousands of hours of military transport time and was looking for similar work and some instructor time. He has a couple of buddies that are getting out soon that will also need some work. That should just about immediately take care of our pilot crew needs. The new men have 737 experience, so they can help rest our main crew."
"That's great, John. I just talked with my friend, Dewey, who is going with us on the trip and he's going to leave his boat at home and be on the boat with us. Our boat's big enough to handle even more, so it'll be a party every day."
John said, "Wanda and I are looking forward to the trip. I haven't had a real vacation for a long time, and this will be a great adventure. Wanda is really excited about it too, as she's never been to Europe."
I said, "This is going to be a good trip. There are a lot of people that will be going along, so it will be a lot of fun."
John asked, "So who all will be along besides Dewey, you, Chuck, and all of your families?"
It took me a second, "Well, there is you and Wanda, Martin and Glenda, Beth, Misty, Barb, Maggie, Dennis and Marie, and maybe Don and Jan."
John exclaimed, "Wow, that's a lot of people. Is there really that much room?"
I mused over the arrangements then said, "The kids will bunk together in separate boys and girls bunk rooms because they will be on deck or in the lounge and salon almost all the time anyway. All of the couples will have private double cabins, Beth and Misty will share a room, and Barb and Maggie can share a room. The kids will all be bunked in the crew area so the rest is actually easy. There are the two big cabins in the lower third deck where the office, gym, storage, laundry room, and crew quarters are. Then forward of the galley, dining area, and lounge are five double cabins. I think we'll even have a vacant cabin. There will be a lot of people, but that boat is really big."
John asked, "What are the drawbacks of so many people?"
"The worst thing will be our holding tank. We may have people shower up on deck so we don't fill the holding tank from showers. There is an open shower area aft by the dinghy storage locker. Our fresh water tank and desalination unit should keep up with the demand. If not, we'll use salt water for showers. The two longest periods between dump stations will be going across and coming back across the Atlantic."
"I think this is going to be one hell of an adventure, Steve," John said, sitting back with a beer and a smile.
Mercy came out and said, "You guys are talking about the sailing trip, aren't you?"
John and I nodded and I said, "John and I were trying to count up all the people and he asked if there was enough room."
Mercy said, "There should be at least one spare room. Jan said that Don and she may not be able to go. Don may not have anyone to leave in charge of his Dojo while he would be gone. His manager has moved out to the west coast to be in movies." Dennis and Marie may or may not go because Dennis is concerned that there may be too many projects that need his attention in R&D. Glenda and Martin are definitely going and so are my mom and Beth. You and Wanda aren't backing out are you?"
John said, "Oh no, not a chance. Wanda wouldn't miss going with you guys for anything. She said she has enough vacation saved up to be gone three months if necessary. As for me, I'm free to travel as long as I'm with the boss."
Mark came into the patio at that moment and said, "Gene and Sandy have found a double wide over on the other side of the park that's for sale. Gene said that would be fine until they could find or build a place. Sandy is happy to be near all of the people here and has already made a lot of friends. She's become best friends with DeDe and Star out at the airpark, and wants to be included in the instructor ranks as soon as they move."
"That's great, Mark," I said, then asked, "Where are they now?"
With a smile, Mark said, "The kids are playing with your kids at the ballpark and Mark and Sandy are out at the airpark flying all of the aircraft out there. I think Sandy is going to steal one of those biplanes. She's been up three times in one already. She says that flying around in one is like being in a World War One movie. Gene and Wes have become fast friends and are busily working out some advanced electronics that Gene said will help Wes' aircraft. The last I saw the two of them were putting a twin engine aircraft together. I didn't know Wes had one of those designed yet."
I laughed, "He doesn't. That's something he said he was going to work on in his spare time. I know he's already had Jeff re-mold the wings for a different type of engine support and for a new type of retractable gear. This is going to be quite an aircraft."
"Say, Mark," I said, and asked, "When are they planning on moving down here?"
Mark smiled, "I think the kids have already moved, but Gene and Sandy are planning on going home tomorrow and begin packing."
I said, "You know we'll pay all the moving expenses, right? Do they know that?"
"They know," Mark said. "They think you are being very generous to handle the sale of their home the way you are. Both of them feel as if they are having a hell of an opportunity, considering that as of a few days ago, Gene probably didn't have a job. He just had not been told yet."
Caroline came in to join Mark and sat with him. The two looked so comfortable together it was as if they had been a couple for years and years. Mercy grabbed Caroline and took her inside for woman talk or whatever women do when they are out of sight.
The folks from the work centers soon began coming in. The business park folks arrived first, then folks from the main S&S plant began showing up a few minutes later.
Shawna came in and sat on my lap, "Thanks for the new helper Boss man. Stormy is going to be a great help in building custom choppers. I think I've found that missing link that I needed. The man knows how to wire a bike like you wouldn't believe. He had the bike we were working on wired and tested so fast, we weren't ready to finish and fire it up yet. We have to be at least a full day ahead of schedule."
"That's great, Shawna. Where's Stormy now?"
Shawna smiled, "He told me he was going to take a shower and come with his other two ladies. He is really becoming part of that group over there."
Mark spoke up, "Stormy saw I was messing with my bike yesterday morning and came over to see if he could do anything to help. We ended up working on his bike, putting one of my power management gadgets on it. He can't make a sound, but he sure can talk a lot when he wants too. Caroline thinks it's funny the way we look, signing to each other while we're working on the bikes."
Tiny came in, drew a beer into a frosty mug, and sat with the ensemble of people gathered. He announced, "Another great day at S&S. I think all of the personnel shifting has been successful enough to make us profitable again this past month and quarter. There may be a recession and our revenues may be off by nearly a third, but we're still making a profit and we still haven't laid anyone off. The surprising company is Quality Wear. They are actually still hiring now that the fabric plant is trying to get up and running. I've even heard Sue say she was going to look at some of the closed plants near Raleigh."
Sue was within earshot and had heard what Tiny was saying, so she came over to add to the story. "We're really heavy into military apparel right now. We have standing orders for fatigues, T-shirts, boxers, women's panties and bras, and we just received an inquiry about socks. If we can find one of the closed facilities that have the proper weaving equipment, we may go into the sock business. Do you know that our illustrious government is buying socks from China? Can you imagine? I'm sure we can better the quality, but beating their prices may be difficult. So far, we've been able to sub to some of our competitors in order to share the wealth of orders. Some of them have had a difficult time coming up to our standards, but they are improving. It does cost us extra since we inspect everything made by another company before we ship."
Tiny said, "See, that's why Quality Wear is so strong. Your guy, Moleson, has been winning bids at every turn. He says that it's because his bids specify exactly what will be delivered, and when, while others leave some areas ambiguous."
Sue said, "There shouldn't be anything ambiguous about it. If we are going to meet manufacturing dates, it has to be exact so we have time to make a perfect garment."
I asked, "With all the military business, you haven't quit producing goods for other retail outlets, have you?"
Sue laughed, "Hell no. We're still shipping our basic blouses as strong as ever. Actually, those orders are a little off, but our other stock of casual wear items is in more demand lately, and our special extra sized garments are still selling like crazy. Big Girls Clothes dot com is still growing. I think the increase in breast augmentations has increased that business."
Charlie, who had come in and drawn a beer for himself, said, "Yeah boy, I love all those new big ones on all those little girls."
Shawna was standing by him and elbowed Charlie in the gut, "Do you want me to fill these up? How about some double Ds or Es just for you?"
Backpedaling quickly, Charlie protested, "No way. Don't mess with my delicate treasures on your chest. They're just right for me to play with. You were huge when you were pregnant, but now they're back to the normal playground size. I love 'em just the way they are." With that, Charlie wrapped his huge arm around the diminutive Shawna and squeezed one of her small breasts.
Shawna elbowed Charlie again, but pulled his head down and gave him a kiss for the public expression of his appreciation.
Wes, DeDe, Gene, and Sandy came into the patio. Sandy told Sue, "Let's go get the kids so they can clean up for supper."
Sue looked at her watch and said, "The older ones should be bringing them back any second. They should be running this way right now."
Seconds later, a herd of kids came running around the end of the big trailer toward the patio. The doors were swung open and kids kept it open as they all rushed in. All of them sought out a parent or parents for a quick hug and welcome home, then vanished into the house to use the bathrooms to clean up a little.
Barb and Bonita came in the door with a smile on Barb's face. She went up to Kathy with Bonita and said, "You need to teach our little Bonita that it's not nice to beat up on boys. A couple of the older boys were teasing her and accidentally knocked her down, so she got up and punched both of them. When they were about to retaliate, she hit them several more times before I could get there. The boys know not to hit girls, but they were just defending themselves."
Kathy looked at Bonita and asked, "Why did you get so mad, Bonita?"
The little girl said, "I didn't want to get dirty. I just took a bath and put on clean clothes and just wanted to play ball. The boys are always knocking us girls down and I asked them not to do that to me today. They didn't listen, so I punched them."
Barb said, "Tell Mom who you punched."
Bonita had a determined look on her face when she said, "Stevie, Greg, and CJ, and I'm not sorry either. All three of them knocked me down one after the other. Just look at my knees and shorts. I'm all dirty again."
Kathy rolled her eyes and looked at me before saying to Bonita, "If you don't want to get dirty, perhaps you shouldn't go to the ball fields. Next time just stay home and play music."
Bonita protested, "But you said I have to go outside in the afternoon. You don't want me to play music all day."
Kathy looked up in the air then back down at Bonita. She picked her up and was holding her so she could look her in the face, "Bonita, Honey, you do need to play outside with the other kids, but if you've been out and gotten dirty, and then cleaned up, it's okay to stay in and play music. Come ask me and I'll give you permission."
Bonita was looking down, "Okay, Momma. But I'm not sorry I hit them. They deserved it."
"Well remember, Honey, they hit back, even if you are a girl."
With a determined look, Bonita said, "I'll be good, I promise. I won't hit the boys."
As soon as Kathy put Bonita down, the little girl ran into the house. The three boys were sitting at one of the big tables watching what was going on. Kathy wiggled her finger at them and they slowly got up and came to her with their heads down.
"Okay, Guys, you did good not to hit Bonita, even though she hit you. You know why she hit you don't you?"
Greg said, "Yes, Ma'am. We all run around and sometimes we knock the kids, or rather the girls, down. We do it because it's fun and we like them, but not to hurt them. Bonita usually doesn't get mad at us doing that to her, but today she got up and bopped me in the nose, punched Stevie in the stomach, and really hit CJ hard in the chest. All of us were surprised. She hit really hard."
Stevie said, "She did hit hard, but we shouldn't have pushed her down. She said she didn't want to get dirty and we thought it would be funny to get her dirty again. It wasn't funny, was it?"
Kathy said, "Well, all three of you know why she hit you, so I'm sure that won't happen again, will it?"
The three boys all said, "No, Ma'am" at the same time.
Kathy waved her hand, dismissing them and they vanished in a clatter of running feet.
All of us were smiling as the kids left. Kathy looked at Shawna and Charlie and asked, "Well, you two could have helped out a little."
Charlie said, "Hey, you were doing a great job. There's no sense in me sticking my foot in my mouth."
Shawna had her impish grin, "That little girl is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Kathy Dear, you have a real handful there."
Kathy pointed at me and said, "It's his fault, him and Chuck. Between the two of them, the kid doesn't think like normal kids. She's always way ahead of the other kids. She spends more time teaching them guitar and piano than our teachers do. She wants to be like her dad, mothers, Chuck, and Lisa. You can't get her to read a kid's book. She reads Harry Potter, but those were finished too quickly. She reads the newspaper and magazines, and plays music. At least she likes to motocross and the martial arts classes. She is a kid, though, as she likes to play ball with the other kids. She just has more interests than most kids."
Mercy was smiling and said, "She's younger than the twins but Trixie and Dixie think she walks on water. They follow her around all the time. I'll bet the three of them are in the living room playing their guitars right now. Hear them? I'll bet that's who it is."
I smiled, thinking of how my kids were all so close. The boys were all boy and the girls were sort of tomboys but they were still little girls. The mothers kept them in dresses just enough to let them know they were little girls. They didn't like the dresses, but they wore them fairly often.
After supper, Gene and Sandy said goodbye to everyone as they were heading back to Cheyenne early in the morning. They left, along with Mark and Caroline, and were followed by Shirley, Betty, and Stormy. The group from that corner of the park had left us and you could feel that a part of our group was missing. They would all be back soon though.
Dennis came over to plop down next to me. "Uncle Steve, I think I'm going to pass on the sailing vacation. Just the thought of leaving the R&D center for six weeks or more has my stomach in knots. A couple of weeks would be okay, but a month or more would be too long. You don't mind that Marie and I don't go do you?"
"It's your time, Dennis. I was hoping your mom and dad would go, but both want to stay here and maybe just do some day cruises on the fishing yachts. Henry won't go either, because he thinks Tiny will need him too much. Nancy is happy wherever Henry is, so she can't or won't sway him."
Dennis said, "Marie thinks her job would suffer if she were to be gone too long as well. If we could like meet you guys over there somewhere and sail a little, go to a couple places then come home, that would be great, but I just can't justify being gone for that long."
I thought of what he was saying and waved at Sue and Mercy to come over. "What do you two think if Dennis and Marie, and possibly Jan and Don came over and met us at one of our stops, then accompanied us to another before returning home? That way they could enjoy sailing with us a little, and get the feeling of being a part of all of us together for a little while."
Sue was nodding her head, "If they can't come for the whole trip, that might be a way to do it. I was thinking they could go over with us then fly home, but they wouldn't be able to do any sightseeing over there that way. What do you think, Mercy?"
Mercy smiled, "Great idea. Perhaps I can get dad to come over that way. He could meet us, say in Italy, and sail with us to the Riviera and then go home from there. That way they could see some of Italy, sail a little, and go see where the world's high and mighty go to party."
Mercy looked around the patio and left to come back dragging Jan and Don. She told them, "How about you two fly over to Europe and meet us there. You would sail with us to wherever our next port is, then after some sightseeing at both locations, you two could fly back home. What do you think?"
Jan and Don looked at each other and began smiling. Don said, "That would be perfect. I could probably trust the Dojo to run smoothly for ten days to two weeks, but not for six weeks."
Jan commented, "That was my problem. I have the time off coming, but I'd hate to use it all up just sailing back and forth across the Atlantic. Your idea sounds great. I would love to see some of Italy or even better, some of Ireland and England."
Mercy and Sue smiled and said, "Let's go look at our schedule and see how we can work this out. What do you think, Dennis? Do you think you might join us for a week or so?"
Dennis grinned, "Marie will love it. This is the perfect way for us to go with you guys for a little while and party with you. I really want to go to the Riviera."
Kathy and Juanita had come out and were sitting with me on a couch. Juanita said, "That's nice that you've found ways for some of the others to join us. We'll have a great time and I'm sure the kids are going to have a ball."
"Juanita," I asked, "What do you want to see while we are on vacation this time?"
With a smile, she said, "If we can go to the Vatican again, I would like that. I liked seeing all of the great sights of ancient Rome too. I think I liked the Riviera the most, though. I liked the beaches and I just loved the big casinos. I don't like to gamble, but I do enjoy seeing all of the people dressed up fancy and the rich decorations of the individual gaming rooms."
Kathy teased, "You just liked the nude beaches over there, that's all."
Juanita smiled, "They are different than the nude park here, but similar to the nude beach in Hawaii. The people over there are so casual about being nude that you feel comfortable. You'll love it, Kathy, and wait until you see all those rich people in the casinos. At least, they act like they're rich. It is something."
Kathy snuggled into my side and said to me, "I wish I hadn't been so set on not telling you about Greg. I could have gone with you the first time you went over there. That's okay though, I'll have a great time this trip."
The evening was getting late and people began leaving to go home. Soon, Juanita, Glenda, and I were cleaning the patio, getting ready for the morning while the moms were inside getting kids into bed. I made a pass through the bedrooms, giving out hugs, kisses, and I love yous to the kids, then finished up by getting the coffee ready for the morning. I gave Glenda a hug, walked her across the yard, then came in, shut off the lights, and locked up.
In bed, Mercy said, "I'm getting excited about the trip. Now that some of the family will join us once we get over there, our group will be even larger."
Sue offered, "This will also be a great trip because all three families will be together. It will be nice to have Dewey and family, along with Chuck and his family, with us."
"It's going to be fun to see how everyone gets along," Kathy said. "Chuck's ladies are all so intense about things, I wonder if they will be able to relax while we're out on the boat."
Juanita said, "They seemed to relax when we picked up the boat from Miami. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and were involved with the kids, as well as us, the whole time."
Sue said, "We just don't know them all that well yet. This will be good though, as we'll get to know them and to understand their relationship with Chuck better."
"Chuck has something happening with him and Lisa that I'm not able to see, but he's looking forward to the trip too," Mercy said. "Lisa has become a real disciple of being able to sense what people are thinking and doing. She is more like my mom than I am. There's more to her than meets the eye, though. Perhaps we'll find out."
There was some kissing and hugging goodnight just before my lights went out.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead
Last one through — Deenara2000