The next morning was a zoo. We all five woke at the same time, hearing the kids up and making noise. Maggie had them all up and dressed already, surprising all the women. I thanked her and asked if she could hold them down till we showered and dressed. She smiled a 'no problem' smile and we hustled to get ready.
Once again, we had room service bring food. The two Johns and the agent joined us, so it was a busy breakfast. The pilot John said that we needed to figure how far the boat had gotten and we would drop down on the deck and buzz them. We should be able to radio them beforehand so they wouldn't get nervous.
Now I was glad we had brought the Super King Air 1900D. Even if we had jammed kids two to a seat, we would still be over the limit with the Lear.
We did buzz the boat, climbed back to altitude quickly, and headed toward our Mexican refueling point. We made the Key West refueling and customs stop, and with a great tailwind, we were back at our airfield in record time.
We stashed the agent in the Holiday Inn, but brought the two Johns to the patio for a few drinks and some supper. It was Maggie who broke the news to everyone that Sue and Mercy had talked me into getting an even bigger boat. Maggie teased the two unmercifully, until she finally said, "You can probably hear the agent crying from here. Steve offered him less than half of what the boat was worth, then finally made a deal for even less."
I had to protest and tell the truth. "It was John who advised me and actually made the deal. The only thing I could do is act the part of a sort of interested buyer."
John said, "When you and your three woman crew cast off and set sail, the agent knew you four knew your boats and would only offer an appropriate amount. I saw the way he was in awe of the way you four acted so confident manning a big boat like that, as was the professional crew that were already on the boat. When he found out that Steve, Sue, and Mercy all have their captain's licenses, he knew you guys weren't fooling around. Juanita, you're almost done too, aren't you?"
"Si senor, two more weeks with the instructor captain and I'll be a captain too."
"You see, you four are probably the most professional crew you could have."
I slapped John on the back, "Thank you for working with the girls to get their captain's licenses. That they have the knowledge to sail that boat if I were to become incapacitated is very comforting. As for you, my charter pilot John, thank you for helping me become comfortable with that little rocket. I'm afraid we'll all get spoiled with the speed. I still like the 200 though, and the new Super King Air will hold my, in the very near future, huge family."
Both Johns stayed the night with us, as they both had far too much to drink. John didn't have to fly till late tomorrow so he should be fine. We all went to bed after Missy and Merlin entertained us a little with some neat magic for us amateurs.
The girls were funny about how they wished me to be arranged in the middle of the bed with whom on either side. There isn't enough room for four adults to sleep on their back so we all slept facing the same direction spooning the one in front. Snug, but very sweet.
Ah, I'm damned near smothered by larger mammary glands on both sides of me. Sue's obviously to my right, snuggled to me so sweetly. My right hand is on the shoulder of what feels like Mercy. The head on my left shoulder is obviously the more mature Juanita. Her large breast feels soft and spongy against my chest compared to the motherly firmness of Sue. My left hand is holding the back of a head that is probably Kate. We need to do something about having four women in bed. I thought we were pushing it having three. What we do with more if the ladies decide to adopt another, double-decker babes perhaps.
I giggled, I shouldn't have, as Sue raised her head smiling at me and asked, "What's so funny?"
"Just a random thought. Nothing important."
I shifted onto my left side and got a soft kiss on my neck. A soft "por favor" came from the kissing lips of Juanita on my neck.
I was trying to think up an excuse to keep from saying what made me giggle, when two hands encircled by morning erection.
Instead of answering, I gave a genuine groan, "Ahhh."
When both hands came off me at my groan, I said, "Best be getting out of bed. It's time to get going."
Mercy's soft sleepy voice said, "Why, nothing's going on today. What's the hurry?"
"I like to get up in the morning. I love to have coffee with my friends and feel the morning energy before they all go to work."
Sue wiggled against me, saying, "Today's Sunday. Most people aren't going to work. Anyway, I like the morning energy too, but I like it expended between my le ... Ouch. Mercy, stop that."
"You can be such a slut, Sue. You hog the husband all night long, then want to hog that wonderful instrument of happiness when he wakes up giggling. What were you doing to him?"
Sue was giggling now and had turned over to confront Mercy. "I asked him what he was giggling about Mrs. Slut Sharpe that's always trying to get in his jeans." Sue bit down on an exposed nipple, causing Mercy to squeal.
Kate said from the other side of Juanita, "Do they go through this most every morning around here? Come on Steve, Juanita, and I will get you showered quickly."
As the three of us were sliding from bed, Sue and Mercy pounced on the other two girls. Mercy was laughing, "Oh no, you don't. If we don't get any, you don't either. No fair sneaking in some playtime in the shower while we're deciding who goes first."
I turned to the girls. "If you ladies would excuse me, I'm going to take a quick shower and dress quickly. I think my other girlfriend is waiting for me." I hollered, "I'll be right out, Glenda."
Four pillows hit me as I turned to the bathroom.
I didn't get to shower alone, as Sue and Mercy both came into the shower, while Juanita and Kate were trying to be first on the throne. The two hugged me, rubbing their pussies on my leg. Sue said, "Mercy, I think we need more hot water don't you?"
With that, I felt two hot streams against my legs as the two pregnant ladies let go. Mercy said, "We didn't wait for a turn out there, we'll just wash you real good now."
They did wash me very nicely, and even gave me a taste test to be sure that I was free of soap. When they had sucked me in and pulled off with a 'POP, ' they stood giggling, saying, "Try us a little later. Perhaps we'll have to time to finish that."
I got out as the other two ladies fondled me on their way into the shower. It's a good thing we had such a big shower, as the four ladies seemed to always be in there together.
I walked out to the patio with a cup to get coffee and my hairbrush. After getting coffee, Glenda took the brush from me and began brushing my hair. "You know, Steve, you might want to consider trimming the length a little. It's way down past your belt. You keep it in your shirt almost every day. Why not cut it down some? I'm sure you would be more comfortable."
While considering what Glenda was saying the thought came that I love Sundays. All the women wear the thinnest, most daring, gowns they can find. John and John were going to be pleasantly surprised. I know Merlin has a fit when he sees all that is displayed.
Sue came out, carrying Lizzy, "Glenda's probably right. Your hair will be easier to take care of if it's shorter for our trip. Think about it. You've cut your beard and now only have the porn star mustache that I love so much. You haven't lost your identity with the beard gone, so you can always let it grow back out if you cut it a little."
Lizzy kept giving me sloppy kisses as she hung from Sue's arm. Steve came and climbed into my lap. "Gamma Glenda comb hair?"
"Yes, Steve, I'm combing out your daddy's hair," Glenda smiled at my oldest son.
He looked at me and said, "You need hair like mine, Daddy, I don't have to comb it at all."
"Perhaps I do, Son. I'll think about that."
Stevie got down and ran into the house hollering, "Food, beckfast, food, hoongry, beckfast, peeeese mama nita."
Mercy was holding Mike and handed him to me for my morning hug and kiss. All three kids were taught to kiss by holding their hands on both sides of your face, then slobbering all over you. It's sweet, but messy. It does always bring a smile though.
Sue and Mercy took the kids into the house for some food. People were streaming into the patio. The energy level goes way up as the people gather to eat, drink juice, milk, and coffee, and to talk about the coming day.
Tiny said to me as he was talking to Tim about the school, "I have you scheduled to go to a Lear school tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday. You're lucky, the school is being held right here in Tampa at your favorite Aero Park."
"Do I really need to do this, Tiny? I'm not planning on using that thing. That's why I bought the other plane. I bought one that would be big enough to hold my whole family plus some help for the kids."
"You need to do this while you have the chance. There are going to be trips where you will need to fly some of us around. If we use the Lear, we'll have the opportunity to get back home faster and if you fly us then we will have room for more people. Do this, Steve, it's a good thing."
"I thought this was a two day school."
"The first school is, but you've already been through that with John on two separate flights to and from San Francisco. This is the advanced school for your IP certificate."
"What IP certificate?"
"The one you're working on so you can teach people to fly. You will probably get to teach your company people to fly as you have opportunity. Your girls here that don't know how to fly, they need to learn."
John, our charter captain, leader, and pilot was laughing. "You know you have enough hours now that you should become an IP. You'll need to take some classes for standard and instrument instruction to get your CFI and CFII, but you would make a great instructor. Besides that, we need instructors out at the school. Paul says he been waiting for you to begin teaching."
Sue and Mercy did their "I love you" in each ear, with a kiss on each cheek. They always sneak up on me and do it so quick, it happens before I know it's coming. This must have been something they wanted, or I wouldn't have been given the "Kiss encouragement."
"So what's on the agenda tomorrow, Phil? Anything big happening with you?"
"Someone saw the S&S Super King Air in Key West and wants to complete a bid that we have in Europe. There are the Costa Rican folks who saw your plane near the coast. When they found out you were at the exclusive yacht club down there, they have sent us some bid specs for heavy super lifts to be used on their docks. Your painted up monstrosity of a plane brings us domestic business constantly. We've received several Canadian bids lately, as the plane has already been up there a few times."
Hank came over and said, "John, Tiny, and Phil, want Shawna and me to paint up a few more planes. He says it has become popular for people to say where they've seen us flying. What do you think? Do you mind if we have more planes that look like yours?"
I was grinning about the whole thing. Personally, I would rather have an unmarked airplane. Obviously the company enjoys some notoriety from the comical cartons on them. "When are you guys going to run out of ideas? My goodness, I don't think you ever repeat a cartoon."
"You make our life easy, Chief. Between Sue, Mercy, and you, there's always something funny going on. Now that you have the three kids, there is even more craziness every day. You still interact with the businesses. Every shop out here has stories to tell, so when we don't have an idea, we spend a few minutes wandering around and have enough to paint anything."
Abe was laughing, "You haven't seen the two new big delivery trucks we have now. They look like the race day trucks, only without the race themes. There are racecars and trucks on them, but they only reflect what we do on them. They do get a lot of attention out on the road. We even get calls to find out if we sell small orders."
I asked Phil and Abe, "So are all the field tech and field sales guys driving painted up trucks too?"
Abe was smiling but Phil answered, "You betcha. Everyone out there who drives a company vehicle has one that is painted up like that. Chicago has four. Ryan is sending stuff down every week so they can be painted for the various dealerships. It has become our trademark."
Shawna said, "We do paint most of the dealership trucks using the same cartoons and themes. If we know the people there, we might slip something in, but they are mostly the same."
I thought for a minute, "You know you should paint the Beech 200s the same. That way they would think the plane is really busy. Who has to tell them we have more than one."
Shawna said, "We could do that, but there's too much chance two could be at the same place at the same time. It's better to make them different, with a different color theme and different cartoon theme."
When breakfast was over, I drove John back out to the Aero Park, where I looked over his numbers and his forecasts as to projected airplane purchases and projected charters. He said we were leasing most of our stuff on an annual basis, so if the economy went to pot, we could dump the leases quickly. The first Gulfstream was on a five year lease, but the second one was on a three year with options for a one, two, or three year renewal. Since we were paying maintenance costs, we had pretty advantageous leases.
When the other pilots came in, they were teasing me about becoming a jet jockey. John said that I was going to the advanced school during the coming week, so they asked if they should begin scheduling me for charters.
"No, no, no. The only way I'd do a charter is with another pilot and only if it were the only way it could be done. I'm an amateur, not a pro like you guys."
I watched as together with the mechanics, they went over write-ups and inspected the planes they were going to fly. I waved goodbye and left.
Instead of going back home, I went down to the shop to check on things. Debbie had said the world was at peace as everything was going well, except that we had more orders than time and people as usual, but it did look like some of the production demand would be slowing down soon for the holidays. Ruth had told me all was well, but the construction company was in need of more people as usual, and that she was spending far too much time handling immigration problems. I looked over all of the reports on my desk then went home to enjoy the rest of Sunday.
At home, when I asked Tiny about it, he said that we had two young attorneys that were now employees that did nothing but immigration work. When I asked if the cost of this legal work outweighed the benefit of the workers, Tiny said, "I've watched the numbers on the construction of everything we've done so far. Henry has been double checking too. So far we're ahead hiring the way we are. We don't hire until they have a work visa or green card. We are helping them to get that far. An advantage so far, is loyalty from those that we've assisted. We do have an anomaly though."
Tiny's pause prompted me to ask, "What?"
"The men and women we have assisted with immigration are signed up for the English classes two to one over the legal Spanish speaking employees. Another benefit appears to be that the Haitians we assisted are bringing local black workers in, that we've been training in the trades. As soon as they see Terrell and Darnel leading the construction crews, the locals dig in and work hard to rise above the rest. Interesting isn't it."
I then said, "I want you to pay attention to the bottom line with the construction group because of our additional costs in assisting people with immigration problems. So far you've helped swing idea after idea into money making ventures. Hopefully we can keep doing it."
"I'll watch carefully, Steve. We're becoming pretty big and very diversified. If we fall off in one area, we pick up in another. Our original businesses are still in demand, with each additional group producing more than expected. I think we've been at the right place at the right time and lucky to attract the right customers to us."
Mercy was skipping around like a kid. I said to her, "Pretty active there, Lady, considering you're bouncing three of my kids around like that."
Her face colored a bit before she said, "I'm excited. I have an idea of how we can keep both boats. It won't make a difference which one we keep. Come sit and let me tell you about it."
Sue brought me a frosty mug of beer and sat on the arm of the chair. Mercy looked around and appeared to wind herself up. "I checked all over today, and did not find one company that chartered sailboats in this area. A guy in St. Pete will take you out on his forty footer overnight, but doesn't make provision for food, a crew, or anything."
Mercy opened a file folder she had, then said, "I want to charter one or both of our boats to large parties that wish to go out for a weekend, a week, a month, or whatever. We already have a crew that can crew either boat, plus take care of the passengers. We can modify the Magellan so it has crew's quarters, but realistically we don't have to do anything to the big boat. When it gets here, I want to get a floor plan so we can look at it and get the crew's opinion. What do you think, Steve, could we keep both boats and charter them? I think we would have constant charters. The closest big sailboat charter is Miami. There isn't even any in Naples."
"Have you spoken to Tiny about this yet?" I asked, thinking that Tiny would have some numbers on Mercy's idea.
"Not yet. I didn't want to mention it to him until I knew how you would feel."
"Well, little mother, talk to him about it, and between you and Sue, you need to decide which boat you're going to take to Europe."
Missy was sitting with us and said, "I think they should take the big boat. If you do, I'll go with you. Merlin said he could live without me while I went on your adventure."
"I said that 'I would manage' if you decided to go off on an adventure," Merlin said, while tickling Missy.
I began to ask what Sue thought about this, when she came up to us and said, "Did Mercy convince you to keep both boats yet, or do I need to drag you into the bedroom to bribe you."
"So you want to go into the sailboat charter business too?" I asked this, knowing she did.
"I think it would be more like charter cruises. We could pay for both boats with what we could get on charter for them. Let's say two or three couples took the boat out for a month's cruise. You're talking some big bucks. If you figured six of those a year, less the cost of the crew and any upkeep, the boat would pay for itself quickly." Sue then added, "The Magellan will handle more people now, so figure it to be a one or two couple cruise. That will pay for the boat quickly as well."
I told Mercy, who was waiting for my answer, "Just ask Tiny. He'll guide you and will probably want John to pick up at least one more large boat for charter."
Mercy was now all smiles, "Oh goody. I hope he looks for at least a hundred footer. I love the way the big boats sail."
Sue and Mercy cornered me later and had me sit with them to discuss the coming trip.
Sue began, "Right now if we were to sail to Europe, we would take our core group which is you, me, Mercy, and Juanita, plus we would probably take Maggie. I'm up in the air about Kate, as one, it would mean an extra kid, and two, Hannah wants her in the park daycare center. We really need her talent over there."
Mercy said, "I'm neutral on this because I do like Kate and Carson and would enjoy having them along, but I know that if my mom comes along, we would have that much more help with the little ones.
"You guys know that this could become a very boring trip. It will take several days to cross the Atlantic to the Straight of Gibraltar, then a few more days to Greece. We will probably have a few days of rough weather, with some days where we'll have to use the inside weather helm all day. Those days will be rough on the kids, because they won't get any sun or outdoors fun."
Sue said, "That's part of the mystique, the adventure. We want to experience being in a storm, we want to experience the open ocean. This trip is more for the adventure than anything else. How many people can say they sailed across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean?"
When I looked at Mercy, she said, "All that stuff and the fact that I just love to sail. I want to go up on the bow when it's storming out and feel the sea in my face. I know that sounds crazy, but I want to do that."
Missy was standing in the sliding door opening, so I waved her over. "Missy, are you really serious about coming with us. It's going to be a long trip, and possibly one with some degree of difficulty."
She surprised me by repeating what Mercy said. "I love to sail. I want to feel the wind and water in my face when we're in a storm. I think this would be my greatest adventure."
Sue, Mercy, and Missy were all looking at me apprehensively. "Okay, Missy, you're in. When the big boat gets here, the ones who are going on the cruise will accompany me out across the gulf and back. I want to see how the boat handles and experience it a little more. That will be four or five days so plan on it. We'll need to learn the boat and for all of us to learn how to handle it."
Juanita came over to us and asked, "Are you planning the boat trip? I want to be sure to be included."
Mercy pulled Juanita down to sit, squeezed between Sue and her. "You're a must for the trip, Nita. We can't go without you."
"Sue? You have to make up your mind about Kate," I said. "Would she be better off staying here to run the daycare or do you want to take her with us?"
Mercy got up saying she would get her. Missy got up too as she said we needed to make that decision without her.
Mercy came back with Kate. I addressed the situation quickly. "Kate, we're trying to plan our trip and crew to go to Europe. Whether you go with us or not is important, as Hannah has plans for you in the daycare, as does Sue. You however have just been handed a new scenario in life by probably becoming a single mother. What do you think? Do you want to begin working out at the daycare center or would you rather come with us."
Kate looked at the three other girls and at me for a long time. "This thing with Jim has me very confused. I still love the man. He's the father of my child. It's crazy the way he went off with men. He wasn't even hiding it when we found him and those three guys. I'm really confused by him right now."
Kate continued, "If I take that job today, I'll be making enough for Carson and me to be comfortable and so we could take care of ourselves. It's a great opportunity that I would hate to turn down. However, the trip sounds so neat. I'll probably never get a chance to go to Europe or go on a sailing adventure like that again. Carson is young, but he'd remember the trip as well. I am a little scared of going out into the ocean like that, but then I was apprehensive about flying down to Costa Rica. What I'd like to do is to start out getting the daycare center organized then go on the trip with you guys. When we get back, I'll go to work full time out there either as the principal leader or a worker, whatever is available."
Sue said she would be back in a few minutes. She disappeared into the house. We chatted about five minutes, until Sue came back. "Hannah said that she really wants you to come out there and start work but can understand the lure of sailing to Europe. She said for you to come out today and begin looking over the center and making plans. Between now and when we leave, begin putting into place the appropriate procedures that are required to run a center. When you get back, you will head that department. Will that work?"
"That's more than perfect, Sue, Carson and I will have a great time on the trip. Thank you all for taking us in and treating us nice. You have been a blessing. I'm going to change and go see Hannah."
Sue said, "Keep in mind this not a regular workday job. Since the plant is open seven days, the daycare has to be open that much too. Hannah is taking the place of one of the regular girls today."
I told Sue, Mercy, and Juanita, "You should encourage Kate to teach some classes to ladies to become childcare givers. I'm sure there is a lot to entertaining fifty to sixty kids five and under."
"Good idea, Steve, I'll get with her about that," Sue said, as she was getting up.
I stopped them all one last time, "So the crew will be us four, plus Maggie and Kate, with Missy as a passenger?"
Mercy said, "Maggie may not want to go on the very long trip. She said she gets too homesick when she's away."
I asked Sue, "Should we ask around and see if anyone else would like to come along as passengers? We'll have plenty of space."
Sue answered, "I'll think about it, but I think I'd rather us keep the crew small and limit the total people on board to just those we are very close to."
"You are the boss, Lady." I said, saluting her and receiving a grin.
While we were eating pizza and wings that night, I got a call from the crew on the big boat. They told me they were about an hour or two out, depending on how hard it was to navigate into the yacht club. I told them I would meet them and we would put up a green flashing beacon where to head the boat. I told him that since it was dark, to just come in bow first for now.
Mercy listened to my side of the conversation and said, "Let's go. We want to be there when they get in to help tie it up."
Mercy went to Sue and Juanita to tell them that. All of a sudden, there were multiple cars and trucks going to Dunedin to see the new boat.
Once we were at the yacht club, I was able to find the flashing green light to place at the end of the pier. The club had several, so I put another at the end of the pier the bow would be at. There was hardly any moon tonight, so our night vision was screwed up by all the lights down at the docks and piers to help people come in.
We saw the boat coming. They had all the sails down and covered already, and were slowly motoring in to get their bearings. They slowly edged their way next to the pier and were only drifting applying reverse props to slow the big boat as it came in.
The onboard crew threw out two lines fore and aft that we were able to tie up quickly so the boat would not only stop, but be secured, at the pier. I heard the engines go off, leaving the fans on for a few minutes to clear any exhaust that may have accumulated. The yacht club attendants were hustling to arrange shore connections to the boat but said they didn't have a holding tank cleaning hose to reach out here. We would have to move to the fuel docks to clean the holding tank.
The crew had brought all of their gear topside to leave the ship. I held my hand up and asked them to step back into the lounge.
"I have a proposition for you guys. It includes all of you and may or may not be something you would like."
I paused a few seconds, making sure I had their attention. "My family has decided they want to keep both boats and want to start a charter cruise company. They will charter out the boats between our personal cruises. They have a business plan that would charter the Magellan boat for a week to a month with up to three couples. We would supply the crew and meals. So the questions are, would you guys be interested in becoming salaried employees, and do any of you know how to cook?
The four guys began laughing. The one who was the leader before said, "That's how we met. We were in chef school in New York City and found out that all four of us wanted to get hired onto a small cruise charter boat as a cook and crewmember. We've had a few gigs as crew already, and I can tell you that we won't let any paying passenger ever starve. We love to cook from fancy to simple. Sure we'll stay, but do you want us to keep living onboard or where do you want us to stay."
Sue said, "Stay onboard tonight and perhaps the next few nights until we can find you appropriate living conditions on shore. Would you guys want to share a house or large apartment, or would you all rather be by yourselves."
The leader guy said, "We'll be alright together but we would need separate beds like on the boat. We don't mind bunking together, but there is enough closeness without sleeping with another guy."
I finally remembered the guy's name, "Okay, Greg. Tomorrow we'll bring you guys out a company car and you four can go find a place. Make sure it's comfortable and close so you don't have to fight traffic to get to the water. We have some charter fishing boats you might want to crew on sometimes for a change, but we will be looking to have you four take paying passengers out on the sailboat. You know, make it one of those romantic cruises."
Sue, Mercy, Juanita, Kate, and Maggie had been leading people through the boat, showing them everything they had been shown before. Everyone was duly impressed with the boat. The crew took their gear back down below to the crew's quarters, and I was finally able to get everyone out so the crew could relax after their fast trip up here. They had made remarkable time getting here.
At home on the patio, the five women planning on going to Europe were writing down what to check for on the boat and what they knew they would want on the trip.
John and I were talking about what kind of improvements I wanted. "Easy, John, I want everything on the big boat that I have on the Magellan, everything. If possible, keep what's on it now except where improvements are being made, like the long range radar, replace it with the new style. Replace the radios with a full array of good radios like those on the other boat. I want a good autopilot, the best in collision avoidance, satellite links for TV, computer, and phone, plus the personal protection anti-personnel detection system. Anything that will make the boat safer and easier to operate, get it."
"Do you know any shipwrights that could do some minor remodeling for the girls? They want the kitchen changed around a little. They'd like the counter with fixed stools, with room for high chairs. They may want improved cooking surfaces too, because we do enjoy eating. I think the rest of the boat is very livable the way it is."
John nodded, saying, "There are several in this area that can do what you want before your trip. Do you have a departure date yet?"
"None yet, John, the girls will let me in on their exact plans soon. They like to keep me guessing for a while, then spring the date on me."
John said, "I'm going to leave you guys now. I'd like to sleep in my own bed for a change. Yours is nice, but I would really like to go home. Have the girls call me in the morning to see if they are coming out to the boat."
Soon, everyone was leaving for the night, getting ready for the coming work week. The four-day holiday was over. I didn't feel as if we had really taken a holiday, except for Thursday.
Kate wanted to sleep in the other room with Carson, so the bed was only partially crowded. No hanky-panky tonight. We were all tired out from the hustle and bustle.
This note is to all. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate the birth of Jesus. Happy Hanukah who celebrate the Festival of Lights. And Happy Holidays to those that just enjoy playing Santa.
Soon it will be a new year, may 2009 bring health, security, and happiness to all. Happy New Year