Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  To his surprise, with a pop the motor started with a chuga-chuga-chug, and continued to run, even after she removed the crank handle.

  She smiled up at him, sweat beaded on her forehead, and puffing like she just ran a marathon. “There you go. This motor fires on compression, if you can turn it over you can start it.”

  Robert had joined Frank in the opening. “How did you know that? God, I feel like such an idiot.”

  “Easy, it’s a Yanmar 12 horse. These old motors are just about indestructible. If they have fuel they run. No problems.”

  “Your biggest problem is going to be carrying enough fuel. I figure you have about a six-hundred-mile trip give or take. You can sail or at least motor sail all the way, but you need enough fuel to make the trip.”

  “That’s easy. That Carver I found the gun on has two full tanks of gas. It’s on the other side, but there are empty gas jugs there too.”

  “Gas!” Ellen squawked. “Didn’t you hear me say this motor runs on diesel. You put gas in it and it’ll die and you’ll never get it running.”

  Frank rolled his eyes at Robert, “She would be the one to know. Now we really do need to find more diesel. Alan did you transfer the fuel?”

  Ellen put the cover back on the motor and replaced the steps. “Frank, there’s a handle right there on the inside gunnel by the radio mount, pull it out.”

  Frank did, and the motor shut down. He tipped his head in the direction of the companion way, “Is she good or what?”

  Robert grinned at him, “I’ll have to get her to show me how to do that before you guys leave.” Robert looked at Ellen when her head popped out of the hatch, “Or maybe I’ll just keep her with me.”

  “Not a chance,” she said as she climbed out. “I’m going home.”

  Frank looked at Robert and Alan, “Okay grab the jugs and let’s go. Robert, you can start with that boat there and work your way up the dock, grab any empty jugs. If it has an outboard on the back don’t bother checking. They’ll run on gas.”

  By the time they reached the gate they had collected three more five-gallon containers. Frank looked back before they were out of sight and lifted his hand in a wave to Ellen.

  Ellen went back to the Annie-C, her footsteps sounded hollow and alone on the empty dock. She stopped and looked around her. Had she not known differently she could have been all alone in the world. She didn’t even see a seagull nor hear any. It was like the world had been put on pause and she was the only one moving around. A shiver ran up her spine and she hurried to the boat.

  She smiled in relief when she climbed aboard, and she heard two little girls giggling. Her life was almost back to normal. She had one more thing she needed to tell her crew, or at least ask them. They weren’t going to be happy when they heard her latest idea. But, if she had her way, they would get used to it. It wasn’t in her to turn her back on anyone.

  Chapter Fourteen - Decisions...Decisions!

  “We have so much canned food on that boat, we’ll be lucky if it doesn’t sink.” Margret was helping Hannah fix them some dinner. The girls were in the V-berth playing with the music box and all the costume jewelry that went in it. Without knowing, you would never guess Olivia had been so sick just the night before.

  Ellen was sitting cross-legged on the port settee with the chart for the west coast folded to the area they were going to. She studied it and used the calipers to take some measurements.

  She was now ready to speak her thoughts. “Margaret, what are you going to do when you get home? Do you have other family there?”

  She looked up in time to see Hannah roll her eyes and turn her smile away. Ellen shook her head because she knew Hannah had been thinking the same thoughts.

  Margaret looked startled by the question. “I don’t know. And no, there’s no one but the three of us. Well, there is my brother-in-law but we don’t see him much. Why?”

  “Have you thought about the gangs or if everyone there is gone? I mean what if everyone there came down with the flu or whatever you want to call it, and died? I don’t think it could be a very healthy place to live.”

  The color drained from Margaret’s face and she reached for the counter to study herself. All of a sudden, she looked much older than she had a minute before. Ellen almost felt bad for broaching the subject, but they needed to have this straightened out before the guys returned. They could present a united front, staying any of the men’s objections…if they had any and if she knew Frank they would, or rather he would.

  Hannah put her arm around Margaret’s shoulder to study her when she looked like she might fall over. “You may as well just agree with her. Whatever she has to say it will make it much easier if you just say yes.”

  Margaret looked at Ellen, “We haven’t even thought of everyone being gone or dead. How can we take Dana back if it’s like that? How can we stay here though? We’ve about picked these boats clean and Robert said something about men coming here. He didn’t say when but that’s why he wants to leave.”

  Hannah helped Margaret to the settee and had her sit at the end of the table. “Thank you dear. I get so shaky lately and right now I feel like I just stepped into an open elevator and the car wasn’t there. What are we going to do?”

  Hannah had turned back to the galley, but hearing Margaret’s words she turned around. “Margaret, are you on any medications?”

  “No…I used to be but I ran out weeks ago. That’s partly why Robert wants to take us home. I used to travel to Calexico and buy my medicines one year at a time. I thought I was only going to be gone two weeks and didn’t bring more than that with me. I have almost a year’s supply at the house.”

  Ellen looked at Hannah, “Why is it that every time I look at you you’re shaking your head? Don’t you have food to fix or something?” The gentle tone of her words took the sting out of the meaning.

  “Yes boss, but wait just a minute. Margaret what were you on? For meds?”

  “Well there were only three that I really needed, my Enalapril and Metoprolol for my blood pressure. Levothyroxine for my thyroid and I take a baby aspirin too, but I haven’t had any of them and I’m still here, so maybe I don’t really need them at all.”

  “Yes I think you do, that’s why you are feeling shaky. I’ll be right back.” She went into the aft cabin and began rummaging around moving containers.

  “I think you should go with us. We can go by your place and see how things are and if they’re bad there, the three of you should go to the farm with us. We have more than enough room there and Olivia and Dana would have each other. So you would actually be helping us out too. And Hannah’s going to have a baby in the spring.”

  “Oh my God, she’s so brave. I’m not sure I could do it the way things are.” She sat silent for a couple of minutes, maybe listening to the racket coming from the aft cabin.

  “When you say go by our place…that sounds so normal, like we can just drop in for a minute. I hadn’t thought of what we would find if we ever got there and I don’t think Robert has either. I think we both had the idea that if we could just get there everything would be okay…now, I don’t know what to think.”

  “Well you talk to Robert and I’ll let Frank and Alan know. I’m beginning to think that good people need to gather in one place. I really think that’s the only way we are going to survive in this new world.”

  “I will as soon as he returns. And thank you no matter what we decide. It’s a comfort to know that someone cares what happens to us.”

  “Here we go. I knew I saw this in the basket you guys brought back from Flamenco. I only needed to find where I stored the meds.” She laughed at herself, “I really need to have a better system, but we have so little room.”

  “What’s this?” Margaret asked. She turned the bottles to read the labels. “Oh my…but I can’t take all your medicine. I do have some at home.” Her eyes watered, and she blinked to clear them. “If I have a home.”

  “Well you might be our only patient s
o right now you go ahead and take one of each. We’ll just keep you on one a day until we see how you do, but eventually we’re going to run out of everything. Hopefully we’ll figure out an alternative before we do.”

  “So you don’t think this is going to get better or go away do you?” Margaret’s tone said she was already resigned to the new normal, but had to ask.

  Hannah looked to Ellen obviously wanting her to answer. “Actually we don’t. That’s why we want to get to the farm. The people that are left can only fall into one of two categories. They’re either going to be people like us; good people wanting to help each other. Or people who want what we have and will do whatever they have to do to take it for themselves. And no I don’t think it will get better any time soon. I think this is what we have for a long time to come.”

  “Why would you ask perfect strangers to come and live with you? You don’t even know what kind of people we are.”

  Hannah laughed. She was enjoying listening to the conversation. “I can answer that. Ellen is our resident rescuer extraordinaire. If not for her, none of us would be here. She gathers as she goes.”

  “I’m not that bad,” Ellen answered in her own defense. “Can I help it if I keep finding good people? No I can’t. So let’s figure out how we can all fit on this little boat of mine before the guys get back. We need to have a plan all laid out.”

  They worked at re-arranging the aft cabin. Ellen had to use some of her nylon webbing strap rivets and eye hooks, but finally had the containers and baskets held on the bulkheads by a nylon net. They were confident it would hold the provisions in place even if they had rough seas.

  They had created a space big enough for both of the girls. They seemed to be overjoyed to be sharing sleeping and playing quarters that were just for them. The women would share the V-berth and because the men would never be asleep at the same time, Ellen decided they could hot bunk the salon settees. When one of them got up for their watch and steering shift, the other person going to sleep could use the same bunk.

  The three women transferred all of the food from the Newport to every nook and cranny aboard the Annie-C. The canned food they removed the labels, wrote on the can what it was and dropped them in the bilges. Ellen was grateful her bilges were dry after putting in a shaft seal. While occasionally she did have a minuscule amount of water it came from leakage, not the ocean. Thinking about leakage she checked their previous repairs.

  “Well crap,” she said looking at the trickle of water in the cubby. “Hannah, I know we have a basket with the West System epoxy stuff in it. I don’t suppose you know where it is?”

  “Actually I do. I thought you would need it so I put in an accessible place.” She pulled the end cushion off the starboard settee. There were two storage areas under the cushion. From the first section, she pulled a foot tall, square Rubbermaid tote.

  “There you go. I read This Old Boat to Olivia last week and so I put all the things you’d need for repairs together in one place.” She held the tote out for Ellen’s inspection.

  “Good enough, thank you. Take the girls outside. This stuff stinks and I don’t want them breathing the fumes.”

  “Can we help you?” Margaret asked.

  “Not really and it won’t take that long once I make it up. The space is limited so better to work alone and I’ve done this before.”

  It wouldn’t be the repair she would do in dry-dock, but it would last longer than the duct tape patch. She had used the quick hardener so it wouldn’t be long for it to set up. They’d already sanded it when they were trying to repair it with duct tape to get the tape to stick so she bypassed the sanding step. She mixed up a batch of West System and painted it on, covering the crack and the edges of the loose fiberglass around the hole itself.

  She went topside for fresh air, taking her scissors and a piece of fiberglass matting with her. In the cockpit, she cut the fiberglass into small pieces, while listening to the girls on the dock. She knew that once Frank and Alan learned of the story behind Margaret and her family they would be more than willing to take them along. She didn’t think Frank would relish the idea of going to their home, but if they could salvage any of Margaret’s medications, clothing and food it would benefit all of them in the long run. These were good people and she feared good people would be in short supply in the future.

  She saw Margaret and Hannah sitting on the edge of the dock and the girls had moved to the end to sit together. They had their arms draped over each other’s shoulders and realized how lonely Olivia must have been with only adults to interact with. Hannah did her best with Olivia, but having another girl around would be nice for Olivia. Margaret and Hannah had seemed to have bonded also.

  She hoped they could all leave the next morning for the trip up the coast, retrieve the Nelson’s possessions and be on their way. It would be very crowded for the rest of the trip but beneficial to all of them, looking at the bigger picture.

  She only hoped Frank and Alan would see the benefits, because they would be having it sprung on them without so much as a discussion or a vote. She had violated her own rules about everyone having a vote but she hoped they would understand her reasoning.

  The fiberglass chopped up, she went below to finish. While the first coating of epoxy hadn’t set up completely, she thought it would do and mixed the chopped glass into epoxy she mixed up with a thickening agent. Using a spatula, she smoothed the mixture on followed by a solid layer of fiberglass matting. She rolled the matting with more of her mixture until it was saturated in epoxy. The container of unused epoxy was almost too hot to hold in her hand which told her the concoction was doing what it was supposed to do. Satisfied with her efforts she gathered her garbage and took it all topside. There was a black plastic bag secured in front of the mast just for their garbage. They didn’t dispose of much, reusing everything they could but regardless of their recycling attempts, the bag was still getting full. Maybe they could dispose of it properly when the guys got back.

  On the head-walk the gate slammed with a clang. Someone was coming onto the dock. Hand shading her eyes against the setting sun, Ellen strained to see who it was.

  Chapter Fifteen - New crew mates

  She was grateful to see she hadn’t screwed up big time. Her gun was down below. It had been digging into her back when she was doing the fiberglass repairs and she’d laid it aside; stuffing it between two of the seat cushions.

  By the time Robert, Alan and Frank made it to the Newport, the girls were lined up on the dock. Dana and Olivia were included.

  As soon as Frank was close enough to see them in fading light he knew there was trouble brewing. He could see no reason for them to be lined up, although he could see they made a pretty formidable front line. The determined expression on Ellen’s face told him all he needed to know.

  “Well, I’ve seen that look before, what’s up?”

  “Up? Nothing is up. We were starting to get worried is all and why does something have to be up, as you so eloquently put it?”

  “Because I’ve known you long enough to know when you have something up your sleeve.” Alan chuckled from behind him. Frank looked over his shoulder and with a jerk of his chin, brought the other two men forward.

  “Seeing as you seem to be at a loss for words, let us tell you what we think. Okay?”

  Frank thought to steel the thunder right out from under Ellen. “We’ve decided to stay together as a group. I know we said we would vote on everything, but we would be deadlocked anyways with the even numbers, so this is best for all of us.”

  Ellen’s mouth dropped open and Frank wanted to laugh. He finally got one up on her. Dana and Olivia were jumping up and down in their excitement.

  “Well that was easy,” Hannah said, “and here we thought we were going to have to make it seem like it was your idea.”

  Far off in the distance rapid gunfire broke up the celebration. They couldn’t tell which direction it had come from because of the bowl effect from the surrounding mo
untains. The sound ricocheted all around them. It clearly wasn’t close in, but with the deceptive echoes they couldn’t be sure it would stay far away.

  “You guys load the jugs and other stuff and we’ll get ready to get out of here. Ellen, can I talk to you for a minute?” He walked a way up the dock and stopped waiting on her to join him.

  She was talking softly to Margaret and Hannah and someone had sent the girls below.

  Finally, she turned and walked to him. “I know I probably went way over my head but if you think about this, you’ll see it is the best idea for all of us. I know I have no business inviting strangers to your farm…” Her fingertips touching his lips put a halt to his words.

  “That is the most presumptuous I have ever heard you be. It looks good on you. As far as the farm goes you need to get it in your head that we are a family, granted the family just grew significantly but it’s not a small farm and if we are going to make it thrive, we’ll need people.”

  “Then I guess we better get ready and move their stuff…” he leaned forward facing her and peered at her face. “You already moved all of it didn’t you?”

  “Yup, and I put a repair on the hole, because I think we’re going to be sitting lower in the water. I was hoping we weren’t leaving until tomorrow. I put an inside patch on but it should set overnight for the best cure.”

  “Okay. Well I guess we set up a watch and leave at first light. I think when you spend some time with Rob, you’ll like him. Margaret adopted him and his brother when their parents were killed and no other family members stepped up to claim them. He says it is the best thing to happen to them in their lives. He was three and his brother just one, when the adoption went through.”