I had never fallen asleep in a wetsuit - Wetsuits are very uncomfortable but I did. My damp skin was itching like mad and so I awoke. I panicked! I had gotten to the top of that emotional rollercoaster only to find myself plunging headlong down the other side! I started screaming for Stacy to wake up... he did.
Across Elands Bay, the lights of the warehouse showed very little but at the dock the distinctive shape of a small ship could be seen. The drive was much further than a bee-line across the bay and it was a dirt road. Stacy to his credit drove like he was fleeing from Hades itself. I was crying and bemoaning our carelessness, but mostly crying. My crying seemed to help his driving but I am not sure why. ???
I just knew, I was fated to miss Merry again but then a still small voice... “Ye, of little faith.” I write this in shock but in truth. I thought the words were audible. At the time, I said to Stacy, “What did you say?”
“I said, quit crying. Damn it!” Stacy told me, almost yelling... but I knew that I knew the soft spoken scripture was God’s counsel. God had reassured me (and rebuked me!). Wow!
It was almost 1am when Mac was down on the dock again saying farewell to Hendrik. For the second time, the guard dogs began their clamoring. Now the din was even more ferocious sounding than before but it was taking place at the front gates of the factory. Everyone turned toward the gates which were a few hundred yards from where the sloop was docked. A car with headlights flashing was at the gates. The car horn began blaring above the dog’s noisy barking and the lights continued flashing.
Hendrik was mystified as no one ever visited the warehouse at night unless, like Mac they came quietly and left the same way. They had no night guards other than the dogs.
Mac glanced annoyingly at Merry but called up to Tino and Zeff, “Guys go down for Hendrik here and see what the problem is. Make it quick.”
Hendrik let them through the dock gate. As they went forth jogging under the dim night lights of the warehouse grounds, Hendrik began locking up the warehouse dock doors and the receiving shed.
Merry had missed Mac’s initial irritated look her way. She and Junior were aboard watching the action from the starboard railing but the distance and gloom made for a poor show. They noted that the dogs were still hopping about with an intermittent bark, now and then but the car lights had gone out and the honking quit once the men started toward the front gate.
“Is that Tino?” Merry asked. A figure was running toward them and as he came closer, they could see it was Tino. He came through the gate and Mac turned from his talk with Hendrik. Neither Merry nor Junior could hear the discussion but Mac turned towards her more than once and then, sent Tino through the gate again.
Mac and the older man came toward the boat. Hendrik was shaking his head when Mac called up to Merry, “We’ve picked up another passenger.”
“Oh, goody. The more the merrier but how did he know we would be here tonight?” she asked looking from one to the other below her.
Grinning, Hendrik said, “Don’t look at me! I’m quiet as a clam - Mac knows that. Besides, he is a she... Isn’t that right Mac?”
The dogs had started their uproar again and so the three of them looked toward the noise. About halfway from the gates coming towards them on the gravel drive was Tino to the left and Zeff to the right with someone small and dark, hopping about between them. As if a circus act was being performed, the middle person skipped from one side and then to the other, grabbing at their arms and swirling away from the dogs. The yipping Boerboels were lunging and leaping about the trio without actually knocking into them or even snarling.
Hendrik and Mac had similar looks of alarm mixed with incredulity on their faces. Junior and Merry were delighted by getting a show. As the three came into the light, Tino was obviously keeping his distance from the black suited stranger and Zeff was trying to avoid the violent careening, too. Both men looked stoic. The dark figure - Kate, let out nervous yelps and astonished “helps” as they approached the gate.
Mac looked up to Merry but he saw she didn’t recognize her sister. He called to her over the hubbub of the dogs and Kate’s own fearful squealing, “I take it, Coco is your sister Kate’s nickname?”
Merry smirked and nodded and then what she was seeing broke like a wave over her head with a unsuspecting splash.
“Coco? Kate? Kate!” she yelled and she too began hopping up and down. She grabbed Junior before he could dodge her embrace and she kissed him on the forehead. “Junior! It’s my sister Kate! Coco is absolutely terrified of Boerboels... Why look at her! It has to be Kate!” Merry climbed the boat rail and would have jumped the eight feet or more to the dock if Mac hadn’t put a stop to it.
Hendrik had hurried to let them through the gate. Dressed in a wetsuit, Kate had one hand stretching Zeff’s sweatshirt beyond repair and one arm clenched about Tino’s arm as they came through the gate. The dogs quit barking as the gate closed them out. Immediately, Kate let loose of her human shields. She tried to regain her dignity but it was futile. The men looked at her as if she was insane but Merry came running to her from the boat.
“Kate! Kate! What are you doing here?” Merry was yelling but when she reached her sister they both began crying hysterically and hugging. Again the men appeared sincerely perplexed as they awkwardly looked at each other, toward the dogs and the boat - anywhere, but at the two women.
After some minutes, the sisters were on the boat and Tino explained that the wetsuit belong to the fellow in the car at the front gate. It needed to be returned.
Kate exchanged clothes giving the wetsuit to Merry who gave it to Zeff who then jogged back to the awaiting car with headlights flashing again.
They were some miles to sea when Kate and Merry went to the galley to make a very late meal.
“Kate, God orchestrated this... this link up. You know that don’t you? I thought you were in D’Almata already; safe and sound with Mom,” Merry explained. “I never guessed you were here and you were in Durban too. I can’t get over it.”
Kate was nodding and tearing up again. “It was awful Merry. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get to my money and my South African friends were nice but apathetic to my dilemma. It was like they were saying, ‘Time to join the real world.’ And I suppose I don’t blame them, as South Africa has had plenty of their own problems for a long time.” Her words quieted them for awhile.
It was almost 2am when dinner was ready. Merry went above decks to get the guys. Mac put the boat on autopilot after checking their course. They were waiting for him when he came to the table. Rather than sitting, Mac stood and prayed over the meal and then called Merry aside.
Kate could see them standing together in the salon on the far side of the walk-through. She looked at the others but only Zeff was not eating yet. Tino and Junior were poking their lobster suspiciously as they chewed on other items from their plates. Zeff turned from watching Mac and Merry. He smiled at Kate before attending to his food. Kate was surprised. He didn’t seem embarrassed to be caught watching the couple but she thought he should be...
Kate coughed. She said, “Thank you - all of you for helping me come aboard.” The three guys smiled at her and nodded sheepishly.
Junior said, “I never saw anyone pull two strong men around like you did. Zeff’s shirt has been thrown into the rag pile,” he said to her with a nod and a toothy grin. He added, “It was awesome. Merry said that you really don’t like Boerboels. I don’t know why not.”
Kate’s face turned red as she realized, she had grabbed at the guys, ripping the taller one’s shirt. She looked quickly at Zeff but he was examining his plate. She said by way of explanation, “I grew up in Cape Town mostly. I was three when we moved there and I was attacked by a Boerboel a few weeks later. I suppose I was traumatized because I never got over my fear.” She turned first to Tino and then to Zeff. “I’m sorry. I thought I would be okay but when they started growling... I lost it.” She smiled but bit her thumb nail as was her habit when nervous.
Zeff looked at her and wondered about her ridiculous behavior. “It’s okay,” he said. Tino nodded in agreement. Mac and Merry returned to sit down and Zeff turned away from Kate, replaying the scene in his head.
He and Tino had come up to the gate and a young woman - Kate was standing at the passenger’s side of the car wearing a wetsuit and sandals. She was talking so fast with the distinctive South African lisp, that he couldn’t understand her but Tino had.
Tino said to him in Spanglish that she said she was Merry’s sister, Kate Merriweather! Also, that she had sent Merry a text message telling her to pick her up in Elands Bay. Zeff had understood some of that as his English was perfect even though the South African fellow was talking over Kate.
When Tino left to ask Mac what to do, Kate and the South African began to argue. Kate apologized to Zeff but Zeff just shrugged. Zeff summed up the South African as the typical player... a womanizer. Zeff had been known to be called one and he knew plenty of players. He wasn’t sure about Kate but she seemed to hold her own with the fellow.
Tino returned with the keys to the front walk-through gate and with Mac’s instructions to bring Kate with them. However, Kate didn’t want to come through with the dogs loose. Zeff offered to carry her piggyback. Kate declined and so they set off but no sooner had they gotten through the gate when the dogs began to circle and bark and howl at Kate. They seemed to revel in her fear and her reaction to their taunting.
Initially, he had wanted to explain that the more she reacted to the dogs the more intense their response would be but then he realized Kate was beyond reason. She acted like a drowning victim - out of control. If he had been by himself and a less strong man, Kate’s pushing and pulling would have been a severe challenge. As it was, Zeff was young, big and very strong and although very annoyed at her frantic acrobatics, he and Tino pressed toward the boat with Kate gyrating about like a puppet being pirouetted by an invisible puppeteer. They were sisters, Kate and Merry but he couldn’t imagine Merry ever acting so absurd. Of course, Merry had climbed the mast to sit in the crows nest earlier today...
When Zeff took the wetsuit back to the car, he asked for Kate’s bags - Merry had said there were two. When the South African handed them over, he said something extremely inappropriate about Merry’s sister. Zeff found that he needed to punch the obnoxious degenerate in the nose. So, he did.
Zeff rubbed the knuckles of his right fist as Mac broke-in on his thoughts saying, “Kate, I’ve heard all about you. This is a real boon for Merry. We men have quite bored her to death and there is still six or more weeks left to this trip before we land in D’Almata.”
“Mac... all of you, I am so thrilled to be here. It’s like a dream - a wonderful dream after living through an uncertain nightmare the last few months.” She told them and then looking back to Mac she said, “I thought if Merry hadn’t left for D’Almata already she was probably dead. Did you see the news coverage of what happened in the states? It was horrific.” Kate dabbed her eyes with her table napkin.
Tino and Junior piped in with what they experienced in Santa Fe. Zeff had overheard some of this but not so detailed. Merry filled in the gaps.
Mac had come over to the states to help Merry organize her mother’s belongings to ship the things and escort Merry to D’Almata as her widowed mother was marrying a D’Almatan. That same morning a huge earthquake ripped through the Midwestern United States causing major damage from Chicago, south to New Orleans. Within hours of the quake, three nations attacked America and with the tsunami aftermath from the earthquake the country was suddenly brought to its knees. Any one of the calamities would have caused the USA horrendous duress, affecting the rest of the world as well. All three changed the face of their world and their generation forever.
The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico situated between two strategic military targets made the bustling little capital unique. It was not hit directly by the military strike and it was not directly affected by the earthquake or tsunami. Still, there was no place to go but to hunker down and wait out the initial panic and violent social aftershocks.
Mac and Merry had been taking care of some business at the Christian halfway house that Merry oversaw under the auspices of her church when Albuquerque, south of Santa Fe was attacked. It hadn’t been nuclear but it was devastatingly destructive, nonetheless. Junior’s sister, Angel was one of the housemates and Tino was Junior’s cousin. There were several others from the halfway house and then more were added to their group later. Eventually, the extended household headed north to a ranch owned by one of them. As for Mac, he took Merry his new bride and also, inadvertently, Junior and Tino when they were left behind by the others - south to Mexico. Mac belonged on D’Almata and he was ready to get back to his nation and his duties there.
Merry explained how they bought the sloop, Serendipity and as they were hurriedly leaving because of a tsunami alert, Zeff was hauled aboard drunk and almost drowned. “His English is limited,” she added.
Kate looked at Zeff, raising her eyebrows. He grew red under her gaze and got up for more grub. She said, “I’m glad you got out when you did. There were entire towns wiped out by those waves... even Hawaii was affected. So you just bought a ship and sailed away before the tidal wave hit?”
Mac told her that tsunamis at sea are typically harmless. He said, “As for this sloop. The owner abandoned her in Mexico... Why? We don’t know but a corrupt official was willing to sell her to me. The owners were Americans and they may have been caught in the mayhem up north. She came into port 10 days before the earthquake and attack. They... the owners were due back as the slip rental was for only two weeks but two months - more had come and gone. So, I got a good deal and an excellent windship.” He explained the many extras that the owners had added.
Merry said, “I’ll give you the tour tomorrow.”
Junior said, “Merry, she is afraid of Boerboels! What about Coco? She’s a Boerboel!”
Kate’s eyes darted nervously about the galley. “What do you mean” What about Coco? Who is Coco... I mean, I am Coco!”
Zeff had seated himself again but now he looked alarmed. He wondered if Kate would start ripping apart the shirt he had on which replaced the other. He said, “Hold on... hold on.”
Merry interrupted Zeff saying calmly, “Coco is a dog... Yes, she is a Boerboel and the boat’s mascot but...”
It was too late. As if on cue a loud thumping and scratching began from the forward cabin.
Junior had gone forward to retrieve the little beast while Tino and Zeff shifted away from Kate. Without any more ado, she climbed atop her chair, stooping so as not to bump against the overhead.
Mac looked irritated and Merry started laughing. “Kate, get down. Coco’s a pup. Look behind you,” Merry said above the fracas of scrambling people and a plate falling.
When Kate saw Coco barreling down the walk-through towards the galley, she let out a nervous shriek. “Oh my! She’s a puppy... a cute oversized puppy!” And then as she began to climb down, Kate hesitatingly asked, “Coco’s dad is not back there too, is he?”
In unison, Junior, Merry and even, Zeff reassured her that Coco was it; the only dog on board.
“I named her after you, Kate,” Merry announced.
Kate nodded as she sat on the floor with the puppy sprawling across her lap. “How perverse of you,” she replied to Merry.
“Yes... I know but her eyes. Her eyes reminded me of you and I was feeling very sorry for myself and missing you, terribly. So, I named her Coco and gave her to Mac but Mac didn’t want her so Zeff owns her now. She stays in his cabin when she isn’t wandering around above decks or when she isn’t being thrown overboard by the crew,” Merry said this as she looked toward Zeff. He returned her gaze and raised his eyebrows.
Zeff had returned to his seat after realizing Kate was not going to use him as a martial arts practice dummy again. Tino and Mac were at the table polishing off their very late meal. Soon everyone finished but Merry and
Kate stayed up talking most of the night. When Kate did go to bed, Merry had her sleep in the salon on the settee.
“We’ll rearrange the cabins tomorrow. This sloop sleeps seven if you count this couch but no one has to sleep out here. There are two mini cabins across from the laundry area and workstation. Tino and Junior have them now. They can bunk together in Zeff’s cabin and he can move to Tino’s and you can move into the berth Junior has been using,” Merry told Kate.
Kate’s bag had no pajamas but she had been wearing sweats to bed as the South African days moved into winter. She put these on and Merry gave her a pillow and some blankets. Above decks, Junior had the watch.
Chapter 8 Creatures
Once Mac realized that Coco was actually Kate, Merry’s sister, the dog’s name and the suspicious text he had received from “Coco” was easily explained. The voicemails never made it through. Again he had to remind himself that Americans were not at all like D’Almatans. No one on D’Almata would name a dog after a family member! No more than would they ride a goat! Mac reflected.
Also, Mac was discovering that Christians... genuine Christians were a different sort of creature. Altogether, they were to act different from their cultural conditioning if those learned behaviors were at odds with Biblical directives. Mac had read Jesus’ accusatory question to His own people, Why do you break God’s commands for the sake of your traditions? He sensed that his own traditions would be tested against scripture when he returned to D’Almata.
Every evening before dinner, Mac had been gathering the household for Bible study. Tino and Zeff attended begrudgingly. Mac knew this but he agonized over their spiritual condition. They both had religion but what they needed was a relationship with God. Mac understood but they didn’t and so he prayed for them, trying to find God’s mind - the mind of Christ for them.
What worried Mac was not that he expected one of them to fall overboard during a storm or die of an ailment as they stopped in disease ridden ports but it was the signs of the times that concerned Mac. As captain, Mac felt responsible for his crew. As Christian, Mac sensed God’s favor on his crew... even Zeff seemed to be hand-picked for this trip.
Catching Kate (Scenic Route to Paradise) Page 6
