“Well, all is good,” I informed them.
“You mean you were able to get Bruce?”
“Yeah, in fact, he is right now with his father at a hotel in town.“
“So I guess you’ll be leaving now?” Ava asked.
I could detect a bit of sadness in the question. I thought to myself how good that felt. Her sadness made me feel good - how twisted. It wasn’t that I wanted her to be sad, but it felt good that she had these types of feelings for me.
“Well, we haven’t really decided yet,” I said. “We’re thinking of making a trip home and then coming back.”
I had no idea really but the words seemed to smooth over the moment.
“So what have you girls got planned for today?”
Evonne explained that their dinner shift at the restaurant didn’t start until four that afternoon.
“Well, how about meeting us for lunch at the marina? Tom and I have some things to do with the boat and we’ll meet you in the restaurant, say around noon time. What time is it anyway?” I asked.
“It be ten o’clock,” Joseph informed me.
“Wow, it’s that late already?”
I explained to the girls that I had a bunch of stuff I needed to do and couldn’t stay for their invitation of some fresh brewed coffee.
“Where to now, mon?” Joseph wanted to know as we pulled away from the house.
“I need to go to the airport first.”
“Which one?”
“Oh, the big one,” I said. “I need to see André.”
As we approached the airport I could see that both of the DC3s were parked out on the ramp and reasoned there was a good chance of André being there. He was and as we entered his office I took notice to the morning paper laying on his desk.
“So I see you’ve read the news,” I said as he looked up to see who had walked in.
“Yes, and it comes as a surprise to me.”
“How’s that?” I asked him.
“Well, it’s not like Bishop to have made any pilot error as the paper suggests.”
“What do you care?” I wanted to know.
“Oh, I don’t. It just perplexes me.”
“Well, don’t you want to know about Bruce?” I asked.
“Bruce and his dad just left here,” André informed me. “He told me about the scene at Bishop’s yesterday. That’s some kind of crazy shit.”
“Well, you’re right, but it’s what needed to be done and now you guys should have no more problems with him.”
“This should resolve any connection between you guys and Bishop,” I said as I handed André the small duffel bag I had taken from the plane after landing it the night before.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“It’s everything Bishop was holding over you.”
The bag contained the rolls of film as well as a number of pictures that incriminated both André and Bruce in the smuggling of cocaine into the United States. I could see the relief André was feeling as he looked through all that had held him hostage for the past couple of months.
“This is great!” he exclaimed. “I’ve wanted to run a legit flying business here and now that will be possible.”
“What about Bishop’s people?” I asked André. “What about them making problems for you?”
“There shouldn’t be any problems,” André said.
He explained that Bishop was always paranoid about the people on either side of him so he was good about not allowing his suppliers to know who he was selling to for fear of being stepped over. The people he had surrounded himself with were just gofers doing what he told them to do.
“So it’s a happy ending then?” I asked.
“Yes, yes it is,” André said with a smile.
“Bruce says you’re one hell of a pilot,” André said as we turned to leave the office.
“How’s that?” I asked.
“Well, Bruce explained to me how you put that little 172 down last night in the dark.”
“I think it was really more nerve than piloting skill,” I informed him.
“Well, nerve is actually what you need more of when flying these tiny islands,” André replied. “If you decide to stay here I’ll give you a job flying.”
“What?” I asked, both surprised and intrigued by André’s offer.
He explained that he had plans for flying small twin aircraft between the islands ferrying cargo and mail.
“So I guess that would mean a haircut and a shave right?” I asked.
“Not at all. Here what you can do is more important than what you look like.”
“Hey, that’s good to know. Is that a standing offer?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” André said. “Anytime. Think about it.”
“I will,” I said.
Before leaving I remembered I wanted to ask André about us not clearing customs the day we took off in his airplane for St. Barts and again last night.
“Do you have the passports with you?” he wanted to know.
“Yeah, I have them right here.”
André took Tom’s and my passport and assured me he would take care of the issue. I reasoned that, like the customs official in St. Barts, André was respected enough to have the issue handled.
“Thanks,” I said, handing him our passports.
“Hey, can you meet us for lunch at the marina?”
“Yes, what time?” he asked.
“Well, we’ve told everybody noon.”
“Everybody?” André questioned.
“Yeah, sort of a conclusion party,” I replied. “We’ll see you there.”
“What now, mon?” asked Joseph
“Well, it’s after eleven now so let’s go get Tom and then head to the boat.”
Back at the hotel, Tom was still asleep as Joseph and I made our way into the room.
“Tom,” I said.
“Hey, Tom!” I yelled out. The second time he acknowledged me by raising his arm and waving his middle finger at us.
“Hey, man, we gotta meet the girls in a half an hour for lunch.”
Anything other than me mentioning women wouldn’t have gotten him up any quicker.
As we pulled into the marina parking lot I could see that Ava and Evonne had already arrived and were seated with Brian in the rear deck area of the boat.
“I was worried about you fellows last night, mon, when you no come back,” Brian said as we stepped aboard the boat.
“Yeah, well, sorry about that but as you can see we’re all ok and life is good. The hotel is a little bit more comfortable than this boat and we’ve decided to say there for the rest our time here.”
Ava again greeted me with a hug of real affection and as I turned to see Tom’s greeting he was lip-locked with Evonne. I was then thinking that these two girls had ideas of taking what we all had to another level. I was so conflicted.
“We better get up there before there’s no more tables,” I offered up trying to disguise any awkwardness I might be showing from my conflicted feelings.
“No problem,” Evonne said. “We have the best table reserved for a party of ten.”
“Ten?” I asked.
“Yeah, better to have more room than not enough.”
“Smart girl,” I said. “Ok then, let’s go.”
As we started back up the pier I turned to Brian who was still sitting on the boat. “You, too,” I said to him.
“Me, too?”
“Yes,” I said. “You, too. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Ya, mon, ok, sound good. I be there in a moment.”
“Ok,” I said as I turned and walked back up the dock.
Not only had the girls reserved a table but it was one that overlooked the marina and the bay. We all sat down and ordered up drinks.
“And for you?” the waitress asked.
“Me, I’ll have a Sea Breeze,” I said.
I usually drank beer but this was a special point in time and I felt the need to celebrate a little. As the dr
inks were being served, I took notice to Bruce and his father getting out of a cab in the parking lot. As they made their way toward the entrance doors, I saw Bruce stop. He had seen the Scarab at the far end of the pier. He motioned his father to go ahead in and he then headed down the pier towards the boat.
“Good morning, Mr. Saxton,” I said as he approached our table. “I’d like for you to meet some friends of ours.”
As I was finishing the introductions, I could see Brian at the end of the pier in what appeared to be a very animated conversation with Bruce.
“Excuse me,” I said to everyone at the table. “I’ll be right back.”
I quickly made my way back down to the boat. As I got closer I could hear Brian explaining to Bruce that it was of no concern to him to know who owned the boat and that he could very definitely not go aboard.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” I said in an attempt to quell the heated discussion.
“Brian, it’s ok,” I said. “I know this guy.” Bruce looked at me.
“You know him?” he asked.
“Yes, he is keeping an eye on my boat,” I said matter-of-factly .
“Your boat?” he asked. “No, wait,” he said. “Don’t tell me. This is part of the deal you made with my father.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Bruce went on to explain that there were only a few boats ever made that were exactly like this one and he suspected that this was his boat with a new paint scheme on it.
“Damn, you’re good,” I said. “It is your boat.”
I told Brian to let him come aboard. Brian looked perplexed.
“Brian, there’s a cold beer up at the table for you. Head on up and we will be there in a minute.”
I explained to Bruce that, in fact, we had arrived there in the Lesser Antilles by way of his Scarab and that when he came back from seeing his mother it would be sitting right there for him.
“I owe you,” he said.
“Oh, yeah, you owe me but it’s not for delivery of this boat and it’s not for getting your sorry ass out of this situation with Bishop. Your father took care of all that and you should be real grateful to him for that. You owe me because you fucking lied to me that night in West Palm Beach.”
“I told you I will make it up to you, I promise.”
“Well, you already did,” I said to him.
“What do you mean?” Bruce asked.
“Well, I’ve been thinking these past couple of days of what I want to do next in my life. I’m thinking that now with a little bit of money, that I’d do a little high class traveling. You know, travel around in style. Some fancy clothes to travel in, some fancy luggage to carry my fancy clothes in. Maybe a Louis Vuitton suitcase.”
With that Bruce’s eyes went wide. He wanted to say something but resisted.
“You got a problem with that?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that.”
He reached out his hand and we shook. “Thanks, man,” he said.
“No problem,” I told him. “Let’s get up there and get something to drink.”
As we got to the table the waitress was serving the second round of drinks. Tom had taken the liberty of ordering me up another Sea Breeze. He knew well that if it was hard liquor I was drinking it was for a serious unwinding which he encouraged more times than I afforded myself.
“Sorry I’m late,” André said as he pulled up a chair to join us.
“Hey, no problem,” I said. “We haven’t even ordered our food yet.”
“Oh, by the way, you’re all set,” André informed Tom and me as he reached across the table to hand us our passports.
“Your passports show you leaving and returning from the Dutch side of the island.”
“Thanks,” I told him.
“No, thank you,” André said.
After about our fourth round of drinks we all ordered up our meals. I was beginning to feel truly relaxed. Up until now there were so many unknown circumstances that I never felt comfortable enough to relax as the unknown kept me on guard. Now it was all pretty much behind us and we could move on.
As I sat there taking it all in I thought about friendships and partnerships. Tom and I were best friends, as well as partners in our adventures. So were Ava and Evonne. They, too, were best friends and partners in their adventure.
Sitting there looking at Bruce and André I just couldn’t believe they could be best of friends. They were partners. It was André’s business and people skills and Bruce’s money that made their bond. Individually, neither could have elevated their business to the level they had together but I didn’t sense they had a friendship between them like the one the girls or that Tom and I shared.
We all ate and drank for the next couple of hours. The conversations ranged from Bruce‘s father expressing how the island had changed since his first time there twenty-some years earlier to Bruce and André speaking of their plans for expanding their flying operations and the girls talking of their new island home. Tom and I pretty much were the quiet ones at the table, both lost in the thought of what would be next and our guaranteed future of what we perceived to be one of wealth.
I was feeling good and Ava made mention that it was good to see me smile.
“It’s the liquor,” I said, raising my glass.
She smiled. Damn, I thought, I could love this girl.
One by one people excused themselves from the table. Bruce and his father had a plane to catch, André, a flight for one of the DC3s to prepare and the girls for their four o’clock shift at the restaurant.
Before leaving, Mr. Saxton asked me what my plans were. I explained that Tom and I would be back stateside within a week.
“Very good,” he said. “Call me and we will finalize our deal.”
“Very good, sir. I will call you.”
He thanked me again, as did Bruce, and they headed off.
André asked that I get with him in the next couple of days before leaving the island. I assured him I would. The girls offered to come back to the boat after their dinner shift.
“Oh, we won’t be there,” I said. “My boating days are over. We’ll be at the hotel.”
As nice as the boat was, it didn’t afford the comfort of a double suite and a TV with music videos.
“Ok, then we’ll see you boys later back at the hotel,” Evonne said as she and Ava walked off.
Brian, Joseph, Tom and I moved to a smaller table in the bar area where we all continued our drinking. Joseph was the one to finally break it up.
“I got to go, mon, before I pass out right here.”
“You ok to drive?” I asked him.
“Ya, mon, right now I am but one more drink and I don’t know.”
“How about you?” I asked Brian.
“Me, I think I’ll go back to boat.”
“Well, you’re welcome to make yourself at home there now.” I offered up.
“That sound good to me,” he said with a big old smile.
I asked Joseph if he was able to drive Tom and me back to the hotel.
“Sure, mon, no problem!”
I waved over the waitress who had been taking our food and liquor orders and asked for the bill. She explained that Mr. Saxton had already taken care of it.
“Well, what about all that we’ve been drinking since he left?” I asked.
“Taken care of,” she assured me.
Wow, I thought, life is really good.
The ride back to the hotel was more concerning than the night flight back from St. Barts. The three of us were all pretty much hammered and Joseph was all over the road in his attempt to get us back to Philipsburg.
When we reached the hotel, I asked Joseph if he wanted to hang out. He said he preferred to go home and sleep it off. He was more of a reefer smoker than a drinker and I could see that his drinking buzz was a bit more than he was used to.
“Ok,” I said as I closed the car door. I wasn’t one for excessive drinking on
a regular basis either, but today was one of celebration and I was feeling about half way there.
Entering the room I took notice to the freshly made bed and beside it was a serving cart with what turned out to be a chilled bottle of champagne. Next to the ice-filled pewter bucket that the bottle was sitting in was a note from Mr. Saxton again thanking me for all I had done.
“Hey, there’s one in here too!” Tom exclaimed as he opened the double doors to the adjoining suite - another serving cart with the same kind of champagne and a note to Tom expressing the same gratitude. We had brought vodka and cranberry juice from the restaurant to pursue our drinking ambitions so decided to save the champagne until the girls arrived later after their shift at the restaurant.
We spent the next few hours in front of the TV. The music videos were pretty much new to us and we enjoyed viewing an artist’s visual interpretation of their songs. Some made me question what the song was even about.
We talked about our past couple days and how easy it would be to live there in the islands. We talked about South Florida and how we missed our friends there. We talked of our new life with money and again about the bike ride to the Black Hills. I heard a knock on the door and upon opening it, I was surprised to find Ava and Evonne.
“Wow, is it that late already?” I asked.
Apparently Tom and I had lost total track of time and it was now after nine o’clock.
“What’s this?” Ava asked.
I turned to see that she was holding the chilled bottle of champagne in her hands.
“For us,” I slurred out. “And there’s more where that came from in the other room.”
“Cristal,” she said.
“No crystal,” I said. “We’ll have to drink it from paper cups.”
“No, Cristal,” Ava said again. “The champagne is Cristal, it’s very expensive.”
“Oh,” I said. “I don’t know too much or, actually, I don’t know anything at all about champagne.”
I was having a hard time completing my thoughts, let alone my sentences by then and it was obvious to the girls that Tom and I had never stopped drinking since they had left us at the restaurant earlier that day.
I lost all memory of the rest of that night and my mind was still pretty foggy when I finally opened my eyes the following morning. After a few moments of collecting my thoughts, I realized I was in bed undressed and lying under the sheets next to Ava who was still sleeping.
Adventures In A Pair-A-Dice Page 19
