by Bob Blanton
“Thanks, now stow it in the same locker with the chocks, then you can help me raise the sail.”
“Aye Aye,” Matthew gave a mock salute.
“We’ll be clear of the mooring area soon, then we can crank the speed up and get out to where the good wind is,” Jason said.
“Are we going to use the spinnaker?” Alex asked.
“Yes, but we won’t need it for a while, I’m planning to head up wind first.”
“Okay, I’ll just get it set in the fore section. Are we going to practice quick changes?”
“What do you mean by quick changes?” Matthew asked.
“It’s when you change tack from downwind to upwind or vise-versa. Then you’ve got to either get the spinnaker up and deployed quickly or down and stowed away so you don’t lose too much speed,” Brianna explained.
“It sounds like everyone but me has raced.”
“Yeah, we’ve all crewed before, Alex with her dad in England, and Jason and I with Daddy.”
“So, you’ve never been in a sailboat race?”
“No, I’ve watched a couple before and of course the America’s cup on TV, but I’ve never raced before. In fact, this is the biggest sailboat I’ve ever been on. Dad used to sail a 28-foot Catalina.”
“That’s a nice boat, but it’s so small,” Brianna said. “Let’s go into the cabin and I’ll show you around.”
Matthew and Brianna went below into the cabin. “It’s huge down here, and look at all the nice wood.”
“Yes, it’s really pretty. It’s got over six feet of headroom. There’s a master cabin up front, queen-size bed. And back here is a smaller cabin that I use when we go out overnight. Jason usually sleeps on deck or turns the dinette into a bed.”
“That’s nice.” Matthew was amazed at the quality of the boat. “You could live on this thing.”
“Some people do, but mainly it’s designed so you can go for a long voyage. You could sail around the world in her.”
“No way!”
“Yes, Daddy even got the deep keel. It means you need an extra foot of draft, but then you’ve got enough down below to handle the rough seas.”
“What’s the longest you’ve been out on her?”
“Last year we sailed from New York to the Caribbean. We were gone for a little over three weeks.”
“Wow, how long did it take to sail down there?”
“It took about two weeks to get there.”
“Then how did you make the trip in only three weeks?”
“Oh, we flew back; Daddy had someone else sail her back to New York. That way we could take it easy getting there and also spend some time cruising the Caribbean.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Maybe you can come with us the next time we take a long cruise. Maybe we’ll go to Hawaii.”
“I don’t think I could take that much time off,” Matthew said.
Brianna looked a little dejected. “Oh, that’s right, you’ve got a job. Don’t they give you vacation?”
“I’m part time, I’m lucky they pay me for holidays.”
“Anyway, here’s the galley,” Brianna pointed to the well-appointed cooking area. “It’s got a stove, a microwave, a refrigerator and freezer, everything you need to make a meal.”
“I think this is nicer than some kitchens I’ve seen. It’s huge. You could cook a feast in here.”
“Well the boat’s a French design; they couldn’t have her lacking when it comes to cooking.”
“Hey, are you two coming up or what?” Jason hollered.
“Keep your britches on, we’ll be right there. Here’s the head.” She pointed to a door to a small room, which obviously housed the toilet. “There’s another one up front, but this one’s easier to use. Do you know how to operate the pump?”
“Sure, the Catalina we sailed had a similar setup, not as big. We’d better get back on deck.” Matthew was surprised at how much he had enjoyed the tour with Brianna.
“Jason, what’s your problem?” Brianna asked, as she and Matthew climbed back into the cockpit.
“Hey, I’m ready to put up the sails and see how far I can get her heeled over. This wind is great.”
“Okay, Okay, I’ll get the jib unfurled.”
“I’ve got it,” shouted Alex as she released the jib, letting the wind grab it. She came dancing back to the cockpit.
Jason had cut the diesel and they were under sail power. The boat was just starting to lean over as the wind pushed the main sail to the side. “Matt, grab that windlass and crank the jib in tight.”
Matthew grabbed the line from the jib and wrapped it around the windlass once, pulling it quickly to get the sail tight. Then he took another turn on the line and started to really crank it in. “Tell me when,” he shouted to Jason as he continued to tighten the sail.
“You’ve got her.” The boat was really heeled over to the port side as she headed on a northwestern tack. “All right, everyone on the starboard side and lean back.”
The crew of three crawled to the starboard side and took up their seats, leaning out over the water to let their weight help the keel keep the boat righted, while Jason steered her. The wind was screaming through their hair and around them as the speed of the boat added to the speed of the wind crossing the bow of the boat. The four friends sailed northward for about forty minutes while Jason practiced getting the maximum speed out of the boat. He also did a couple of drills, putting her in irons, facing directly into the wind so the sails stalled out and the boat dropped its speed.
“We’re going to work on switching between a downwind rigging and an upwind rigging; like rounding a buoy in a race,” Jason hollered at his crew.
“Sounds like fun,” Matthew hollered back.
“It’s really a lot of work,” Alex said. “For us crew anyway. Our fearless captain just has to man the wheel.”
After three rounds of practice, Matthew couldn’t agree with Alex more. “Man, that is hard, I feel like my arms are going to fall off.”
“Okay that’s enough,” Alex hollered. “Brea and I want to work on our tan while you head downwind.”
“Hey, what’s this, a mutiny? I thought we were going to work on our racing skills?”
“We have, and now it’s time to work on our tan. You can work on keeping the boat angled so the sails don’t block the sun,” Brea laughed.
With that Brianna and Alex went to the mid-deck area and lay down two mats. Then they took off their shirts and shorts exposing their bikinis. They helped each other spread on some suntan lotion before they lay down.
“Now you keep things nice and easy; we should get at least forty minutes before the sun gets too low,” Alex said.
Matthew gave Jason a shrug as he walked over and sat down beside him and whispered, “I can see who the captain is.”
“Yeah, yeah, I guess we got enough practice in for today.”
“Hey, why didn’t you tell me that Brea was going to be here?”
“I didn’t plan it that way. She and Alex were in the room when I asked Dad if I could take the boat out.”
“So?”
“Well, Brea just informed me that she and Alex were coming, too. What was I supposed to say?”
“I guess you were kind of trapped.”
“You can say that again. Brea and Alex have become good friends; they’re always going shopping together.”
“Since you’re dating Alex, that sounds like a good thing.”
“I don’t know; having your little sister hanging out with your girlfriend doesn’t feel right. And now they gang up on me, like just now.”
“Well I don’t feel sorry for you; Alex is a pretty good catch.”
“I guess I shouldn’t complain.”
“No you shouldn’t, but you should have given me a heads up about Brea.”
“Why? It would have just confused you. You’re having a good time, admit it.”
“Yeah, it’s fun, but still.”
“I know, Don Quix
ote, you’ve got other goals. You’re just making yourself miserable and missing out on a great thing. You’ve got to admit you like Brea.”
“Sure, as a friend.”
“Duh! She’s a girl, a friend, girlfriend. You’re way too slow for someone as smart as you.”
Matthew slugged Jason in the shoulder. “You keep it up and I’ll dump you in the brink.”
“You and who’s army?”
Matthew grasped Jason’s right forearm just below the elbow and pressed his thumb into a spot.
“Ow, ow, that hurts,” Jason quietly cried out as he cringed in pain.
Grabbing Jason’s right wrist with his other hand, Matthew maneuvered him to the edge of the boat. “I don’t think I would need an army, but you look like you could use a cooling off,” he laughed.
“Okay, okay, you the man!”
Matthew released Jason and let him scamper back to the helm. “How did you do that?”
“It’s a pressure point. There are a bunch of them, you just need to know where they are, and have enough finger strength to put some real pressure on them.”
“Can you show me?”
“Sure.”
While Jason casually steered the boat, Matthew showed him several pressure points and how to use them. He let Jason try them on him, teaching him the exact spot to apply pressure for maximum pain. They went on trying different points on each other for quite a while. It wasn’t until Alex got up and came into the cockpit that they realized how much time had passed.
“Hey isn’t that the Sea World tower over there?” Alex yawned.
“Oh Jeez, I let us come too far south. It’ll take us forever to sail back to Del Mar.”
“We’re not in that big a hurry, just turn it around.”
“Brea, pull in the spinnaker. Matt get the jib up; we’ll need to make time to get back before the fog bank hits.”
“Why don’t you use the engine?” Alex asked.
“We can still make it under sail, and it’s not that much faster with the diesel running.”
In a few minutes they had the spinnaker stowed and the jib up and were heading north to Del Mar.
“It’s getting cold,” Alex walked over and sat down next to Jason, nestling up against him.
Brianna and Matthew looked at each other. Matthew wanted to offer to sit with her, but he didn’t.
After seeing the stupid look on Matthew’s face, Brianna stomped off into the cabin. Matthew could tell she was going to cry. “What am I supposed to do?” he said to himself, feeling totally lost.
Jason looked at Matthew and shrugged his shoulders. “You can lead a horse to water.”
It was a cool atmosphere on the boat all the way back to Del Mar. As soon as they got the boat back into the slip, Brianna raced up the dock and into the clubhouse. Jason started to call after her, but Alex pulled on his arm “No, just let her be; she’s got to work it out for herself.”
“Okay. Would you watch her while I take Matt home? I’ll come back and clean up the boat, and take you and Brea home.”
“I should help you clean the boat first,” Matthew protested.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you next time,” Jason said. “Let’s go now; it’ll be easier that way.”
“Sure,” Matthew shrugged wondering what he’d done wrong.
Charity begins at home
By the second week of October, the rumors about ATDC’s failing program hit the streets in earnest. The stock tanked eighteen points in one day. Matthew immediately cashed in his puts and bought options on SSTC, betting that the two boards would agree on the compatibility. He had options on over 10,000 shares of SSTC and 7,000 shares of AMMC and both stocks had been buoyed by the prospect that they were the final two prospects for Consolidated. On Friday, October 11th, the board held their follow-up meeting on the possible acquisition. Matthew tuned in to the meeting during his Advanced Novels class. The board decided that they would focus their efforts on a merger with SSTC while keeping AMMC in play until they had reached an agreement. The CEO was going to meet with the CEO and board of SSTC that weekend to try and finalize the terms. They wanted to move fast before more rumors got out and drove the stock price up.
“Great,” Matthew thought, deciding to stand pat with his positions between AMMC and SSTC until he saw some definite commitment. That weekend he managed to be at the meeting where the two CEOs agreed in principle to merge their two companies. On Monday Matthew sold his options on AMMC and bought options on SSTC. He looked on the Internet and found several rumors and stories about meetings to justify his moves should the SEC ask any questions. He saved the stories on his hard drive to create a record of why he made the choices he did.
By Wednesday, the next week, it was pretty much public knowledge that SSTC was agreeing to a merger with Consolidated Semiconductor. The stock shot up over fourteen points. Matthew looked at his account. He had realized ten points on the AMMC for a profit of $45,000 dollars. That invested in SSTC options had realized an additional twenty points on a $5,000 investment, a fourfold increase for $100,000 plus his 10,000 shares of AMMC that had seen a fourteen-point increase for a $140,000 profit. He was now worth just under half a million dollars. “Jeez, this is the way to make money,” he thought as he sold the options and moved the money into safe blue chips. I wonder who the next hot buy-out candidate is.
. . .
When Matthew got home from work on Friday his mom was waiting for him in the kitchen.
“Matthew, can you explain this?” she was holding the statement from the brokerage firm in her hand.
“What’s to explain, we’re rich.”
“Not so fast young man. You’re not the only one that can do research on the Internet. I’ve matched your trades with the public announcements.”
“Oh.”
“Oh is right,” his mother said. “Funny how you were always able to make a decisive move just before an announcement was made. Now explain yourself.”
“I was just watching the rumors and guessing based on the research I did,” Matthew lied.
“I don’t believe it. You’re too careful to move that kind of money around on a guess. Now what did you do, hack into their computers? I want to know.” She was yelling at Matthew now.
“Something like that. But, Mom, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Matthew pleaded. “I just used the information I got to make some choices.”
His mother was unconvinced.
“If I hadn’t bought or sold those options, someone else would have.”
“Well that someone else would not have been using inside information. It’s not only illegal, Matthew, it’s immoral. You cheated those people.”
Matthew was dumbfounded. He’d never seen his mother so angry. “But, Mom.”
“But nothing, it doesn’t matter that they would have lost their money anyway. It matters that you were using information that they didn’t have.”
“I wasn’t trying to cheat anyone.”
“I’m not so sure. I’m so angry with you right now.” She closed her eyes trying to regain her composure.
“Mom, we need the money, I was only trying to help.”
“We don’t need the money that bad. Not to steal it.”
“I didn’t steal it.”
“It’s the same thing. You weren’t at risk, they were.”
Matthew’s face fell as he realized that it’d been way too easy to ignore the right or wrong of what he’d been doing. “Sorry, Mom.”
“Matt, we’re doing just fine after you won the money at the track,” his mother said. “We’re able to afford our bills, and Mr. Maier is helping with the insurance company.”
“I guess, but we’re still just barely making it.”
“But we’re making it. Now you’re going to have to give the money back.”
“I can’t. Who am I supposed to give it to? The trades are done and they’re anonymous, there’s no way I can give it back.” Tears were streaming down Matthew’s face.
&n
bsp; “I’ll tell you what, young man. You start looking at charities because you’re going to donate every cent, you hear me, every cent.”
“But, Mom!”
“Don’t but Mom me. I will not have my son profiting from immoral actions. Now you go to your room and think about it.”
“Yes ma’am,” Matthew headed for his room.
“And I’ve already turned off the DSL. So, don’t plan on doing any surfing in the near future or maybe ever!” Her shoulders started to shake; she was crying so hard.
“Get to your room, now!” she screamed at him.
Matthew ran up the stairs, crying.
. . .
The next morning Matthew decided he would go visit Reverend Bishop at the church. He hoped that by talking to the reverend his mother would be appeased, and maybe Reverend Bishop could help Matthew sort out what he’d done wrong. He came down stairs cautiously, worried his mother would still be angry with him. When he saw her, she looked terrible, her eyes were red and swollen. It was obvious she hadn’t gotten much sleep.
“Mom, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do anything wrong,” Matthew said. “I’m going to go talk to Reverend Bishop. I think I want to donate the money to the church,” Matthew’s tone was cautious; he didn’t want to start another fight.
“That’ll be nice,” she said weakly. “Hopefully Reverend Bishop will help you to understand what I don’t seem to be able to.” While she talked, she went about making breakfast for her and Jessie.
“I called him already. He said I could come right over if that’s all right with you.”
“That’s fine; go on.”
She sounded like she’d given up. Matthew wasn’t sure if having a fight with her wouldn’t have been less painful. Her despair scared him.
Matthew rode his bike over to Reverend Bishop’s house. The reverend answered the door right away.
“Hello, Matthew, why don’t you come on into my office?” He motioned Matthew inside. “Have a seat.” The reverend pointed to a big chair next to the coffee table and then sat down in the matching chair.
“Would you like a drink of water?” the reverend asked as he offered to pour Matthew a glass from the pitcher on the coffee table.
“Yes, thank you, Reverend Bishop.” Matthew’s face broke into a weak smile.
