This is something a little different for me. It is a May-December type relationship but a little different. It is all made up, names, boats, stories, people. None of them are real. Some of the places are real, but it is all out of my twisted mind. The people in the story are consenting adults as well.
I write these for a couple reasons. First, I like exploring a tapestry of life that is different. Second, I want to get better at writing. The writing itself, then editing and prepping the story for consumption begins that process. But the second half is all of you, reading this. I would love to hear what you think. What did you like? What did you not like? If you are not voting a five, I would love to hear why not. What stopped you from voting a five? Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
*****
I was three days out into the Pacific on my way to Hawaii when I heard the radio call. "Mayday, mayday. This is Galloping Ghost and we are going down." The voice gave a string of navigation coordinates and called again.
"Galloping Ghost, this is Naomi's Pride," I responded, "I am, several hours away. How quickly will you lose her?"
"Thank the gods!" came the female voice. "I don't really know, but the owner took the life raft and just fucking left me here. I'm scared as hell."
"Okay, Ghost," I said calmingly, "I will rev up as fast as I can, but if I go too fast, I will lose the ability to get to the next fuel. Grab a vest, a second one for anything you want to keep with you, then remain calm. I will get there as quickly as I can."
"Okay, Pride, but hurry."
"Pride out."
I calculated the course and corrected the fuel consumption and pushed my speed near the limit. I figured a minimum of ninety minutes. I am running a largish boat, no sails, but with a powerful, untested electric motor backing up my diesel engines. I uncovered the solar panels and began charging my Tesla battery. I hadn't actually gotten to test it out yet, I had another day to go before I was to begin that process. Naomi's Pride is a prototype. I designed it with my wife who died of cancer two years earlier. Naomi was a brilliant engineer and I am a marine engineer. I design boats, she designed power. We worked on Pride for ten years before she got sick. Two years of chemo, while I built the prototype and she looked on, making corrections. It was only a month after we finished building it that she passed. She hadn't even seen it in the water.
The first test was a failure. The battery system we used just didn't have the power. I ran across the Tesla Home battery banks and rewired a pair into the system. It should work, but hell, it could blow up. I am nowhere as brilliant as Naomi was. Checking the charts, I saw that there were numerous reefs in this area with underwater islands pushing them up near the surface. This would be prime grounds for a shark or two and probably accounted for the damage causing the boat to sink.
Around sixty minutes later the radio started again. "Pride, are you out there?"
"I am here, Ghost. You okay?" I asked.
"Not really," she replied fearfully, "the water is up to the edge of the boat and it will be underwater soon."
"Okay, hey, what is your name?" I asked, "I am Charles, though folks call me Chad."
"I'm Lisa," she said.
"Well, Lisa, I am maybe half an hour away, possibly forty five minutes," I told the frightened girl. "While you wait, I'll tell you a story. Let me know just before the radio goes underwater."
"Okay."
"So, this boat was designed by my deceased wife and myself..." I began and told her the story of the design. About fifteen minutes later, I saw the top of the mainmast as she told me the radio was about to slip under the water. "Okay, I can see you, but I cannot come direct. There is a reef in the way. Fifteen minutes and I should be there. Stay with the boat as long as you can."
It was actually about twenty minutes when I pulled up to the mast where she was clinging. I dropped a ladder over the side and she climbed aboard, pulling a waterlogged overnight case along with her. She threw herself into my arms and sobbed as I moved us away and back on course.
"Oh goddess," she exclaimed as she got a grip, "I thought I was so dead."
She was a slight thing, right around a hundred pounds and standing maybe 5'6" tall. So, she was thin. She was also soaking wet in a pair of shorts and a tube top with some deck shoes. I set the auto pilot and sat her down. She had a very cute face with long natural lashes and pretty blue eyes. "You're okay," I said as I sat down next to her.
"Because of you," she said with a wail, "Look, anything you want, if I have it, it is yours. Anything, you just say it."
"How about we start with getting you warm and dry," I said soothingly, "Then we'll talk about me getting a good nap while someone else steers the boat."