As they drove toward the Marina, Linda was pleased, as Richard was beginning to look reasonably normal again after his confrontation with the spider. When they arrived he checked with the office for the slip number of the boat.
"That would be slip number nine," said the Marina manager pointing down the wooden walk toward the right. Linda followed Richard as he moved quickly. However when they arrived, the slip was empty, in fact most of the slips were empty.
Richard looked at the number. There was a number 9 on the sign painted in bright red. The only boat in the Marina was a large inboard-outboard forty footer cruising toward them slowly. James had told Richard that Mr. Yackamura had one of the largest personal boats on the ocean. He wondered how James could screw up like that.
As the two of them stood there thinking about what their next move might be, the forty footer pulled into slip #9. Two crewmembers wearing white dungarees, jumped to the wooden walk as the boat pulled up and docked. One of the crewmen walked up to Richard and asked,
"Mr. Thompson?"
"Yes," said Richard.
'Mr. Yackamura is waiting for you on the ship."
"Ship?" questioned Richard, nodding his head toward the forty-foot speedboat.
"Oh no sir, this is just a transportation boat to the ship. The Great Mesmer is moored off shore about two miles out. It is a little too large to come into port. Mr. Yackamura usually sends the helicopter however the mechanics are giving it a tune up. By law it must have one after a certain amount of hours in the air."
"I see," said Richard raising his eyebrows.
"If you and your companion will board the craft, we can depart for the ship."
Richard looked at Linda and nodded his head. Linda stepped on board right behind Richard and seated herself in a deck chair. A waiter came up to them an asked if they would like anything. Richard said,
"I'll have a Tequila Sunrise and the young lady will have a ... Strawberry Margarita, a "virgin" Strawberry Margarita.
"Thank you sir. I will be right back."
Linda looked at Richard, who frowned and tilted his head to one side. It was meant to be body language for no alcohol. She thought about how it had affected her and smiled back at him. Richard nodded once and smiled at her in return.
The boat could move only the posted five miles per hour in the Marina, but when it cleared the breakwater, the Captain opened it up. The boat was gliding over the calm water and was doing at least fifty. Someone could easily have water-skied behind it.
Linda felt the sea spray in her face, and the warmth of the Sun on her skin, as she sipped her drink. She thought this would not be a hard thing to get used too. Linda had always loved the ocean, as long as she didn't have to be in it.
As the boat moved toward the open sea, Richard saw The Great Mesmer. Originally he had thought it was a NAVY destroyer, but now he saw it had no NAVY markings, and it was a medium blue-gray in color and not NAVY gray. As the boat pulled along side, Richard realized the ship was at least seven or eight stories tall. It could have been a NAVY destroyer after all. A door the size of a front house door opened in the side of the ship, allowing Richard and Linda to step of the small craft and into the ship.
A guide motioned them to follow him through a gangway to an elevator. The gangway revived old memories for Richard of his time as a NAVY Seal. The guide pushed an elevator button marked bridge, and they began to rise. As the elevator came to a stop, they exited and saw a short man of Japanese ancestry wearing a Captain's hat and a tuxedo, with Nike running shoes. He was seated in a large chair much like Admiral's chair on the bridge of an Aircraft Carrier. The chair was marked on the back with the faded words, LITTLE BOSS.
"Mr. Thompson, I bid you and your lovely companion welcome to my home. Did you like my elevator? I'm old and not used to climbing ladders, so I had it installed to my specifications."
The man easily in his sixties spoke with a strong Oxford educated, English accent.
"Mr. Yakmura," said Richard, "I am pleased to introduce you to my ... companion Miss. Linda Peterson."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss. Peterson, please be seated," he said, "we will be underway soon."
"Underway?" questioned Richard.
"Yes! I had a craving for lobster and they have some nice ones in a little town just south of Rosearita Beach, called Puerto Nuevo. Some of them are seven pounds. In the interim the chefs have laid out a nice buffet for brunch in the small dinning room. There are fruits, salads, sandwiches, a few different entries, several desserts and anything you may wish to drink.
We have a very nice wine cellar with many vintage wines. The brunch waiter will give you a wine list. I recommend the 1957 California Cabernet Sauvignon. That was an award-winning year, and we have a very nice store of it. I believe there are only several hundred bottles left. I hope you will try it. It is almost impossible to find anywhere else. I will join you shortly."
The man snapped his fingers and spoke to the guide in Japanese. Quickly the guide opened the door and led the couple down another gangway to a steel door. It opened into a very large room about the size of a restaurant, which looked to be at least four stars, thought Linda.
"Do you wish to fend for yourself or would you prefer that I fix you a plate. We have menus which were printed just for this occasion."
"That's fine we can just graze." said Linda with a giggle which was reminiscent of an eight year old. She was having a hard time taking everything in. Never would she have believed in her life that anything like this would ever happened to her.
Linda looked around the room and saw what appeared to be original paintings by such masters as Degas, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, and a Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph not including several beautiful sculptures. They were in excellent condition, and they all looked as though they had been painted or carved recently, or at least restored by a team of professionals.
When she saw a painting by the famous English Artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had been one of the founders and first the President of the Royal Academy of England, and had been knighted by King George III, himself, she decided that they all must be copies, as she knew that the original Reynolds was in the National Gallery in Washington DC, on extended loan from the British Crown.
Linda was pleased that her minor in Art History had finely been useful. As they were at the buffet picking items for brunch, she pointed to the walls and told Richard of the artwork. He just nodded his head and continued his search for sustenance. Apparently he was hungry, after their night of almost continual lovemaking. She pointed to the oysters and said,
"Eat lots of raw oysters. They are good for the libido and will help the hulk."
"Uuugh, I don't like oysters. They taste like snot," said Richard shaking his head.
However Linda loved raw oysters as she believed they had more the flavor and consistency of sperm, especially Richards sperm. Mmmmm. When she piled several of them on her plate, Richard narrowed his eyes and looked her.
