Authors Note: While it’s not necessary to have read the story "Firehouse Cook-off" before reading this one, it does help to set up some of the events that take place here.
The alarm clock went off at 3AM. Roy reached over blindly and shut it off. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He was happy that he let Johnny talk him into crashing at his place, because he didn’t want to wake Joanne and the kids. However, he wasn’t happy that it was 3AM, but they had to be at the boat by 5AM. Throw in Johnny’s perpetual lateness and the fact they had to pick up Chet and Marco, 3AM didn’t seem early enough.
Roy got up from the chair-bed. He was amazed that he actually got some sleep this time. The last time he crashed at Johnny’s, the wacky neighbors kept him up half the night, and he ended up going to a motel. Roy slowly got up and shuffled into the doorway of Johnny’s bedroom. The clock radio was blaring and yet Johnny was still sound asleep, arm raised over his head, snoring. Roy thought maybe if Johnny got an alarm clock that sounded like the klaxons, he wouldn’t be late all the time.
"Johnny."
Nothing.
"Johnny."
Still nothing.
"Johnny, wake up."
Johnny rolled over.
"JOHNNY WAKE UP!" Roy shouted above the radio.
"Uh?" Johnny slowly opened his eyes.
"Come on, Partner. Fish don’t wait."
Johnny sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, stretched, and then reached over and turned the radio off.
"Oh man," he yawned, "it’s hard to get up this early when we’re on duty. It’s even harder to do it when we’re not." He dragged himself up out of bed, and stretched again. "But you’re right Roy, fish don’t wait."
"I’ll make us some coffee." Roy shuffled into the kitchen as Johnny went to take a shower.
There seemed to be a week’s worth of dirty dishes in the sink. Roy searched high and low for two clean mugs. There were none to be found. He reached into the sink reluctantly, and washed out two mugs. Roy was tempted to clean up a bit just for his own sake, but he thought better of it. He was only going to be there an hour, some how he’d manage.
By now Johnny had finished his shower, gotten dressed and came into the kitchen towel drying his hair.
"Hey, shower’s all yours. Great, you found some clean mugs! I didn’t think there were any left."
Roy just looked at his partner incredulously. But then he remembered it was just too early to argue, and of course, it was Johnny.
"Yeah, two clean mugs," Roy mumbled, handed the mugs to Johnny and shuffled off to take his shower.
Misreading his partner’s reaction, Johnny called out after him, "Don’t worry, coffee will be up soon, and you’ll get your needed caffeine boost, Partner."
***
With the bags and gear in the Land Rover, and two cups of coffee in each of them, off they went to pick up Chet and Marco at Chet’s place.
They pulled up to Chet’s apartment building and Roy got out to get them. He rang Chet’s buzzer. No answer. He buzzed again. Still no answer. He leaned on the buzzer for a good long minute. Finally a groggy Chet answered through the intercom.
"He…hell…hello?"
‘Why is this so hard?’ Roy thought.
"Rise and shine campers. The bus is leaving."
"Roy?"
"Yes, Chet."
By now Johnny was getting impatient. He got out of the truck and came up to Roy at the intercom.
"Hey, Chet, get yours and Marco’s lazy asses out of bed and buzz me up. I’ll help you with your gear. Come on guys! Fish don’t wait." Johnny gave Roy a confirming nod of his head as he added the line Roy had used on him. "Why do some people have such a hard time getting up - hey, look at us, we did it."
Roy looked at Johnny, shook his head and went back to the truck. He was going to need another cup of coffee soon.
Chet buzzed Johnny in. Five minutes later, the three of them came out and threw their gear and themselves into the truck.
"So Sleepy and Grumpy here were giving me a hard time about hurrying things up." Johnny was fully awake now, and he felt that everyone else in the truck should be as well.
Roy really wanted that cup of coffee, now.
"But I kept telling them, fish don’t wait. Isn’t that right Roy?"
Roy looked at Johnny, and then at Chet and Marco in the back seat.
"Roy, make him shut up, please." Chet was definitely not a morning person. And he was even less of a morning person when he had to deal with a wide-awake Johnny on his day off.
"Whada’ya mean ‘shut up’?" Johnny looked at Chet quickly and turned his attention back to the road. "Just because I’m awake…well, I guess some people just have the ability to wake up and get going."
Johnny was about to prattle on, when he caught Roy giving him the look.
"Drive," Roy deadpanned.
"Wha? What I say?" Johnny glanced around quickly.
Three voices answered in unison, "Drive."
Johnny drove the rest of the way to the boat without saying another word.
***
As they pulled up to the dock, the Cap and Mike were already there. Johnny parked the truck next to the Cap’s car. They slowly piled out. The smell of fresh coffee and the brisk sea air greeted them as they walked down the dock. A plate of fresh doughnuts waited for them from the deck of the boat.
Roy and Chet nearly tripped over each other getting to the coffee.
"Easy men," the Cap came over to Roy and Chet. "I promised the skipper you’d all be well behaved."
"Sorry Cap, it’s just a little to early in the morning to face Gage without any coffee in me," Chet said in between gulps.
"He’s started already?" Cap couldn’t believe it.
"Yup." Roy poured a cup for himself and one for the Cap.
"Oh great." Captain Stanley took the cup from Roy and knocked back half of it in one swig.
Johnny and Marco had brought up all the gear. Stoker came out from below deck
"Hey guys, come on down. I’ll show were to stash your gear." Stoker grabbed Chet’s bag and was taken back at the weight of it. "Hey Kelly, what’s in the bag? An anchor? It weighs a ton!"
"Uh, nothing Mike." Chet replied nervously. "It’s not that heavy, it’s just too early for you, Stoker."
Mike didn’t want to get into it with Chet. It was just too early. Mike just grabbed the bag and went below.
Johnny and Marco followed Mike to the berths below. Chet went about turning away any suspicion that may have come up from Mike’s comments.
"Roy, I just don’t know how you do it sometimes…" Chet had just finished his second cup of coffee, and had started to work on the doughnuts. "I mean you work with him…"
"We all work with him, Chet." Caffeine had finally started to filter into all of the needed places for Roy.
"Hey Roy, but you ride with him."
"Yeah, don’t remind me."
Just then a very large, stout, older man came down the steps from the bridge and interrupted their conversation. He was almost a caricature of a boat captain, the white hair, blue captain’s cap, white pants and, of course, the boat shoes.
"Hello boys!" He greeted them as if they all known each other for years. His booming voice echoed in the early morning quiet. If they weren’t awake now…
"Ya’ll ready to do some serious fishin’?" He looked around at each of them. Looked each one of them in the eye, not really expecting any one of them to answer. It was still too early for them. But just like all the other chartered fishing trips the skipper ran, they had to get a very early start. Because, fish don’t wait.
"My name is Bob Patterson, but you can call me Skipper. And this here is the Ocean Breeze." He slapped the side rail for emphasis. "There are two others you need to get to know before we shove off. You’ll meet them just as soon as they’re done with their pre-sail checklist. But in the mean time, Captain Stanley, can you do the introductions?"
"Why of course, Skipper."
Captain Stanley introduced the rest of his men to Skipper Bob. Just as he started, they were joined by the remaining Ocean Breeze crewmembers. The Skipper introduced them to the men.
"This here’s my engineer. Name’s Mike too. Been with me 15 years. Knows this boat better than I do."
Mike shook hands all around.
"And this here’s my daughter Lizzy."
Now it was Lizzy’s turn to shake hands all around. The boys from Station 51 were a bit taken aback by the girl with the very strong handshake.
"When I’m not around, she’s in charge, ya’ hear. Don’t be giving her any problems," Skipper Bob said with a bit of a chuckle. "And right now she is in charge, ‘cause I have to go and check on a few things below deck. Lizzy here’s going run through a few safety points, so listen up."
With that, the Skipper turned and disappeared below deck with his engineer.
Lizzy took advantage of the stunned silence that usually followed her introduction. She had to. It was the only way she could get started.
"I understand that you’re all firemen, and that you may know a thing or two about safety. But I’m not trying to challenge that," she paused to make her point. This wasn’t the first boatload of firemen they’d taken out. "And I can guess that you’ve all been fishing before as well. But there are a couple of things I think I should point out about being on this boat that you should know." She looked around at all of them. She still had their attention.
"First is the location of the floatation devices…" she pointed to the ring buoys mounted to the inside rails. "And they also can be found…"
"Uh, Lizzy?"
She knew it wouldn’t last, but she had hopped it wouldn’t have ended so soon.
"Uh yes, Chet? Right?"
"Yes, Lizzy. If one of us goes overboard, will you save us?" Chet thought he was pretty smooth.
The glare he got back proved he was mistaken.
Johnny, sensing an opportunity not to be missed, jumped in.
"Chet, that was low even by your standards. Can’t you see she’s just doing her job?"
Chet gave Johnny a dirty look.
Johnny turned to Lizzy. "I’d like to apologize for his behavior, please continue," he said with the sweetest of grins.
Lizzy just looked at the two of them for a moment and continued.
"If someone should go overboard, here’s what needs to happen in short order. One man becomes the spotter. His job is to never lose sight of the man overboard. At the same time, someone throws every single floatation device overboard. Next, someone notifies the bridge, so we can turn around to pick him up. Got it so far?" She looked around. Everyone was nodding. She had control back.
"Any questions, Chet?"
Chet shook his head no.
"Good. Next thing you need to know is how to put on a life preserver. They are located here," she pointed to two big red and white chests on deck. She opened one of the chests and pulled a life jacket out. Lizzy started to demonstrate how to put one on when she was again interrupted, but this time by giggles.
She could barely make out what was being said.
"…and please bring your seats to the full upright position…"
Chet was doing his stewardess impression for Johnny. Lizzy’s demo had reminded too much of the pre-flight safety check on an airplane.
Lizzy moved through the men. Chet never saw her coming. Johnny did and backed up into some fishing gear, and made a racket. Chet spun around to see what the commotion was about. He spun right into Lizzy’s second glare of the day. Suddenly Chet remembered what it was like to be in fourth grade again and be called into the principal’s office.
Lizzy stood there silent, just long enough to make Chet feel really awkward. Chet looked around. Everyone was staring at him.
"Chet, seeing that you don’t have to pay attention, you must know a lot about being on a boat." Lizzy spoke to him while slowly walking around him. Chet had to keep turning to keep eye contact with her. He knew it would be a bad thing if he looked away.
"Chet, do you also know that there are sharks in these waters?"
"Sssharks?" Chet stuttered. "What kind of sharks?"
"Ya’ see ‘Jaws’?"
"Yes…"
"Those kind of sharks." She smiled. Lizzy had a sense of humor about her, and Chet would later find out he wasn’t the only prankster on the boat. "And with the bait fish running, there’s no telling what they might do if someone fell in…" she moved in closer, "…so how would you like to be swimming your butt off while all your buddies here try to figure out what to do?"
"I would like them to get me the hell out of the water as fast as they can!"
"Good, and if I can continue, they will all know just what to do when you go overboard."
"When!?!"
"Did I say when? I meant if." She grinned. "Now, if you don’t mind Chet, I’d like to continue without further interruption. And since we don’t move until I’m done, if we miss the good fishing, it’s your all your fault, Chet. Fish don’t wait."
Johnny elbowed Chet in the ribs for emphasis.
Chet could feel the stares of all his buddies on him. "I won’t say another word."
"Good. Next is the emergency channel on the radio. The U.S. Coast Guard monitors channel 16 for emergencies…" Lizzy got through all the rest of the safety gear quickly and without any further interruptions. Since there were no other questions, she called down to her father to prepare to push off. They cast off the dock lines and they were on their way.
***
On the trip out, the boys from 51 went about finding a bunk, then fighting over who got which bunk and then finally settling in.
Three hours later they were at Skipper Bob’s secret fishing spot. The Skipper himself announced the fact.
"Yesiree, this is it! Best fishing spot in the entire Pacific Ocean! Right here boys. The fish will just jump into your laps!"
"Wow, this must be some spot, Skipper." Chet was trying to get into the good graces of at least one of the crewmembers.
"Chet, it's Chet? Isn’t it?" Skipper Bob looked Chet over. He was looking to have some fun, and Chet seemed to be the man.
"Yes sir." Chet smiled. He was certain he could win the Skipper over.
"Chet, give my daughter any more of a hard time and you’ll be treading water." Skipper Bob slapped him on the back. With a grin, he added, "cause she’ll throw you over the side herself."
Chet just stood there wide-eyed and swallowed hard.
Skipper Bob turned his attention from Chet, for which Chet was grateful, to the task at hand.
"Gather ‘round boys, and choose your weapons," he said as he threw open the on deck lockers holding an extensive rod and reel collection.
The men picked out their gear and headed to their ‘special’ spot on the boat. They all had their own fish psychology reason why one spot was better than the rest. The Cap and Roy liked the front of the boat because they felt they could sneak up on the fish as the boat drifted forward. Chet and Marco took a side each, depending on the position of the sun. Johnny liked fishing off the back, because he could sit in the chair. Mike was more interested in the workings of the engine, and spent most of his time talking shop with the ship’s engineer.
One hour went by, no fish.
Two hours went by, still no fish.
Three hours went by, 12 noon, and still no fish.
Lizzy broke the boredom by bringing out lunch, which was a plate of sandwiches and milk. She set it out on the table on deck.
"Lunch!!!"
Johnny, also by sitting in the back, was the first one to the table. He grabbed a ham and cheese and a carton of milk. He took a big bite and was about to speak, but remembered what happened the last time. He decided to swallow first.
"Hey, Lizzy, I thought your father said this was the best fishing in the entire Pacific."
"It is."
"So where are the fish?"
Lizzy shrugged her shoulders and looked out over the blue expanse. She grabbed a sandwich for herself.
"Don’t know. Maybe Dad forgot to tell the fish." She smiled and took a bite out of the sandwich.
Marco, Chet and Stoker joined them. Marco reached for a sandwich, followed by Stoker. Chet hung back a bit, not wanting to get into trouble again.
"Hey, you’re the one that won the contest." Lizzy turned to Marco.
"Yes ma’am." Marco had seen what she’d done to Chet and wanted to avoid being her next victim.
"Well then, you must be quite a cook. How ‘bout helping me fix dinner tonight?"
Johnny jumped in before Marco could answer.
"What’s for dinner?" he asked, this time with his mouth full.
"That depends." Lizzy was sizing Johnny up, deciding on whether or not to take the same tack she had taken with Chet.
"Depends on what?"
"Depends on what you’re catching."
Johnny looked a bit confused, as if this wasn’t the all expense paid trip to paradise.
Lizzy went onto explain.
"You catch it, and I’ll cook it. You don’t catch it, we’re all eating sandwiches for dinner."
Marco took advantage of Johnny’s confusion to get himself back into the conversation.
"Well, I’d love to help." He really enjoyed cooking and with the pressure of the contest off, he looked forward to getting back into the kitchen.
The conversation in the back was then interrupted by a commotion in the front. Johnny grabbed another sandwich as everyone ran up to the bow of the boat. Captain Stanley had hooked a big one. Roy was helping him reel it in. Lizzy motioned to her father the direction he needed to work the boat to bring the fish in. Lizzy called then out to Chet to be ready with the net. Chet really wanted nothing to do with Lizzy that required him to be anywhere near the railing of the boat. He stayed back by the sandwiches.
"Chet! The net! Get me the net!" Lizzy yelled at him while pointing at his feet.
Chet finally got his act together and looked down to see the net at his feet, and realized that he’d better get it to her quick. He ran it up to her just in time. In one sweeping, well-practiced move, she landed the fish on the deck.
It was beautiful. It was a large Yellowfin tuna.
"Wow Cap! Great work!" Roy slapped Captain Stanley on the back.
"Hey someone get a picture of this! My wife never gonna’ believe this!" Captain Stanley was a bit out of breath. The fish had put up a fight.
Lizzy grabbed the camera from the locker and took the required picture of the required pose. Even though she had done this dozens of times before, it still was a thrill. The smile on the captain’s face was worth it. She knew that it gave him a bit of proof for all those fish stories. Lizzy called down to Mike to open the hold so she could put the fish on ice. Stoker popped his head up from below.
"Sorry, not you Mike, the other Mike."
"I can take it." Stoker reached out and took the fish from her, and promptly disappeared back below deck.
"Well, gentlemen, well done! You all deserve a break." Lizzy reached into another on deck locker and pulled out two icy cold six packs. It was a tradition on the Ocean Breeze that the beer didn’t some out until after the first fish was caught. It was a tradition borne out of not so altruistic reasons. The crew had to eat too. And if the guests were too drunk to fish, then everyone had peanut butter and jelly for dinner.
The icy cold beers disappeared faster than the coffee had that morning. And, inspired by the captain’s success, all were back manning their poles.
Chet, however, was inspired in a much different way. He was inspired by the good mood that filled the air, and a bit relaxed by the hot sun and cold beers. He moved over to where Marco was fishing.
"Hey, Marco, now seems like a good time," Chet quietly whispered. "Give me a hand with it, will ya’?"
"I don’t know, Chet. Do you think it’s wise? I mean, you really made an, uh, impression on her," as he motioned in Lizzy’s direction.
"Aw come on, Marco. The tension’s been broke. We’ve gotten our first fish. Everyone’s had a beer or two…come on."
Marco reluctantly put down his pole and followed Chet below deck. Nobody noticed them missing. Nobody noticed their return. Nobody noticed the large package Marco had tucked under his arm.
Chet and Marco moved over to the railing. Chet quickly looked around. Everyone’s back was to them.
"Quickly, Marco! And don’t splash!"
"I’m going as quickly as I can!"
"Ssshhh! Keep your voice down! You’ll spoil it!"
Marco just looked at him and did as he was told.
"Now get into position."
Marco took his pole and walked over to Johnny at the stern of the boat. Johnny hadn’t had one bite yet, and it was showing.
"Hey, Johnny, how’s it going?"
"Lousy, Marco. Not even a nibble. Ya’ know what I should do? I should go up there and complain. Best fishing in the Pacific…"
Marco caught Chet’s signal, and stopped Johnny in mid sentence.
"Hey, I think Chet’s got something! Let’s go!" Marco carefully herded Johnny over to one side of Chet.
"Hey, John, can you give me a hand? I think I’ve got a really big one!"
"Knowing your luck, Chet, it’s probably a tire," Johnny deadpanned.
"No I really think I’ve got something here!"
By now the rest of the gang had put down their poles and come over to investigate. Marco positioned himself next to one of the ring buoys just in case. He knew this could go either way.
"Grab the net, Gage - I’m bringing it in!"
Johnny grabbed the net and got into position. Chet reeled in his ‘catch’, but managed to block Johnny’s view of it until ‘it’ landed on the deck.
Lizzy and the Skipper rushed down to the deck at the sound of the scream.
Marco was sure Chet was going overboard. He wasn’t so sure as to who was going to do it. Lizzy - because Chet had just caused one hell of a commotion, or Gage - because he was yet again the victim of the Phantom.
"Why I ought a’…" Johnny lunged for Chet but Roy held him back. He was the only one who could. Everyone else was on the floor in stitches.
"What’s so funny? I don’t think it was so funny! I was scared half to death! " Johnny shook Roy off. Roy went over to pick up the ‘catch’.
"I don’t know, Partner, it’s pretty funny." Roy was snickering now. "Come on, you’re going to try to tell me you thought this was real?"
"Well, yes! Didn’t you?!?"
"Johnny, it’s a cheap dime store Halloween mask on a mannequin head. You really thought this was real?"
Johnny started to try to defend himself.
"Well, I, uh, didn’t get a good look at it at first. Chet was blocking my view."
"That was the idea, Gage." Chet was pretty proud of himself for pulling the gag off.
"Shut up, Chet." Johnny realized he had been gotten good, and that there wasn’t anything else he really could do about it. So he went back to his rod and reel at the stern of the boat.
Marco eased up and took his hand off the ring buoy. He was satisfied that Chet wasn’t going overboard. The Skipper and the rest of the crew had enjoyed Chet’s prank, and Johnny had retreated to his spot.
They all had had their laughs, and it was now time for more serious fishing until dinnertime. Over the course of the next few hours, almost everyone had success. Johnny caught a couple about half the size of the Cap’s. Roy and Marco caught one fish each, but they were really big. Mike even came up and caught one without even trying. He was talking to Marco and had let his line fall into the water. Next thing Mike knew, he was reeling in a keeper. Chet, on the other hand, had to throw back everything he caught. None of his fish were the legal minimum size. Johnny said it was because his little prank sacred the big ones away.
***
The day was ending, and a beautiful red sunset spilled across the sky. It was time to call it a day and to get supper started. Lizzy tapped Marco on the shoulder, and showed him the galley along with its contents. She then excused herself to check on her dad on the bridge. On the way out, she ran into Johnny.
"So, Lizzy, what’s the saying about the red sun and sailors?" Johnny pointed towards the growing sunset.
"Red sky at night, sailors’ delight. Red sun at morning, sailors’ take warning."
"So, that means we’re going to have a good day tomorrow then."
"Maybe, maybe not."
Johnny was beginning to notice a trend here. Lizzy didn’t exactly volunteer information.
"What do you mean?"
"That saying was born in a time that didn’t have weather satellites and meteorologists. The sailors had to work with what they had. And if more often than not a red sky at night was followed by good weather the next day - then that’s what they went on." She stopped for a moment and looked at Johnny. She was wondering just how much scientific detail he could absorb. She fiddled with her necklace while doing so. She always fiddled with it when she was deep in thought. It was a bad habit, and she had lost many poker games because of it. Johnny, however, thought she was being coy.
Johnny started to grin, and was about to speak, when she finished her explanation.
"So to answer your question - I don’t know what kind of weather we’re going to have tomorrow. That will be my job to figure it out after dinner. But right now, if you’ll please excuse me, I’ve got to check in with the Skipper." Lizzy turned and started up the stairs to the bridge.
Johnny by now had completely convinced himself that she was interested in him, and needed to keep the conversation going.
"So what’s that thing on your necklace?"
Lizzy looked down at the object she was twirling between her fingers.
"A black pearl."
"Really, wow, I’ve never seen one before." Johnny was pouring on the charm. "I bet there’s some kinda’ sea lore attached to it."
"There is," Lizzy called back to Johnny has she reached the top of the steps.
"You gonna’ tell me what it is?"
"At dinner," was her reply just before the bridge door closed behind her.
***
Lizzy came up to her dad and looked over his shoulder at the controls, then scanned the bridge.
"Hey, Pop, did the latest weather map come in yet?"
"Just come in over the telex. I put it over by your charts."
Lizzy walked over to the chart table and picked up the map. She studied it carefully while fiddling with her necklace.
"Anything I should know about on that map, Lizzy?" He knew his daughter too well. He beat her at too many poker games.
"Maybe, but I’m not sure. The map says no, but my gut says…well, I don’t know what my gut says, Pop."
"Lizzy, sailors that don’t listen to their gut, don’t come back to port."
"No, I know that feeling, and it’s not what I’m feeling right now. It’s still too vague. It’s more of a ‘pay attention’ feeling, than a ‘let’s get the heck out of here’ feeling."
"Well, it’s all your call. We’ll turn around if you say so. You know I’d rather be safe than sorry, my girl. And if it’s the guests you’re worrin’ about, well we’ll just give’em a rain check. Don’t that that stop you."
"It won’t. It hasn’t before. It’s just that, well…I just don’t know yet."
"Well, after supper, you’ll do the charts again like always, and by then there’ll be another map …and maybe that’ll help." Skipper put a reassuring arm around his daughter. Yes, there were times they turned around only to find out it was a false alarm. But it was all worthwhile when they got it right, and they pulled into the harbor just as the sea began to boil.
***
Meanwhile down below…
Johnny, full of self assured success, waltzed into the dinning area in the main cabin. Nobody could ignore his grin, especially not Chet.
"Gage, why are you grinning?"
"Me? Grinning? Why ,Chester B, you’re looking at the master!"
"Of disaster," Chet chuckled.
"Laugh it up, Kelly, but you’re about to witness the Gage charm in action."
"Can I get into the witness protection program?"
Johnny just looked at him then thought better of it. He turned to Marco.
"Hey, Marco, how’s it going?"
"Great. I wish my kitchen were this well stocked and organized, or the kitchen at the station for that matter. I could make some terrific gourmet meals here."
"And we have." Lizzy entered the galley. "Off season we charter out the boat for sunset dinner cruises. We have gourmet food, fine wine, and candlelight - the whole nine yards. It’s not the most profitable venture, but it keeps us ahead of the curve."
She reached into one of the cupboards and pulled out a bottle of fine French wine. She presented it to Marco.
"Do you approve, Chef?"
Marco was impressed with the selection. "I think it will go very well with the fish."
"Good." Lizzy set the bottle down into its special non-tip holder. "It was left over form the last sunset cruise. "You’re the first set of guests we’ve had on board that I thought might appreciate it."
Johnny moved in.
"Well, I know how you feel. After all, it’s difficult to find someone that has the same tastes as you." He picked up the bottle and cradled it in his two hands. "Yesiree, a good year, a very good year. May I pour you a glass?"
Lizzy looked at him for a moment, then took the bottle away from him, putting it back into its holder.
"No, but you can set the table, please. The dishes and glasses are over there," she said, pointing to the upper cupboards, "and the flatware is in that drawer over there." Lizzy indicated the drawer nearest the sink as she left the galley to get the fish from the hold.
Chet almost didn’t wait until she was out of earshot.
"Hey, Master, I think the fish is doing better than you are."
"Shut up, Chet," Johnny scoffed as he took out the plates. "It’s just going to take a bit longer. You’ll see."
Lizzy came back up with the fish, and to help Marco with the rest of the dinner preparation. When everything was ready, she fixed up a plate for her dad.
"Gentlemen, please start without me, I just have to bring the Skipper his supper, then I’ll join you."
Marco passed around the fish and the rest of the fixings followed. Lizzy returned shortly and took her place at the head of the table and joined in.
The conversation was lively, with real fish stories, some tall tales and a discussion or two about practical jokes. Everyone was having a grand time.
Dinner finished and dessert was next. Lizzy pulled out a cheesecake from the hold. She assured them that it wasn’t stored anywhere near the fish.
Johnny then remembered their earlier conversation.
"Hey, Lizzy, weren’t you supposed to tell me, I mean us, what was so special about that black pearl?"
Lizzy picked up the pearl and began to fiddle with it.
"I did, didn’t I? Well, you see, there’s a bit of old sea lore that goes back many, many years - the black pearl has always been very rare and valuable. The story goes on to say that sailors going on dangerous journeys always wore a black pearl, and if they every found themselves in dire straits, they could trade the pearl with the sea god Neptune, for their lives. Now, not that I believe any of it, I have one just the same. Maybe it’s a good luck charm, maybe it’s not." Lizzy shrugged and pushed herself away from the table, and got up to leave. "Now, if you will excuse me, once again, I’ve got some work to do on the bridge. And if I could ask for a favor - when you guys are done, could one of you make a fresh pot of coffee and bring it up to me? I’ll be manning the wheel tonight, and I need to keep sharp." And with that, she turned and left for the bridge.
Johnny and Chet nearly knocked each other over while clearing the table. Johnny got to start a new pot of coffee, and when it was finished, he successfully wrangled it from Chet. He proceeded to taunt Chet as he made his way to the bridge.
"Just remember, Chet, I’m the master," he smirked as he made his way out of the cabin and up to the bridge.
***
The bridge was relatively large in comparison to the size of the boat. It was mostly made up of windows, which gave anyone on the bridge an incredibly wide view of the ocean. Lizzy particularly enjoyed that for both safety and personal reasons. It also had all the latest gear and gadgets, which usually made her life easier. But right now all the electronics weren’t helping her to figure out what to do with the weather. She decided to go through everything one more time. Maybe she missed something. Lizzy had the autopilot on while she worked on the charts. She wasn’t afraid of running into anything this far out, and the radar was on - so she took the liberty of paying more attention to the charts than she normally would.
Johnny came up the stairs with the pot of fresh coffee and a sly grin. He knocked on the door. Lizzy was too deeply immersed in the charts to hear him.
He knocked again, a little bit louder this time. Still nothing. The pot was starting to get heavy, so Johnny decided to let himself in. He opened door and walked in. Lizzy still didn’t look up.
Johnny’s expression was going from a sly grin to one of consternation. What did he have to do to get her attention? He cleared his throat. Still nothing. He cleared it again, much louder this time.
And without looking up, Lizzy finally acknowledged his presence.
"Oh, thanks. Could you put it down over there?" Lizzy pointed to the corner of the chart table she was working on.
"I brought you a whole pot," Johnny stated the obvious to try get the conversation started.
Lizzy didn’t reply. She was back in her world of charts and maps.
Johnny put down the pot in the place he was told and peered over her shoulder at the charts.
"Whatcha’ doing?" he tried again.
"Compiling weather data."
"So, you're up here all night, by yourself?"
"Uh-uh."
Johnny walked up to the windows. It was a clear night and the moonlight was streaming through filling the bridge.
"Beautiful night. Nice and quiet. It must be really peaceful to be up here." Gage had started to fill up the silence.
"I’m sorry, did you say something?"
Johnny was really striking out.
"I was saying, that it’s really peaceful up here. And look at the moonlight - gosh it’s just beautiful. Look how it’s just pouring through the windows."
Lizzy kicked back from the table, turned towards him and leaned back in her chair. She reached for her mug and poured herself a cup of coffee. All while not taking her eyes off Johnny. He was starting to get on her nerves, and she had way too much work to do to let him keep rambling on.
Johnny just stood there, again not really able to read what she was thinking. So he decided to take a shot…but she again beat him to the punch
"If you’re going to hit on me, you’d better know how to swim, because you won’t be the first guy I’ve thrown over the rail."
Johnny just stood there as her words hung in the air. He was at a loss as to what to do next. The telex machine saved him, however, it started to beep as it spit out the latest weather map.
Lizzy got up and walked over to the machine, ripped off the map and returned to her spot at the table. She took her eyes off Johnny only to look at the map. And she saw something wasn’t there before.
"Well, this is interesting," she said to herself, but Johnny took it that she was talking to him, and that she had changed the subject.
"Is something wrong?"
"There’s a weather disturbance here on the map that wasn’t there a few hours ago."
"Is it serious?"
"At our present course and speed, no. But weather is a funny thing out on the ocean. Things can change pretty quickly out here without much notice."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Right now, keep an eye on it, and listen to the reports from NOAA."
"Noah? The guy with the boat?"
"No, not that Noah. N-O-A-A - the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. They’re the federal government’s weathermen. They supply the weather info to the Coast Guard. If it’s good enough for the U.S.G.C., then it’s good enough for me." Lizzy kicked back in her chair again. "Have you ever had a gut feeling about something, but have no hard facts to go on?"
"Yeah…" Johnny didn’t know exactly where this was going, but it wasn’t like he had anyplace to go.
"Well, that’s what I have here. I have this gut feeling I should be paying close attention to the weather, but there’s absolutely nothing here on these maps really to warrant it. So I’ll sit up here all night looking for something I might have missed." She took another swig of coffee. "Hey, thanks for the coffee."
"Um, you’re welcome."
"You want some? There’s an extra mug over there."
Johnny got up, retrieved the mug and poured himself a cup, and sat down in the only other chair in the room, which was by the door.
"Um, you, ah, really throw guys overboard?" Johnny just had to know.
"Yup. You think this is the first boatload of firemen we’ve taken out. Actually, firemen aren’t the worst. Come to think of it, neither are the police or the construction workers. It’s the office workers that are the worst. They just don’t when to stop. They see me, and think I’m part of the entertainment. I make it a point to make it very clear to them that I am not. This is my job and I take it very seriously. Usually, I just have to thrown only one guy overboard, but sometimes it’s two." Lizzy was beginning to think that maybe she was a little too harsh with Johnny. Maybe she could have be a bit less abrasive. He seemed nice enough, and she wanted to know the story behind this afternoon’s practical joke. Just so long as he realized that she wasn’t interested in being hit upon, she felt he could stay. Even with her workload, it was time for a break. It was least another hour until the next map came through, and she was getting bleary eyed from looking at the charts.
"You know, I could use a bit of company for a while…but I mean it about throwing you over the side…" she grinned. "So tell me a little bit about that practical joke this afternoon. Whatcha’ do to deserve it?"
***
Meanwhile, down below…
"That Gage…man! How long has he been up there already?!?" Chet was pacing in the main cabin. Roy was in a chair reading trying to ignore Chet. The Cap was trying to get some shuteye. Marco was still in the galley looking through all the cookbooks, and Mike was still talking shop with the other Mike down in the engine room.
"Gage has all the luck!" Kelly continued, complaining to no one in particular and every one in the room.
"Roy…"
Roy just wanted to finish the paragraph he had read about nine times since Chet started rambling.
"Look, Chet, if you’re so curious, the just go up there."
Chet looked at Roy as if he didn’t understand.
Roy knew that if Johnny did have something going on, he wasn’t going to appreciate Chet interrupting. But Roy was willing to take that chance for a little peace and quiet.
"Go up and see if they need more coffee."
Chet couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
"Look, Chet, she’s working. She’s driving the boat. If she’s doing anything other than that, wouldn’t you want her to be interrupted?" Roy made it a point not to intrude on his partner’s love life, but there was only so much of he could take of Chet in a confined space.
"Roy, you’re a genius." Chet grabbed the half filled pot of coffee made his way to the bridge.
"I thought he’d never shut up," Marco called from the galley.
"Good thinking, Roy," Cap said, as he rolled over and went back to sleep.
Mike and Mike came up from the engine room.
"Hey, Stoker, you’re more interested in that engine than the fish," Marco remarked. "It’s our day off, take a break."
"But it’s a masterpiece…" Stoker came into the galley to get a cup of coffee. But Chet had taken the entire pot. "I guess fishermen go through more coffee than firemen."
Roy and Marco chuckled.
Mike looked quizzically at the two of them.
"Don’t ask," Roy answered.
"Hey, it’s awfully quiet. Where’s Chet and Johnny?" Mike asked as he noticed the silence.
The answer came from the direction of the Cap’s bunk.
"With any luck, they both went overboard."
Mike just smiled and made himself a fresh pot.
***
Lizzy and Johnny heard someone come out of the cabin below and start to make their way up the steps.
"I bet it's Chet!" Johnny started to get up out of the chair, but Lizzy motioned him to stay seated.
"I think we can have some fun with him," Lizzy smiled. "Stay right where you are. He won’t be able to see you when he comes in."
Chet knocked on the door. Lizzy called to him to come in.
"Um, I brought you more coffee. Thought you might need a refill." Chet was all smiles, until he realized that Johnny didn’t seem to be in the room. "Uh, where’s Johnny?"
"He hit on me, so I threw him overboard," she deadpanned.
Chet stood there not knowing whether or not to take her seriously.
"You’re kidding…"
"About making a pass at me? No."
"No, about throwing him overboard."
Chet still hadn’t seen Johnny, who had now gotten up and was creeping up behind him.
Lizzy knew that if she didn’t act quickly, there would be coffee all over her charts.
"So, uh, are ya’ going to give me that pot of coffee, or are you going to hold it all night?"
Chet handed her the pot, which she quickly put out of harm’s way, just as Johnny sprung out from the dark. He grabbed Chet from behind and yelled…
"Boo!!!"
This time everyone had to run upstairs at the sound of the scream.
The bridge door flew open; Marco and Roy stood panting in the doorway taking in the scene before them. Johnny was on the floor in hysterics and Chet was up against the wall, his hand clutching his chest. Lizzy was leaning up against the chart table looking quite pleased with herself.
Roy caught his breath first.
"What happened here???"
"Roy – Johnny nearly killed me!"
Johnny was laughing way too hard to have any sort of rebuttal.
"Well, it sounded like you two were killing a cat up here." Roy held out a hand to help Johnny off the floor. Johnny could barely stand up. He was still laughing too hard.
"Hee, hee…a cat…hhaa, hhaa…Chet…a cat…Chet…sounds…like…a…cat!!!" Johnny just couldn’t contain or collect himself.
Captain Stanley came to his rescue. The Cap was a step or two behind Roy and Marco in the rush up the stairs. He had fallen asleep after Roy had gotten Chet out of the cabin, and wasn’t happy at being awakened.
"What exactly…" Captain Stanley stood hands on hips, looking at his men. "I’m not a fire captain. I’m a den mother. That’s what I am, a den mother. All my years in the fire service, and I’m a den mother to a pack of Boy Scouts. No, that would be insulting to the Boy Scouts. You’re all…what’s that group that comes before Boy Scouts…"
"Cub Scouts," Roy answered.
"You’re all…never mind. I’m sorry, Lizzy. Are they bothering you?" Captain Stanley was rubbing his temples in aggravation.
"No, Captain. We just decided to have a bit of fun."
"At my expense!" Chet was playing it up for all it was worth.
"Captain, while I do have a lot of work to do, I needed a break. Johnny here came up here with the coffee, and hit on me…"
"Gage…" Hank said, mildly annoyed.
Johnny had composed himself and just shrugged.
"…and I told him that I would throw him over board, but if he wanted to tell me the story behind Chet’s prank, he could stay. Well he did, and I thought that if that was the case, Chet should be up here any minute. So let’s have some fun with him."
"See Chet! It wasn’t even my idea!" Johnny smirked.
"I’m sorry, Chet. It’s rare when we get a bunch of guys that aren’t drunk by 3PM and passed out by 7PM. It’s nice to have a break from the routine." Lizzy put out her hand to Chet. "No hard feelings?"
"No hard feelings." Chet shook her hand. His color was finally coming back.
"Okay men, lights out." Captain Stanley stood to the side of the doorway and motioned everyone out.
"Goodnight gentlemen," called Lizzy as she went back to her charts.
***
Four more weather maps came in before Lizzy called it a night and handed the helm over to the skipper. There was no definitive answer in any of them.
***
The next morning the crew and passengers of the Ocean Breeze were met with blue skies and a stiff westerly breeze. Lizzy was manning the helm. The skipper was making a pot of fresh coffee when he was joined by Johnny and Roy.
"Mornin’, Skipper. Looks like the weather’s not going to turn," Johnny said as he grabbed a mug from the cabinet.
"Look’s that way doesn’t it, son, but I would wait until Lizzy finishes lookin’ at those maps."
The rest of the boys from 51 joined them; one by one they rolled out of their bunks.
"I don’t think I’ve ever slept better in my life." Marco came in stretching. "I slept like a baby."
The Cap, Stoker and Chet followed Marco out of their berths. The Cap and Stoker agreed with Marco. Chet didn’t have much to say, and just went for the coffee.
"Chet, my boy, why so quiet?" Skipper Bob came around and slapped Chet on the back. "Not still sore from last night’s prank, are ya’?"
"Uh no, skipper, sir…" Chet wasn’t too sure how to react. His last conversation with the skipper was about going over the side. After last night, he realized he wasn’t the only talented prankster on the boat. He decided to keep a low profile.
"Well, that’s good, my boy, ‘coz I like you, Chet. You’re all right. Any man that can take as good as he gives, is welcome on my boat."
"Well thank you, Skipper. It’s nice to be appreciated once and a while." Chet was coming around.
Roy looked at Captain Stanley and they both just rolled their eyes.
Lizzy came in with news that would spoil Chet’s good mood.
"We’re turning around, right now."
"What?" Since he was in with the skipper, Chet felt he could take some liberties. He was wrong.
"What she says goes, Chet my boy." The skipper got up from the table and made his way past everyone on his was up to the bridge.
"But there isn’t a cloud in the sky!" Chet pointed out the window. "Sure, it’s a little bit hazy, but I don’t see any sign of a storm. Plus I haven’t caught anything yet."
"Chet, you wouldn’t have caught anything anyway."
"Shut up, Gage."
"Chet, you’re a fireman fishing, not fighting a fire. This is their job. They know it best," Roy reminded him.
"Roy’s right, Chet. Let them do their job," Cap said in a way that more of an order than a suggestion.
"Chet, don’t worry, you all get a ‘rain check’, no pun intended." Lizzy knew that they would be a bit upset, especially since there wasn’t any overt evidence of the storm. "But at around 6AM this morning, the disturbance I was keeping an eye on, changed course and grew in intensity. It’s headed right for us. And if we’re not careful, it will come between us and home."
"How big is it?" Chet was starting to see the seriousness of Lizzy’s decision. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, yet they were turning around. Chet was starting to get worried. "Can’t we just ride it out?"
"Have you ever ridden out a storm on the high seas before, Chet?" Lizzy wasn’t going to pull any punches.
"No…"
"I have. And that’s when you find out what it means to be truly alone." She could be wrong, but she didn’t want to give them a false sense of security. A little fear was sometimes a good thing. Lizzy left without saying anything else. Captain Stanley sensed it was a good time to change the subject.
"So, since we can’t do any fishing, how ‘bout a game of poker to pass the time? Do I have any takers?"
Silence. The Captain knew he had to put his foot down on this one. He couldn’t let them dwell on this. Especially Kelly. Chet would have his life jacket on in about ten minutes if he wasn’t distracted.
"I said, does anyone want to play a game of poker?"
This time they all read between the lines and saw it was an order. They all took their places around the cabin table as the Cap dealt the cards.
"Aces high, deuces wild…"
***
Meanwhile back on the bridge…
"What have we got exactly, Lizzy?"
Lizzy pulled out the latest map and showed her dad the projected course of the storm.
"This is what I’m concerned about, Dad." Lizzy pointed to a swirl on the last map.
"Well dearest, I trust your judgment. But I wouldn’t be so worried about it. There’s a lot of space on that map between it and us."
"I know. But it’s really bothering me."
"I think we’ll make good time. We’ll be home in no time."
"I just hope you’re right."
***
The card game continued for most of the morning. The men could not ignore the worsening seas or the darkening skies. By lunchtime the stress was beginning to show, and the distraction of the card game was failing. The cards were sliding around on the table, Roy had excused himself from the game to read, and Chet wasn’t looking too good. Marco decided to make lunch.
"Hey, is anyone hungry? There’s some leftovers from last night."
Chet answered Marco’s question by running out to the rail and getting seasick.
"Hey, Chet, I’m insulted!" Marco smiled. He was trying to keep his sense of humor.
Chet came back in and sat down on the cabin bench, and moaned. The skipper followed him in.
"Hey, Skipper, the ride’s getting kinda’ rough." Johnny was eyeing Chet. "Is there any way you could make it go a little bit smoother?"
" ‘Fraid not, son. We have to make like the crow flies. Which means we’re cutting head on in to the waves. It’ll give us a rough ride, but also the quickest way home."
"Uh, Skipper? How are we doing?" Cap felt it was his duty to ask the question on everyone’s mind.
"Not to badly, Hank. We won’t get out of this unscathed. But with any luck we’ll be home by dinner. Unless of course, the sea changes her mind."
"Well, let's hope we’re lucky."
The rest of the men mumbled in agreement with the Cap.
***
As the hours passed, the waves grew in height. They were now eight to ten feet high. While that proved to be no serious problem for the Ocean Breeze, it made for very slow going. The crew had to reduce their speed to avoid causing unnecessary damage to the boat by slamming into the waves.
They were making far less progress than they had hoped. They were too far out to make to port before nightfall.
Chet was faring no better, but at least he stopped making his frequent trips to the rail. He just laid in his bunk, moaning. Johnny was starting to get concerned and went into check on his friend.
"Hey, Chester, how’s it going?"
"Ohhhh, I’m going to die…" Chet moaned.
"You’re not going to die, Chet. You’re just seasick. Your brain and your eyes just aren’t agreeing."
"It’s my stomach that’s not agreeing."
"You really shouldn’t be in here. You need to see the horizon. Trust me."
"Nooooooo!!!"
"Come on, Chet, trust me."
Chet knew that Johnny wouldn’t go away unless he complied. So with a great deal of effort, he got up and followed Johnny out to a window in the main cabin.
"Now look outside."
"Nooooooo!!!"
"Now, Chet, give it a minute. Come on now, look…"
Chet forced himself to look out at the tossing horizon, and to his surprise and relief, it worked.
"Johnny, it worked!"
"I know, Chet," Johnny said smugly.
"No, it really worked!"
"I know, Chet."
Chet was back to his old self, to which the Captain remarked.
"I think I liked him better the other way. He was quieter. Johnny, can you change him back?"
Chet gave his Captain a wounded look, but Hank had no patience left to deal with anyone’s hurt feelings.
"I’ve got an idea, Kelly. Since you’re been cured, and Gage, since you’re responsible, how ‘bout the two of you go up to the bridge and see if we can be of any help."
"Great idea, Cap!" Chet was still trying to pick up where Johnny had struck out. He was willing to do anything to impress the lady with the boat.
"And put on some rain gear and hold onto the rail. It’s pretty nasty out there." Hank cringed at hearing himself. Now he really sounded like a den mother.
Johnny and Chet grabbed two of the yellow rain slickers by the cabin door and headed out. The trip up to the bridge took far longer than usual. There were several moments were they realized that the Captain’s advice was right on target. When they got to the top, they didn’t bother with etiquette. They just let themselves in.
"Hey, can we help with anything?" Johnny pulled off his rain hood. It had offered little protection. He looked like a drowned rat.
Lizzy looked at them both, and then put up her hand to stop them from saying anything else for the moment. Gage shut up. Chet wondered why he never thought of that before.
Lizzy was on the radio to the Coast Guard giving them their position and the number of people on board. When she was done, she answered Johnny’s question.
"Yes. It’s getting worse that we expected. We have to be prepared for anything - so I need you two to help get the life boats and the survival gear out."
Johnny and Chet stood there stunned for moment. This wasn’t really what either one had expected, but then the firemen in them kicked in…
"OK, what’s first?" Chet got into the proper frame of mind.
"Get everyone into life vests. Chet, you remember where they are, don’t you?" Lizzy added with her only smile of the day. "Next grab the inflatable life raft and lash it down to the deck. You’ll find the raft in the rear on deck locker. In there will be the tie down lines. Use quick release knots. Then get the survival backpack and lash it to the raft. It’s located under the seat bench in the main cabin. When you’re finished, come back up here. You’ll give us a hand with the other life raft."
Johnny and Chet rushed downstairs as fast as the storm would allow. They filled the Cap in and the room came to life. Captain Stanley took over on deck and sent Chet and Johnny back to the bridge.
They made it back up to the bridge with much more difficulty than the last time. Things were getting worse, and they didn’t have to be sailors to see it. A wave tossed the boat as Johnny and Chet entered the bridge. They nearly fell into the room.
Lizzy didn’t even look over to them. She barked out the orders while helping her dad with wheel.
"The raft is in the bottom locker with the red door. Above it you’ll find the life vests and survival pack. Get us 2 life vests. Lash the pack to the raft and place it on the hook by the door…"
Suddenly an electrical sparking sound filled the bridge.
"We’ve blown a fuse Lizzy. Can you manage up here?" The Skipper looked at Lizzy and knew that she didn’t have much of a choice.
"I’ll be fine."
With that the Skipper grabbed his rain gear and headed down to the cabin. Mike, his engineer, met him. The fuse had blown out the instrument panel in the engine room and a secondary instrument panel in the main cabin, as well as on the bridge. The two of them went to work on the fuse panel in the main cabin. Stoker and Marco helped where they could. Sparks flew, and the skipper cursed in pain. Roy moved in to survey the damage.
"Hey, don’t go electrocuting yourself there. We need you to get us home."
"We’ll get home just fine. The old girl knows the way home all by herself." Skipper Bob was about to slap the counter with his singed hand for emphasis, when Roy caught it.
"Well, then let me take a look at this for ya’. Cap, can you get me some bandages from the first aid kit?"
Captain Stanley reached over to get the kit. He pulled out a roll of gauze and some sterile pads, and handed them to Roy.
"Now, this won’t take a minute."
"Neither will the lights." The two Mikes had gotten the fuse box back in gear, and the instrument panel lights came back on in the cabin.
Everyone was feeling good for the first time in a long time. Too bad the feeling wasn’t going to last very long.
Back on the bridge…
Johnny and Chet weren’t used to standing around in emergency situations, but they were acutely aware they were out of their element on a bridge of a sea tossed boat. They pulled themselves up to the front of the bridge and hung on.
Johnny was about to ask what they could do next when the boat was lifted up and out of the water by a very large wave. Gage felt his stomach rise in his throat. He corralled all his strength to keep from getting sick. Chet just stood there with a white knuckled grip on brass rail by the door. The boat hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity. It fell back into the water with a sickening thud, and was followed by a very loud bang. A wave had broadsided the boat and it heeled over to one side. Again, it seemed like an eternity before she righted herself.
Johnny again tried to speak, but this time was stopped by the look of surprise on Lizzy’s face. The wheel spun freely in her hands. Johnny and Chet looked at each other. They didn’t have to know the detailed mechanics of steering a boat; they knew this was bad, very bad.
Lizzy got on the intercom to her dad below.
"We’ve lost the helm. We have to abandon ship!"
She didn’t wait for the reply. She switched to the radio and hit channel 16.
"Mayday, Mayday, this is the vessel Ocean Breeze. We have lost all steering and are adrift. We request immediate assistance from all vessels in the area. We are abandoning ship. Our last know position is…"
Fffizzt!!!
The lights went out and the radio went dead. In the darkness Lizzy yelled out commands.
"One of you grab the life raft. The other grab onto your partner, and I’ll grab onto you. We have to make it down the stairs to the rail."
"What about the others?!?" Johnny shouted.
"My dad and Mike are down there. They know what to do! Come on there’s no time!!!" Lizzy pushed the three of them out the door. They fought their way down the stairs. They saw that the others had inflated the raft and were doing their best to get into it.
Chet deployed their raft. He held onto it tight as Johnny and Lizzy clawed their way in. Chet let go and threw himself into the raft and nearly missed. Johnny grabbed onto his life vest and pulled him in.
At the other end of the boat, they weren’t having an easier time. The wave that knocked out the steering had also knocked out the skipper. Roy and Marco were having a hard time trying to get a very large and unconscious man in to a tiny bobbing boat. The Cap and the two Mikes were in the raft trying to steady it against the waves. Roy and Marco manage to get the skipper into the raft and then themselves. Mike the engineer remembered to grab something Lizzy had forgotten. With the boat hook in hand, Mike pushed the raft away from the failing Ocean Breeze.
"We have to get away from her fast. We can’t let a wave knock us back into her!!! Get the oars out and row away from her!!!" Mike had to scream to be heard over the waves.
Lizzy realized her error, and grabbed the oars. She threw one to Chet.
"We have to get away from the boat. A wave can send us crashing back into her! Row!!!"
They started to row, but it was too late. A wave picked them up and sent them hurling towards the heaving Ocean Breeze.
***
"CAN YOU SEE THEM, ROY?!?" Captain Stanley screamed over the din of the waves.
"I CAN’T SEE A THING!!!" Roy shouted back. The crests and troughs of the waves made it difficult to see anything that wasn’t immediately near them.
"WELL EVERYONE KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THEM AND HANG ON!!!" Captain Stanley shouted.
Captain Stanley turned to the tasks at hand, taking a head count in the raft and assessing their situation. Everyone but Johnny, Chet and Lizzy were in this life raft. Hank said a little prayer for them, and for the small miracle that they didn’t lose any one when they abandoned ship and crawled into their own weaving raft. The skipper was the only one seriously injured, and Roy was taking care of him. Their situation was that they were seven in an open life raft being tossed by ten-foot waves and being pelted by wind driven rain. Hank wiped the sea spray from his face as he looked out over the sea. He couldn’t see any sign of the Ocean Breeze or the other life raft. They were on their own. Captain Stanley then took the survival pack, and inventoried its contents: two bottles of water, some freeze-dried food, first-aid pack – which he handed to Roy, a flare gun and five flares, a flashlight, a whistle, a compass, and a hand held radio. The sight of the radio made Hank’s heart jump. Remembering what Lizzy said about the Coast Guard monitoring channel 16, he set the dial and tried to hail them.
"Mayday, Mayday, this is the…survivors of the vessel Ocean Breeze. We have abandoned ship. We are adrift in a life raft. Can anyone hear us? Over."
His question was answered with static.
Captain Stanley tried a second time.
"MAYDAY, MAYDAY, Does anyone read us? Over."
More static.
"I don’t think its working, Roy."
Roy tried to be optimistic.
"Maybe the waves are blocking the transmission, Cap. Maybe we should try a little later, when the storm abates a bit."
"I don’t know, Roy, I’ve been using a handy talky for a long time. I think it’s busted."
"Maybe it’s just the receiver…" Roy was trying to grasp onto whatever shred of hope he could, for his sake, and the sake of everyone in the boat. They couldn’t just give up. Captain Stanley realized that.
"You’re right. Might as well keep trying. Maybe they can here us. Maybe the waves are blocking the signal."
***
"Ensign, have you had any luck in raising them?" Captain Ross was on duty at the U.S.G.C base when the first mayday call came in.
"No sir. They seem to be able to transmit, but they aren’t able to receive our transmissions. However they are transmitting at regular intervals."
"Well, keep trying to raise them and let me know immediately if they stop transmitting." Capt. Ross turned to his second in command. "Lt. Berg?"
"Yes sir."
"Lieutenant, what is the status of the search and rescue teams?"
"The cutter Raptor is four hours away from the last known position of the Ocean Breeze. Copter 10 is fueling up and will be on its way in five minutes. It will over the last know position in approximately two hours."
"Good, have you received the latest weather and current charts?"
"Yes sir. We have plotted a probable search grid based on the storm and drift."
"Good, keep me posted."
"Yes sir."
***
Mike, the boat’s engineer, took charge of the rowing. He handed Marco the other oar and they started to paddle.
"Row like this," Mike demonstrated. "We have to control how we handle the waves. We have to try not to capsize."
It took Marco a couple of strokes to get into the rhythm, but he did it. Mike then turned to Stoker.
"Mike, can you see if you can bail some of this water out?" Stoker was happy to do anything to keep busy. He couldn’t find anything in the backpack and ended up using his baseball cap, which some how, miraculously, had stayed on his head.
That left Roy and the Cap to look after the skipper.
"How’s he doing, Roy?"
"I don’t know. He’s got a concussion, but I can’t tell how serious it is. And even if I could, there’s nothing I could do out here." Roy didn’t like being in that position, and it showed. Hank could tell that Roy was more worried for his patient that for himself. That’s what made Roy one of the best paramedics in the program. Hank tried to ease Roy’s concern, and to keep him focused on the skipper. He knew that once they had some kind of control over their situation, he would start worrying about the others.
"Roy, you do what you can with what you’ve got. I’m sure they’re looking for us. Didn’t Johnny say that Lizzy was reading off our position to the Coast Guard." Captain Stanley realized his error too late. Roy snapped back to look at the Cap.
"Roy, I’m sure they’re fine. Lizzy kept the both of them in line when there weren’t any problems. She seemed very capable at getting them safely off the boat and into the raft."
The skipper started to cough. Roy turned his attention to check on him.
"Skipper, can you hear me?" Roy asked while checking his respiration.
The skipper just moaned his reply. Roy checked the skipper vitals again.
"I think he’s getting worse, Cap."
"I’ll try the radio again."
***
Chet screamed himself awake. He was having a nightmare, but when he opened his eyes, he realized he wasn’t dreaming. Chet found himself in the middle of an angry ocean, being beaten by waves and pelted with rain. His head hurt, and he was feeling a bit nauseous. Was he seasick or did he have a concussion, he wondered. It took him a few minutes to clear his head. The raft and the others were nowhere in sight. Nothing was in sight. The sea and sky met in one continuous gray sheet. Lizzy’s words resounded in his ears. He played their conversation over and over again in his head. ‘Have you ever rode out a storm on the high seas before Chet? - I have. And that’s when you find out what it means to be truly alone.’ Chet took a deep breath. He wanted to scream again, but every time he opened his mouth he got a mouthful of seawater. He tried to get a hold of himself, but the panic was welling up inside of him. He tried to think of other times he been in desperate situations, times he’d been trapped in a fire. How it seemed like eternity before anyone reached him. He didn’t give up then, how could he give up now?
***
Captain Stanley had been broadcasting every 15 minutes for close to two hours straight. Night was falling and gravity of their situation was settling in on him. He tried the radio again. This time something was different about the static.
"Roy, did you hear that? I think I heard something!"
"Try again!"
"Mayday, Mayday. Can anyone read us?!?"
The static definitely had changed. There was definitely something there.
The Cap tried again. But it didn’t become any clearer.
"Roy, I think the storm is easing a bit. Maybe that’s why we’re getting something."
"I hope so, Cap." Roy was getting concerned. Hypothermia was being to be a real threat to all of them if they didn’t get rescued soon.
The wave heights were lessening, and the wind was dying down. The rain, however, was still pelting them. Stoker was fighting exhaustion from bailing for two hours straight. The Cap saw this and took his place.
"Stoker, let me do that for a while. Here, take the radio and keep trying every 15 minutes."
Stoker was grateful for the break, and switched places with the Cap. The other Mike took the compass out of the pack.
"Now that we’re not being battered so much, we can start making a course for land."
"How do you know which way land is?" Marco was glad for the momentary break in the rowing.
"We just need to head due east, and we’ll hit somewhere on the West Coast."
Marco knew that, but he was just too tired to think of it before he asked the question.
Marco knew he was very tired, because he was hallucinating. He was sure he was imagining the thump-thump-thump of a chopper. But it was growing louder. Marco sat up as straight as his aching back would allow.
"Something wrong, Marco?" Roy asked, but he also heard something. "Mike, try the radio again."
"Mayday, Mayday. Do you read us? Over."
They heard garbled voices through the static this time. They all swung their heads around looking for the helicopter. They could hear it coming, but in the rain, they couldn’t see it. Which means it couldn’t see them. Captain Stanley grabbed the flare gun from the pack and shot off a flare. The thudding of the helicopter grew louder and louder. Marco was able to make out a dark form coming in from the east.
"There!" Marco pointed and nearly fell out of the raft.
A spotlight reached out of the darkness and found them. They cheered. They screamed and waved their arms. They wanted to be really sure they had been spotted, and the helicopter wasn’t going to just fly by them. But they were found. The searchlight stayed on them as the helicopter moved over them and dropped a line and harness.
It took over an hour to rescue everyone off the raft. Mike, the boat’s engineer was the last one off. When everyone was safely on board, Captain Stanley went up the to cockpit to inform the pilot of the others that were missing.
"I’m sorry, Captain, but we need to turn around. We’re low on fuel. We’ll keep an eye out for them on our way back, but I can’t endanger all of our lives. We’ll contact the cutter Raptor. She’ll be on site in two hours. We’ll drop you off, refuel, and then go back out."
Captain Stanley understood all too well. How many times had he been in a similar situation in a fire? He avoided Roy’s stare as he returned to the bay of the copter. But Roy understood. It was killing him, but he understood.
***
Chet’s watch had broken, so he had no idea of just how long he’d been out. It felt like hours. Hours of being tossed up and down by the waves. Chet began to wonder again about having a head injury because it seemed he wasn’t being thrown around as badly as before. He looked around, the waves weren’t as angry. The storm’s intensity had begun to subside. Chet thought that maybe it was a good time to yell for help, but after about two minutes, realized the futility of it. If he did manage to get out of this, he never wanted to be alone again. Lizzy’s words just kept replaying in his head, over and over. He had never, in his life, ever felt this alone. No, it was worse than that. He never felt this abandoned.
***
The rescue helicopter went straight to Rampart. Drs. Brackett and Morton along with Dixie met them at the landing pad. All they knew was what the Coast Guard had told them. A ship had been gone down and they had seven victims coming in. They were shocked to see Roy helping the orderlies unload the still unconscious skipper from the helicopter.
"Roy!" Dixie lost her professionalism for one brief moment. "I thought you were on the boat trip…"
"We were." The look in his eyes told her more than she wanted to know.
Dixie pulled Roy away from the skipper to look him over. Dr. Morton took over the skipper’s care and rushed him into one of the treatment rooms. Dr. Brackett joined her. He saw that Roy and the rest were all suffering from the hypothermia.
Dixie herded them two and three to a treatment room. She joined Brackett in Treatment Room Three with Roy and Captain Stanley.
"You both have hypothermia. Dix, get them some dry clothes and blankets. I want to get their temperatures up, pronto!"
Dixie was a step ahead of him. The hospital scrubs and blankets arrived before Brackett finished his sentence.
Dixie looked at Brackett, and then at Roy. She had to ask. Roy answered her question before she asked it.
"They’re still searching for them. Johnny, Chet and the first mate were in a different life raft than us. The rescue helicopter had to return after they picked us up. They were running low on fuel…" Roy was exhausted, but both Dixie and Dr. Brackett saw how concerned he was. "There’s a rescue ship on its way, and the chopper is going to refuel, and go back out."
"Roy, they’ve got the best people on this. They’ll find them," Captain Stanley said what he thought Roy needed to hear. It was also something they all needed to hear. He was just as worried. Gage and Kelly might be the source of most of his aggravation at work, but they were also some of the best men in the department. He couldn’t imagine Station 51 without them.
"Come on, how ‘bout I buy you two a cup of hot coffee." Dixie tried to sound as normal as possible.
"We’d love that," Cap replied for them both. He got off the table and followed Dixie out. Roy didn’t move.
"Roy, come on," Dixie said softy as she went back to him and gently took him by the arm and lead him down to the doctor’s lounge. They joined Marco and Stoker already imbibing coffee. The skipper and his engineer had to be admitted. The engineer had collapsed with exhaustion and hypothermia, and the skipper had a serious concussion. Dixie sat with them as long as she could, but she had to get back to work after a half hour. She got up to leave, when Roy cleared his throat to speak.
"Dix, you’ll let…"
"Yes, Roy, as soon as we hear anything."
***
Chet was starting to get frightened now. While he had no way of knowing just how long he was out there, he had convinced himself it was hours. He also knew that hypothermia was his next worry. He started to tread water to keep warm. He also started sing to try to keep himself awake. But all he could think of was "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall". He got to 85 and stopped. He had seen something – a speck on a wave crest. He had to wait until he was on a wave crest to see it again. The wave crested, and yes, there was something out there. A third crest followed, and he began to shout.
"Hey, over here!!!"
He got no reply from the object, but he did get newfound strength and a bit of hope. He started to swim towards it. The waves were still strong and it took Chet a good half hour to come close enough to make out what it was. It was Johnny.
***
Roy came out of the lounge and made his way to the base station to be by the scanner. Dixie saw him coming and didn’t have the heart to turn him around. She knew he’s been through too much.
"Roy, don’t worry, Johnny’s been through worse and made it out okay…you’ll see." She knew she had lied, and so did Roy. Johnny had been in some pretty bad situations, but never out in the middle of an ocean in an horrific storm. Roy pulled up a chair and sat down by the scanner. Dixie poured him another cup of coffee.
***
Chet swam over to his friend. He feared the worse, but as he swam up to Johnny, Chet reached out and felt for a pulse. He found one. It was weak, but it was there.
"Johnny, can you hear me? Johnny?"
"Chet?" Johnny whispered weakly.
"Johnny, man, are you okay?"
"Oh man, I hurt…wha, what happened?"
"We abandoned ship. Where are you hurting?"
"My head, my side…it hurts to…breath…"
"Hang in there, buddy. They’re searching for us. They’ll find us."
"How long have we been out here?"
Chet thought about that one for a moment.
"A half hour, buddy."
At least Johnny was still alive. Chet looked around for Lizzy and the others. If Johnny was here, maybe they were nearby.
"HEY! IS ANYONE OUT THERE?"
No reply. Again Chet tried for two minutes and gave up. A few moments later, he got a reply.
"OVER HERE!!!"
It was Lizzy. He just caught sight of her as she went into a wave trough and then disappeared from view.
***
Roy had fallen asleep by the scanner at the nurses’ station. Dixie gently shook him and tried to get him into a bed. He fought her at first, but he was just so totally drained. He relented and let her lead him into a room. She had gotten him into bed, and was about to shut the light, when he asked again.
"Dix, anything yet?"
"Not yet, but I promise to wake you if we hear anything." Dixie went on to check on the rest of the men. She was met with the same question each time, and she made the same promise each time as well.
***
"Capt. Ross, the Raptor has spotted an empty life raft in the search area," Lt. Berg filled in his commander.
"How long until the copter is back on search?"
"They’ve refueled and are on their way. They’ll be over the area in an hour."
"And the water temperature?"
"68 degrees."
"We’re running out of time, Lieutenant. See if you can get some more resources on this."
"Yes sir."
***
"Thank you, sir." Dixie hung up the phone, sat back down at the nurses’ station, and put her head in her hands.
"Come on, Dixie, those boys have always come through everything. They’ll find them." Dr Brackett put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Kell, that was the Coast Guard. They found the life raft…empty."
Dr. Brackett looked at her. She was as emoionally drained as Roy.
"Come on, Dix, maybe it’s time I bought you a cup of coffee." Brackett knew she had a soft spot for the boys from 51, but there was nothing they could do from there, except wait.
***
Lizzy swam over to Chet and Johnny. It took a great deal of effort. There still was a lot of punch left in the dying storm. The last ten feet were the longest. She grabbed onto Chet’s outstretched hand, and pulled herself in.
"Are you two okay?" she asked, looking first at Chet, then at Johnny.
"I didn’t think you’d actually do it," Johnny mumbled.
"Uh?" Lizzy looked at him and then at Chet.
"You threw us overboard…" Johnny smiled weakly.
"He’s got a bump on his head, and he’s having trouble breathing," Chet filled her in.
"Well, are you what are you doing for him?" Lizzy tended to want just the facts when she was in tight situations.
"Doing with what? I’m a fireman out in the middle of the ocean!" Chet’s despair was being replaced with anger.
"Well, I’m just a first mate of a fishing boat! What do I know about medical procedures?" Lizzy was reacting to Chet’s anger by getting defensive.
"And look where that got us!!!" Chet was sorry the minute he said it.
"Hey, save the nastiness for when we get back on shore," Lizzy admonished him.
"I’m sorry. It’s just that…I’ve been out here…ya’ know you’re right, about being alone in a storm." Chet hummed and hawed through his apology.
"I know. But they’ll find us. Don’t worry. But in the mean time, can you do anything for him. Don’t all firemen have basic EMT training?"
"Yeah, all I’ve done is bandaged his head with one of my sleeves to stop the bleeding."
"Then you’ve probably saved all our lives."
Chet just looked at her puzzled.
"The sharks…"
"Wait! You weren’t kidding?!? You weren’t just trying to scare me? You mean there really are sharks here?!?"
Lizzy nodded.
"Like the size of Jaws?!?"
"No, not that big. But they’re here, and any blood in the water will attract them."
"Is there any other bad news?"
"Yeah, they’re mostly night feeders."
"Great! Now do you have any ‘fish’ procedures we should use?" Chet was getting angry again. But Lizzy saw it for what it was, and let it go.
"Yes," she pulled out her knife from her belt and gave it to Chet. "Aim for the eye."
"What?!?"
"Aim for the eye. If you get brushed up against, that’s what they do just before they ‘taste’ you, stab the shark in the eye. They won’t be back."
"But then there’s shark blood in the water…"
"I didn’t say it was perfect plan."
Johnny interrupted them by coughing.
"Hey, buddy, how ya’ doing there?"
"Not so good, Chet…" Johnny was sounding weaker than before.
"Hey, hang in there. We’ll be rescued real soon, Johnny." Chet tried to sound as upbeat as possible. The look he gave Lizzy said otherwise. Chet shifted his grip on Johnny, trying to get a more secure hold on his friend.
Lizzy saw Chet was getting tired holding onto Johnny, and made a suggestion.
"We need to tie ourselves together, just in case. Tie Johnny to you, and I’ll tie myself to Johnny." Lizzy knew they had to reserve their strength and to keep their minds focused on getting out of there. It was all too easy to go crazy and lose hope.
"So what happened?’ Chet asked as he used his belt to secure Johnny to him.
"We didn’t clear the ship as she went down. The raft was hurled into her by a wave. We were all thrown. Next thing I know, I’m all alone in the middle of nowhere. No life raft. No survival pack. And no one in sight," Lizzy answered as she treaded water.
"Gee, do I know what that’s like. I don’t think I have even been that alone."
"They’ll find us. It might take them longer then we’d like, but the Coasties will find us."
"Coasties?" Chet was hoping it wasn’t a type of shark.
"Coasties – the Coast Guard. We call them Coasties."
Chet breathed an audible sigh of relief, and it was Lizzy’s turn to look puzzled.
"What did you think they were?"
"Well…I thought they were a type of shark." Chet was a bit embarrassed at his ignorance.
"Sometimes they are…" Lizzy smirked.
Chet laughed for the first time since pulling the prank on Gage.
***
Roy woke up in the middle of the night. As exhausted as he was, he just couldn’t sleep any longer. He got up out of bed and when to the doctors’ lounge. Maybe he could watch some TV or read, anything to get his mind off of everything that was happening. He opened the door to the lounge to see Dixie and Dr. Brackett sitting at the table. He pulled up a chair and joined them, but he couldn’t help but notice the looks on their faces, especially Dix’s.
"What, what have you heard…"
"Now, Roy, it doesn’t mean that…" Dr. Brackett said in the most authoritarian voice he could.
"Doesn’t mean what? What?!?" Roy was getting agitated.
"Roy, they found the life raft, and…it was empty." Dix reached out and put her hand on his.
"They’re out there…exposed…the water’s what…65 degrees…Come on, Doc! How long are they going to last?!?" Roy got up and spun around and collected himself, then dropped onto the couch. "I’m sorry…"
Dixie got up and went over and sat down next to Roy.
"Roy, the Coast Guard hasn’t given up. I don’t see any reason why we should." Dixie paused so that her words could sink in. "I don’t think we’re in a position to second guess the U.S. Coast Guard. I know it’s hard just waiting for word, but that’s all we can do. They will call us as soon as they have anything for us. Now, how ‘bout going back to bed?"
"I can’t get back to sleep," Roy mumbled.
"Well, then maybe you’d like some company." Captain Stanley entered the lounge, and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. "I can’t sleep either."
"Cap, they found the raft, empty." Roy didn’t know how else to tell the captain.
Hank looked at Dixie and Dr. Brackett for their reaction, and then he looked back at Roy.
"But they haven’t called off the search." Hank wanted to be sure as to what he was being told. That this wasn’t good news, but it wasn’t the bad news that everyone feared.
"No, Cap, they haven’t. It’s just the water temperature, and being exposed to the elements…their chances are, aren’t that great." Roy kept going over all the things against their survival. His ordeal had wiped out all his hope. Captain Stanley had worked with Roy long enough to know exactly what his train of thought was.
"Roy, remember when I thought the hand held radio was broken. Remember, you were the one that said maybe they could still hear us. You were right. They did hear us. You had hope then, Roy. Why not now? Remember when Johnny got trapped in that cave in. We didn’t hear from him for hours, but he got out." Captain Stanley stopped to see if Roy was listening. Roy just stared at his feet. "And didn’t you tell Chet that we were firemen fishing, not fighting a fire; well the same goes for you, pal. You’re a paramedic, not a U.S Coast Guard officer. If they think there’s still a chance, than I don’t think we should argue with that." It pained the Hank to see Roy, and the rest of his men, like this, but like the rest of them, there wasn’t much he could do about it, but sit and wait.
***
"God it’s dark. I didn’t think it every got this dark." Chet was amazed at the almost complete lack of light out in the middle of the ocean.
"Well, at least the storm’s passed. Too bad there’s no moon, I would have been able to make an educated guess as to where we are." Lizzy looked at her watch, moving her wrist around to get whatever little light there was to reflect on the dial. But she couldn’t see a thing.
Johnny moaned. Chet checked his breathing and pulse.
"How’s he doing?"
"He’s alive." Chet tried to control his voice, but it was beginning to crack. Lizzy reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder.
"We’ll be rescued, Chet. Don’t worry." She knew she had to change the subject. They could be out here all night. Once dawn came, they’d be easier to spot, but right now, in the middle of all this blackness, they might as well be invisible. " So, how did this ‘Phantom’ thing start?"
"Uh?"
"How did you come up with the ‘Phantom’?"
It took a moment for Chet to change gears, but he knew what she was doing. He didn’t mind.
"Well, you see, it all began…hey, you’re not coming on to me? Are you Lizzy?"
"Excuse me? Where the hell did that come from?" Lizzy was wondering if hypothermia had set in on poor Chet.
"You just brushed your leg against mi…"
"SHARK!!!" Lizzy screamed. "Which way did it go?!?" She whipped around, looking in all directions.
"Out that way!" Chet pointed out into the darkness.
"Get the knife ready!"
Chet held the knife out in his right hand. He spun around in an effort to try to guess which direction the strike would come from. Minutes went by, and nothing.
"Lizzy, how long before it comes back?"
"I, I don’t know. Maybe it’s not interested in us. I just don’t know. We just have to be ready for anything." Lizzy kept looking around for the shark, even though she knew they wouldn’t be able to see it.
The minutes turned into what seemed like and hour. The shark didn’t return, but Chet was starting lose it. Lizzy tried to make light of the situation.
"Hey, maybe this fish can wait." It didn’t go over well with Chet.
"It’s pitch black. We’re in shark infested waters. We can’t even see the damn thing coming! Johnny’s seriously injured and it’s got to be at least four more hours until daylight!" Chet was working himself up good. "I’m so cold, I’m going numb. My head hurts. I, I just don’t know how much more I can take of this!"
Johnny mumbled something.
"What buddy? Whatcha’ say?" Johnny’s condition brought Chet back momentarily.
"…merl…"
"What? Merl? Who’s Merl? Come on Johnny, stay with me, please!" Chet couldn’t hide his concern anymore. He just didn’t have the strength.
"…pmerl…"
It took Lizzy a couple of seconds to figure out what Johnny was saying. She turned towards him and asked very clearly…
"Johnny, are you saying pearl? As in my black pearl?"
"Mmmm…"
Lizzy reached up to her neck. Was it even still there after all they had been through? She grabbed it and held it tight in her hand.
"Johnny, do you want me to use my pearl?"
"Mmmm…"
Lizzy took the necklace from around her neck. She held it out over water. Did she really believe it would help? Or was it just some old myth? She turned to Johnny again.
"Johnny, do you think this will help us?"
"Mmmm…pearl…" Johnny moaned weakly.
"OK. Here goes nothing." Lizzy let the pearl roll out of her hand and into the water.
"Are you supposed to say something, like a prayer?"
"I don’t know, Chet. I never really expected to use it."
"So what happens next?"
"I have no idea."
"So we go back to just waiting?" Chet’s voice was getting edgy again.
Lizzy held up her hand to silence him. Chet could barely make it out in the darkness. He was about to get angry with her for telling him to be quiet; when he remembered that last time she did that. She was listening to the Coast Guard’s reply.
"You hear something?!?"
"Shhhh!!!!"
Lizzy had heard something. He watched her turn her head from side to side. It was killing him – what was she hearing? He couldn’t hear a thing over the sound of the waves. But then, far out in the distance, there was something. At first, the noise was so far off, that he thought he must have been imagining it. But if it were his imagination, Lizzy wouldn’t be hearing it too. They both stayed very still, so not to make any more noise. Slowly the sound came out of the background.
"I hear it. I hear it I HEAR IT!!!!" Chet was screaming, splashing and waving his arms at the sound of the helicopter.
Lizzy joined in, as the helicopter passed off to their left.
"HEY! OVER HERE!!!"
They both watched it fly away, disappearing back into the darkness.
***
The national anthem woke Roy up. He turned off the TV, and made himself a cup of coffee. He went to look for Dixie to see if she’d heard anything.
***
Moments later the copter returned. The searchlight passed right over them. It was the most beautiful sight that any of them had every seen.
***
"Dixie, anything?" Roy found Dixie at the nurses’ station going over charts. It was obvious she hadn’t gotten much sleep either.
"No, Roy. But it’s getting light outside. That should make things easier…" The ringing of the phone interrupted her. "Rampart Emergency…. right…when? Thank you, Capt. Ross." Tears welled up in Dixie’s eyes. Roy feared the worse.
"They’re alive! They’ve got them, and they’re on their way!!!" Roy grabbed her and gave her a big hug. He composed himself and apologized.
"I’m sorry! I have to tell the guys!!!" Roy ran down the hall.
***
The helicopter touched down on the landing pad. It was met with more than the usual number of people. The orderlies had plenty of help bringing in these three patients, who where all out of the hospital in under a week. It was another two weeks before Station 51’s ‘A’ shift was reunited, and boy, did that feel good for all of them. It was another two weeks after that, when the Phantom started to use the ill-fated trip for fodder. Rubber sharks and water bombs started appearing everywhere, with the Captain’s blessing. Johnny, of course, was the subject of most of the jokes, so when a packaged arrived with no return address, he eyed it with suspicion.
"Chet, do you really think I’m going to fall for this. I mean, I got hit on the head, but not that hard."
"Gage, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t send you that." Chet pointed at the box on the kitchen table.
Captain Stanley assessed the situation.
"John, if you’re concerned, we can call the bomb squad."
"Cap, who’s going to send me a bomb?"
"Maybe a nurse, Gage."
"Shut up, Chet."
Things were back to normal at Station 51.
"Well then, open it. The suspense is killing us," Cap ordered.
Johnny slowly unwrapped the package, and opened the box. The smile faded from his face and was replaced by a look of disbelief. He reached into the box, and held up the object for all to see - a simple silver chain with a single black pearl.
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