Chapter Eleven
Later, when Karl tried to remember how the hours of that night passed, he didn't think much of the trip itself. He knew that they spent the night slogging through wind and rain, meeting heavy seas and gusting winds at times, but mostly he remembered the time spent with three friends.
He also remembered when they listened to the radio and to a station somewhere in the Southern States that was talking about the flu epidemic. Linda had shut the radio off after the station's third appeal to ". . . send your dollars, send your pennies and we will pray for your sick. Let 'God's Grace, Church Of The Air' be your path from this abominable sickness of the flesh . . ."
He remembered all of them calming her as she ranted about the 'Damn greedy Son Of A Bitch Minister trying to get rich now of all fucking times and off of the fucking sick at that. Someone should shoot the rotten bastard.'
He and Ely had convinced her and Keri to go below and lie down, knowing that someone's love was what Linda needed more than sleep, but perhaps one would lead to the other.
Above all, he remembered talking to Ely for hours as they caught up on each other's lives. As they talked, the weather gradually eased until the wind had slowed and the waves had lessened. The rain continued to beat down however. Finally, near dawn, they were approaching the three islands that made up the Gull Island group and Ely went below to waken everyone. She wasn't long in coming back from below, and when she did, she was grinning.
"Even Dad is getting up." She laughed. "I told him it was going to be quite a while before we got to the cut but he just said he wanted to see the island from the sea."
Karl frowned. "He's seen it from the water before, hasn't he?"
"I don't know?" She said questioningly, thinking for a moment. "Oh, sure he has! Remember, we took him over to Saltspring three or four years ago, or was it before that? Anyway, I think we went for the Lamb Barbeque."
"Oh yeah, it's got to be at least that long ago. Remember, the kids ran out of diapers and I had to hunt through half the stores in town for cloth diapers." He laughed.
"Yeah, I remember that. Perhaps it was longer ago than I thought." She chuckled. "That's when you came back with a bunch of flannel bed sheets that Trudy and I tore down to size so we could use them as diapers."
"Now, what is so funny?" George said from the top of the steps going below. "Even had I not decided to come up before, your laughter would have drawn me."
"Hi George, just chuckling about diapers." Karl laughed, then repeated the story.
As Karl, Ely, and George talked, the others came up to join them, Keri had taken the helm again to give Karl a coffee break. Then out of the rain and mist, a small rocky island, the first of the short chain, appeared off their port bow. Linda glanced at the chart and was amazed at the depth of water surrounding the whole chain. She glanced at the depth sounder, then commented on it quietly.
"Yeah, they're surrounded by deep water. George thinks they're volcanic. I think they're just an upthrust, a sort of ledge stood on its edge." Karl grinned. "I'm not a geologist, but there's a series of fresh water springs on the island and whoever heard of volcanos having springs?"
"Lots of them." Linda chuckled. "Haven't you heard of Harrison Hot Springs? It's over on the mainland, above Vancouver, and it's on a mountain that's volcanic."
"Well the springs on the island aren't hot and they're not loaded with minerals either, they're exceptionally pure and untainted. Besides, lots of the islands in the strait have springs and nobody thinks they're volcanic. I'm not sure where I heard it, but someone told me that the springs feeding St. Mary's Lake on Saltspring Island have been traced back to the Olympic mountains in Washington State. Now whether that's true or not, I don't know, but Saltspring Island isn't all that far away."
"Whatever." Linda laughed softly. "I'm just glad we won't be short of water."
"Well if the quake didn't wipe it out, the cabin has hot and cold running water and electricity as well and it's all because of those springs." He grinned "George's place is the same."
"It doesn't sound much like what I would usually expect in a cabin." She smiled.
They were able to see another island now and Linda noticed that both of them had steep cliffs that were streaked with white. There was so much white that both islands almost seemed to glow in the dusky light of early dawn. Even though the rain had eased from the former downpour, it was still quite heavy with the clouds hanging very low. Everything was scarcely lit by the rising sun but even though the light was quite dim, both islands were clearly visible.
"These two islands are sure different from any I've ever seen." Linda commented. "Why are they white like that?"
"Birds." Karl snorted. "That's nothing but bird shit. I think half the birds in the strait nest on this string of islands."
"Oh." Linda said quietly. "Is the island we're going to like that, I mean covered in bird dung?"
"Oh no! Only the steepest cliffs." Karl shook his head. "Someone must have turned loose some cats here years ago and they went wild. We'll have to keep old Evinrude here inside. They'd probably kill him otherwise. They're a bloody nuisance, I know they keep the birds down, but they get into everything and they're vicious as hell. You want to be damn careful of them."
"I see." Linda said quietly. " By the way, those islands look awfully bare, didn't you mention a garden?"
Karl laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I do have one, now. When I tried to grow a garden at first, the cat's dug it up. They used it as an oversized sand box, then the birds ate anything that grew from any of the seeds that were still in the ground. After that I tried growing lettuce, and stuff like that on the window ledges, in pots. That never worked out well either, the lettuce always bolted to seed and I forgot to water things. Now I've got a fenced and screened garden patch that I use if I'm going to be home for a while. "
"Linda, he is being modest. He even has a timed watering system." George chuckled. "His garden must be half a hectare in size and he has several fruit trees and a berry patch. It is my contention that he is a farmer at heart."
"You never argue when I bring over some berries or a few fresh vegies." Karl grinned.
"No." George said seriously. "I suppose that now we will have to start a garden as well. I doubt if we will be able to arrange for a grocery delivery for some time in the future."
"Yeah, that's another worry. I just hope the power stayed on." Karl's forehead creased into a frown. "I didn't ask you before, but was your freezer stocked when you left the island last time?"
"It was." Trudy smiled softly. "And so was the pantry. So if the earthquake didn't damage anything too badly, we've easily got food for a year. In fact even if the freezer died, we'd be okay for a while, I think. We have a tremendous amount of dried food and canned goods."
"That's good. I wasn't expecting quite this mob." Karl grinned. "But I've probably got quite a bit too. I usually try to keep my pantry well-stocked."
"Yeah, as well as that you've got the garden, and goats, and chickens, and even an orchard." Trudy rejoined. "Your cool cellar usually looks like you were preparing to feed an army."
"Well, you never know what's going to happen." Karl sighed. "I do like to be ready for problems, just in case."
Meanwhile, they had passed the first island they'd seen, they were even with a second and could make out a third larger island even further ahead of them
"Is that it?" Linda asked quietly.
"Unh huh, that's home." Karl said quietly. "I think I should take us in."
"Oh yes, I was going to ask you to do it." Keri sighed. "I wouldn't dare to even try with something this big."
Karl smiled and lifted the cat from his lap to take the wheel as she stepped back. He adjusted one or two controls carefully.
"You did a great job last night." He grinned at her."Thank you for all your help."
"Well, thanks for the encouragement." She grinned back. "I had some good teachers and this is a great boat."
"I'm glad you like her." He said quietly, dropping an arm around her shoulders to hug her gently for a second before concentrating fully on his controls.
Karl glanced up at the radar as he took the wheel, then did a double take.
"Keri, did you notice how long that boat has been following us?" He asked quietly, grabbing the glasses and stepping to one of the windows that faced astern.
"Shit, I never saw it at all. It can't have been there for long." She stepped back near the wheel even while looking back.
"Oh man. It's a big sucker." Karl said quietly. "I can't tell who it is, military colours though, so I imagine it's Navy. George, see what you can hear on the radio. Keri, take the wheel again, keep the throttle where it is and steer the way we're headed now. Don't swing to starboard like we usually would. This heading will take us around the island the long way, on the port side."
He stared back through the glasses.
"She's holding at about the same distance." He said slowly. "I think she's assuming that she's in our radar shadow so she's following us. Damn rain. I can hardly make her out."
George had turned the radio up and was monitoring the regular marine traffic channels but was getting nothing. "If they were trying to overtake us, wouldn't they call?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, that's what worries me." Karl said, his face frowning deeply. "I can't make out much about who or what she is either. I don't see a flag, I can't even make out what colour she is for certain, she's just on the edge of my view and the glasses don't help much. Ely, what can you tell on the radar?"
"Only that it's directly behind us, running in our wake and staying about the same speed as we are."
"Okay." Karl drawled slowly, thinking furiously.
He dropped the glasses and looked around, checking where they were on the GPS then looking at the island. Suddenly he looked thoughtful.
"Keri, keep going on this heading but as we clear the end of the island, swing to starboard so we stay about this far from shore. It will look as if we were going to head for a port off of our starboard bow. Keep the swing gentle and increase throttle just a touch as you begin your swing, not much, just five percent or so. Ely, once that ship disappears into the radar shadow of the island let Keri know, that will mean they've lost us as well. When she tells you that Keri, I want you to bring the throttle to full speed and to cut to starboard so you just miss the cliffs of the Island as you go by. And I mean I want you to go real close to the rocks. It drops off fast there so you can get close enough to almost scrape the paint on the hull. George, stay on the radio, if anything important comes in while we're on deck, Trudy can shout at us. Linda, I need some of the powdered laundry soap, about a cupful, and a big plastic canister from the galley. About this long." He gestured with his hands, then rummaged in a drawer for a moment.
"George, make sure all the CB radios are off would you? In fact, pull the power fuses or the batteries if you can." He said quietly as he pulled a pair of small walkie talkies out and tested them to get a feedback squeal. He reached up to take a small box from a drawer and then stood up and moved to the ladder.
"Be right back." He called and ran down below.
"Where do you want this container?" Everyone heard Linda say from below.
"I'll take that and I'll be right back. Go up top and see if I have any more tape in one of the drawers will you? Black electrical tape."
"All right."
"What's he up to?" Linda asked George as she came back up the ladder from below.
"He's 'MacGyvoring', turning junk into something that he believes we can use to get out of this predicament." George said quietly. "We've seen this sort of reaction on previous occasions. I'm uncertain exactly what he is about to do but whatever it is, I have faith that it will work to our advantage. I suggest that we all stand by willing to assist if he needs help, but not interfering in any way."
"Fine by me." Linda said, finding a new roll of electric tape.
Then Karl came running back from below, carrying the plastic container. He reached into a cabinet and took out several of the old outdated flares from the box that was stored there. Using an old hunting knife, he damaged and scored the cardboard casings, particularly near the ends. Placing them carefully, he managed to get several of them inside the container. He alternated their direction so an equal number pointed up as well as down, packing them as tightly as he could. In fact, he was jamming them so tightly that they locked together. Finally he closed the lid of the container, taping it in place, then he wrapped the whole package in a layer of plastic, sealing that with tape as well. Leaping to his feet with the package, he grabbed his rain gear.
"Linda, grab your coat and come help." He ordered.
Out on deck, Karl had Linda untie the partially full oil drum that had been lashed against the back of the wheelhouse and roll it to the edge of the deck near the stern. Meanwhile he pulled the old dinghy that Ely and the others had towed behind their boat to the edge of the deck. With Linda's help, Karl got it over the side and clambered down into it then he hurriedly jammed the container he had built underneath a seat. With Linda's help he got the barrel down into the little boat as well. He opened the bung of the barrel and poured about a gallon of marine gas inside. Grabbing the drum and tipping it, he sloshed it back and forth violently by rolling and twisting it, then he tipped it on it's side so the liquid was pouring out through the open bung. He doused the whole inside of the dinghy with gasoline, then he climbed back aboard the 'Skolka' and allowed the dinghy to drop astern on the end of a long rope.
"Whew." He sighed deeply. "I think that should do the job."
"Just what the hell is a plastic container of flares, some gasoline, and a partly full drum of diesel fuel, all thrown into an old wooden dinghy going to do?" Linda snapped.
"Confuse people, I hope." Karl chuckled.
Just then, the 'Skolka' began to speed up and they changed direction drastically. Karl waited a moment or two, then he released the rope on the dinghy. He and Linda watched it drop behind them for a moment or two more.
"Let's get inside." He called, running for the wheelhouse
Linda followed hurriedly and was there in time to see him pick up the other walkie talkie.
"Anything on the radio yet?" Karl asked George quietly.
"Nothing, but I don't . . ."
"Sh." Karl grinned. "It's about time."
He lifted the walkie talkie to his mouth and depressed the send button.
"Boom." He said quietly.
Three or four hundred feet astern, his word was magnified a thousand times or more. A massive sheet of flame erupted and everyone, including Karl, jumped in surprise. In seconds the flame was gone but Karl was laughing almost hysterically.
"Holy Christ." George whispered
"I always wanted to do that, just once." Karl laughed. "Now Keri, may I take over the wheel again please?"
Keri, as well as the other women seemed to have been struck dumb but she moved aside to let Karl take her place. He jammed the throttle as far forward as he could and, although Keri had been pointing the boat to come close to the massive cliffs of the island, he turned the wheel to move even closer.
The cliffs rushed by less than a hundred feet from their side and Karl kept edging ever closer as they passed around the outer end of the island.
"Anything back there on radar yet." He asked, attentively watching their position.
"Unh, unh. No." Ely answered, glancing at the screen. "Nothing anywhere."
"Great." Karl said softly. "George, anything on the radio? If that bomb I made worked, we should hear something soon I think."
"Nothing on the regular marine channels, but I might have something on the military channels. Just a second. I was listening in on the earphones. Here it is on the speaker."
"Inflatables four and six, ready to deploy sir." A voice suddenly came from the speaker.
"Shove off lieutenant, although after a blast like that, I doubt you'll find much." Another voice answered. "We will heave to momentarily. The water here is too deep to anchor readily."
"Yes!" Karl exalted. "I think that's it George."
"What the heck do you expect?" Ely asked quietly.
"Well, I'm hoping that they think we just altered course slightly, and were staying well away from the island. I hope they think we did something stupid and blew ourselves up." Karl grinned. "If we can manage to get into the channel before they follow us and pinpoint us on radar, we've got it made."
"Karl." She said sharply, staring up at the radar. "There's another boat, just on the edge of the radar screen. It's well out and on our port side."
"Shit." Karl snapped, leaning back to glance up at the screen.
The radio came to life again.
"119, this is 112, come in please. 119, 112. Over."
"119 here 112. Approaching your position from east north east. Have you anything further on that explosion? Over."
"Negative 119, the captain requests that you advise on your radar observations. Over."
"Affirmative 112. Suspect vessel appeared to be heading away from your vicinity at approximately ten knots, that is one zero knots, when she faded from our screen while appearing to make a sharp turn to starboard. Immediately thereafter a detonation was heard and the vessel seemed to disappear totally."
Karl stared at Ely momentarily, then looked at George.
"We must be close enough to the shore that they read us as part of the island." He said quietly
"Well, there is the rain, and with the wind and waves, as well, this is a wooden boat. As long as they aren't using Doppler radar or infrared, we just might disappear as far as they're concerned. We are also masked by the island and the surf provides a background hash, that is providing that they are far enough away." George said thoughtfully. "Even our movement could be mistaken as the standing wave from the explosion."
"They're at least five miles out." Ely said immediately. "Does that mean anything?"
"Let's hope they don't do anything different for ten minutes." Karl muttered. "We'll be at the cove by then and once we slip in there we should be okay, I hope."
"Yeah, if they don't see us rounding the corner." Linda smiled. "But we do seem to have horse shoes up our butts."
"Nonsense." George said vehemently. "Karl just does things right the first time. He has always made his own luck."
"Not this time George." Karl said softly. "I'm no military strategist. We were just lucky."
"That, my young friend, is half of the reason that battles are won. Someone combines good tactics with great intelligence and has a bit of luck come along. Bingo, they win and the other guy loses."
Karl just shook his head and eased the boat even closer to the rocks. Now, there was only about a boat length between them and the cliff. Linda was watching the passing rock in fascination. She would have sworn that no one could have lived there and from her view, she couldn't see why anyone would want to. Sheer cliffs, topped with scraggly trees and shrubs lifted up from rocky shorelines making the whole island appear barren and forlorn. Most of the cliff walls were stained with streaks of white and hundreds of birds wheeled in the sky or perched amongst the trees.
"Hey." She said, suddenly pointing at a tree. "There's a cat up in that tree."
"Damn feral cat." Keri said shortly. "I shoot them when I can."
"What?" Linda stared at her.
"I thought we told you, someone dumped a cat and a bunch of kittens on the island years ago." Keri growled. "We had one tom cat and he must have been a horny son of a bitch, on top of that those kittens must have all been female. Now there are feral cats everywhere. They kill all the birds and the small animals that they can catch. I hate them."
"But I thought you liked Evinrude, Karl's cat."
"He's different. He's tame and he's neutered, I checked." Keri said quietly. "Besides, even if he's as thin as a rake, he's big. All the wild cats on the island are little shits, half his size and scrawny, sickly things. It's a mercy to put them out of their misery."
Linda looked at her as if she were seeing a stranger.
"Linda, I'm sorry to say she's right." George said softly. "On the Island, the feral cats have no natural predators. They kill birds, snakes, squirrels, even frogs and if they can, small fish. I've even taught David and Mary Beth to carry and use pellet guns. Just ask Karl what they do to his flower beds."
"Flower beds? What do they do they eat the flowers?" She asked as she turned to Karl.
"They like freshly turned earth." He grinned. "It's their idea of a perfect toilet."
"Oh." She laughed uneasily.
"It's unfortunately not funny." Trudy piped up, surprising everyone. "I'd love a flower bed but the cats would just ruin it so I've never bothered. Karl tries, but then he has that damn wolf to help him keep the cats away."
"He's not a wolf." Karl laughed. "I've told you, he's a cross between a coyote and a Bouvier. And he's as gentle as hell. The kids love him."
"Hmph." Ely snorted. "He loves you and David, I guess, but he just tolerates the rest of us. I think he lives on cats."
"You mean he eats them?" Linda said in surprise. "Don't you feed him, Karl?"
"I try. He won't usually eat dog food, only raw meat." Karl said carefully."I thought I was going to have to get rid of him when I got the first of the goats but he guards them like they were his family. He's the same with the chickens."
"Is he dangerous?"
"Not to any of us." Keri grinned. "He's as close to me as anyone except Karl and David. He loves to hunt with me. But I don't know what he eats. It isn't cats though. He loves to kill them, then he just walks off as if they're of no interest to him, that is if he doesn't cock his leg and piddle on them like they disgust him."
"Then you have no cats in your houses?" Linda asked.
"Oh yeah, the kids had a pet cat for a while, but it got out and the feral cats killed it. Karl even had a cat until last year but I think his just died of old age." Keri volunteered.
"The dog didn't kill it?"
"Oh heck no, they slept together, on a rug at the end of Karl's bed if it was cold, on the front porch otherwise."
As they had been talking, the boat had been moving rapidly around the island.
"I think we're home free." Karl said quietly as he adjusted their heading to swing around a small point. "Anything else from the Navy, George?"
"Not one word about seeing anything on the radar." George answered
They turned into what appeared to be a small bay with sheer walls. Karl cut back the throttle drastically as he steered toward a small valley that appeared at the top of the cliff and he glanced from side to side, lining the boat up extremely fussily. It wasn't until they were coming from exactly the right direction and were only about a hundred yards from what looked like a continuous cliff face that Karl swung the nose of the boat slightly. Then as if by magic a channel suddenly appeared out of the seemingly solid cliff before them.
Linda stared in surprise as the rock face seemed to drop away to show a narrow stretch of water. Even now, near slack water at high tide, tidal rips ran along the edges showing small swirls and ripples in the water surface. In a moment they were headed into the narrow opening and Karl eased the throttle into a more open position for a few seconds. Their speed increased slightly and Linda felt her heart in her throat as the rock walls slid past. She stared ahead at a sheer cliff. There seemed nowhere to go. Karl swung the wheel hard over into a turn and after a few seconds he reversed engines momentarily, cramming the wheel hard over in the other direction, while opening the throttle to slow the boat before it hit the blank wall. Everyone stared as that rock face seemed to slide by only inches from the bow of the boat.
No one spoke but Karl had to smile at the group sigh as the boat missed the wall and eased forward, heading down the channel again. He steered the boat carefully, keeping it well away from dangerous looking swirls and eddies along the bank and they crept their way steadily forward. Now they were almost crawling along around bends and down short straighter sections. Then off to one side and just ahead of them, the rock had a different colour. Karl noticed it instantly.
"Damn, there's been a rock fall." He said in a low voice, almost a whisper as he reversed engines for a moment to slow them even more.
The water ahead of them appeared to be surging, almost boiling. Just then the depth sounder screamed.
"Oh shit. Keri, how deep is the water? I can't look over there right now." He barked impatiently.
"It's okay. The alarm was set at fifty feet." She answered almost instantly. "The bottom's almost thirty feet down. I've shut off the alarm."
Karl had slowed the boat to a creeping pace, barely cresting the oncoming current.
"Thank you. Call out the depths as we move." He ordered. "Ely, Linda, and Trudy, get out on deck with boat hooks and if I need help be ready. But don't push us off unless I ask for it."
"Eighteen feet." Keri said loudly as the other women rushed out on deck.
"Only tell me if it gets under ten feet." Karl modified his earlier order. "Remember that we draw between five and six feet. After that we're clear."
The boat crept forward slowly.
"Shit." Ely called loudly. "Huge rock on the port side forward."
She was pointing at a jagged slab that broke the water. Karl eased the wheel to take them to the right. It looked like they could make it, but clearance with the walls would be slim.
"Ten feet . . . nine . . . no make that eight." Keri said quietly.
"Shit." Karl growled softly.
"Nine . . . eight . . . nine. "Keri continued quietly, fighting to keep her tone calm.
The boat was almost still, her engine just running fast enough to hold them where they were against a slightly outgoing tide and not much more. Karl had one hand on the wheel and the other on the engine controls. They slipped forward inch by inch. Ely was standing right at the point of the bow, looking straight down into the water, her hand gesturing slowly for him to ease forward. Slowly but steadily they moved along. Karl found his palms were growing moist as he anticipated the possibility that they might hit the bottom. He found himself holding his breath and had to make a conscious effort to relax enough to even breathe.
"Nine feet . . . fifteen feet . . . eleven . . . twelve . . . eighteen . . ." Keri's voice tolled off the depths as they crept forward.
Karl could look out either window and see rock far too close to the boat to be comfortable, but the water seemed to be surging less beneath and around them. He was tense and expectant, waiting for the next emergency and ready to react instantly. At least now the boat seemed to have stopped fighting the steering as it had in the roiling, surging water of the shallows.
"The bottoms rough, but we seem to be coming into deeper water again." Keri's voice sounded relieved.
"I think we're past the slide." Karl said quietly. "That was the whole of that damn overhang."
"I believe you are right." George said quietly.
He had been sitting in the back of the wheelhouse all this time, simply staying out of the way.
"Whew." Karl sighed softly. "I hope there are no more surprises like that."
"That fall is going to make it hard getting in and out at anything but a high tide, isn't it?" George asked quietly.
"Damn near impossible. Thank God this isn't a 'low' high or we'd have grounded." Karl agreed. "Keri what's the bottom like now?"
"More than fifty feet down, should I let Linda and Ely know it's safer now?"
"Yeah, but warn them that we might just need them again. Better safe that sorry." Karl smiled. "Thanks for your help."
"No problem, I don't fancy swimming this early in the morning." Keri laughed softly as she stepped out on deck for a moment.
The boat was still moving forward and they seemed to be heading for another blank wall. Karl slipped the controls into reverse again, held it there as the boat crabbed sideways, then he slid the control back to forward and now at slow throttle, proceeded through one more hard turn. Then suddenly he was swinging the wheel and throwing the boat into full throttle and hard reverse again. The water was churning under them, the boat seeming to protest as he brought them almost to a stop before he touched the wheel again, then he slipped the engine control into forward. He waited for the boat to swing and reduced the throttle so that they coasted around the last little bend. After that he eased her ahead and they slowly slipped into a small bay surrounded by green clad slopes.
Out on deck Linda let out a deep sigh, only then realising that she'd been holding her breath. At her side Keri laughed softly.
"Relieved?"
Linda nodded and giggled in relief, her face warping into a wide smile as she stared at the steep slopes. Huge firs, stood proudly, matched by open areas and balanced by massive oaks. Arbutus and dogwoods covered large patches surrounded by smaller bushes and shrubs. There were birds by the number but nowhere near as many as she had seen on the outer cliffs and these were different from those on the outside as well. The birds there had been gulls and other sea birds. These were sparrows, finches, and other birds of the woods and fields.
Her gaze swung quickly, trying to take in the beauty of the place. Even in the dull light, it looked beautiful. The only signs of human intervention were a huge buoy in the center of the bay, then on their far left there was a small floating dock and at its end, a winding path that entered the trees then climbed the slope. As well there was a sloping roofed shed in a small flat area near the dock, but it was almost hidden by bushes and trees.
"Wow." She vocalised another deep sigh."I didn't expect this."
"It does kind of get to you doesn't it?" Keri laughed softly. "Wait until you see it in sunlight, with the birds all singing."
Karl was steering carefully for the huge buoy that sat in the centre of the tiny bay.
"Holy Shit. I'm still trying to get over the stimulation of that last little jaunt." Linda laughed, still feeling the pulse of excitement running through her body. "I've been on tamer carnival rides."
"Yeah, I've been through there with Karl before and it was bad enough then." Keri grinned. "But that rock slide gave all of us a bit of a thrill."
"It damn near gave me a heart attack." Linda grinned back at her.
"Well, we're home now." Keri laughed in delight, moving forward to snag the huge buoy with the boat hook she had taken from Linda.
Ely was at her side in seconds with a rope and in only a moment or two they had moored the 'Skolka' securely.
Inside the wheelhouse Karl turned to George.
"Well, we're home." He said quietly. "I noticed you put the radio back on the earphones. Was that to calm things down?"
George smiled. "Well, Linda nicely changed the subject and I thought it would be less distracting for you. I was listening on the signals between the navy boats and they're mystified by our disappearance, mainly because they can't understand how an explosion could destroy so large a boat so thoroughly. They're actually worried about the lack of flotsam."
"As long as they think we sank, I'm happy." Karl grinned.
"I would say they had planned on having us haul to since they were coming around the islands from both sides." George said quietly. " I'm surprised that they're being as thorough as they are. They actually have an air sniffer out on one of the boats, and they've found traces of diesel fuel, gasoline and gunpowder, as well as some traces of what they call long chain organics, I guess that's the plastic container. The combination is bothering them somewhat."
"It would bother me a hell of a lot more if they figured it out." Karl chuckled.
"Admittedly." George smiled. "All they have for physical evidence are some small scraps of wood and a bit of diesel fuel making a rainbow on top of the sea water."
"That and some conflicting radar and observation notes." Karl grinned. "One day I'd love to hear someone tell the story from their side."
"Let's hope that happens well into the future." George smiled.
"Yeah."
"As it is, thank you Karl, for me and for my family." George held out his hand. "Once again we owe you far more than we can ever repay."
"Oh forget that." Karl laughed as he shook George's hand. "You would have done the same for me if I'd been the one in trouble."
"Perhaps so my friend, but I doubt if I would have been either so effective or so efficient." George smiled as he stood carefully. "In a moment, I am going to go below and rest for a while. What I expected to be an exhilarating passage was turned by the navy and nature into a thrill ride and a real life adventure. My only desire at the moment is to calm my beating heart."
"Yeah." Karl chuckled. "That slide left us another little problem to solve. I'm not thrilled by the idea of having to wait for a tide this high to get in and out of here. Would you like a hand to get below?"
"No, you have your hands full and I seem to have mastered these steps." George smiled slowly. "What do you propose to do at the slide?"
"Well, for now, not much, but in a month or two we have some very low tides." Karl's forehead creased into a frown. "I have a few sticks of blasting powder. I suppose I can try to blow up some of the biggest rocks and let the tidal sweep wash the rest down out of the way."
"Won't that perhaps trigger more slides from above?" George asked quietly.
"Not if I'm careful." Karl responded, just as quietly.
"Ah yes and when haven't you been careful?" George smiled. "With the exception of course, of the conception of my grandson."
"Well George, according to Ely, that wasn't an accident." Karl grinned. "In actual fact she worked at it pretty hard. After all, even the doctors said my chances of ever siring a child were slim to none. Besides, I kinda like having a son."
"And I admit, I like him being your son." George smiled. "I was not being critical, only reminding you that even you were not infallible."
"As if I needed a reminder." Karl laughed
Ely and the others came inside at that moment but they all moved on to find something else to do with only Ely remaining up in the wheelhouse as the others went below. Karl was grinning widely as he slowly moved to shut down the engine and drop the boiler pressure. Early in the night's journey he had asked Keri to run the salt water still so all the tanks were almost full to the brim. He shut down the still, topping up the water in the boiler to reduce pressure but leaving the burner on standby as he prepared the boat for an indeterminate stay at anchor.
"You aren't moving it to the dock?" Ely asked quietly.
"Nope, not yet." Karl answered. "Actually, I want to check the dock first. I was going to ask you if you'd come with me. I want to go ashore and check out that as well as both your Dad's house and our place before we all go ashore."
He moved back and stood at the wheel as he let his eyes roam and to survey the bay slowly
"I don't understand it." He said quietly. "I can't see that the tsunami did any damage at all."
"The cut protected it." George said quietly as he rose to his feet, hanging onto the edge of the chart table for support. "The water around the island is deep and it is my guess that the wave front of the tsunami moved so fast that not very much water built up to rush into the cut. That rock fall probably happened before the water came along as well and it added to the restriction. It seemed to me that the rock was spread a lot further inward than it had any right to be. I will wager that a wall of rock was in the way and the mass of water of the tsunami pushed it as far as it did. I was watching the walls as we came in and they were scoured free of vegetation until we were past that rock fall. Shortly after we passed that portion of the cut, there was vegetation on the walls again. I think the fall was big enough to dam off the wave of the tsunami for long enough that by the time it broke free, the worst of the pressure wave was past and it might have even been almost at the point of receding. That way not much water would have gotten into the bay at all."
"I suppose." Karl said quietly. "I don't suppose you happen to know which direction the tsunami was travelling do you?"
"Oh, I thought you knew, I heard that it came from the Alaska pan handle. At least there was a massive rock slide there. If so, it would be travelling down the gulf. That would partially explain things as well, the wave was actually passing the cove, not facing into it." George looked thoughtful. "I suppose the north side of the island took the brunt of its force."
"I can't see that as possible George, not considering how narrow the channels are further up the coast. Passing through those the wave would be reduced in force to the point where damage here would be minimal." Karl smiled. "Anyway, I'm not about to worry about it for now. Ely, after we have another coffee and something to eat, would you fancy a row?"
She agreed, so it wasn't long before she and Karl had the dinghy in the water. The rain had eased to hardly more than a drizzle as they set off for the dock and they rowed in relative silence.
Once they were at the dock, they tied off the boat and clambered out. At first glance there didn't seem to be any real problems, an extremely high tide line of debris was the only sign they could see that could be attributed to the tsunami. The dock itself appeared to have weathered everything with no damage at all and when they checked its mooring lines, they still seemed perfectly solid.
The first sign of any damage at all was inside the boat shed. There, a small boat that Karl had been working on and had left up on trestles had been knocked to the ground and some shelves had been torn from the walls, their contents strewn across the floor. While a few things had been smashed, nothing of importance had been irreparably damaged but the place was truly a mess. The floor was littered with fallen objects that had been thrown off of hooks and shelves. The water hadn't even reached the height of the floor and they were only about ten or twelve feet above the regular high tide mark, so the tsunami seemed to have spared this bay.
Karl glanced around and shook his head gently. "I think we should go back and bring the 'Skolka' to the dock." He said quietly. "That way everyone can at least stretch their legs."
"Why bother, we'd just have to round them up and get them back on board again if we can't stay in one of the cabins." Ely said quietly. "Besides, you know Dad, as soon as he's ashore, he's going to want to get to his desk and back to work. He's champing at the bit right now to get on with the book he's writing. His notebook was the only parcel he worried about all through the whole shemozzle. He packed it in a damn briefcase and after the earthquake, during the tidal wave, and everything else, he's insisted that it get moved at the same time and to the same place he was. Besides, before we get him ashore, I want to see if his spare wheelchair survived. We lost his other one in the quake and without it, it's damn hard for him to get around. He tries not to complain, but he misses the independence of movement that it does give him."
"I thought I missed something. I didn't realise it was the wheelchair." Karl said, shaking his head. "I guess I just wasn't thinking."
"You've had just a little on your mind." Ely smiled and then slipped to his side to hug him tightly. "You can't think of everything."
"I can try." He laughed, wrapping her in his arms and hugging her tightly.
"Stop that." She ordered, with a smile. "We need to get a look at both cabins and get everyone ashore before we do any playing around."
"Spoil sport." He chuckled, stealing a short kiss and hug before letting her move away.
Karl suggested that she carry a shovel and a rope while he would carry an axe and a small chain saw,. So they hunted them up in the mess, leaving the straightening of the rest for later. At the last moment, Karl picked up a small pack from one of the broken shelves and put a few wrenches, a hammer and pliers and two pairs of gloves in it before slinging it over his shoulder and grabbing a walking stick. They were soon on the path going up the hill and found several places where fallen rocks had blocked easy passage. Each time they did, they stopped long enough to clear their way past so it was almost an hour before they reached the split in the path where each fork lead off to one cabin or the other.
They paused there to shelter from the drizzle and rest a bit in the small lean-to at the junction of the three paths. Karl had built it years ago as a handy storage spot when loads either came up from the dock or went down to it.
"Dad's place, or yours first?" Ely said after a few moments, still breathing quite deeply from the exertions of the climb and the work they'd done on the path.
"Your Dad's, I think. For one thing, there's the wheelchair to help get him up the hill and it is the bigger place." He said.
"I'm more worried about your place." Ely said quietly.
"Our place." Karl corrected, setting off slowly down the path to the left. "I'm not, not really."
"Well there's going to be more of us living there than at Dad's." Ely said quietly.
"Pardon?" Karl asked, stopping to look at her with a slight frown on his face.
"Well, besides you and me, there's David." She said quietly. "Also Keri and Linda. I'm sure Keri doesn't want to live in the same house with Dad and you can't just throw Linda out either."
"I wasn't planning to." Karl stared at her. "I just thought that she and Keri being together would want to be away from us, don't they?"
This path was wider than the other had been and Ely was able to walk at his side. "You're not comfortable with Keri and Linda, are you? You don't seem to want them living with us."
"I wouldn't say that, I really do, it's just that . . . " He paused and turned to her, looking her in the eye. "Well, I find it strange that one night, I'm sleeping with someone and the next night, she's telling me she might really be a lesbian and thinks she has found the love of her life."
"You forgot to mention that the last night, you slept with me as well." Ely laughed softly. "Or that you've also slept with her new partner in the past."
"That's the confusing part." He said slowly. "I was told that I was being seduced into a harem, I know that both Keri and Linda like sex with a man. I sort of have the proof. In fact both of them seduced me initially but now they've both managed to let me know that they prefer each other."
"So? They're bi, so what? But I admit, it is a complicated situation." Ely said slowly. "Still I promise, I'll do my darndest to make sure you don't miss either one too much. That is if I have too, somehow I doubt that though."
Just then they rounded a corner and across the path not fifty feet from them there was a huge limb and a couple of small trees lying across the path. The limb had apparently fallen from a fir tree just off the side of the path, bringing the smaller trees down as well.
"Well, there's a small problem." Karl said quietly. "We'll need to clear that away."
He set to work with his little chain saw and the axe and Linda began to drag the trimmed off debris away, throwing it off to one side of the path. The chain saw made a lot of noise, so conversation was impossible until he was done with it. Even afterward they worked quietly for a few minutes before Ely stopped and looked over at Karl.
"There is another complication, with Keri and Linda living around you." Ely said quietly, talking as she worked.
"Oh, what's that?" Karl said as he glanced at her.
"Well, when I get pregnant again, both of them are going to be jealous."
Karl stopped working and stood up to stare at her.
"Ely, I told you, the doctor told me that I don't stand much chance of having kids. He said it was one chance in a thousand that I'd ever have kids. Since David is my son, I figure I've shot my wad." He said quietly and very seriously
She looked at him and grinned.
"Oh shit." She laughed. "Do you believe your doctors or me? I mean, you made love to me and I got pregnant. So what if it took a while, I know married couples who've tried harder and took longer so don't try to give me that bullshit about being sterile."
Then she giggled as she turned and tossed an arm load away.
"Besides, they said one chance in a thousand, right? How long do a thousand fucks take, especially as horny as we are right now? A year, maybe two at the outside?" She walked slowly over to him and put her arms up to rest her hands on his shoulders. "You are quite a horny man, you know."
He stared at her for a few seconds and then broke into laughter for a few seconds
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad." He chuckled as he wrapped her in his arms, hugging her tightly.
She hugged back for a few seconds and then pulled her head back and grinned.
"Do the math." She laughed again. "I was figuring it for the last time Keri and I teased hell out of you a couple of years ago. That time it was eight times in a twenty-four-hour day, but lets say you're less virile now, let's say your normal is twice a day. With three-hundred-and-sixty-five days in the year, a thousand doesn't seem so much does it?"
"And when do I get some time off to rest so I can do any work?" He said as bent to kiss her.
She couldn't answer for a minute or two, but when she could, she giggled again.
"If you keep this up, I'll start doing the math for three times a day."
"Be reasonable woman, in the middle of the path, in broad daylight." He laughed. "Just where would we lay down."
"Oh my! Is your education lacking." She grinned. "Haven't you ever heard of puppy dog style?"
"That's tempting, but we'd be wasting time." He sighed, pulling away from her. "Besides, you already turned me down at the boathouse."
She pulled back and looked at him for a moment, then grinned.
"Making love is not a waste of time, and since when are we on a schedule." Her voice was low and sultry. "Everyone is on the boat and they have no dinghy to get to shore so we aren't about to be disturbed. Besides, working along with you always did make me horny."
"Oh, quit it woman." He laughed. "You're insatiable and you drive me nuts."
"Look who's talking? I haven't had a lover in months. You've at least had the edge worn off."
He had to laugh, but as well he stood up and started to work on the log again, slowly cutting away as much of it as he needed to remove for easy clearance. Once again the chain saw stopped conversation. Then when he was done cutting for a bit, they worked in relative silence for several minutes.
"Do I really drive you nuts?" She asked quietly.
"Umm, that was a bad choice of words." He paused and grinned at her. "Let's just say that I like to play with your body and I love making love to you."
"Oh come on." She laughed softly. "Even you can't pretend what we've done at times was making love. Mostly it was just sheer raw sex. We fucked each other silly. Even this morning got pretty darn hot and heavy."
"And I suppose you didn't like it?" He grinned.
"Oh hell no, I loved it." She laughed louder. "Actually you fulfilled an old fantasy again."
"Oh, what was that?"
"Making it where I lost my virginity." She laughed.
"Well, it's not like we haven't done that a few other times." He grinned. "If you have any more fantasies, let me know about them. Maybe I can help you out."
"Oh are you going to be busy." She snorted in delight. "I've been having fantasies about what I've wanted you to do to me since I was sixteen years old."
"Uh oh." He laughed, picking up his saw again. "Maybe I should have shut up then. I can see just from up this one tree that I'm going to have a lot to do besides make love to you. I think repairing damage is going to be big on my list of things to do for a while."
"Huh, you just don't seem to realise how much help you're going to have." She responded. "Now you can just ask for help and there will be three or four workers at your side. We may not be men, but damn it, all of us can work."
In the next three hours or so, she proved that to him time and again as they cleared small rock slides, tree falls, and other small obstacles from the path. Finally they were standing at the entrance to the small clearing where George's house stood.
Two stories high and built of logs, it looked as if it had survived quite well, but since they were two or three hundred yards away, they couldn't be too sure just how much damage it had sustained.
"Look at the old cabin." Ely said quietly, pointing off to one side.
A tree had fallen right onto the roof and although the walls still looked quite solid, the roof was caved in and the door stood open.
"We can worry about that later." Karl said quietly, setting off across the broad clearing toward George's house with Ely at his side.