Aurora

"Thank you sir." Were back in London town. "How do you make coffee? We never served it at the restaurant. Not enough people asked for it."

I show her how to make a pot then she shoos me out the galley like I'm a little kid not someone twice her age. As I walk past the table I notice it's a table again. It also looks cleaned. Heading out onto deck I step over to the rail. I know the morning wood I'm struggling with isn't just because I needed to pee. I look up towards the rising sun as I pee a long stream of yellow into the big blue.

I'm still standing there looking at the rising sun when she brings me out a cup of coffee. Though I've put my cock back in my pants.

"Your breakfast ready Jeepee." She tells me from the hatchway. I turn towards her. Her eyes jump up from my waist level to my eyes. Then she turns back into the cabin.

She was checking out my ass. I think to myself. Well fares, fare.

I look back to the horizon just as I step inside.

"Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." I whisper to myself softly. I remind myself to crank up the long range and maybe the radio as well.

After breakfast.

As I turn back towards the cabin I wonder briefly if were having kippers.

No but there is some of the smoked fish involved in it some how.

I sit through breakfast just watching her. The swelling under her eyes have started to fade and the blood is gone from her nose. The lip still looks puffed up a bit and I know the bruises on her arms will take weeks to fade completely.

"What are you going to do on the next island?" I ask her as I sit sipping my second cup of coffee. Oh... very strong!

She looks up from her food. Maybe she's still a little full from last night, but she's only been picking at it. I doubt the reason even as I think it.

"I'll find work." She tells me softly looking back down at her food.

"But you'll be a stranger there. Right?" she nods without looking up. "And although my eyes can't see it you blood lines show to the people from these islands. Yes?"

She nods again.

"So odds are you wont get good work. Just whatever crap no one else wants to do, right?"

"Yes sir." She says softly.

"You don't have to call me sir, Tamara. My time in the Military is a life time ago, and I'm not a knight." I say with a grin.

She looks up at me and seeing me smile gives me a smile in return.

"Yes Jeepee. I mean no Jeepee; I won't find good work. But I can do whatever I have to till I make me enough money to attract a husband who wont care that I'm...half-breed."

I just look at her for a few seconds. She stares back at me for a few seconds herself, then looks down at her food. Like she's ashamed to look me in the face.

I take a deep breath.

"Tamara." She looks up. "In front of the nose of the 'Aurora' is the whole wide world. I've got plenty of supplies, even for two people to live on. I don't have to stop at the next island, or the one after that, or the one after that. Hell if were a little careful with the food she could sail all the way to Australia without a resupply. No one there would give a damn about who or what your parents were. There might be some difficulties since you don't have a passport, but those can be overcome. Hell it's a former British colony. You would probably feel at home in some of the cities."

Tears roll out the corners of her eyes.

"You saying I could stay Jeepee?" she sniffles. "Till then at least?"

I nod.

She comes around the table in a rush and slams her lips into mine. Her body so light still has mass and I'm driven into the cushions by her. My hands have a mind of their own as they come around her. It's several minutes before our lips part. I look up into her bright eyes. Smiling I shake my head.

"Damn girl you keep that up, I'm going to have to sail you all the way to England." I give her hip a pat. "Up, I've got to go check on something."

She squirms off my lap and I stand up. The difference in our height brings home the difference in our ages in a way nothing else could. Damn she just a kid I think as I go past her towards the back wall of the cabin.

Pulling aside a sliding panel I turn on the long-range radar. I flip on the fax printer. If I'm close enough to a station I should get a weather report automatically printed out about every hour. I know the next Island is about two days ahead of me.

Yea, right about where that large angry place is on my radar sweep.

I quickly look through the charts. Howland Island, Baker islands. Flipping through my books show them to be U.S. territories, but nothing but coral atolls. More dangerous than the open sea really. I hear the fax start clicking. Looking at the satellite map I follow the storm path. Of course... right for me. Tracking northeast. If I go north I may get above it. The winds on the southern edge would be the worst. I check the currents and look for submerged reefs on the charts. Nothing I can't cross. The 'Aurora' doesn't draft to deep. A good and bad thing at times. I wish right now she had a deep centerboard like some of the racing ships her size. With the winds coming my way I could use it.

"Things are going to get bad Tamara. Come on I need your help."

She looks up startled as I rush past her and out onto the deck.

"What is it Jeepee?" she asks me as she comes out on deck behind me. I'm at the back rail windlassing in the small boat.

I point to the horizon west of us.

"In a few hours time that will start to get black. We got a big storm headed this way. You know how to drop a sail?" I ask as I continue to crank. She shakes her head. I look up at the two sails still at half. I consider cutting away the small boat. The lost time it will take to drop the sails and get it aboard may mean our lives. By the same ticket if the 'Aurora should heel over that might be our only way except swimming. "Here you crank in the boat while I get the sail."

I turn over the windlass to her and rush past her to the sails. I quickly get them cranked down. The 'Aurora' comes slowly to a drifting halt. Rushing back I catch the rope and guide the small boat around the side till it's beside the storage hatch. I hook the windlass strap to the side of the boat and with her on one and me the other we get it cranked up and over the hatch. I lash it down with the ratchet straps and I lock down the hatch with its metal wing nuts. One on each corner.

As I'm cranking the sails up full I start to see the horizon darkening. I check all the windows to the cabin and make sure every thing is sealed tight. The 'Aurora' under full sails with a good tail wind all but jumps up and sprints across the waves.

"This one of the storms they call typhone Jeepee?" Tamara asks me as she sits down on the transom seat.

"Typhoon." I say with a tight grim. "I hope it don't get that bad. If I can get north of it, the winds will come around behind us and push us away from it." I see the line off the back of the boat. "Pull in the beer will yea, I could use a drink."

Opening a locker near the side I pull out a harness I haven't worn since trying to round the Horn. I look at the large D rings near the wheel. I had hoped to never use them again. One day I'll learn to check the weather before I leave harbor.

"Here." She hands me the cold can. "How can I help?"

I pop the top and look to the blacking sky.

"Get bellow. Make sure everything is stowed away as tight as you can make it. The cabinet doors will lock if you turn the handles to the right." I gesture with my hand to show her how I mean. " Make sure nothing down there will go flying around."

She nods and starts down into the cabin. I look back at the storm, then up at my sails trying to calculate in my head how long I can run at full sail.

"Jeepee?"

I look back to the cabin hatch.

"Yea darlin?" I say not thinking.

"What if you can't get us north of it?" she asks looking worried.

I smile then shrug.

"I'll drop canvas to bare mast or maybe a storm sail. Put a sea anchor off the bow to keep us into the waves and come below to ride it out. The 'Aurora' took the storms off 'The Horn' for two weeks before I got into a harbor. Before I got her she rode out a couple of hurricanes in the Atlantic and the gulf. She'll make it through this. Now go on and stop worrying." She smiles and nods. I watch her disappear bellow I look back at the blackening sky. "I'm doing enough worrying for the both of us." I say softly to myself.

Over the next hour the wind shifts till I have to be constantly adjusting sails and heading to keep them full. The sea starts to get angry as well. Soon the 'Aurora is ride up and down like it on an old wooden roller coaster. I lock the rudder and go bellow to check on what she's done. I looks good. I grab a few crackers to give my stomach something to do besides slosh. I look at her. She's sitting at the table reading my copy of 'Jaws' I grin at her when she looks up and make clicking noises with my teeth. She smiles back at me shaking her head.

Back on deck I pick up the harness and hook it around me. Originally designed to stop falling construction workers it's really a bit of over kill for a boat but a America's Cup sailor told me to get it when he found out I sailed alone. After 'The Horn' I called from the harbor and thanked him. Several times.

I hook the lifeline to the D-ring by the wheel. I wait on hooking the second one. Laying a hand on the wheel I feel the ship alive under my hand. I unlock the rudder and watch the waves ahead. The fight to keep us going northwest and into the waves at the same time soon becomes a challenge.

I watch truly humbling displays of lightning to the south of me. I pull close the zippers of my yellow rain suit as the drenching begins soon after. Reaching down I pull two metal straps up from the deck plates and hook my feet under them. I hook on the second lifeline not long after that.

Running like a wild horse the 'Aurora" begins to lean away from the wind, her tall mast at times almost skimming the nearby wave tops. I stand on the deck, braced against the wheel. I start to laugh as I realize I'm humming the theme to Gilligan's island. I watch the water slipping by at times almost below me.

Sliding open a panel I access controls I rarely use. Electric motors turn the forward windlasses and both sails drop about five feet down The mast head come up from the angle it was running by about the same. I flip a heater switch and hold it for a few minutest then a second switch and the big diesel engine comes to life for the first time in six months. I see my lost speed come back up.

Capping the crest of a wave I look south towards a hellish world of black. The sky and the water have met and are at war with each other. I watch my pennant to the top of the mast. Still the winds haven't turned.

I juke us further north by a few degrees. It costs speed and I have to take in more sail. I up the throttle speed to compensate.

Minutes of terror become hours of the same. Twice I see Tamara stick her head out the hatch top and call something to me. I can't hear her even five feet away. The howl of the wind through the rigging is like a banshee wail.

Finally no mater how far north I point us I can't get the black sky off my bow. Then it's north of me. I look at the pennant, and give up what I've been trying.

"You son of a whore." I yell into the storm.

I flip the switch and watch as the front sail rolls down into its boom. I flip the other and the aft sail does nearly the same. I lave only a small triangle of cloth standing up to act as a weather vane. Unhooking one lifeline I hook it to the cables running fore and aft. I hook the second line to my harness and start forward.

The spray over the bow soaks me even more thoroughly than I already am. I toss out the sea anchor and head back. I turn the rudder lose to find her own path. I lay my hand on the back line feeling the tension.' " "It's up to you now old girl. Keep us safe."

I grab the little bag with my pipe from the transom box and lock it back. I shut off the motor and head through the hatch. I seal it tight behind me.

Tamara is there helping me out of my harness and rain suit. I hang it on the hooks by the hatch door.

"We in trouble Jeepee?" she asks me as I walk past her towards the back of the cabin. Opening a locker next to my bunk I pull out some dry clothes and a towel.

I nod as I strip off my sodden shirt. As it clears my head she is there to take it from me.

"Yea darlin we are." I take the towel and dry my shaggy hair. "But I have faith in the old girl to take all the sea can give and bring me through it safe." I tape on the wood rail beside my hand. Sailors, superstition kind of goes together. I watch her wring out my shirt letting the water fall into the sink. She looks back at me

"Your shorts are just as wet."

I look at her face for a second then undo the button and sip them down. I step out the sodden denim and hand the dripping cloth to her. I grab up the towel from around my neck and turning away from her I dry myself. As quick as I can I step into a pair of dry shorts and pull them up.

I feel her take the towel from my hand then she gives me a slight push that sits me down in my bunk. She begins to vigorously dry my hair for me.

Looking out from under the cloth I see her breast jumping from the force of what she's doing.

I smile at her as she dries my face and beard. She smiles back.

"You got nice ass Jeepee." She says smiling at me.

I laugh.

"And you have a beautiful one Tamara." I don't resist as she wraps my blanket around my shoulders.

"You tourist man no be looking at my ass! You get me in trouble with my husband to be." She tells me grinning.

"Well he's a fool who can't appreciate how wonderful a woman he had. Don't worry about him, I'll keep you safe." I say still joking.

I see the grin drop from her face slowly.

"I know you will Jeepee. I know you will. You have faith in 'the old girl'. I have faith in you." She smiles at me softly. Then knocks on the wood board by my bed the same way I did.

I get up and give her a quick hug. I have to fight myself to not make it a long one. To add kisses to it. To not tumble her into my bunk.

Going to the radar I check. I'm in what looks like a sea of dark angry looking clutter. I do see that the worst of it appears to be to the south of us. I brace myself as the ship rocks side to side violently. As we slip into the trough I move to my bunk and unhook two ropes. They crisscross the bunk.

I turn to see her trying to hold onto the metal handrail by the table.

"Here, lay down and get under these. Try to hold on. Wraps a leg around them if it gets worse.

After I get her squared away I go back to the radar and just watch it and the barometer. I cringe as several time I hear things hit the top of the cabin. I can only guess what they could be, but none of my guesses are good.

Finally I see the barometer rise a single degree. Then another. I make my way towards my bunk I see her bright eyes looking at me from the shadows.

"I think were past the worst of it."

She pats the bunk beside herself.

"You come, try to sleep."

I'm about to say I'm not tired, but a yawn shows that to be a lie even before I say it. I look at her, I know I shouldn't. It will be a line once cross I will always be tempted to cross again.

The 'Aurora' heels over violently all but throwing me into my bunk. Giving in to the wills of these two ladies I crawl in beside her and hook myself in place with the ropes. The bunk is a good space for me to sleep by myself. Two people in it... well lets say it's very cozy and leave it at that.

The howl of the wind and the lashing of rain on the cabin roof overhead are a constant. The roll of the ship soon slides her tight up against me. I wrap her into my arms and rest my chin on her soft hair.

"Jeepee?'

"Yes Tamara?"

"Call me darlin." She says softly. "I like the sound of it. Are we going to be ok?"

Her words are a soft whisper against my chest.

"Yea darlin, we will." I hug her to me tight, the smell of her filling my nose, the warmth of her my arms. I listen to whatever is lose rattle around up top. "Were going to be just fine."

I snuggle into her, as I haven't done to a woman in so very long. I fall asleep feeling her playing with my chest hairs.

I wake to the light of dawn coming in through the small windows. My arm feels dead where the rope has cut off the circulation. As my eyes open I see where my hand is laying and I wish it wasn't numb. My right hand has Tamara's bare breast cupped in the palm.

Her eyes pop open when I try to move my hand unsuccessfully. She looks down at it then up at me and grins.

"Good morning to you sir." She says smiling.

I try to move my hand again with no luck.

"I'm sorry Tamara my arm is asleep. I can't move my hand, you'll have to help me. The hands so numb I can't even feel what I'm touching."

Grinning at me still she helps me get untangled. Then before I can stop her she climbs over me. She stops when she is in front of my face. Her lips are inches from mine, so that I feel the breath of her words.

"I told you call me Darlin." She places a kiss on my lips and slides her soft body across me. Looking down at me she adjusts her shirt. "I fix us breakfast you go check on ship."

Rubbing the painful pins and needles out of my arms I open the hatch and walk out onto the deck.

The small triangle of my aft sail I left up has shredded its top grommet and hangs limp across the back deck. I see several ropes that are only frayed and frazzled ends. Going forward I find one of the ratchet straps that hold down the small boat laying ten feet from where it should be, wrapped around a cleat. It's close enough to above my bunk to be what I was hearing. The tail end of the skiff had moved back and forth enough to scar the metal hatch cover it's strapped to, but that just cosmetic. I pull in the sea anchor as I scan the horizon. To the northeast I can see a dark line near the horizon's edge that all that left of the storm.

I see Tamara step out on the deck, ducking under the cloth sail. She has a cup that steams in her hand. Walking back to her I take the cup of coffee and smile.

"All in all, not bad. It was far worse when I tried to go round the end of South America. But then I was in those storms for a lot longer."

She lifts the edge of the torn sail.

"You can fix it?" she asks uncertain.

I nod.

"Just as soon as I get done doing something more important." I tell her trying to hide a smile.

"What's that, Jeepee."

"Finishing my coffee and the breakfast you've made."

She grins at me. I place a hand around her back and guide her back down the cabin steps. My fingers rest on the small of her back right above the gentle rising curve of her ass.

All in all it takes two days work to get the ship back in order. I take two triangles of sail cloth and start to stitch them to either side of the torn sail but she soon takes away the needle and oiled twine and starts doing a better job than I can. Going to the forward hatch I get the small boat back in the water and the hatch open. All the supplies are a jumble, but I manage with a lot of cussing to get the bundles of rope pulled out onto deck.

Replacing the modern nylon with old fashion Manila hemp rope was called foolish when I asked for it, but now it makes repairs far easier. I can splice the natural rope together. I, with a little help from a boson chair soon have the rigging squared away. I rehook the back sail when she has it repaired and run it up and down a few times.

Not that there is any wind. I look up at the pennant. It's hardly fluttered in the last hour. Looking out at the waves they have settled even more. I know that soon we will be sitting becalmed. The storm has robed this area of it's wind.