Driftfeather on the Alaska Seas

by Marianne Schlegelmilch

  “I think that was a wise decision, Alex.”

  Like her, Alex didn’t believe in automatic withdrawal of payments from his savings account and preferred to personally make his payments at the bank.

  “I was right there during the whole inspection,” Alex said. “There’s nothing on that seiner I don’t understand.”

  Mara smiled and took a sip of her coffee, holding the crystal mug cupped in her hands. Alex had turned out to be the perfect business partner. Each time they talked, she realized it more and more. Even his reports were neatly written. Analytical, organized, mostly computer generated, but with a fair sprinkling of handwritten detail added in black ink, with a penmanship that was articulately rendered in a way that reminded her of timeless ancient ship’s logs.

  “I want to wax the instrument panel and detail the upholstery inside,” he continued. “Maybe by Thursday you’d like to join me for a run over to Hoonah—just to test her out,” he said.

  As she nodded in agreement, he added, “I thought maybe we could invite old Stu along for the ride. Give him a chance to get out to sea again.”

  It was a fine idea. She would let Alex invite Stu man to man, knowing that Stu would be more likely to accept if he felt he was needed on the trip.

  “The truth is, I’d value his opinion of the Driftfeather’s fitness before we really put her to work,” Alex said.

  “Then let’s do it,” she agreed. “I’ll pick up supplies and food this afternoon.”

  “I think you’re doing a great job, Alex,” she added.

  He didn’t let her see one corner of his mouth turn upward in a half smile as he carried the crystal mugs back inside.

  “I told you I wouldn’t let you down, Mara,” he said, using her real name, which he rarely did.

  “I’ve got a date with someone other than the Driftfeather for a change tonight,” he laughed, “so if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take the rest of the day off.”

  “I just hope she’s not one of your Hollywood friends,” Mara teased him.

  “She’s not,” he said, a tad embarrassed at having even revealed her existence.

  “I was just teasing, Alex. I hope you both have a wonderful time.”

  “Thanks,” he answered sheepishly.

  She sat staring at the door for several minutes after he left. The fact that he had told her about this date told her it was serious. Alex was not a player—at least not from what she had observed. If he was about to find that someone special, no one could be happier for him than she was. Love really was grand when you found it, which made losing it hurt all the more.

  Busying herself with washing the crystal mugs and straightening up her cabin, she started a list of things she would need to pick up for the trip to Hoonah on Thursday.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Maiden Voyage

  Thursday’s weather was a repeat of Wednesday’s, Tuesday’s, Monday’s, and all the days as far back as recent memory would allow. As a matter of fact, the last time anyone could remember seeing the sun had been at least two months ago—a day so fine that nearly the entire population of Juneau had found some reason to either call in sick or leave work early just to savor the experience.

  Mara threw her duffel bag onto the cart that Stu was pushing toward the dock. Soon, Alex would hoist it onto the seiner using the public winches, along with a couple of crab pots that he would set out along the way.

  “Packed kinda heavy, young lady,” Stu said matter-of-factly.

  She raised her eyebrows and glanced at him, saying nothing.

  By 10 a.m. they were moving out of the Juneau harbor with both Mara and Alex surprised to see the Storm Roamer moving out right ahead of them.

  “This is the Driftfeather asking if all’s clear up ahead, Storm Roamer?” Alex spoke into the mike.

  “This is the Storm Roamer reporting clear sailing ahead,” a male voice boomed back.

  “All’s well to the rear,” Alex said back into the mike, before sitting back in the captain’s chair to guide the Driftfeather out of the harbor.

  The voice from the Storm Roamer had sounded familiar. It wasn’t Derrk Stanley’s, was it?

  “Alex, do you know the skipper of the Storm Roamer?” Mara asked.

  “I met the new owner. Sorry I can’t remember his name. Said he was from Homer, though. The skipper’s a guy named Doug or Todd or something like that …”

  Alex turned his attention back to steering the seiner north, while Mara watched as the Storm Roamer moved in the opposite direction.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Jane,” Stu said, snapping her out of deep thought.

  “Could be that I have, Stu. Could be that I have.”

  While Alex and Stu sat up on the bridge discussing the fine points of navigation, she put the groceries away and prepared sandwiches for lunch. Could it possibly be Doug Williams who had bought her seiner’s sister ship? She tried to quell the recurrent thought.

  “Looks like we got us some ice coming up!” Stu bellowed from the bridge.

  “Whoa! And looks like we got us about three orcas right off the starboard bow,” he bellowed again.

  Mara ran to the right side of the seiner just in time to see not just three, but six orcas swimming right beside the Driftfeather. For several seconds, they swam along with the seiner, the tall dorsal fins of the two males moving steadily with four females alongside. The sight of them was exhilarating.

  “They’re transients,” Stu said knowingly.

  Somehow he knew how to tell the more predatory variety of killer whales from their less aggressive local counterparts. Sure enough, as they passed several icebergs, one of the whales rose up and snatched a seal that had not yet reached the ice.

  “It’s nature,” Stu said when Mara turned away from the grisly sight. “It’s survival. It’s the food chain.”

  “Seems like a good time for lunch,” Alex called out, instantly realizing the irony of his words.

  Slowing the seiner to a crawl, they bobbed in the flat seas fighting off seagulls as they ate, and thinking that maybe the dots out beyond were possibly some Dall porpoise. By the time they could see Graveyard Island off in the distance, it was late afternoon.

  “I’ve gotta catch a few z’s,” Stu said, abruptly heading to the sleeping area below.

  When Mara went to wake him up later, Stu was sitting on a bunk, leaning with his back against the wall, reading a book.

  Chapter Fifteen

  What’s with Stu?

  What was the deal with Stu? The way he had retreated, it was almost as if he wanted to avoid all things Hoonah. Maybe he had felt some of the same trepidation that Mara had when the Driftfeather had approached Graveyard Island. The encounter had turned out to be uneventful, though, and Joe Michael’s totem, which had once loomed so strongly in the foreground of her impression of the remote island, now seemed to blend in with the others—dulled, weathered, faded—nothing to mark it as any different from all the rest. Even the feather Joe Michael had given her stayed in her bag, where she had stuffed it down tightly near the bottom after finding it lying on the floor of the wheelhouse.

  She watched as Alex slowed and steered into the harbor as much for a test of the maneuverability of the Driftfeather as for a break before heading back to Juneau. Stu, for whatever reason, remained sequestered in the cabin. Whatever his issue with Hoonah was, it would have to be his own little secret for now.

  Of more concern—well, not so much of concern, but more of curiosity—was the fact that Derrk Stanley, or someone that could be his voice double, was radioing from the Storm Roamer, and that the Driftfeather’s sister ship had been purchased by someone from Homer.

  Was it possible that Doug Williams was going back out to sea? If so, the Storm Roamer would be a logical choice, both because of its name being so similar to his beloved Fire Ring Roamer and because Doug knew a goodquality seiner when he saw one. She had been with Doug long enough to know that both the Driftfeather and the Storm Roamer had al
l the characteristics and qualities that he would have been looking for in a seiner, that is, if he had been looking for a seiner, which she found hard to believe.

  On the other hand, just why was it that she was this curious about the activities of the man she had recently divorced? Hadn’t she moved beyond any feelings she had for him or his lifestyle? She shrugged her shoulders as she tried to dismiss the intrusive thoughts, forcing her mind to think about things like the research paper she needed to finish by this time next week, but thoughts of Doug kept creeping into her mind.

  Nothing is ever going to make me go back to him, she told herself. Nothing, that is, if he even had any inclination to try to win her back, and who said that he did? Stop it, Mara! How dumb are you, anyway? Stop thinking about this! You’re letting your mind run away with itself. Get a grip, woman! But no thoughts could quell the questions rampaging through her curious mind.

  The sound of Alex’s voice finally forced a break in the anxiety-laden train of thought.

  “I’m thinkin’ she did pretty good, Mara. You?”

  “Uh, yeah, I guess so—yes. Yes, Alex, she did very well and so did you. I was very impressed with the way she traveled, maneuvered—all of it. Yes, absolutely I am pleased.”

  Why was she acting this way—so anxious and so unsettled?

  “I see that the Storm Roamer also has a permit for the Sitka herring fishery,” Alex said absently. “I’m thinking of looking up the new owner and seeing about teaming up.”

  “I don’t know, Alex. Why would you want to do that?”

  She didn’t wait for him to answer before busying herself in the galley. She hadn’t prepared herself for dealing with anything like this. Joe Michael’s words popped into her head—the same words he had used when handing her the feather on the car deck of the Alaska State ferry two years ago:

  Your present is

  the future of your past.

  All who come here

  seek the future

  of their past.

  You will need this

  to protect …

  She slammed her mind shut on the rest. She didn’t even have the original feather Joe had given her anymore. She had given it to Della right after drug cartel kingpin, Carlos Antoya, had shot the young woman last year in Glenallen, leaving her with her right arm still in need of several more surgeries.

  As far as she knew, the feather and its purported powers of protection now resided with Della. Besides, she didn’t need any protection from Doug Williams even if he had, in fact, purchased the Storm Roamer.

  “Do what you think is best, Alex. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to go out with you to Sitka,” she said, knowing all the while that she would be there if she wanted to, no matter how worried she felt about running into Doug Williams again.

  “I’ll draw up some proposed approaches to getting the most out of our permit,” Alex answered. “Maybe we can talk more later.”

  “Yes,” Mara answered simply. “Later …”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Old Ways

  It wasn’t until later in the evening after returning from Hoonah that Alex noticed that the expense logbook for the Driftfeather had been moved. Normally he kept it with his maps and other necessary papers in a special slot to the left of the wheel on the bridge. That’s exactly where he found it, except that the latest receipts he had left tucked inside where now stuffed into the slot beside it, and it was inserted spiral end inward into its slot, rather than the other way around as was the norm.

  Maybe Mara had looked it over when he had given her the wheel while he took a break to use the head and then put his feet up for thirty minutes to relax on the way to Hoonah.

  “I didn’t even know you kept it in there,” she told him when he stopped by to ask her about it on his way home that night. “Come to think of it, though, I did see Stu fiddling with his vest right after you left, but I was too busy minding the wheel to really pay him much mind. Anyway, he went down for his nap right about then, so now I really wonder—especially since I found him sitting up in his berth when I checked on him later.”

  “Why would Stu …” Alex let his voice trail off. “Since the account number and our password was on the inside cover, I’ll check with the bank in the morning and make sure everything is okay.”

  “I can’t imagine that Stu—” Mara began.

  “Me either,” Alex said, not letting her finish. “If anything, it was probably just harmless curiosity, especially with Stu having been a boat owner himself. Maybe he was just curious about today’s costs and all. I should never have left the log out like that anyway. I had planned on bringing it inside tonight, but just hadn’t done it yet.”

  “Why would you normally be in any rush?” She said, mostly to reassure Alex. “You hadn’t brought on anyone but your partner and a friend so far.”

  Secretly, though, she felt the error had the potential to be serious and hoped with all her might that it wasn’t.

  ~~~

  Alex had already checked with the bank and knew that everything was in order when he asked Stu about the logbook the next day. Just to be safe, he had already changed the password to the account.

  Stu’s demeanor was humble and apologetic.

  “I ain’t gonna lie to ya, kid,” Stu told him. “When you went down to the head and your sidekick, Jane here, ran to the galley to grab a cold drink, the logbook fell on the floor and so I picked ‘er up. There was loose papers layin’ everywhere and so I opened it up to stuff ‘em back inside and saw that the book was your financial accountin’ for the Driftfeather.

  “I can’t deny that curiosity got the better of me and I started readin’ to see how today’s prices compared to when I skippered my own seiner, and so I tucked it under my vest and took it down to my berth to read and tucked it back in your slot once we were docked back in Juneau, figurin’ that no one would ever know the difference.”

  Alex stared at Stu, stifling any anger at what were apparently the harmless curiosities of an old man, while Stu lit up one of his stogies and looked down over his railing at an otter swimming on its back in the water right below. A few feet farther out sat the first of the large row of fishing boats that made their permanent home in the Juneau harbor.

  “Costs a damn sight more today then it did in my day,” Stu laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “I can tell you for sure that I’m glad it ain’t me havin’ to pay out that kinda money anymore.”

  “Yeah, I guess you have a pretty good perspective from where you sit, Stu,” Alex answered. “Since no harm’s done and you’ve been man enough to be honest with me, I’ll consider it resolved, and I’ll learn from this and keep the book in a secure location so that no one’s tempted to get into it again.”

  “I appreciate yer understandin’,” Stu said, flicking his stogie into the water.

  “Stu, can I set you up with an ash can or something?” Alex asked.

  “Oh, sorry, kid. You talkin’ about the stogie? Yer sidekick, Jane’s, been getting’ on me about that lately, too. It’s all natural, ya know, but since it seems to be upsettin’ everyone, I guess I’ll just try not to do it anymore.”

  “Well, smoking’s not good for anyone’s health, Stu, but I don’t want to try to tell you what to do. Sorry, I mentioned it. It’s really none of my business if you choose to smoke …”

  Alex shifted uncomfortably. The conversation with Stu had already been difficult. How often does a person have to confront a friend and neighbor about something as sensitive as accessing confidential material? Hadn’t Stu helped him with many of the technicalities of learning about seiners? Now here he was, making an old man feel uncomfortable by displaying youthful paranoia about money, smoking, and just about everything else that came out of his mouth today.

  Maybe he should just leave—take a couple of days off and regroup. Maybe some of the realities of owning the seiner were catching up with him. Was he really experienced enough to handle such a big undertaking? Had he overestimated his abi
lity in thinking he could learn the ropes from the inside out? Handle this kind of job? People had to be wondering just what kind of businessman he was to leave confidential information lying around anyway? Was he in over his head with this whole endeavor?

  Tomorrow he would talk with Mara about hiring a bookkeeper. It would reinforce her trust in him if he showed he was serious about not making any more stupid mistakes. He felt the tightness go out of his shoulders at the decision. Better to have a neutral third party expert manage the books. Running the seiner and fishing would be enough challenge in themselves. Besides, his mission was clear, and the seiner was a big part of the undertaking he had begun since arriving in Juneau.

  “Guess I ain’t good fer much anymore in this world. Old and nosy, and now pollutin’ the very ocean that sustained my livelihood,” Stu said, pulling Alex’s thoughts back to the present.

  Wishing this conversation had never been necessary, Alex stared at his feet.

  “Come on now, Stu, if those stogies haven’t killed you by now, then chances are you’re good. I’m sorry I mentioned it.”

  “Well, won’t be that many more years that I’ll be imprintin’ my ways on this here earth, so worry not, kid. Sorry. Sorry about all of it,” Stu finished, making Alex feel worse than he already did, if that was even possible.

  He watched Stu walk into his tiny cabin and close the door. The sound of the deadbolt sliding closed snapped in the cold air. For a minute he stood there, staring at the water where Stu’s stogie was still floating below the dock. The otter dove, coming up a few minutes later under the soggy glob, before diving again and disappearing from view.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dinner for …?

  Mara assured Alex that hiring a bookkeeper would be a relief to both of them and gave him a week to look around and find someone he thought he could work with. At his suggestion, she would meet with them, too, but the choosing, she reminded him, would be up to him, because he was the one essentially running the show.