Into the water we went and we all had to follow the leader to various set points marked by anchored floating buoys. After about two hours we all got the hang of it more or less but the winds were light and the sea calm so we knew that there wasn’t much of a challenge. After our third hour, we were all pooped and came to shore to rest and refresh. It was exhausting fighting the sails and rudder to make the boat go where we wanted it. Our tutor seemed satisfied and he would be back on Monday.
Saturday afternoon we joined some of the parents in volleyball. Later that night we got some music up and dressed up in more spiffy casual wear for that. Just before Adrianna’s parents left for their hotel room, Mader called for a pause in the music right at 8pm and he got down on a knee with Cherese bringing Adrianna forward just then. Oh my gosh, what’s this? A proposal is happening. Moog appeared by my side with my ring box as we had arranged. It did though catch us by surprise that Mader and Adrianna had reached that stage too in their relationship. There were whoops, congratulations and hugs. Their parents were overjoyed.
Then came my turn and Juliana, Moog’s fiancé brought Jessi up to me. There I was on my knee in the presence of both of our parents asking Jessi to marry me. “Jessi my love, I humbly ask you to be my partner in marriage. “
I was in a bit of a daze but I heard her say, “Yes Jonah I would be honored to do so.”
We exchanged rings and got our round of applause and hugs all around. Moog and Juliana planned to become officially engaged but being religious, it would involve the grand parents and a more formal setting at home with some dressing up. They were as good as engaged though, as far as everyone who knew them were concerned.
On the Sunday the two couples newly engaged as well as Moog and Juliana were on the beach early to get some alone private time as the weak light of the sun started getting higher and brighter over the horizon. We were walking as couples, meandering in and out of the waters edge, barefoot and in shorts and jerseys all. All of us had our shades on, heading toward the sunrise just soaking up the atmosphere and each other. We were three of the Six plus one of Five and had already learned to truly savor the nice normal moments of existence when we were lucky enough to get it. There wasn’t going to be any time better than this.
Monday morning came and the boats were back. The wind was stronger with a slight bit of light chop on the water. All we could take was two hours before with arms, legs and back burning we hauled in to shore. There were two of us per boat, but it was still hard work to maneuver precisely. We were definitely feeling better about it. Upwind navigation was still tough, but we all showed that we could do it. Our tutor complimented us though, considering the tiny amount of practice that we had had. We decided to get two more sessions. So on Tuesday and Wednesday we got into it again. All of the parents took turns joining us on Wednesday and since we had improved significantly, they too were having fun. Now it was much less exhausting as we’d adapted and adjusted our techniques. Thursday we got into the towed parachute experience and again what a time we had. The parents all had a ball with it.
Friday was a bit of a free for all with some going to a water park and the rest to an aquarium. It was good to have a change of pace. Jessi and our respective parents plus Mader and Adrianna along with Moog Juliana took our time perusing the aquarium. When we got back mid afternoon, we went to our rooms for a nap. Jessi promptly fell asleep with her head on my chest. I lay there feeling her breathing watching her chest rising and falling, appreciating just how lucky I’d gotten to find my dream girl.
After a super restorative nap, we gathered for a bit of beach lounging, watching Mader as he played with his mini drone flying less than 200 feet above the water observing fish gliding beneath the waves and swimmers paddling. Up and down the edge of the water he went sightseeing, shielding the little screen from the sun’s glare with a large umbrella. There wasn’t anyone doing parachute rides near to us , no tall boat masts to avoid. We were coming to the end of a splendid vacation that hurrah, we the youngsters paid for! All of our parents got to partake and enjoy. In addition we prevented one gruesome crime and saved ourselves injury and possibly death from a violent rapist and taxpayers from having to pay for a trial. Tomorrow we’d be heading home.
Our Friday night was spent surprisingly sedately. Dinner was a good quality and we all ate mostly in silence overall quite satisfied with our time on the beach. Everyone retired to do their own personal thing and even our parents seemed to pair off and find a corner to just sit and talk. I suppose we all were making plans for the coming weeks. Six briefly bounced some ideas amongst ourselves. We had introduced ourselves to watercraft management and next we wanted to get some scuba and diving setup. At least we felt that our time on the beach wasn’t just about fun only but advanced our training agenda. We all had the time and none of what we did now had to expense our parents anyway, so why not. We put in a call to Breecher who put in a call to a former Navy underling who ran a business doing just what we needed. Breecher said that if we certified under him, it would negate any need to redo it later and would count as part of our training. He had all the facilities and expertise. So I’d have to be the one to travel to the suburbs, since it was within five miles from Jessi’s place. She happily suggested that she would talk to her parents so that I could stay at their home. It would save me a long daily trip back and forth plus the obvious benefit to us.
By 10 am with vans packed on Saturday, we bid farewell to our beach accommodation and started for home. Dad wanted to drive again despite offers from both Moog and I. Jessi wanted to sit with me, so she came all the way back. Juliana and Moog sat in front of us and Jace and Susan sat ahead of them. All coupled up is how it was going to be. Jessi and I promptly cuddled up to each other of course. We literally could not get enough of each other. Moog and his lady were equally in each other’s lap. At one point, I leaned forward to whisper in both their ears which were inches apart anyway,
“You people need to get a room.”
Moog said, “Right after you two get one.” There was a bunch of barely suppressed laughter. To which Dad swung his head back and said, “Keep it down back there folks, you are confusing the vehicle’s autopilot with all that noise!”
That just got him more laughter. Susan mind talked to us two, “ Keep it down back there love birds, we want to arrive safely.”
To which Jessi replied, “Mum we are being perfect little angels. You know you brought up a well behaved girl, didn’t you?”
Now it was Susan and Jace’s turn to start laughing as he was in on the mind talk too.
Jace turned around, pointed at us and whispered, “Jezebels!”
Moog and Juliana separated to the far corners of their seats leaving the finger pointed squarely at us. Where are your friends to help you take the blame when it matters?
We dropped off the Wentworth family, but not before Jessi made sure to take advantage of me in the back seat with some deep kisses. “Can’t wait to be in the water with you on Monday Jordan.”
I said, “You know it’s going to be cold and dark and dirty water yes.”
She said, “I don’t care, it’ll be with you.”
We all ran in to use the restroom since we’d pulled a long one without any stops. The van was also hooked up to get a twenty minute top off on their large super-charger. Jace came out to where we were standing as we were ready to get back onboard and said, “Hopefully you guys may start getting a few small sessions in my simulator if you aren’t too exhausted this week coming or in the weeks to follow.”
I said, “Sorry we meant to take you up on the offer, but life has been getting in the way. In my case, the hard work on the farm is done, so that alone will free me up. I’m so grateful that you would do this for all of us.”
One and a half hour later we pulled into our own driveway and the house with all the buildings looked intact. We had briefly stopped to buy some take home food to save Mum from having to jump immediately into food preparation. That was a most unusual
thing on our family. One more evening of freedom for my Mum. Juliana had already been dropped off to her home and all three of us men ran to make the rounds of the horses, other animals, barns and equipment. The animals were well stocked and had been let out we knew as Dad had monitored all that by his camera hook ups. No inclement weather had passed through during the week we were gone so that was one less worry. A quick ride around on 4wheelers eased any anxieties. We called up the neighbors and grands to thank them and let them know we were back. We would as usual be returning the favor.
22. Personal control and Defnet training
Dredging my memory banks, I realized that only the basics had been given to us about water skills, so I proceeded to do a deep dive figuratively into that kind of information. I then passed the references onto the rest of the team. Everyone would be up to standard on the theoretical aspects at least, myself included.
Monday morning at 0800am we were all in front of the gates of the Aquatic Training Institute (ATI) being processed. When we proffered means of payment, we were told that Securinet was taking care of the bill. After health questionnaires and all information needed was given, we were told to change into swim wear and ushered into the pools for an assessment of our abilities. A thickset man was introduced as the Mr. Hickman who owned and ran the Institute. All of his underlings seemed to be in awe of him. We of course, delved into all of their minds and likely knew about them as well as they did. He was as expected- frogman special ops. The important thing was that he was good, among the best at his job. We wanted that for ourselves.
So we swam, dived, held our breaths as asked and he nodded. The staff brought out goggles and all the paraphernalia needed obviously suited to our height weight and body type. We donned them with their instruction and one of the instructors got in the water with us to demonstrate the various maneuvers needed and the various dangers and traps to avoid to prevent tragedy. We had to sit eight feet down at the bottom of the pool and help each other to carry out various activities like sharing our air, long breath holding even giving air to each other directly mouth to mouth, while performing various tasks involving great dexterity while thinking up solutions. This level of calm under pressure was what Six was made for. We were surprised to learn that we could just as easily thought speak to each other and also read the minds up top. We knew that all above were dumbfounded that we were first time around not panicking but performing accurately and faster than even experienced groups before us. They did not know of our secret attributes, that was clear.
We planned to ask them tomorrow to be blindfolded or put in the opaque pond to do the same things. We finished everything that they could throw at us by noon. We emerged thrilled, but determined not to reveal our excitement to them. They gave us almost a hero’s welcome when we came out even doing the correct timing sequences to purge dissolved nitrogen from our blood. Obviously they had their man down there initially with us plus they had camera feed observing our performance and looking for any sign of difficulty. Mr.Hickman himself was there to speak with us with a look of amazement. He asked, “Are you all sure that you’ve never been through such a program before? So far you all have done better than professionals who do this stuff for a living. It looks like we might need to push through the intermediate training steps a bit faster.”
We replied, “As you’ve taught us, we will give signals if we are being overwhelmed. What we would like to get, if you don’t mind is some understanding of what to expect so that we can better prepare.”
He said, “Would viewing tapes of what comes tomorrow help you all? We haven’t done that before in case it turned off our students who usually are too exhausted to want to deal with any more than they’ve just had.”
We enthusiastically said, “Yes” as a group and he looked at us suspiciously, but motioned to his staff to make it so.
We spent the next two hours going through those tapes and after each tape, we would sit quietly with eyes open then closed doing a pantomime of all the moves expected of us when underwater. All his staff had filed into the room, just watching us go through the moves with jaws hanging open. We clearly were a phenomenon to behold.
At 2pm we were out of there eager to be back tomorrow. The staff were watching us as if we were confirmed aliens. Mr. Hickman had called up Breecher to ask him who we really were, he told us later. It was fun to hear Breecher doing the equivalent of giggling in his gravelly scratchy old voice. He said that he told him that we were just a bunch of above average kids and to not be intimidated. Clearly Hickman suspected that he was being played. He just couldn’t put his finger on how it was being done. He promised himself to be more personally involved tomorrow for sure.
That very afternoon since we got back early, we got to take turns, one half hour session each at a time, in Jace’s simulator. We got to experience the launch with full body motion including g-effects after strapping on real astronaut garb with life sustaining tanks too. This was a full on fighter interceptor mode to reach out and touch bad guys invading our sector. This was not the gentle flying of transports going to carry supplies or diplomats. He vowed that this was as realistic as it gets. Then a quick snippet of identifying the bogeys, sending off the kill vehicles after they ignored warnings to turn around, confirming kills, checking debris for survivors and then returning to our home planet with all of the deceleration, fire of reentry, vibration and landing smoothly on the runway. Obviously such a trip involves the monotony of days and weeks travel which was cut down to just the minimum exciting parts. It sure gave us a taste of the communication, command and control of real space travel plus a flavor of the dangers. It was hard not to believe that we were truly there, doing it for real. We thanked Mr. Wentworth most sincerely for that quick simulation of combat in space. The rest of Six got out of there fast after that. Home was on everybody’s mind.
Jessi and I were tired but in ‘a good way’. Since I had been given the ok to stay with her family, I didn’t have to do the long journey home and back again in the morning. We both got our packs ready for tomorrow’s trip to the Aquatic Training Institute’s facility, and then she took me for a walkabout of her neighborhood. I had passed through the main streets in and out innumerable times, but a gentle stroll through the nooks and crannies would be new. It was in fact a charming area full of character. We met several other walkers too, the majority older yes, but also a few little kids riding their bikes, likely grand kids I’d assume since young couples would be unlikely to be able to afford to buy here. Jessi waved to a few teens as well. Some were driving by in beautiful souped up vehicles. This was no farming area with aging work vehicles.
When we got back from our short three mile walk, we had an appetite raging. Thankfully Mrs. Wentworth had been preparing for her hungry ones. She had at least eight different dishes all prepared from which to serve ourselves. She mentioned that yesterday Sunday had been a big cooking day for her and she did mention that Jessi had helped with a lot of the dishes and had on her own fully prepared the meats. Oh man, it was good to know that Jessi was super handy around the kitchen. Among us noncoms, that was expected and valued for sons and particularly daughters be proficient in food preparation. Even little puny me, sometimes fully made cooked meals for the family, just never as good as Mum’s though by a long shot. However it was considered palatable and with the ingredients Mum had available to me, nutritious. I certainly felt like a whale when dinner was over and I whispered into Jessi’s ear, “You won’t be able to beat me off with a stick now that I’ve tasted your cooking Jessi.”
Well I got a gentle box to my ear for that with the words, “You can’t take it back now anyway, I got a ring to prove your commitment Jonah.” I said, “You’re right, it’s too late now. You’ve got to put up with me too Darling.” To which she said, “We women can always change our minds, you know!” Her Mom Susan had the faint lick of a smile on one corner of her upper lip as if to say, “That’s my girl.” I shut my lips just like a good little clam should.
&nbs
p; A little later, when we had settled in, made some small talk and Susan and Jace got up to retire for the night; I looked at Jessi and she got up up with her arm extended in my direction. I said, “Six o’clock I’ll be up.” She said, “We will have some breakfast around seven and be off by seven thirty then.” I took her hand and we went upstairs like that. At her room door she grabbed me by the waist and said, “Come in, you have never been to my room. This is where I lay thinking of you Jessi.” She pulled me down on top of her on her bed. I gave her a quick kiss and then rolled off of her to lay by her side. I pulled her pillow over, lifted her head and gently placed it under her head. She closed her eyes and said, “I love you Jessi and I am blessed to be yours.” I said, “I totally adore you Jessi,” into her ear, “and you know it. Now let’s get some sleep. We have a full day tomorrow and it’s late already.” She nodded affirmatively and said, “Good night Jessi” Then she reached up as I was halfway off the bed put her hands around my neck and gave me a sweet kiss. I practically ran out of there since my tumescence was about to burst my pant front and it was not the right time for that. Not just yet, O Lord Meneer although I did want her and I know she wanted me too.
Outlaw Badjans (Six of Toigan) Page 18