by Alex Myers
“It’s an underwater camera?” Jack asked.
“More than that, it has a 2000 millimeter low-light lens that has been specially developed for underwater photography. It’s on a three hundred sixty degree pivot and it moves like a torpedo, a highly maneuverable torpedo, controlled by this joystick. Watch this.”
The underwater scene on the display shot out hundreds of yards from under the boat and dock and then somewhere out into Little Neck Bay. Ray used the controller to run the camera and focused on a school of bottlenose dolphins. They circled, jumped, and broke the surface of the water.
“Here, take these binoculars and go up on deck.”
Jack grabbed the binoculars and made his way to the top deck followed by Ray.
“You are going to want to look out to the southwest.”
Jack put the high-tech, auto-focus binoculars to his eyes and after scanning the horizon said, “I can’t find them.”
“You are not looking out far enough,” Ray said.
“I see them!” Jack lowered the binoculars and scanned the horizon. “Wow!” That has to be a half a mile away.”
“Use the rangefinder.” Ray said, smiling at Jack’s enthusiasm.
“It says it’s one thousand fifty-seven yards! That’s incredible.”
“Let’s go back down.” Ray ducked below deck. Jack caught up with him in front of the screen.
“It’s such incredible detail,” Jack said, looking closer at the super- retina display screen.
“Watch this,” Ray said as he depressed a button on the joystick and a bright red crosshair appeared. He manipulated it near the eye of the first moving dolphin, and then pressed the button again and it took on a light blue color. The camera tracked the fast-moving dolphin, always keeping it centered in the middle of the display. “Or you can pull back, hit the button again, and use it to select the entire group and it will track them all.”
“Totally amazing technology, right, but what would I ever use it for?”
“Other than checking out a place to anchor… I’m not sure. The guy that the boat was made for was some kind of underwater archeologist. His name was Karl Borg; he was more of a treasure hunter than researcher. He found the Flor de la Mar…” Ray just let it hang.
Jack gave him the eyebrows that said he had no idea who or what that was.
“It was a Portuguese frigate lost off the coast of Sumatra in 1511. It had $2.6 billion in gold aboard. He found it all, no one has any clue how he did it,” Ray said. “It’s like he had inside information.”
“How did he die?” Jack asked.
“He was murdered. Somewhere down in the Caribbean, Barbados I think. No, it was in was St. Lucia. He went to school with your father and me. I think he and your dad were close, some kind of business relationship. I don’t know.”
“I can see how this would come in handy for that. Pretty cool.”
“Yeah, really cool.”
Jack had been on the boat for four days and the modifications were complete. He was outside when he saw Ray walking out to the boat.
“The painters are coming out this afternoon,” Ray said. “You want to name it The Frances Three? Does that mean that there was a Frances One and Two?”
“Yes, there was, and Frances, the woman they were named after, became my wife.”
“What happened, if you don’t mine me asking?”
“She died.” Jack figured it was technically the truth.
Ray appeared to wait a few minutes as if to see if Jack was going to fill him in on more details. When none were forthcoming, he changed the subject and said, “By the way, everything is done with the paperwork on the boat, we’re just waiting for the government to get involved. Four point three million is a lot of money to move around on an e-chip.”
“I thought you said the boat was $4.8 million?”
“I did, unbeknownst to you, some good haggling and come to find out, they didn’t have anybody to sell this boat to and they took a little off of it. A half a million dollars. You are a good negotiator, Jack, and didn’t even know it.”
“Thanks for working on my behalf,” Jack said. “I appreciate saving a half mill here and there where I can.”
“You’re more than welcome, sorry though; it’s still going to be another day or two before you you’re completely ready to go. It might help if you got your e-chip refreshed. I ran into this guy at Westgate Marine Supply today—real tough military looking guy who was asking questions about you.”
“About me? Why was he was asking you? Why or how does he even know our connection?”
“Struck me as kind of odd as well. I didn’t tell him anything, but then I got to thinking afterward and something about him looked mighty familiar. I like to think I never forget a face, that’s what makes me the great salesman I am.” He playfully blew on his knuckles and buffed them off on his shirt. “I only remember seeing you a couple of times with your father, but it seems to me that this guy was a kid that you used to have come along with you, maybe one of your old friends?”
“Ah… old friends. Military? Did he say his name was Bill McCullough?”
“He didn’t say his name, I would’ve remembered that. But he did say he stopped by your penthouse looking for you. Oh, and he gave me this,” he handed Jack a piece of paper with a telephone number written on it. “I probably should’ve found out more for you, I didn’t think about it at the time, but there was something trustworthy about the guy. I liked him right away. Tough-looking guy though.”
“I think I know who you’re talking about.” It had to be his old childhood friend, Bill McCullough. Bill had done a lot of work for the government and for the city of Norfolk as a police lieutenant, and then a bunch more clandestine work in his other timeline. “You’ve got my curiosity peaked, I’ll definitely give him a call.”
CHAPTER 3
Jack sat in the second bedroom of the boat that was now his communications room. Wearing a headset, he was trying to place a call to the University of Texas from his satellite phone. He had received a vague email from a professor there. Professor Finney wanted to ask him a few questions about Jack Riggs, the inventor from the 1850s. What is that all about, he wondered? The operator from the Archaeology Department said that Professor Finney was off campus on a dig on the island of St. Lucia for an indiscernible amount of time. The operator asked if Jack would like to leave a number and he said no.
So this professor now, Karl Borg, the treasure hunter, and his father were all three on the island of St. Lucia? Jack didn’t believe in coincidence.
Jack was reading the boat’s hydrogen drive system manual when he heard his name being called from above deck.
“Jack?” The female voice said again.
“Annie? Come on down,” Jack said, walking into the salon. “What’s up?”
“I made a bunch of cookies, way too many for Ray and me, and I thought you might like some.” She pulled back the lid on the resealable dish and showed the contents to Jack. “These are a specialty of mine.”
“Beehives,” Jack said excitedly and without thinking. He hadn’t had one of these since his mom made them for him as a child. They were his favorites.
“They are…” she said slightly perplexed, “a family specialty. This part is made from crushed chestnuts with a special filling sitting on a thin wafer cookie.” She put her hand to her mouth and looked off. “I guess I’m a little surprised. You’re the first person who has ever known what they were.”
“I had an aunt that used to make them for me,” Jack said, covering.
“I just don’t see how that’s possible, my mother invented them.” She looked at Jack smiling up at her. “Maybe other people came up with the same idea, but the name?”
“Look, they look like little beehives.” Jack said trying to be charming…trying to be charming for his mom.
“Here you go,” she said looking around the boat awkwardly. There was something on her mind.
“Would you like to join me for a coff
ee and a cookie?” Jack asked and gestured toward the table.
“I…well…okay. I just don’t want to impose. Ah hell, there is something connecting us isn’t there? The other day when I met you, I remembered you from somewhere—I guess it could have been when you would come here with your father, but I don’t think so. Whenever your father would be scheduled to stop by, I’d make sure to be gone. If he ever showed up and I was here, I would keep out of sight.”
Jack enjoyed being around her and the cookies brought a lump to his throat. He could feel his eyes welling up. Maybe there was something about a mother-child bond that couldn’t be broken. How could Annie not be his mother, but then again, how could she? They sat in silence for a while and Jack finally asked, “So what is Ray up to today?”
“He is doing a demo on a thirty-seven foot Tartan. It’s an old buddy of his, Jim; he’s bought a couple of boats here before. None of them very fancy or expensive. They go out about once every six months and you can usually count on them being gone for the whole day. Ray will quote Jim this and that for the next two weeks.”
This sounded like what his father used to do with Ray.
Awkward silence.
“You’re really different than I thought you would be,” she said and stared at her coffee.
“Really, in what way?”
“Oh, you know in a lot of different ways, you’re different from your father, you are…nice.”
“Nice?” A statement Jack repeated back a little too loudly. It was the last thing he was expecting.
“Oh, I don’t mean any disrespect. It’s just that your father was a…”
“A what, Annie?” Jack really didn’t know what she was implying. “Tell me straight, I won’t be offended, I promise.”
“He’s a real son of a bitch.” She looked relieved to have said it, but uncomfortable too. “I hope you know what I’m talking about.”
He wanted to help her but he couldn’t. He didn’t know what she meant. He didn’t know his father. This wasn’t the way he remembered his father at all, his father was always overly nice to everyone else other than Jack and his mother. He needed to learn more about this man. “Why would you say he was a son of a bitch?”
“I probably should just mind my own business.” She made a move to get up.
“Please don’t go, Mrs. Canter. I really am curious. And you’re not offending me at all. My father and I don’t see each other much anymore. Fact, it’s been years, I really don’t know him at all. I would like to know though.” At least this much is true.
“I need to confess something,” she said. She struggled to get comfortable in her comfortable chair. “Ray is not especially fond of your father.”
“I thought he bought the last couple of boats from Ray?”
“He thinks it’s just your father’s way of rubbing Ray’s nose in all that money.”
“Why? Why would my dad do that?”
“There is a history between us. It’s my fault, I imagine. I think it’s your father’s way of rubbing my nose in it too.”
“The money?”
“Partially, I suppose. More like rubbing it in that I married the wrong man.” She looked away, embarrassed.
Jack looked away too. He knew that even in his old life, his father could be a real bastard.
“Ray and I have been with each other continuously since the third grade, except for my senior year in high school.” She put her hand in front of her mouth and her lip began to quiver. It looked like painful memories came flooding back to her.
The tears began to flow. “That was when I met your father. He was dashing in his new sports car. He was a junior at Old Dominion University and the same age as Ray. His family, your family, had a big house in the wealthy part of Ghent. I thought the only way I could keep him was to give him what I knew he wanted. The same thing the college girls were more than willing to give.”
“Where was Ray during this whole time?” Jack asked.
“Ray didn’t go to college. He went right to work out of high school. He got a job at the Norfolk Yacht Club. I was waiting for him to get off work one day when I met your father. He was a member there. We talked. Your father seemed so worldly. He knew so much, had done so many things. He asked me for a date, but I said that I was going steady. I wish it would’ve ended there…”
She produced a Kleenex out of her pocket, dabbed her eyes, and continued. “It was a month later that Ray got a job crewing a boat to Spain. He said that we both should explore our options during the time he would be gone. He said he was going to wander around Europe for a while, nine months, maybe a year, and wanted to take the time to figure out what he was going to do with his life and that I should too. Ray and I put our relationship on hold. Ray was no sooner out of sight before your father moved in to take his place.”
Jack was still trying to figure out how all of this made sense concerning him. Obviously, his father had hurt her. He nodded for her to continue.
“At first he took me places—nice restaurants, parties at his frat house. It was in his room at the frat house one night when we both had had too much to drink that he forced himself on me.”
Jack felt so sorry for this woman who was once his mother. He was ashamed of his father.
Used tissues were starting to accumulate on the table. “We had only done it that once. I had been a virgin and it hurt so badly. I always regret not saving myself for Ray. When I refused to do it again, your father didn’t want anything to do with me. Two months later, I learned I was pregnant.”
“What did you do?”
“What could I do? I was eighteen and still in high school, I couldn’t even tell my girlfriends about it. I went to your father. I don’t know what I expected from him, but I was shocked at what he did.”
Jack cringed. “What was it?”
“He gave me $1,000 and the name of an abortion doctor.”
“Did you go through with it?”
“I just couldn’t. I couldn’t kill a baby, but I couldn’t raise one on my own either. It would have devastated Ray. After I graduated and was nearly four and a half months pregnant, I went to stay with my grandmother in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina down on the coast.”
“You kept the child?”
“Adoption. A church organization took care of everything. I didn’t know or see anything—only felt.”
She put her face in her hands and cried hard. “Your father never knew I delivered, he would have been furious.”
He had to ask, “Did Ray ever know?”
She stopped, looked at him. “Lord no. I think if he ever found out, it would just kill him.”
Silence. Then she said, “For whatever reason, we were never able to have children of our own. I blame myself. I feel like God only allowed me one opportunity, and I wasted it on a man I didn’t love. The knowledge of my indiscretion is God’s punishment for being so careless.”
“Annie, I hardly know you, but I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”
“I think about my babies everyday—everyday.”
“How long ago was it?”
“This coming March it’ll be thirty-five years.”
That’s it. Annie is my mother. “Wait a minute, did you say babies? Plural, as in two?”
“Yes, twins. I don’t even know if they were boys or girls. I do know there was a problem with the delivery, the second one, the smaller one, almost died, but they both survived.”
I could have a brother—or sister? Jack’s mind was racing with the possibilities. Where is this long lost sibling? Where was this long lost brother or sister in his other timeline?
“Are you okay?” Annie asked. Jack’s confusion must have pulled her into the present.
“Yes,” was the one word he managed to get out. Finally, Jack asked, “What does he know?”
“Ray?” Jack nodded and she continued. “He was gone for a little over a year. He knew that I went to stay with my grandmother in North Carolina, but he didn’t know why. He th
ought it was because I didn’t get along with my parents and I never told him differently. He didn’t talk much about his time away either and thankfully he didn’t ask me a lot.”
“What does he know about you and my dad?”
“He knows we went out, but that’s about it. A good thing too, that was enough to make him hate your father for life. By the time Ray got back, your father had already married your mother and moved away.”
“Married? This woman named Margaret?”
“Your mother, Margaret.”
“That was quick work—getting married that quickly, I mean.”
“It did hurt, a little. Marrying your father was never an option for me, only an abortion would do. The thing this woman had that I didn’t was money and status. Everyone said that the marriage was arranged by your grandfather to get his hands on your mother’s family’s real estate holdings. The society columns covered their wedding and charity balls, while the gossip columns covered their fights. It wasn’t a life I envied.”
“You and Ray got married then?”
“We did.” Annie smiled. “Ray used the money he earned crewing on that ship to put the down payment on this place and we have lived here ever since.”
She smiled and drank the last of her coffee. When she put her hand down on the table, Jack grabbed it and squeezed. They stayed that way for little while looking out of the salon’s window at the bright sunny day playing out outside.
“Annie?”
“Yes?” She turned and watched him place his other hand on top of hers.
Jack hesitated, picking his words carefully. “Why did you share all this with me today?”
“Because…” she said, “you seem like a good person. You have such a kind aura that it gave me hope. I can tell by your eyes you seem like someone that has known love.”
“Hope?” Jack asked. “Hope for what?”
“That if any child of your father’s could turn out so decent…” She grabbed another tissue and put it to her eyes. “It gave me hope for my own children.”
“Annie?”
“Yes, Jack?”
“I’m 100 percent certain, you are my mother. I don’t know how I ended up with my father and this Margaret woman. I don’t know what happened to my brother or sister.” Jack could see the shock on her face contrasting with the love beaming from her eyes. “Annie Canter, you are my mother.”