Blond, Black, and Blue

by Ruth Temple Taul

  Caitlyn was quietly crying when Daniel finished his phone conversation.

  “Sweetheart, be brave. The official thinks they have just been blown off course. He is going to call us the minute he hears anything.” Remember the old adage ‘No news is good news,’ that is how we will think of it. I promise you we will be hearing from them soon.” he said.

  “Daniel, you have no idea how much Aunt Betty means to me. I lived with her after my parents died, she was all I had to cling to. When I was married to Jessie. I do not think I would be alive today if not for her,” Caitlyn said tearfully.

  “I do understand Darling, but we must not upset the children. Logan goes back to school tomorrow. Let them keep all the happiness they have found the last two weeks. We will want to protect them from any more unhappy memories, what do you say?” answered Daniel.

  Caitlyn wiped her eyes and kissed Daniel. “Of course you are right Darling. Next week you are supposed to take our movies of Disney World and show Logan’s class.

  I got our packages from the post office, after the movies would be the ideal time to give out the presents to his class. He is so proud to have the opportunity to share. These have been some excited children these last two weeks. They will remember this trip the rest of their lives,” Caitlyn said, regaining her composure.

  “When the children ask about Aunt Betty and the others, we will just say they decided to take a side trip,” Daniel rationalized.

  The Connelly household went on as usual. Daniel took the Disney World video to Logan’s Class spent the morning giving the students a visit to Disney World via the movie camera.

  When the viewing was over, Daniel opened the big box where Logan had a Disney souvenir for the teacher and each child. It was a wonderful experience for Daniel as well as the children. As Daniel was about to leave, the teacher said, “Children, let us show Mr. Connelly how much we appreciate his generosity,”

  The children applauded, they cheered they whistled, yelled and jumped up down!

  Daniel was humbled by the experience while Logan had never been more proud of his Dad, nor loved him more.

  When they were home again, Daniel told Caitlyn, “That is what money is for, to bring some happiness to children. Most of them will never see the Magic Kingdom, but then I would never have seen it either if I had no children.”

  “We are the most fortunate family. We needed you more than you needed us. We all adore you my husband,” Caitlyn said looking at Daniel soulfully.

  “We needed each other to make our lives worthwhile. I could not live with myself if I had to part with any of my family,” Daniel said with sincerity.

  “Speaking of family, it has been a week since we talked with the cruise line,” Daniel added.

  “No, darling, I called while you were at school. There is still no news,” Caitlyn answered.

  Three weeks later they were awakened at four a.m. by the cruise line official. The ship, Caribbean Star, has been found. She was blown three hundred miles off course by a storm surge. The ship is aground, but there were no casualties. Lightning had struck a tower on the ship and knocked out all the communication devices. We have ships on the way to pick up the passengers and to tow the Caribbean Star to port. Your family should be home within the week,” the official reported Caitlyn gave a huge sigh of relief.

  She and Daniel were so elated they did not attempt to go back to sleep. Later they called the children to the den told them what had happened and their reasons for not telling them sooner.

  “I’ll bet Reid Amber were scared, I wonder what they had to eat!” Logan said.

  “I’m just happy they were not hurt. Now I can hardly wait to ask them about it,” Sarah chimed in.

  That day at school Logan asked his teacher if he could tell the class about his Auntie and friends with their experiences.

  When he finished the experience of the ship being lost, he promised to tell them more after everyone was home.

  True to the cruise official’s word, a week later Ben called from his cell phone. They were in their van and on their way home. They were delighted to be on home soil.

  “Let me make dinner for all of you,” Caitlyn said. “We’re so anxious to see you. You do not want to have to cook tonight after all you have been through. Please say yes.”

  “Just a minute Dear, let me check with the women,” Ben answered with a chuckle.

  Caitlyn could hear them all talking at once, then Ben said, “It is unanimous. We would all love it. We should be through dropping our luggage off and catching our breath by about 4 p.m., we will see you then.”

  When they arrived, Caitlyn and Daniel could hardly recognize them. They were brown as berries, plus the adults looked twenty years younger.

  After a lot of hugging, laughing, crying, they settled down to taking turns telling of their adventure.

  In the storm, the ship was hit twice with lightening. A direct hit on the control room, another on the foredeck. All electronics were down and they had only the emergency back up generators for lights.

  The storm raged for twenty four hours. In this time it was almost as dark in the daytime as it was at night. The waves were taller than the ship the children slept in Victor and Millie’s room that night, terrified.

  Millie had pulled the draperies over the big window so none of them had to see the horrors of the raging sea.

  “It really brought to mind the sailors lament, ‘Oh Lord, your ocean is so big and my ship is so small’. We were like a cork bobbing around,” Victor said. “Ben and Betty spent the day in our room trying to calm the children by getting them to pretend we were all on a roller coaster.

  We must have played that for two hours. It got us all to laughing. Then after that we sang every song we could remember,” Millie informed them.

  Betty was next to talk “We all slept in our clothes and life jackets, not knowing what the night would bring. We were in a sound sleep when we were all dumped on the floor. The ship had run aground, but we did not know that, as it was about three in the morning. Ben and I quickly made our way to Victor and Millie’s room to make sure they were all right. We were ecstatic when Ben opened the drapes, by the moon light, we could see palm trees! The tops of them of course, because so much of the ship is under water, you can not realize how big it is.

  We had been in such rough waters for what seemed like days, that when it became so still it seemed odd. The storm was still raging on but it had put us on an Island. Since we had been so anxious for the past twenty four hours, we followed the children’s example and went back to bed for the night.

  The next morning we all found a note from the captain, which was slipped under the door during the night, asking us to meet at the theater at eight o’clock, where he would be giving us the status of our cruise. Ben, Dear, would you tell about our next experience?” Betty asked.

  “Some of the passengers were too sea sick to leave their cabins, but the rest of us were there. The Captain explained about the freak storm, he said it does happen occasionally. A lesser boat would be at the bottom of the ocean by now. He said we were aground and we would be here until we were found. Before we lost radio contact they had sent an S.O.S. but the controls had been struck by lightening so they were only able to give an approximate location of the ship. Then he said the facts are, we only store a weeks supply of food on a cruise. We have an emergency generator so that food will be kept fresh, but we will go on emergency rations. We do not know how long it will be before a rescue. As Captain, I am responsible for everyone aboard I request your cooperation.

  We will no longer order our meals from the menu, but each of us will be served our meal as prepared in the Galley. Our water is also on emergency rations, until we have other water, all showers will be off limits. At this, there was a huge groan among the passengers. The Captain asked us if we would rather be clean and dead or alive and soiled. He told us the
water here is clear as glass and no sharks were spotted from the upper deck where they had a lookout with binoculars.

  The Captain had already sent several of the crew ashore to look for food and water. Who, by the way, came back with huge stalks of bananas. They requested more crew members accompany them, and to bring a weapon. They had heard something large running through the brush. Victor I decided to go along too, it was better than sitting doing nothing.

  Well, the man with the gun led us through the brush. There were mango and avocado trees, oranges and grapefruit.

  The orange and grapefruit trees had green fruit but we brought large bags of the other fruit we found. The animals rustling through the brush were pigs and goats. We did not bother them then, but we had found plenty of meat if we should need it. The greatest find was fresh water in abundance. That was better than gold. Of course it had to be carried back to the ship. We had a good report for our Captain when we returned.

  We had no idea as to the size of the Island, we knew there were some mountains, but they were miles away. The next day the Captain requested we get together the men on the ship to haul water. Almost everyone was willing to help, that is how we spent the second day.

  Millie had gotten the mothers together and convinced them to tell their children we were on a great adventure. There were only six other children besides ours, but about fifty young people wanting to have fun.

  Millie had them swimming in the beautiful water. They had a shell hunting contest one day, a sand castle contest another day. When the Captain became aware of Millie and Betty keeping the passengers entertained, he brought out a dozen fishing rods so the children caught fish until there was enough for the passengers and crew to have fresh fish for dinner.

  In the meantime, our children learned to swim, to dive and float. All the time getting browner every day.

  This is how we spent the first week aground. he second week the Captain lowered one of the tenders so his crew could take it around our side of the island to explore. To the delight of the bucket brigade, they found fresh water available much nearer the shore. They also found a cave where the water was full of lobster and blue crabs. They came back for more men and containers for the lobsters. Of course Victor I volunteered again. needless to say we ate lobster that night.

  There were some who refused to do anything to help, they were the ones who complained the most. Victor I enjoyed the experience. We felt like Robinson Crusoe.”

  Victor, tell them about our next two weeks,” Ben requested.

  “To start with, we had two crew members from Haiti. They knew a dozen ways to catch lobster and blue crabs without getting pinched. He took Reid and Amber under his wing and taught them how to catch them. They also taught everyone how to make a sun hat from palm fronds. They had their own way to catch and butcher animals.

  They proved to be very valuable to the whole experience. We did not see them catch and prepare any of the pigs, but we had pork several times the next week. of course, it goes without saying, we had lobster, blue crabs, fish. In fact, Ben I got in on the fishing, it was great. The Galley only cooked and served twice a day, but we had fruit any time we wanted, believe me , we took advantage of that.

  You can see we have all trimmed down, speaking for myself, I never felt better in my life.

  Then amid all this fun came the magic day we saw a plane in the air. It was a sea plane and the pilot with the co-pilot came aboard to converse with our Captain. He had our location and had already radioed it to shore. They took one man away with them that was having heart problems.

  Three days later the ‘Caribbean Night” cruise ship arrived transferred all of us aboard.

  Cruising back at normal speed made us realize just how far off course we had been carried. It took us four days to get back to Miami.

  Other than being scared witless during the storm, I never enjoyed anything more in my life,” Victor explained.

  “Wow!” Logan exclaimed. “What an adventure. I wish I had been there too.”

  “It sounds good now, but during the storm I thought we were going to die,” Reid answered somberly.

  “Well Logan, the cruise line gave us enough free cruises for us to be able to take all of you with us when we go again,” Millie answered.

  “How was your trip to Disney Land?” Aunt Betty asked.

  “We took videos that we want to show you at a later date,” Daniel answered. “They turned out so well they are the next best thing to being there. We all had a fantastic time. We spent at least two days in each theme park. Isabella was so much fun to watch. You could not possibly know how much I love being a Dad and husband. That is what life is all about,” Daniel said happily.

  Dinner was a special time that night with their friends safely home and everyone remembering different highlights of their experience and relating them.

  Caitlyn had cooked a big prime rib roast with baked potatoes, green beans and a huge Caesar salad. Their guests ate heartily even having second helpings, laughingly comparing the prime rib with goat meat.

  After dinner they all walked around outside awhile just to let the big meal settle to and also stretch their legs a little more.

  Victor was the first to break up the party with a suggestion to Millie for them to get the children home soon since tomorrow was a school day. They were reluctant to leave their friends, but it would be so good to get home.

  With more hugs and kisses their guests were on their way home happy to be back in good old Massachusetts.

  “Dad! Dad!” Logan said excitedly. “We forgot to give them their presents from Disney World!”

  “I remembered it son, but I think it will mean more to them if you give them the gifts after they have seen the videos, Just like you did in school, remember?” Daniel reasoned.

  “Oh, yeah, you are right Dad, thanks,” Logan answered.

  “They are all so tan, they learned to swim and dive. Could you teach us to swim too Dad?” asked Sarah.

  I have been thinking of having a swimming pool put in. Let us talk it over with your Mom and make some plans?” suggested Daniel.

  The first thing Caitlyn suggested was a list of safety rules. The family would take an evening to make the rules and study them until everyone had them firmly entrenched in their minds.

  “Why do we need rules? We just want it for fun,” Logan asked.

  “Because too many children have drowned when they did not know any safety rules,” Caitlyn said, then added, “Ask any parent who has had to pull their dead child from the family pool.”

  “Your Mom is right, it is only by knowing and obeying safety rules that we can enjoy having a pool. Our Isabella is too young to be aware of danger, so the rest of us must watch over her,” Daniel advised.

  “Dad, would you like me to dig the hole for the pool?” Logan asked.

  “Not yet, son, I will get a pool company to give us some designs and we will all decide on the one we like best,” Daniel answered, smiling at his son’s offer.

  Sarah crawled into Daniel’s lap and said “You have just gotta be the best Dad in the world. We love you so much,” putting her arms around Daniels neck, she gave him a dozen kisses.

  Isabella pulled up at his knees, making little kissy noises, raised her arms to him. Daniel looked at Caitlyn, rolled his eyes heavenward asked, “Do you think these girls are taking advantage of me? Do they know they make me soft in the head? Do not even bother to answer, I would not change things for the world.”

  Having made the decision, Daniel lost no time calling a contractor for designs prices. After looking over brochures of pools, pool enclosures, decks and railings, Caitlyn the children put the most expensive pool brochures aside, but Daniel knew at once the one he wanted.

  Without saying a word he gave the salesman the brochure of the pool he wanted. Two days later there was heavy equipment in the yard.

 
When Logan saw the size of the hole in the ground he said, “Gee, Dad, am I ever glad you did not want me to dig this hole I would be here until I was twenty one. Are you going to tell us which pool we are getting?”

  “No, this is a surprise, but I promise you, we will all be happy with it,” Daniel answered his son with a smile.

  Millie called the following Friday and invited the Connelly family over for all day Saturday. The Hamilton family wanted to see the Disney World videos and they wanted to show off their own pictures and souvenirs.

  The children were so excited to see Amber and Reid again to tell them their big news about the swimming pool.

  They hurriedly got their Disney World gifts wrapped and them, hoping the recipients would like them as much as they had liked picking them out.

  When Saturday came they were all anxious to get to Millie and Victor’s house to spend time with their good friends. Everyone was also excited about learning more about the adventure.

  Victor was an expert with a camera and his video’s showed it. He had taken great videos of the ship, the entertainment, the grand buffet, of Amber and Reid. Then on the first Island they visited had the gift shops, the colorful people and gorgeous scenery.

  Then the pictures of the sea at storm, on deck at first, then through the stateroom windows. It was horrifying! The children gasped when they were shown.

  “It scares me to see it again,” Reid said.

  The next ones were of the Island they were marooned on.

  Victor had amazing videos of the children learning to swim and to dive. More videos of them catching lobsters and even more of them catching fish. He had caught the horrors of the storm and the excitement of fishing. after seeing their videos, everyone felt they had really shared the experience.

  Millie called for lunch, as they ate, Reid and Amber remembered other experiences to share with their friends.

  After lunch, Reid and Amber asked Millie, “Now, Mom? Can we do it now?”

  “Of course you may, my darlings. This is the perfect time,” Millie answered.