Smugglers 1: Nikki

by Gerald McCallum

  Nikki sat at her desk and thought to herself that James was supposed to pull out by 10:00 a.m. She had pro-rated the check she gave to him by days. When she went to tell Mark about the fifty foot Gulfstar coming in, she would see if James was moving out. She heard a horn. The boat was early. She got up and ran down the dock to get Mark and meet the Gulfstar which was already coming down the canal.

  Nikki and Mark got on each side of the slip and waited to receive the ropes and pull the boat in. She tried not to take sail boats, but she needed the money. Sail boaters, also known as blow boaters, always caused trouble with the power boaters, known as stink pots, and they sometimes stole toilet paper and light bulbs from the public showers. It seemed that every time a sailboat left the dock, the public shower was empty. It didn’t matter if it was a five thousand dollar sail boat or a five million dollar sail boat, the public shower was always empty.

  After tying the boat up and introducing herself and Mark, Nikki headed back to her office. She didn’t see any movement on James’ boat, so she stopped and knocked on the side. There was no answer and it was already 11:30. She went to her office and decided to try again around noon. There was no answer then, either.

  Cynthia was up early and came down to see Nikki. “I’ll be moving back to my boat as soon as the carpet guys are done. I want to thank you for all you’ve done, letting me stay here and all the dinners.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I was glad to have the company. Let’s go down and see how the carpet is coming,” stated Nikki.

  They left and walked down to the 100-footer. When they got aboard, they found out that the work would be done in less than an hour. Cynthia decided to stay on board and see them finish. Nikki left.

  On the way back she stopped at James’ boat. She could hear his TV going, so she started knocking on the side of his boat. She knocked and knocked and finally after five minutes, James came to the door. “What do you want?” he growled.

  “I gave you the pro-rated check until the end of the month, and you were supposed to be gone by 10:00 this morning!” she responded.

  “Oh! Thank you for the check. My attorney said the note you gave me is not legal, so screw you, Nikki! I have thirty days from the date you served me with a legal notice, and if I want to drag it out, I can for maybe four or five months,” James said.

  “You wouldn’t try this bullshit if Bill was here. He’d pull you out by your ears!” replied Nikki.

  “Don’t talk to me about Bill. He told me a lot, and he saw what you did,” he stated.

  “So you’re not leaving until I get the Chief?” she asked.

  “Not on your life! Are you done with your empty threats? Screw you and goodbye,” he yelled and went inside.

  Nikki went back to her office and called her attorney. She told him to make up an eviction notice and mark it hand deliver, which she would do. She told him she would pick it up that afternoon around two. Nikki drove into town to pick up the notice, then drove back to the dock and banged on the side of James’s boat. He came to the door, but he wouldn’t take the eviction notice from Nikki so she threw it at him and said, “you’re served.”

  “No, I’m not served. You didn’t hand it to me,” he exclaimed.

  “You don’t have to take it, asshole! You’re served, and it is 4:17 p.m., ask your attorney. Now I’m going to sue you, or you can escape tonight. Either way you’re screwed,” she replied.

  Nikki went down the dock to her office and called her attorney to let him know she served James at 4:17 p.m. Then she made herself a drink and walked down to see Jerry, Loretta, Brian and Brett. On the way, she saw Mark on the back of Don’s boat having a beer with Don, and James was inside his boat.

  Nikki was having fun on the back of the Sea Cactus with the four of them when down the dock came Cynthia with a drink in her hand. “Can I join you guys?” she asked.

  “Yes,” said Jerry. “We’ll move our chairs around so you can have a piece of the table.”

  It was around 8 p.m. or so when they all went to town for dinner. Cynthia was drunk by then, and she was all over Brian which was fine with everyone especially Brian. During dinner Cynthia kept getting closer and kissing Brian. They got home about midnight, and Brett and Nikki fully expected a second helping of what they had a couple of nights ago. But when they got to Nikki’s boat house, it was leaning to one side badly. She told Brett to get Mark right away, and she went on board.

  Nikki opened the hatch in the kitchen closet. She turned on the lights in the bottom of the boat. The sea water was a foot and a half deep.

  “Holy shit!” she said out loud to no one. Just then Mark came in and looked in the hatch, too. He ran out to the dock box in front of the four-plex and got an electric submersible pump and fifty feet of hose. He set the pump in the water and ran the hose out the kitchen window. Then he got the other electric pump. He plugged the first pump into her pedestal. He put the second pump in the water and ran the hose out the door and plugged it in, too. They both were pumping full steam out of three-quarter inch hoses.

  “I’m going to get my tools and I’ll be back in a minute,” Mark told Nikki. “And the rest of you, get off the boat, it doesn’t need the extra weight.” Mark was back in five minutes and the pumps were ahead of the water coming in, so he lowered himself in the hatch and started crawling through two feet of water looking for the leak.

  The bottom of the house boat was 28" x 40" and every four feet in all directions was a three quarter inch plywood wall, a baffle, up from the bottom in all directions. There was a round hole cut about two feet in diameter. This kept the water from running to one end and tipping the boat house over. Every four feet you had to get half way up and crawl through the hole. Mark knew not to forget the tools or cord with pump and plug for patching or he’d have to go all the way back for them.

  After three hours, the water went way down. Mark found five holes in the bottom. He drove wooden pegs in them, then he crawled out.

  “What did you find,” Nikki asked.

  “Five holes in the bottom, but I drove pegs into them,” he replied

  “Good. Let me guess. They were all in the north west corner?” she said.

  “They were,” Mark confirmed.

  “I’ll call the diver,” she stated.

  Nikki gave Mark a beer and allowed the rest of her friends back on board. Mark said he would turn off the crawl space lights and disconnect the electricity to the pumps and throw the cords inside. She would be alright for the night and not to worry.

  Nikki sat down in the living room and had a drink with everyone. Brett said to the air, “What kind of fish would cause those type of holes?”

  “A welder fish,” she said.

  “What’s a welder fish?” Brett inquired.

  Nikki and Mark broke into laughter, and Mark said, “It’s about five feet-eight inches and weighs around one hundred and fifty pounds.” Mark and Nikki looked at each other. They knew who and what a welder fish was — James on the Sea Ray.

  Nikki told everyone she was tired and wanted to get some sleep, so everyone headed home.

  Nikki didn’t wake up until 11:00 the following morning. When she got up the first thing she did was look in the hatch. To her relief, there was only about two inches of water in the hold.

  She turned on the coffee, plugged in the pumps, put her long hair in a ponytail and took a quick shower. By the time she got dressed, the pumps had run dry. She poured herself some coffee and called the diver. She got him this time and told him it was kind of an emergency and told him most likely he will have to do it again before long. She went down and told Mark the diver would be coming and asked him to put a white coat hanger through one of the holes as she had to go to town.

  Nikki headed to town to see the Chief. He was at the coffee shop for lunch, so Nikki invited him to her booth. When he joined her and started to eat his BLT, Nikki told him the story about James. She spared no details on the nude swimming and the fight over the eviction. Then she told
him how he put five holes in her house boat, and when they got home it was only minutes from sinking. It has been a close call, Nikki added.

  “You know that no one sells insurance for house boats because they are not technically real estate that have no legal description,” she told the Chief, who said her he’d take care of James personally.

  They concluded their visit with coffee before Nikki left for the dock where she spent an hour chatting with various people. When the Chief pulled up, he asked Nikki where James’s slip was. Nikki pointed to the Sea Ray, and the Chief went over and knocked on the side of the boat. When there was no response, he knocked with his ASP. Finally James came to the door, and to Nikki it looked like the Chief was telling him off.

  “I warned him,” the Chief said to Nikki on the way out, “that if you call me, or if your house gets struck by lightning, I will be here to see him, and I asked him the name of his attorney. It’s old Carl. I’ll call him when I get back to the office. Nikki, you take care of yourself and call me if you have any trouble with that asshole or if he leaves one minute late.”

  Nikki was satisfied with the meeting and went to her office to see if she had any calls while she was outside. When she was in town, she had stopped at the hardware store and bought an outdoor bell for the phone and an outdoor speaker for her ship to shore radio. She would have Mark put them both on the corner of her house boat. She brought these things to Mark, so he could connect them and fix the high water alarm.

  “The diver said that someone put the holes in the house boat with a drill,” Mark told her.

  Just then she saw James out on the dock, and she hurried to confront him. “James, I know you put those holes in my houseboat! Now, I’ve put a two-thousand gallon bilge pump in all four corners on a twelve volt system and a high water alarm. I’ve been here over ten years, and the Chief and all the cops and attorneys like me. You’re a drunken stranger. So if you want trouble you’ll get more on your plate than you can say grace over. Look at me when I talk to you, you asshole! Look, I said, look at this!” Nikki hit her ass, “Don’t think I won’t use this to beat you! You’re wrong, I will! You’re mine now, shithead!”

  “Screw you!” he said before turning and walking to his car. Over his shoulder he said, “I’m going into town to see my attorney!”

  “Who? Old Carl? You and two stray dogs must be his only clients this year, you cheap jerk! You should have left when you had the chance!” she yelled.

  Mark was out of sight, so she went to see Brett and Brian. She found them shampooing their boat.

  “Jesus, Nikki! Don’t ever let me make you mad,” said Brett.

  “No, she’d shoot you if you even make her frown,” Brian added.

  “Brett, am I going to see you later for drinks?” Nikki asked, laughing.

  “Well, of course. What else can I say? I don’t want to make you mad,” Brett chuckled.

  It was about 5:00 p.m. when she was done so she made a drink, took a shower, and got dressed. Garth Brooks was playing on the radio. For some reason, she was happy, but why? She had lost the money and was in a fight with that crazy asshole on the Sea Ray and he might try to sink her house boat any night. She thought about what he said about Bill the morning she threw him out. He had said that Bill talked to him a lot, and Bill told him that he had seen what she did. That asshole knew where the bags were!

  Nikki looked at the clock. James had been gone about an hour. He’d be back soon, so she hurriedly got the extra key for the Sea Ray and went aboard. When she opened the first hatch, she saw one nylon bag on top of another. She opened the zipper on the top bag. It was full of money.

  She wondered if she should take it with her now? No, she had to play it cagey and decided to make a plan, to come back for the money later. She closed the bag and the hatch and left for her office quickly.

  Whatever plan she came up with, she knew she would have to fight with crazy James. From her office window, she watched James come home. He went straight the Sea Ray and she didn’t see him again that night.

  The phone rang; it was Brett. “Nikki, how about going out to dinner tonight?”

  “That would be nice, but I’d better not leave my houseboat tonight. You can come down for a drink if you want.”

  “Just give me fifteen minutes to shower and change.”

  “Oh, Brett, do you have a gun? I need to have one in the house just in case,” Nikki said.

  “I have a big clip 9 mm. I’ll bring it when I come down.”

  By the time Nikki showered and changed, Brett arrived with the 9 mm and gave it to Nikki.

  “I’ll buy one tomorrow,” she said. “What happened to Brian and the people from the Sea Cactus?”

  “Well, Brian is with Cynthia, and Jerry and Loretta are staying in. I guess I’ll stay here if you invite me,” replied Brett.

  “Consider yourself invited. What about a drink and some dinner?”

  “I’d like both,” he responded.

  Nikki and Brett spent the night at her apartment. After he showed her how to work the gun, they had a few drinks and dinner, then went to bed and made love for hours, then awoke when the morning light came through the windows.

  The night had been uneventful as far as the house boat and leaks went. The crawl space was drying up nicely. In two or three days it would be completely dry, that is, if James didn’t put more holes in the hull. Nikki went back to bed for a romp with Brett for twenty minutes or so then got up and made coffee. She looked out on the dock where all was quiet, so she enjoyed her coffee with Brett at the table.

  She lit a cigarette, and Brett just looked at her and said, “you know I can taste that cigarette.”

  “That ain’t all you taste,” she said. They both laughed.

  “I plan on quitting in a month or two. How about you? Are you going to quit, too?” Nikki said jokingly.

  They laughed again, and Brett kissed her as she started to make breakfast for them both. When they finished their meal, Nikki stepped outside, waving to Brett as he left for his Cat.

  He walked past James but had no exchange with him. Brian was still not on the Cat.

  Nikki saw Mark sitting with Don on the back of the fifty-seven footer and joined them. She asked if they’d both to do her a favor — if they heard that Crazy James was getting packed up or was in town getting provisions for leaving, would they let her know. Both agreed.

  It was Sunday so everyone was relaxing and drinking. They were all out in the sun. The music was on, the sky was cloudless, and the water was blue.

  The canal was full of boats coming and going. Brett had a twelve-foot inflatable with a forty-horse power short-shaft two-stroke. It was really fast. In fact, it was too fast. He convinced Nikki to get some lotion and get in.

  He had a cooler full of beer, and they took off for the Sand Bar at Holiday Isle. When they arrived, they found at least four thousand boats had the same idea; eighty percent of them were on the north side and most of the people were drunk.

  About thirty percent of the women had their tops down around their waists in case the cops showed up. The cops patrolled the canal like lions looking for gazelles in Africa.

  Brett pulled into the mix and shut off the motor to drift in the middle. He anchored the boat and jumped into the knee-deep water, and so did Nikki.

  They walked barefoot in the water from one end to the other. Music blared from boats and every twenty feet or so, Nikki greeted people she knew. She and Brett stopped to talk and had more beers.

  They got back in the boat, pushed out and Brett started the motor. They went into Holiday Isle to the shops and a bar or two. It was spring break and all the places were crowded. Nikki told Brett that one time, she and Bill made the mistake of taking a room right over the Big Bar during a spring break. The music had been too loud and the college boys were high on testosterone and God knew what else.

  She and Brett went on to see Big Dick and the Extenders at Lorelei’s Bar and Grill. Big Dick was the biggest man anybody had e
ver seen. He had been playing Chicago Blues at Lorelei’s every Sunday for years. They stayed until about 10:00 at night, then put the lights on the inflatable, and left for the marina.

  When they got back and tied up at the Cat, Brian was with Cynthia again, and Jerry and Loretta were down in their boat. Nikki stayed on the Cat and went to Brett’s room. It was much roomier than she’d imagined, but Brett’s bedroom was small for a two bedroom fifty-footer. Brett opened a bottle of white wine and filled two glasses. They were ripe for lovemaking and made the most of the night.

  Nikki woke up and went home at around six in the morning. On the way, she saw James sitting on the back of his Sea Ray in the dark and in the nude, smoking a cigarette. Neither of them said anything. They just stared at each other as she passed.

  When she got home, she looked in the hatch at the hull. All was dry, so James hadn’t done anything while she was gone over night. She went to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep before Monday morning came.

  She got up around 10:00, put coffee on, showered, and then dressed in her shorts and top, ready for another week of work. She saw Don and Mark on the back of Don’s boat talking about the dock. One of the couples from New York came in late Sunday night and were on their boat. The other couple was coming in tonight. They always traveled together on vacation for a week or two.

  Nikki did not see James. He would probably sleep until one or two o’clock. She surveyed the dock and boats. Everything seemed to be okay, so she went back to her office to catch up on the mail and books. The phone rang; it was someone in inquiring about the ad she had run for an apartment for rent. All of the rentals were full, so she took the name and number for later.

  Nikki decided it was time she thought about a place to hide the money when she retrieved it from the Sea Ray. She looked around and decided to go across the street to the Bird Sanctuary where she would dig a hole to bury the bags until it would be safe to move them again. She took a shovel and made sure that no one saw her go across the street and back into the woods.

  She started to dig but had to move because of all the roots. She found another spot and started to dig, but the hole filled with water about six inches down. She moved again and the same thing happened. She moved again and again but the holes always filled with water. The water table must be still saturated from the hurricane.