by Garry Hicks
Lou and Jessa stand next to Derek on the boat dock, next to Lou's forty foot boat, The Mystic. Brandon, Kyle and Sean lean over the deck railing, watching and waiting for Derek.
Brandon stares at Jessa. "Lou must have something going on to be with this Jessa chick. I mean, even as old as she is, what a babe."
"Yeah, she is pretty hot." Sean replies. "But you know Brandon, there's a bunch of women out there every bit as hot as her."
"Maybe for you but I'd never have a chance with arm candy like that."
Kyle adds "That's what's so great about a trip like this. Foreign women love American men. We represent...money!"
"A short, overweight, nerdish looking guy like me is only going to attract a woman that has the face of a cow."
Sean chuckles. "Then you can both moooo under a full moon."
Back on the dock, "Dad, I can’t thank you enough for letting us use The Mystic, we’ll take good care of her."
"You guys have planned this trip for a long time. You have enough supplies?"
"Yeah, plenty of everything."
Jessa asks "Charts, maps, flashlights, back up batteries, beer?"
"Got it all, especially the beer part." Derek grins.
"Water, medicine, gas, bait?"
"Dad, stop, we’re prepared!"
Lou adds, "You still have to be careful. Bad weather, pirates, mermaids, sea monsters, The Bermuda Triangle."
"Triangle Schmiangle. You know I’m a realist, I don’t believe in ghost stories."
Jessa seems concerned. "Don’t take the Triangle lightly Derek."
Derek stares intently at the two of them. "C’mon guys, more strange things happen in Miami than the Triangle."
Lou smiles. "Bring me back something interesting."
Brandon yells out, "C’mon D, maidens are waiting. Aye mates, pirate gold!"
Sean follows, "Yeah, we got places to go, people to see, beer to drink."
Kyle adds, "I just want to get the hell out of here."
Brandon turns to Sean. "You think I should yell out for Jessa to come with us?"
"Sure, if you want them to think you're a complete dummass."
"The crews anxious dad, we gotta shove off."
"I don’t want any contact from the Coast Guard about a missing boat. You understand?"
"Not a chance."
Jessa hugs Derek. "Really Derek, take care of yourself, and your friends." she glances at the guys on the boat deck, then whispers, "There can be strange things in those waters, strange happenings so, please...keep your eyes open."
Derek smiles. "See you in a few weeks." He hugs Jessa again, then his Dad, rushes on the boat.
Inside the cabin, Derek cranks the engine on. The guys cheer! Lou unties the ropes as The Mystic glides away from the dock. Lou and Jessa stand and watch.
Jessa seems concerned. "I only hope they don't run into any problems."
Lou adds "They're big boys, they can handle themselves."
The Mystic rolls lightly as she sails towards the Bahama's. The boy's sit in the galley, eating and drinking beer. They're excited to finally be on the trip they've talked about and planned for over two years.
Brandon asks, "Jessa’s hot. How long they been together?"
"I guess a bit over three years." Derek responds. "They met on a cruise. There’s something about her...I can’t quite figure it out. But I will tell you, in the three years she's been around, she hasn't aged a day. Like I said, I just can't figure it out."
Brandon sighs. "I could figure it out if I could see her naked."
Derek stares at Brandon. "Don't be such a desperate pig."
"I'm not a desperate pig, I'm only a pig when..."
Sean interrupts. "Did you tell Lou we were heading straight into The Bermuda Triangle? On a sunken ship mission and to fight Pirates?"
Brandon smiles. "Now you're starting to talk my language."
"To fight pirates?" Derek asks.
Sean downs some beer. "Yeah...we got as much of a chance of finding a sunken ship as we do of fighting pirates."
"Yeah." Brandon adds. "About the same chance of you finding your eight year old."
Derek smiles. "You guys need to let your imagination ‘imagine’. Yeah, he’s figured it out. In fact, both him and Jessa were throwing veiled warnings at me."
Kyle stares at Derek. "Like what?"
"Like watch out for the Bermuda Triangle, like, there's a lot of strange things going on out there. Stuff like that."
Kyle opens his hands wide. "Maybe they know something we don't. Maybe, just maybe, they're imagining the worst."
Brandon grins. "Imagine this. We get stuck on an island of beautiful babes who want to serve us."
Kyle smiles. "Hey, for a small stack of cash, I can get you that in Miami."
"Just take lessons from Derek," Sean adds. "He’s had beautiful women chase him since high school."
Derek waves his finger. "Nah, since fifth grade."
Brandon's mouth opens like he's going to heave. "Yeah, you’re such a stud, makes me want to puke all over you."
"I can’t help it if beautiful women want my body." Derek holds up both arms and flexes his muscles. "After all, I am a superior physical specimen."
Sean shakes his head. "You’re a specimen all right, one I find when I go..."
Brandon interrupts. "Let those shrimp swim over here buddy."
He grabs the bowl of shrimp, dangles one in front of his mouth.
"Over the teeth and through the gums, look out belly here I comes." he drops the shrimp into his mouth, munches it. "Ahhhhh, mmmmmmmm, good!"
Sean wipes his mouth with a napkin. "I’m getting closer."
"Closer to what?" Brandon asks.
"To finding my eight year old."
"Dude, that’s sick!" says Brandon. "I ignored it when you said it earlier. But now...'alert, alert, sexual predator on board'. Do I need to report you to..."
Derek interrupts. "Can you guys believe this, after two years of planning."
Sean adds, "I’ve looked forward to this way too much."
"When we first thought about this, we all had jobs, money, a life." Brandon replies.
Sean smiles. "Hey, I knew back then I was going to be laid off the day before we left."
Kyle chuckles. "That’s why we hang with you Superman."
Derek smiles. "Yeah, Superman. Sean, tell them about that time you rushed into that condo."
"You mean where I used to live, by the pond?"
"Yeah, yeah, that one."
"You really want to make me look bad, don't you."
"Just tell it...Superman."
"Whatever. I'm sitting in my place, chillin'. I'm on the second floor and I hear this woman's scream come from a walking trail, about a hundred yards away. I walk onto my deck, listen, I hear another scream, like a woman's being attacked. I grab my little mini bat, shove it in my pocket, run to the trail. I get there, I see nothing. I check around, in the bushes, nothin'. I don't know what it was. So I'm walkin' back to my place, I see this car parked right in front of my door, and there's no parkin' there. I figured I was set up so I run back, push the front door open, grab my bat an rush up the stairs. I reach my dining area an here's two kids sittin' an eating dinner. They just look at me. I got my bat raised in the air, I look like a crazy man, and this little girl says, 'daddy, you better come out here'.
I'm like, what's going on? The dad walks out, stares at me, doesn't get violent or nothing. It was then I realize I'm in the condo next to mine. They all looked alike. I say to the dad, 'Uhh, I'm really sorry, I thought someone was in my condo. I, uhh, live next door, I'm really sorry man'. He folds his arms, says, 'next door huh'. I say 'yeah, I can't apologize enough.' He says 'Maybe you should go back there.'
The guys howl with laughter.
Kyle chuckles, "Well, that's the last time I call you Superman."
"Oh really Kyle?" Sean responds. "Tell them the story about the time you loaded groceries in
your car."
"You mean when my key wouldn't work?"
"Yeah, that's the one. I had to tell my moron story now tell yours."
"Yeah, that was bad. I'm in the grocery store, My car was getting repaired so I borrowed my mom's car. I come out with six bags of groceries, seventy five bucks worth. The car had a push button on the trunk, it didn't need a key, I left it open for when I came out.
So I load my groceries in the trunk, take the cart back. I go to unlock the door, click the remote button but remember mom's remote doesn't work so the doors still locked. So I put the key into the lock, it won't turn. It goes in the lock but still won't turn. I try everything, I'm like 'I just locked this door.' I'm getting' pissed cause I can't unlock the door.
I pull my phone out, no reception cause I'm in a covered parking lot. So I go inside to call my mom. I'm in there five minutes, she says 'Try it again, I don't know what's wrong.' So I go back outside and the car isn't there. I'm like 'It was right here'. But it's a big parking lot so I stop and look around. I finally see the car and I'm thinking 'I thought it was one row farther up'. I'm thinking, no big deal, I've even done that before. So I put the key in the lock, bingo, it opens.
I get home, pop the trunk and guess what...no groceries. Now I don't know what to think, I'm thinking someone stole my groceries while I was in the store. I look around the trunk, see my mom's hat. I'm like, 'That wasn't there before.'
Brandon laughs. "You put them in the wrong car, didn't you? One that looked exactly like your mom's."
Kyle cracks up. "Bingo, you got it. The cars were exactly two rows apart and I came to the other car first. Brilliant, eh?"
"One more thing." adds Brandon. "I don't know why but I've been thinking about it. You guys remember, we were about fifteen, it was right before we stole those empty cases of beer. You guys remember that?"
The other three grin. Derek responds, "How could we ever forget that. Why?"
"You remember what we talked about?" He shoots a glance at each of the three of them. No one says anything.
"C'mon Sean, you must remember." Sean is silent, he just shrugs his shoulders.
"You all know what I'm talking about. We were going to be retired at forty. Well, mostly it was Sean but we all thought the same thing."
"What's your point?" Sean asks.
"It just seems, here we are, years later, all of us pushin,' or in, our forties and...where are we? Derek, you work in a cage in a basement, Kyle just quit his job, Sean just got laid off and I have no job. What happened to our dream? Why are we in this position at this point in our life? What the hell did we do wrong?"
It's quiet as they let sink in what Brandon has said.
Kyle finally speaks out. "I don't think we did anything wrong, I think we didn't plan our lives. I mean, we were all confident that we would excel at anything we did so we thought that all these opportunities would be there."
"Unfortunately," adds Sean, "I haven't received any letters or calls asking me to please come in and run our company."
Derek smiles. "I did receive an offer to be president of Google but I had to turn that down. Not enough money."
"I hear you." Brandon adds. "Same situation with me, I had to turn down an offer from Dell Computers to be their President."
"Let's face it guys," Kyle says. "We didn't plan our lives so we're all pissed we're stuck in job limbo."
"More like no job limbo." muses Sean. "But I'm not pissed at what I am or what I've become, I'm pissed at what I'm not, what I could have become."
Derek stands. "More great Shakespearean stories of lost opportunity's and stories of stupidity later." he holds his beer out. "Here’s to the Mystic, which will carry us..."
Brandon breaks in. "Into our ultimate challenge of bringing back a treasure chest full of golden...uhh, gold."
Derek finishes. "And...into the mystic."
The whole crew stands and chants "here, here" as they clink the bottles and chug their beer.
CHAPTER SIX