Come Alive Ch. 10

"Sorry. Duty calls," he said as he hooked up the leash.

"I'll walk with you," the captain said.

"Sure appreciate you getting word through like that," Henry said.

"Figured it might help."

"So, you think this thing is going to cool down?"

"About a fifty-fifty chance right now. I still can't recommend a stop in Copenhagen until things clear up a little. Other than that you should be good once you get out of the Baltic. Oh, and just so you know the score, the reason that jet got so close was that an inbound missile had targeted your radar signal. They had to get that close in order to fuck up the missile's track."

Taggart blinked several times as the information registered. "Could you thank the pilot for me, for us, I mean?"

"I think I can handle that, Mr. Taggart."

"Henry, please."

"Okay, Hank. We'll see you around the neighborhood. Y'all be safe out there." He started to turn but stopped and sniffed the air. "Goddam Hank! That dog's shit stinks -- bad!"

"His farts ain't much better."

"I can only imagine. Later, muchachos!"

"Yeah. Adios, amigo."

Taggart watched Clyde as he walked along on his appointed rounds, as always -- still circling and sniffing from bush to bush -- only now he couldn't get the idea of an inbound missile tracking Time Bandit out of his mind. Just how close had the damn thing come? How close, really, were they to death? Would anyone have ever known -- if war had started, for real -- about their demise?

But Clyde had been there with him, he thought, so he wouldn't have died alone -- and for some reason he knew that was important.

He bent down and scratched behind the pup's ears, and then Clyde's eyes turned to meet his. Deep brown, full of understanding, yet he wouldn't have known what happened, either. "Yeah, Bud, I know. Your shit stinks, but I still love you."

And that was worth a couple wags of the tail.

"And I think someone saved you some salmon, too!"

And that was all Clyde needed to know. What was unconditional love compared to a bowl full of salmon scraps!

+++++

On the seventh morning after leaving Lervassa, Time Bandit passed the island village of Gullholmen; Ellös -- and the Hallberg-Rassy yard -- lay waiting just three miles ahead...and Taggart felt a keen parting of the ways coming-on. Saying goodbye to Time Bandit would, almost certainly, be a final affair. There would be no coming back, no return just for old time's sake. He looked around at everything on deck and memories flashed by in his mind's eye, and soon an inevitable sadness colored the day. He'd been in touch with the salesman, updating their progress as they bypassed Copenhagen, then Gothenburg, and all the modifications and additions he'd requested had been carried out. Now he called the salesman one last time -- to let the yard know that the Bandit was just about there.

It had been a nervous week for the world, as well. It had seemed for almost 48 hours that the world was racing towards the precipice once again, but Swiss diplomats brokered a peace conference in Geneva and hostilities as quickly seemed to be at an end. And just then word broke that the People's Republic of China launched what at first appeared to be an all-out assault on Taiwan; these reports were soon discredited and great confusion followed after China announced the so-called invasion had merely been a long announced series of exercises.

Russia had promised to move back to pre-outbreak lines but their forces in Ukraine continued their advance on Kyiv, sparking a renunciation of the Geneva Accords by EU members of NATO. Diplomats shuttled back and forth between Geneva, Moscow, and Brussels while the world looked on nervously.

In Ellös, Taggart and Rolf moved gear from the old to the new, leaving Dina to sort through the gear and place it in new storage lockers. At the end of their second day at the yard, they formally moved aboard Time Bandits. On the third day, Taggart and Dina went grocery shopping, and it took hours to get all the new provisions stowed. A new life raft was fitted and stowed in the cavernous stern locker; new EPIRBs -- or emergency locator beacons -- were installed next to the life raft, and individual EPIRBs were mated to foul weather gear after the beacons were registered.

And then the inevitable happened.

Britt and Eva arrived, both now showing modest growth from their pregnancies. Dina was experiencing morning sickness now, though she was just barely showing. Rolf helped Eva and his mother stow their gear, keeping a watchful eye on Eva in particular, as to his unpracticed eye she seemed the most fragile.

Taggart gave the yard a list of things to repair on Bandit, as well as instructions on who to contact for financial arrangements. On their last full day in Ellös, he and Dina went back to the oncology clinic in Gothenburg for lab work; based on these results he was transfused, given a bag of white cells to bolster a low white count, and new medication to counter a worrisome new anemia. His Parkinson's medications were strengthened. On the drive back to the Bandits he tried to put a light spin on things -- but failed.

"How bad is it?" he asked Dina.

"More or less within the predicted range."

"So, Christmas is still doable -- more or less?"

She nodded. "Yes. We'll have a wonderful Christmas together, just you wait and see."

"Yeah, assuming the world doesn't go crazy and jump off a cliff in the meantime."

"What is it you said about the noisy tire?"

He smiled. "Ah yes. The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

"That is what this is all about, no? Russians want sanctions relief and China wants to be taken seriously as a world power, no?"

"Oh, Hell, who knows," Henry said. "We could put an end to all this bullshit in a half hour -- just require that all male leaders submit to castration. Get rid of all the testosterone and within a week the world would turn into an instant paradise."

"Hah! What about Mrs. Thatcher? She was a warmonger too, correct?"

"And her testosterone levels were probably higher than either Reagan's or Gorbachev's."

"That would be an interesting journalistic assignment, I think. To compare testosterone levels of world leaders."

"It would make for good reading," he sighed. "File it away in the humor section..."

"So, with the new transfusion, you will feel better in the morning. You still want to depart for the Kiel Canal?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I really don't want to tackle the North Sea, not with three pregnant mothers onboard."

"So," she added, "tomorrow morning -- we depart early?"

"Yup. No reason to linger here any longer than we need to. Besides, the sooner we make Holland the better I'll feel. I want to get as far away from this madness as we can."

"It really does feel like madness, you know?" she said, a note of faraway sadness in her voice. "With so many other problems facing the world, now we have to deal with crazy men and their atom bombs, too. It hardly seems fair."

"It probably never felt fair to the people of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, and my guess is it didn't feel right or fair in 1939, or even 1914. War seems to be a human constant, yet just like a bunch of lemmings off we go, racing for the cliffs time after time."

"What if we get to Paris early," she said, looking away. "Do you think we could return and pick up the old Bandit?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Move her south to Paris or to London, then, when the weather is warm again, take off for Tahiti...someplace like that."

"If that's something you want to do, why not take the new boat?"

"Oh, I don't know -- I was just thinking out loud. Perhaps I am just attracted to the idea to maybe just see the world while there is still a world to see."

"Dina, the squeaky wheel..."

"Yes, yes, I know. It gets all the grease. You have an unshakable faith that the human race will just go on and on, don't you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe...I guess I do because the alternative is so hard to accept."

"Henry, what happens when the world runs out of grease?"

He sighed, held up his hands as he looked out the window. "You know...just two weeks ago we were in these canals. Nothing but us and the Swedish countryside and the rest of the world seemed so far away."

"Yes, but these canals feel so far away now, almost like it happened in another lifetime."

"Maybe it was, Dina. Maybe it was..."

+++++

After an hour at the wheel, Taggart announced that Time Bandits was a completely different experience... "Rolf, come and take the wheel! Now, pinch up a bit, take her into the wind..."

Bandits heeled a bit, but the speed jumped from eight to almost ten knots, and the feeling of controlled exhilaration was impossible to deny -- and Rolf smiled. "Yes, I feel it. It is almost the sensation of big mass, yet the sense of control is, well, it is exciting!"

Taggart nodded. "I think...potential is the word I'm looking for. To me, it feels like a racing horse in the starting blocks -- and the gate has just been flung open! I love it!"

The wind was right out of the west and blowing a steady ten knots; Bandits' course was 180 degrees magnetic and would take them just off the east side of Læsø Island en route to the so-called Great Belt, the strait between the Danish islands of Sjælland and Fyn. The entrance to the Kiel Canal lay about fifty miles further on, and Taggart had figured on an early the next morning arrival at the canal. Now, watching Time Bandits' speed inch up to ten knots, he knew he'd have to revise that estimate.

The radar screen turned to a haze of black snow and he shook his head.

"Why is it doing that, Henry? Is it broken?"

"No, some asshole is jamming all radar frequencies."

"Jamming? What does that mean?"

Taggart smiled. "There's this game navies play, Rolf. Kind of like 'Hide and Seek,' they try to hide their ships and aircraft from each other while one side tries to sneak around and surprise the other side by showing up where they weren't expected."

"You mean...this is going on right now?"

"Yeah," he said, pointing at the display. "See how the snow looks darker over here? That's where the jammer is."

"So, down by Oslo?"

"That's right. And that means the other side is either up here, by Copenhagen, or somewhere out in the North Sea."

Three jets appeared a few moments before their sound caught up with them, and they passed Time Bandits off their left, or port side, headed towards Oslo while almost skimming the waves.

"Whose are those!" Rolf said, pointing at the jets.

"Russian. Sukhoi-34s."

"What do they do?"

"Strike fighter. Go after things like ships, I think."

Rolf looked at him and gulped. "What do you think it means, Henry?"

"That things aren't going too well in Geneva, for one. Probably a bunch of Russian ships coming out of the Baltic now, too."

"What should we do?"

"Let me take the wheel now," he said, then he pinched up a little, brought his course up to 200 degrees. "Bring in the sails a bit, Rolf."

Bandit's speed jumped to eleven knots and Taggart grinned... "Oh, Dad, I wish you were here because I would love to see the expression on your face right now. Remember Merlin and Kialoa -- on our second Transpac...?"

Five Euro-fighters appeared off their starboard bow, heading for the Russian Sukhois, and Taggart instinctively pinched up a little more, driving Time Bandits for all she was worth now. He looked at his instruments and grinned...11.2 then 11.4... 'Oh damn, but this is getting fun...' he thought as he looked at the blackening radar display.

"What is that island, Henry?"

"Læsø," he said -- pointing at the chart plotter. "About twenty-five miles to go..."

But just then the radar screen cleared up, and soon surface contacts appeared on the display.

"Okay," he said to Rolf, "it looks like cooler heads prevailed this morning."

Eva came up the companionway steps and sat down beside Clyde.

"Sorry, I need some fresh air."

He smiled at her. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well, thank you. Did I hear jets fly by?"

"Yeah, but nothing to worry about. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No, not yet, but Dina is making pancakes, with lingonberries I think."

Rolf started drooling. "My favorites!"

"I got it here, Rolf. Why don't you go down and see if you can give her a hand?"

Once Rolf was below he turned to Eva. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Dina. Why did you marry her?"

"And not you? Isn't that what you mean?"

She nodded, looked away.

"It was more a matter of legal practicalities than anything else, so don't try to pull me into a drama we really have no time for, okay?"

"Okay, but..."

"No buts, Eva. We have a lot of people crammed on this boat right now, and we're in a little bit of a hurry, in case you haven't noticed. Everyone has to get along right now, and I want you to do this for me."

"Dina told me...is it really this bad, Henry? This sickness?"

"Not my department, Eva. I just drive the boat, okay? Get us where we need to get. Your job is to take care of those babies and to get along with Britt and Dina. Understood?"

She nodded. "All I've ever wanted was to be with you."

"Well, I am happy you are here."

"You are? Really?"

"Yes, I need you here, just like I need Dina and Britt, and even Rolf. You are all my family now."

She looked at him and smiled, then she nodded. "I understand."

But he knew she didn't, not really. Not yet, anyway.

He looked at the chart plotter and fell off the wind a little, then -- with the push of a button he let out the sails -- and Bandits slowed a bit, but her motion eased more than a little, too.

"Ooh, this feels so soothing," Eva sighed. "To sail like this, forever and ever...that would be something."

"Wouldn't it, though?"

"Is that why you bought this boat? For all of us?"

He nodded. "Something like that. Something for the kids to grow up with, I think."

"Is this important to you?" she asked. "This connection you have with the sea?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Yes."

"I felt this when we were in the water together, with the whale."

"You did?"

"Yes, and I think he did, too. I think that is why he came to you, why he helped you get us back to the boat."

He looked at her but kept quiet, wanting her to work it out for herself.

"This is why I wanted to make love with you. This feeling, this connection, was so strong; I felt pulled to you like there was a force inside you I could not resist."

"Actually, I think that was my cologne you were experiencing. I call it Eau d' WD-40."

"You make people want to laugh, Henry Taggart, yet you hide behind the laughter. Why? Why do you do this -- when everyone understands you do this to hide?"

"Everyone? Really? You mean, this has all been in vain?"

"Even now you try."

"Old habits die hard, I guess."

"What are you hiding from, Henry?"

"Girls like you asking me questions like this."

"So...you are afraid of girls? Were you always shy?"

He looked away, then nodded. "I think so, yes."

"But no longer?"

"I don't know. Maybe I still am."

"I think not...not with all these babies coming so soon."

"No, I think maybe I still am. Even with all the babies."

"Please don't be shy with me, Henry Taggart. Please do not waste our time together with that extra distance."

"Do you think you will be a good mother?"

She nodded and grinned. "Yes, I do. I want little Henrys to take care of, to share the sea with. So yes, very much!"

Britt came up the steps just then, carry several plates of food -- and she just managed to get them onto the cockpit table without a major spill. "I could not eat below," she sighed. "I need air, I think."

"Feeling seasick?" Henry asked.

"Maybe it is just the babies," she said, patting her distended belly. "Anyway, I am hungry, so that is good I think."

Rolf came up the steps similarly loaded, then Dina came out into the sunlight carrying the rest of her huge breakfast, and soon everyone was seated around the cockpit table.

Taggart looked at the scene and smiled. This was what he had wanted to see...everyone gathered around a table -- at sea -- while they enjoyed the day. It was as simple as that. He watched their smiles most of all.

He heard jets flying high overhead from time to time but these he tried his best to ignore. If they proved to be a constant during the remainder of his time here, well then, he'd just do his best to ignore them until that proved impossible. All he knew that morning was that happiness was an ethereal creature, but you could hold her for a moment or two -- if you kept your heart open to the possibility.

After breakfast was cleared away, the two girls went below -- leaving Rolf and Dina alone with Taggart. She nuzzled in close until he wrapped an arm around her, then she pulled herself closer still.

"That was wonderful," he whispered. "Thank you for all you do."

"I'm glad you had some time with her this morning," Dina said, meaning -- he assumed -- Eva. "She has been very, oh, what is the word...clingy, I think?"

He smiled. "I think she must still be fairly young. Either that or she loves the feeling of being dependent on someone."

Dina nodded. "Yes, exactly. She will never stand on her own, only with someone close by her side."

"I think she's cute," Rolf said.

"Heard from Astrid?" Taggart asked, grinning to no one in particular.

"Yesterday, she texted me. She wanted to know how you were doing."

"I see."

"Oh, she said she is pregnant, too."

"What?" Dina cried.

"Why...you sly guy," Henry added.

"Oh, no, I am not the father. It is, she thinks, someone she was with before she met you."

"Ah." So that explains the long face this morning, Taggart said to himself. "Did you check the bunks down there? Is there anyway Eva could roll out of her berth?"

"No, there is a lee-board already installed, and I have shown her how to use it. But -- do you think I should go and see if she needs help?"

"Good idea."

"You are a devil," Dina whispered after Rolf disappeared below.

He shrugged. "I want him to get used to the idea of taking care of her," he said -- matter-of-factly. "Of you all, if he needs to."

"That's a lot to put on shoulders so young, isn't it?"

"We shall see," Taggart sighed.

"You are like an architect, aren't you? Putting together your creation -- piece by piece?"

"Hardly. I'm not half as devious as you think I am."

"So, what island is this?"

"Læsø Island. We've traveled almost fifty miles already."

"So fast?"

Taggart nodded. "This would be a decent boat in a race."

"Rolf said he heard you talking to your father earlier."

He nodded. "I do -- from time to time. I think he misses my dirty jokes."

"No doubt."

"Anyway, I like to keep him up to date on things."

"I'm sure he appreciates your doing so."

He turned and looked at her. "I hope you will too."

She closed her eyes for a moment, then she took a deep breath. "What kind of bread shall I make for us today?"

"Something nutty," he said, then he started laughing.

--

© 2020 adrian leverkühn | abw | this is a work of fiction, pure and simple; the next chapter will drop in a week or so.