Steamboat Willy Ch. 03

"Me too, Dear, do you want to go out to the Bar-B-Que place?"

"How about 'The Yearling', we haven't been there in a while?"

"Great, let's get dressed and go."

I slipped on some shorts and a Golf shirt. I looked at Sally; she was almost ready in a very cute yellow sundress. It had puffy little sleeves that extended across her breasts, dipping in the center to show some cleavage. It fit like a second skin below her breasts to her waist then flared out a short flippy skirt that stopped about six inches above her knee. She wore ankle-wrap sandals with a stiletto heel. Her makeup was done to perfection and her long blond hair was in a flirty ponytail.

I held her at arms length and leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. I whispered, "When you get out of High School little girl I am going to marry you." She smiled and pressed herself to my body, she pulled my face down and kissed me. "You had better wait for me, I graduate in a couple of hours"

We had a drink in the bar before dinner. Several guys asked her to dance; she smiled, thanked them, and told them that the only man she danced with was her husband. She would cling tightly to my arm, and then lift enough to kiss my cheek. A nice song I liked came on and I asked her to dance. We had never danced to Country before so I stuck to pretty much standard stuff. She was very good. I figured she could handle almost any thing I tried. We did a few twirls that showed off her long legs and yellow panties and we did a few low dips she enjoyed. Then an old favorite of mine played. I asked, "Do you Jitterbug?"

She grinned. "I love it, just tell me what you want to try." We danced for a while then I smiled and said, "Between the legs?" She nodded. I twirled her then held both her hands and threw her back between my legs and then whipped her back out into another twirl. I swung her on a low dip where her legs went up and over my back. Then I gave her a low toss in the air. She never missed a step and the lovely smile only left her face if she were laughing with me.

I noticed the hostess watching us and when the music stopped we found she had our dinner table ready. The meal was excellent but I was so enchanted by the lovely creature with me it might have been alfalfa. She excused herself to go to the Ladies Room. I saw a large man grab her arm and pull her towards him. I was on my feet in a second. I heard her say, "I am married now, let me go." I moved beside him and jabbed my elbow into his ribs. I thought I heard some ribs crack. He staggered back and I followed him. I was ready to drop him if necessary but he still didn't know what had happened. I stepped closer to him and softly said in a hard voice. "Apologies to my wife immediately or suffer a whole lot more pain. You WILL treat her with the respect due a lady or the consequences will be quite severe. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Yes, yes I'll tell her I am sorry I bothered her."

"Do it now!"

"Ah! Ma'am I am terribly sorry if I disturbed or embarrassed you in any way, please forgive me."

Sally nodded at him and he turned and exited the old restaurant. I paid the bill and the cashier apologized for the way she was treated. I asked if the man was a regular customer. She said she had never seen him before. I smiled and told her we had a nice meal and would be back. We went out and saw the man pointing us out to several deputies. Two deputies walked over and said the man wanted me arrested on assault charges. I asked the officers to look at my wife's arm where he had grabbed her. You could see the bruises his fingers had caused. I then told them he had been abusive and insulting to her in a public place. "Next time I will not be so gentle with him. If he presses charges I will counter sue for assault and verbal abuse. Do you know Charlie Proust?"

"The Sheriff?"

"Yes, tell him old Rich Murphy said hello. You might do it before this goes any further."

One of the deputies pulled out his radio microphone and walked off talking. He hurried back to us in a few minutes and consulted with his partner. They looked at us. One of them went and talked to the man. The other turned to me.

"We have nothing more for you Mr. Murphy, Sir. You may go now. I suspect you will hear no more from that guy. Good evening Ma'am, Sir."

We passed an Emergency Medical unit a few miles down the road headed for The Yearling.

"So, you and the Sheriff are big buddies.

How do you know him?"

"His little brother was in my unit and I got lucky and saved his life. He and his brother and I own a fishing camp in the Keys."

"You are full of surprises, I know you must have guessed that guy at "The Yearling" knew me from before."

"Was he a client?"

"NO! He did some work for Tommy and he made so many nasty remarks Tommy fired him."

We were both tired so we sat and cuddled and kissed. Sally lifted her head and kissed me, "Rich, I love this snuggling and kissing you almost as much as the sex. I feel so loved and so content. I love every thing about you."

"It is really wonderful for me too."

We went out the next morning and bought a new Jeep Liberty. It is a small SUV and nimble enough to go through the woods in real comfort. I still liked the Old CJ's better, but my real favorite was the old MB-38 Military model from the early fifties.

We met Jeb at the boat and went for a cruise recording every thing historical we knew about the river on a cassette recorder. Both Sally and Jeb knew more than I did. What we got on tape would be the foundation for a narrative description of the river and it's history. It could be easily revised and added to. Decided it would not be a continuous narrative. There would be blank spots where the crew could add their own information or point out wildlife, gators, eagles and such.

The Riverboat expert Don Mitchell arrived the next day and was amazed with what had been accomplished by Sally. Sally showed him the completed ribs for the big boat. She delighted in showing Don the ribs she had cut. Then she showed him some others I had done. He was surprised and asked, "Who did these, I don't think there is anyone alive who can do such fine work with a broad ax. Each of these is a work of art. I almost hate to see them buried in the hull of a boat."

"We can get more anytime we want them."

"The artisan who did these is still alive?"

Sally giggled, "He is standing right beside you."

He looked at me, "YOU?"

"Yep. I'm guilty. But if you decide to accept our offer you will have two craftsmen who are better than I am with a broad ax or an adze."

"I don't believe it. I have never seen better ax work. I can recognize the ax work of most of the modern boat builders and a lot of the old timers. I have never seen better than this workmanship."

"Well sir, my father and his brother are the best I have seen. I am not positive they can still turn out top quality work, they are both in their mid sixties, but they are still doing it. We are not trained boat builders. We are Timber Framers. Houses and barn builders."

"That is wonderful, I can tell you what needs to be done and let you do it your way. I have never seen but one or two frames like these made of one piece of wood with a natural ninety-degree bend in them. All oak? Really and grown on the property. Wow!"

I noticed Mitchell was eyeing Sally appreciatively. I was a little miffed when he took her hand and placed it on his arm and walked away toward the dock to see WILLY. Jeb was already aboard and had a head of steam up. Mitchell helped Sally aboard I cast the lines off and jumped aboard and took the helm.

I rung three bells, Tooted the whistle and WILLY moved slowly backwards. I turned the wheel and WILLY backed down river. I rang two bells then one and WILLY surged ahead. I turned up river and we were off. Mitchell was very impressed with the way the boat handled the turns. He was not familiar with the bow rudder and Sally explained it to him and the reason we used it.

We turned around and headed back toward the dock. Mitchell was sitting very close to Sally and talking very quietly with her. She looked back at me and smiled sweetly. I stuck my tongue out at her. When we were along side the dock Mitchell helped Sally to the dock and holding her elbow walked off with her.

I finished helping Jeb secure WILLY and then he and I walked up to Sally's house. Mitchell and Sally were seated at the dinner table talking. She was explaining that Murphy Construction of Miami was handling all of the financial aspects of the project. He was very impressed and said he was familiar with the company and remarked that we were fortunate to have the support of such a prestigious firm. I motioned for Jeb to sit at the table and I got a couple of soft drinks out and offered them to Sally and Mitchell. I got a couple for Jeb and myself. Mitchell looked a bit peeved at Jeb and I sitting right there with them. Mitchell looked a Sally, "Miss Thompson, Sally, If you will not be needing these men any longer today might they go home?"

Sally smiled sweetly at him, "Why certainly, Jeb you run along now. Rich will be driving me home." She smiled at me. "I am Mrs. Murphy, Mr. Mitchell. Rich is my husband, Mr. Richmond Murphy."

Mitchell stared at me for a moment. "Of course, the owner of Murphy Construction. Please forgive me Mr. Murphy, I thought you were a workman, an artisan."

"It is an easy mistake to make when I am wearing these raggy old shorts and a dirty T-shirt. Mrs. Murphy will probably take me home and hose me off before she lets me in the door."

Sally grinned at me, "I won't do that darling, but I will get in the shower with you and scrub you clean." She looked at Mitchell, "He does scrub up really well and I adore doing it for him. And oh, by the way, you will stay here in this house if it is all right with you. It is almost twenty miles to the nearest motel. The master bedroom is clean and ready for you. The refrigerator and the cupboards are fully stocked if you want to fix your self something. If not, Rich and I would be delighted to take you to dinner with us about seven. It will be casual tonight."

"I think I will take a rain-check on your dinner offer. I am still tired from the flight I think I'll fix myself something and relax and go to bed early."

"The freezer is full of TV dinners and things. We will see you in the morning."

Sally took my arm and we walked to the Jeep. I handed her in and got in myself. We went to our house and showered and changed and went to dinner.

In the morning Sally and I oversaw the placement of four rented travel trailers just to the side of her house. They were for the use of my father and uncle and other workers we were hiring to help get the big boat completed. It was going to be a much bigger project than WILLY.

I asked Sally if she had decided on a name for the bigger boat. She smiled, "Daddy picked the name for this one, he called her the OCKLAWAHA PRINCESS. He said she was named for me." Tears ran from her eyes. I held her close and she looked at me and said, "Daddy would have loved you. You are his kind of man, mine too."

I smiled, "Girl, I need to go to Miami tomorrow to spend a couple of days. I have some business matters I must attend to there. We need to have everything arranged here so things will progress smoothly while we are gone."

"I'm going with you?"

"I was planning on it unless you would rather stay here. I had a number of things there I wanted to show you. I promise you will enjoy it."

"Wonderful, I can choose to stay here and work all day then crawl into a lonely bed every night, or go to Miami with my lover and be loved and pampered all the time. How long do I get to think about it?"

"About as long as it takes this coin to hit the ground."

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, Sir, Master! I WILL go where you go. You will never leave me behind; you are far, far too precious to be out of my sight for that long. When you get horny I want to always be within reach." She pressed her lips to mine, "Are you horny now?"

"I will be in a second or two if you keep kissing me."

The next morning I parked the BMW 760 Li next to the sleek Grumman Gulfstream V And I guided Sally aboard. The stewardess showed us to our seats saying, "Good Morning Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, we will be departing shortly.

We have all our clearances and will start to taxi as soon as your baggage is aboard. I will bring coffee now if you desire." We both nodded and she hurried off and returned quickly with our coffee. She had cream and non-dairy creamer and sugar and various sweeteners. We felt the aircraft gently begin to roll. The Stew checked our seat belts and said she would take our breakfast orders when we were safely airborne.

We stopped for a moment then the engines roared and we started to roll. The nose tilted up and we heard the wheels thump into their wheel wells. The sun shined brightly in the left side of the plane as we leveled out at cruising altitude. The girl rushed back and adjusted the window shades and offered various omelets, pancakes, and other breakfast foods. Sally requested Western Omelet and OJ. I went with that too. Sally looked around the interior, "This is pretty nice for a Timber Framer. You must have a night job too."

I smiled, "I have to moonlight a little now and then as a rich girl's husband."

"You do a splendid job of it too, I might add."

It seemed we had just finished our breakfasts when the Captain announced we were descending for our landing at Miami International Airport. When the plane stopped moving we were shown to two waiting Cadillac Sedans. We were just seated when the vehicle started to move. We drove for about three minutes and we were placed aboard a waiting Helicopter.

A Stewardess got us strapped in and we rose in the air and the nose dropped as we flew off. In about ten minutes we landed at a heliport behind a huge building. A fancy electric car met us and the driver greeted us, "Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, Good Morning, would you like to freshen up a little or would you prefer to go directly to your office?" I looked at Sally and she smiled happily at me and I opted for the office. We stopped at an unmarked door and entered a hall. The driver opened another door and we were in a small office. Sally looked around, "This is nice."

I answered her unspoken question. "Yes it is a bit small, this my Personal Assistant's Secretary's Office."

Sally laughed, "Does she have a Secretary too?" I opened the door and we were in a larger office, a man rushed to us and I introduced him to my new wife. He was not some one I knew. I asked, "Were is Mrs. Baker?"

"Oh sir, she is in your office making sure all the papers for you are in order." I headed for a large door and escorted Sally through it. The office was huge. An older lady stood and walked toward me and hugged and kissed me. Then she said, "And this lovely lady has to be Mrs. Murphy, You are right Richie, you said she was beautiful." I said, "Marge, This is my child bride, Sally.

Sally this old bag is my dearest friend and my secretary for twenty some years. Call her Marge."

Marge held Sally in front of her, she looked Sally up and down, Damn boy ya sure done good for your self, I can't say the same about her."

"Marge you are fired, you old bitch."

"What is that? Number 387 or 388?" She hugged Sally, "Sweetheart, you married the best man in the whole world. No one else even comes close."

I laughed, "Sally this wonderful woman has guided me through the cutthroat business of construction ever since I first started. I have retired her and fired her and just can't get her to leave. She will have a retirement income in six figures now. I have loved her dearly for years, but I'm too old for her.

She likes real young guys, after twenty she says they slow way down."

Sally sat in a large leather chair, She giggled, "I refuse to comment in any way...

this is a death trap. It is a lose, lose deal."

I looked at Marge, "I will just assume without embarrassing you by asking, that the apartment is ready and waiting. I have several meetings with my banker I need to get out of the way, While I am doing that I want Marge to show you around and especially take you to our advertising and promotions department.

"Sally I want you to give them your ideas on putting the boats to use. I have been toying with the idea of a promotional trip around Florida by Steam Paddle Wheeler. Do it in like six or eight stages and sell tickets for each stage. Just a thought Honey, drop it or run with it. We will be here for three more days. You can work on it some each day."

Sally said, "I have to change first, I can't walk around with Marge looking so elegant and me in jeans."

I grinned at my wife, "Come on, the apartment is right through this door or that door, you guess which door." She walked to one door and opened it.

I said "Wrong, that is the conference room. She looked at me; "You could hold basketball games in there." She walked to the other door and tried that one.

She stepped into a huge foyer. It opened into a large formal living room. Sally wandered in the living room looking all around.

"Come this way Sweetie, here is the Master Suite." She followed me into a smaller informal family room. The bedroom was off to one side. There were his and hers dressing areas and walk–in closets. Her things were hanging in her closet and in the drawers.

Marge said, "Your cosmetics are in your dressing area. Are you going to change too Rich?"

"No, I'll change later."

Marge said, "Miss Sally take your time. Rich and I will be just outside here in the family room." Marge and I sat and talked about things I needed to get done in the next few days. I told her to schedule in plenty of sightseeing and shopping for Sally and I.

"You want to go shopping with her?"

"Yes, I will go shopping with her and after this afternoon Sally will attend all meetings I go to and accompany me at all times. She needs to get an idea of what is going on here. I know you think I am besotted with her, and to a certain extent I admit that I am. But I think you will be surprised by this girl."

A couple minutes later Sally walked out wearing a Navy blue pinstriped pants suite with a white fitted blouse and stiletto heels. She looked damned good with her hair drawn back in a severe bun. Sharp, classy and powerful was the image she projected. Marge looked at her and grinned at me, "She'll do." She grinned at Sally, "Honey, I'd give my left titty if I could look half as good as you do. I thought you looked like 'eye candy' at first but I suspect I was wrong."

"No Marge, I try to be eye candy for Rich when ever I can. He loves it. I love for him to love it."

"Smart girl. I will tell you this right in front of the big guy. He will never cheat on you no matter what. That is just who he is. He doesn't cheat or lie. Ever. Now let's go let all the men drool over you. You will snap a few necks today. I have a VIP name tag for you in my office."

I said, "Hey! You guys meet me back here for lunch, OK?"

They walked off, Sally wiggled her ass as she walked away and she looked back and winked at me. I had a good couple of meetings and arranged a few things for Sally. She now owned forty percent of Murphy Construction. I owned another forty percent. Marge and some other long time employees owned the other twenty percent.

Sally and Marge found me in the family room sitting at the dinner table sipping on lemonade, Sally wanted one too, and Marge wanted a Bud Light. A door opened and a waiter entered and placed the requested drinks in front of the ladies. He handed a menu to each of us. Marge asked for a Caesar Salad, Sally wanted one too, I asked for a grouper sandwich." When the waiter left Sally asked, "Is the kitchen in there. How did they know what we wanted to drink?"