Steamboat Willy Ch. 08

I went in and sat with Sally, Peggy and Patsy while Dori went to get a sandwich, the cook came in with a big fat juicy hamburger with lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickle, and mustard. Sally ate about half of it, and then she was full. Dori returned and the ladies talked about birthing children.

I just watched Sally. Her contractions were very painful now and spaced about ten minutes apart. The doctor said to bring her right in. I notified the helicopter and Dori gathered up Sally's things and I picked her up and carried her to the plane. The crew helped me get her settled and we were off.

We were met with a gurney at the hospital heliport and Sally was rushed to the maternity ward. The doctor met us there. Sally was taken to a room while I went down to admitting and signed a bunch of papers. When they found out she was the donor of a new wing for the hospital we got pretty good service. Money not only talks but sometimes it screams. The word got around very quickly. By the time I got back to her room there were photographers there. The director of the hospital was there welcoming her. Sally was not really interested as another contraction hit her. Everyone but a nurse or two and I were ushered out of the room.

It was almost another hour before she as taken to the birthing room. The doctor met us there. I sat in a chair out of the way while the doctor talked softly with Sally. Sally kept looking to make sure I was there. She smiled and said, "I love you." I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. They got Sally into a gown and I was allowed to sit by her in a chair and hold her hand, she was so brave and smiled up at me in complete trust that I wouldn't let anything bad happen. I patted her hand and leaned over and kissed her and told her I loved her. She smiled tenderly at me and said, "I know you do dear. Where is Dori."?

I looked at the doctor, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "She is allowed in here." I got up and went out and saw Dori and Dad and Uncle Ike and their wives sitting in the waiting area. I thanked them for being there and looked at Dori, "Sally is asking for you girl." She jumped up and I followed her to the room.

Sally smiled when she saw us. "Where have you been?"

Dori said, "I got shoved out with everybody else and they wouldn't let me back in. How are you feeling?"

"Right now I feel fine. When the contractions hit they are worse and worse. I think that is normal. At least it is what I expect." Dori and Sally talked and I sat back in a corner out of the way. Sally looked around and finally saw me. "Don't you dare leave me, Rich." I got up and moved near her. "I told you I would be here." Her eyes got very wide and she let out a loud moan. "It really hurts now."

I couldn't see the doctor but I heard her say, "She is fully dilated now, it wont be long now. Sally I want you to push on the next contraction, OK?"

Sally sucked in her breath and I saw the pain wash across her face. She grunted and squeezed my hand very hard. The doctor said, "Get ready Sally the next one should come soon, I see the top of his head." Sally grinned at me and then her eyes popped wide and she gripped my hand and I saw her holding her breath as she pushed hard.

"Push again, Girl" yelled the doctor," here he comes, He's turning now and out he comes. He is beautiful." A baby's scream split the air. "Tie off the cord while I hold him. Oh! He's going to be a red head. Relax for a minute and we will see how far back his brother is. You can cut the cord now and clean him up, nurse." Sally's eyes fixed on mine. "How does he look 'Daddy'?" I hadn't taken my eyes off of Sally's face. I looked down at the child and took a quick inventory. "He has all the standard equipment. He is wonderful. I don't think he wanted to eave your warm sweet belly 'Momma'; he liked it in there. He has a fine set of lungs." I held both of Sally's hands and Dori held the child and held it close to Sally. Sally's face scrunched up as she looked at her son for the first time. Sally said, "I want to hold Billy but I think his buddy, Mike is ready to join him."

The Doctor said, "You are right Sally, I see the top of his head now, get ready, sweetie, a couple of more pushes should do it."

A couple of days later I saw how our life had changed. The whole universe revolved around two little boys. The two little redheads ruled with an iron hand. When they were hungry they expected a nice warm teat full of milk to be instantly pressed into their little mouths. If it didn't happen they would immediately let us know of their displeasure.

I was as involved as I could get in the care of the boys. I changed diapers and gave baths. When they awoke at night it was almost always both of them crying. I would get up and check them out, change them if necessary then take them and put them in bed with Sally who was always ready for them to nurse. They would slurp away happily and fall asleep when they were full. I would carry them back to their cribs, burp them and stagger back to cuddle with my sleeping wife.

What saved my life is that sweet, sweet Dori would take a turn with them every now and then. It was more of a chore for her because she had to make two trips each way because she was unable to handle two of them at once.

Sally insisted Dori and I sleep in the guest bedroom and we would start off that way each night. We would make love and then I would go snuggle up to Sally. She never failed to kiss me as I climbed in with her. She would thank me and tell me she loved me. Several times I tried to go straight to bed with Sally but she insisted I make love to Dori first. Many times both Dori and I would slip into bed with Sally after making love.

Sally had it in her mind that I need to make love every night. She told me it was to keep me from wandering. I wasn't about to argue about that. Sally started working out and walking every day. She was determined to regain her figure. Dori did everything with Sally to keep her company. Dori insisted that her stretch marks disappeared because Maria had rubbed her belly, and butt with fresh aloe every day. Dori did it for Sally. I did it for her too. I enjoyed it a lot but got very excited. It was about seven weeks before she told me we could make love. Dori insisted I be alone with Sally for several nights before she joined us in our bed again. The three of us slept together from then on. I couldn't believe how the three of us got along so well. There was never a cross word between the two girls. I believe they re telepathically linked to one another. I swear they know what the other is thinking without a word being said. Often one of them will start a sentence and the other will complete it.

They love to gang up on me and they tease me unmercifully but always in good fun and never in a really hurtful way. If I pretend my feelings are hurt they will both cry over it. I tease them too but I am very careful to never ever compare one to the other in any way. I had done it on one or two occasions and saw the hurt in their eyes; I tried to cover it up and was pretty successful at it. Once I said, "Sally, I wish you could soul kiss as well as Dori." I saw the hurt and smoothly continued. "Maybe Dori can teach you how and you can teach her how to caress my balls like you do while you give me a blow job. I want both of you to teach me how you drive the other up the wall when you eat each other out."

I received an extensive education in pussy eating. I knew just how to please each of them.

Things were coming along very well with the steamboat company and we had sent out invitations for the different types of trips on PRINCESS and WILLY. WILLY was not near as much trouble because no food was served aboard. PRINCESS had several different trips requiring different menus. Georgie had surprised us all by rapidly gaining control of the purchasing and the preparation of the meals.

Tom and Frank had completed clearing the river and we made several trips to acquaint the pilots with the turns and the currents they would encounter. We ran the trips several times and had plotted the precise track the pilot should follow to make the smoothest trip. The track even showed when to use the bow thrusters to help with the turns. Tom and I tried an experiment one day I put a mask on that had blinders built in so that I couldn't see out of the pilothouse but could see the GPS plotter on a large monitor that also showed the radar picture superimposed.

I was able to run the whole trip without seeing out of the cabin. This could be invaluable in an emergency. The track also pointed out the points of interest along the way, such as historical spots, fort sites, landings and places such as Payne's Landing where several important treaties were signed with the Indians during the Seminole Indian Wars. This information was shown on a small computer monitor at the appropriate times. The Captain or the Pilot could announce these points of interest of speakers through out the boat.

John Norton did a masterful job with the invitations and had the trial runs filled with VIPs. He assured me that from the interest he was getting from travel agents the bookings should do well. We had film crews from the TV travel programs and from the History Channel. There was a lot of interest.

John and Georgie were cute to watch, they were never over a foot away from each other. We had a new mobile home on order for them to put in our compound. They spent many hours at our home. John and I became very close. We respected each other. I couldn't believe how fascinated Georgie was by the babies. She would disappear while they were at our house and John could always find her with the babies, often just sitting and watching them sleep.

We had hired Josie, a cousin of Maria's, as a nanny for Billy and Mike. She worked out well and was a big help. She fell in love with our boys. Sally had a little problem adjusting to the help because she felt it was her duty to spend all their waking moments with them. She was a bit jealous too. Dori convinced her she could enjoy life a little bit and still be a good mother. The boys helped convince her by the way they always wanted Sally to hold them if she was in sight. They would hold out their arms and fuss until she picked them up. Then they would coo and be content. Sally said they just knew who the milk cow was. We were fortunate Sally had plenty of milk. I even got a sip now and then. I loved it and the dispenser was nice too.

The first overnight trip with passengers aboard was completed flawlessly. Every one raved about the trip saying it was like a trip in a time machine back to the mid-1800s. The crew were all dressed in appropriate costume of course and the food brought raves about how authentic it was as well as being delicious. The questioners were examined and only one minor complaint was registered and that was that the cabins were too small. There was not much we could do about that because the dimensions were the same as on the original boat.

Sally and Dori and I were all aboard to start with but Sally was airlifted back home to feed the twins. She returned the next morning for a few hours then she and Dori went home again. We didn't have any trouble cruising at night. The firebox mounted on top the pilothouse was an artificial log fueled by propane gas. We also had many hand held modern battery powered lights.

We were very pleased with the whole trip. We did not make the return trip to Palatka. I talked to John the next day. He told me that over half the passengers had booked passages on later paying trips. He said he thought we would have a waiting list as soon as the TV shows aired.

He had commercials ready for the local TV stations to run. Newspaper ads were ready too. Brochures for the travel agencies and for the motel and hotel attraction displays were ready too. Both PRINCESS and WILLY were featured in all the material.

Billboards on the major highways were on order. The docks and other facilities were ready to go in Silver Springs and in Palatka. New parking areas were ready and trams were ready to haul passengers from the parking areas to the docks.

We had a meeting with everyone there who was involved in the project. Sally chaired the meeting. She was beautiful in a business suit. The twins and Dori's children were in a nearby room with the nannies. Sally went through a checklist to be sure everything was ready. Each unit from Advertising to Operations gave a status report. When everything was checked off the list as being ready she asked for recommendations for a date for beginning the service.

The consensus was that we should start in twenty days, on Labor Day. It was close to the start of the tourist season. It would give the locals some time to enjoy the cruises before the season really hit. I closed the meeting. Everyone involved deserved congratulations on a job well done I mentioned several people I though deserved extra credit for the great jobs they had done.

I mentioned John Norton, the boat crews and had special praise for Miss Georgie who had done such a fine job with procurement for the food department that she was now the purchasing agent for the whole company, She bought everything we used, including fuel, tools, costumes, uniforms and trucks and cars. Everyone who worked for her and with her and those she bought from loved her. I told her we were all proud of her. She stood up and thanked everyone then said it was easy because she had the best Big Bosses in the whole world, Sally and Richmond Murphy.

The next two and a half weeks went very smoothly. We were sold out for every cruise for the next four months. The crews were trained and ready to go. We had a variety of jobs for the crews. There were different crews For PRINCESS and WILLY. PRINCESS had three Captains. There were six pilots, five of whom were black. The deck hands were mostly black too. The engineers were mostly white while the firemen were blacks. The cooks, stewards and waiters were mostly blacks. This was in line with how the boats were staffed in the 1800s. Most of the crew worked four hours on and four hours off while on a cruise. There were housekeeping crews and maintenance people at both ends of the trips, These people swarmed aboard and cleaned and changed linens and restocked food and liquors and refueled the boat. Most of the long trip crewmen worked three days and were off four. They still got over forty hours a week. The housekeepers were based in Palatka and drove in a van to Silver Springs to service the PRINCESS when she arrived They were back in Palatka when she returned there. The rest of the week they serviced her for the short trips.

WILLY's crews had only four men, Captain, Engineer and two Deckhand/Stewards. We had enough trained crewmen to fill in for the sick or absent people on both boats. We were lucky to have Tom, Dori's ex-husband and his partner, Frank, to train and administer the crews. Tom and Frank could also fill in as Captains if needed. We had a number of men who were qualified to do a number of jobs and were paid extra for those skills. Dori was our Director of personel and did a fine job She had a skilled assistant who enabled her to do most of her work from her home office.

On the home front the twins were growing like weeds and Sally was still nursing them but was augmenting it with a bottle. Sally had a home office too. We added two new mobile homes both joined to the others by enclosed walks.

One home was for John and Georgie who were now living together. The other was divided into separate offices for Sally and Dori. They had a shared secretary who helped them a lot. The office building had a nursery and playroom plus an extra office. Georgie had her eye on that but she also loved working in the same building as John in town. She had her gender change operation scheduled in two months and she wouldn't marry John until the operation was a success. Property prices being what they were now we decided to use a part of our acreage and put up a large steel building for office spaces for the Steamboat lines. On corner of our land bordered on a major highway and we decided to put warehouse space there along with the offices. We wanted a food commissary there too so we planned for huge frozen food lockers. This would enable Georgie to make volume purchases of frozen meats and store them for long periods.

She suggested building new food preparation and cooking facilities adjacent to the warehouses and freezers. The way things were set up now the warehouse we used was twelve miles from the kitchens and it had limited cold storage facilities and even less freezer space. Food was often shipped from the warehouse to prep facility then to the kitchen, from the kitchen, back to food prep and assembly then shipped to Silver Springs or Palatka. Neither food prep nor assembly had the correct storage facilities to hold prepared and ready to serve products at the necessary various proper temperatures. We told Georgie to call Miami and have them send the expert planers and engineers and have them design an expandable facility with every thing under one roof including comfortable office spaces and plenty of covered parking for all employees.

I took Georgie aside and had a talk with her. I said, "Girl, relax as best you can. Tell the designers what you want and let them run with it, they do this every day. The people coming to help with the design have done similar facilities for airline caterers, Railroads, Cruise lines and for things we never thought of. Pick their brains. If they are shown what you do now and told how you think you want it then show them the boat galleys, the refrigerators and storage lockers aboard ship and at the docking facilities. Show them how we transport the meals now; see if they have better ideas. This is what they do. Use them then sit back and concentrate of what is really important, your operation. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me on the lips.

I grinned at her, "Honey, put me down for a test run when you are all well." She laughed, "Only if you get permission from John, Sally and Dori."

"You know I am only teasing, we both have to much to loose and couldn't stand to hurt the people we love so much. Do not ask me to take you on a boat ride alone though."

"Aw shucks, not even a little bitty one."

"Please don't tempt me girl. You are still gorgeous and I am a mere man."

"Rich, I do love you. I love you more than I did then; I also love both your wives more than ever. The biggest thing is that now I have my John. I will never hurt him. NEVER! So Forgeddaboutit."

I took her little hands in mine and held them. "Little girl, I am very proud of you. I couldn't be prouder if you were my real sister. I love you Sis." I looked at my watch. "Come on let's take a walk." She said, "OK? John called and said he would be a little late." We walked along and I led her toward the dock. She looked up at me and smiled and I thought I saw a trace of concern in her eyes. I pointed. "Do you see that?"

"What?"

"The new boat behind WILLY."

"Oh! She is beautiful, I love that red color." We walked right up to the boat. She pointed and said, "OH God Rich look!" She pointed up at the name board on the canopy. It said 'MISS GEORGIE.'

Then with a shout John, Dori, Sally, and a crowd of other people said, 'SUPRISE!'

She clapped and jumped up and down. She was so damned cute. She ran and jumped in John's arms and kissed him. I saw tears in both John's and Georgie's eyes. He held her for a long time. Finally I said, "Let's get the show on the river. We are going to try a 'cocktail' cruise." It was John's idea and we all liked it. We had a portable bar aboard with a bartender; a steward served canapés and hors d'oeuvres. It was a quite pleasant two-hour cruise. Every one loved it. The crew was all dressed in white uniforms appropriate to the 1850-65 period. A guitarist sang and old melodies with a little modern Country thrown in for good measure.