The Cat Easton Legend

"Oh! Yes!" was the chorus answer.

I looked at my sweet girl, "Were you treated with respect and courtesy at all times."

"No! Not at all, we didn't want to come in here but the two gorillas out there insisted and almost dragged us in here. We wanted to leave and these men just laughed at us."

I saw Andy stiffen, I put my left hand on his arm. Andy shrugged and said, "Did anyone lay a hand on either of you?"

"NO, not really, they suggested that they intended to have their way with us but didn't seem to be in a hurry."

One of the men yelled, "Roberts, get your ass in here right now!"

Andy said, "Which one is he, the bald guy or the other one?"

"The bald one."

"OK."

Andy stepped out the door and dragged the huge man into the room, and let him flop on the floor. "Here he is, what do you want with him." The two men stared with their mouths wide open.

"Is he dead?" one asked.

"No, he'll be alright, I think. Unless I hit him again. Now I want to know who the fuck you are that makes you think you can just grab any woman you want? Well speak up, or do I have to persuade you a little." Andy glared at both of the men. He heard a noise behind him and turned to see the other big man trying to get through the door. I beat Andy to the man and decked him with a side kick to his jaw. He dropped in a heap. I dragged him in and shut the door and locked it. I ordered the two men to put their backs against the door. I grinned at them. "Now, if anyone tries to shoot their way through the door you will be the first to know about it. Now answer his question before I lose my temper." They said nothing.

Andy looked at me, "Well, we are here for a shark fishing expedition, we can always use more bait, it would be very hard to find any evidence they ever saw us."

"Not if the sharks are hungry, and they always are."

The two girls were watching us wide eyed. Cat walked to me and held my arm, "Oh Honey, You are not going to butcher them on the stern deck again are you, it took forever to get all the blood and gore off the deck last time. I mean they will make great shark bait but it is so damned messy, can't we use them whole and alive. I think they will attract sharks better if they are thrashing around a bunch."

Angie looked at Andy, "I don't know Babe, I don't like to do that when the kids are aboard. I vote to just go out and chum up a bunch of sharks and just throw them over and go on our way.

The two men were trembling and sweating heavily when Angie turned and looked at the two men, "Cat, what do you think, were they going to have mercy on us and let us go? I don't remember them saying anything about that, do you?"

Cat turned as one of the guards sat up and spit out blood and a few teeth, he quickly looked over and checked the other big man. He looked up at us, "Is he alright?"

"Is he your partner? He should be OK soon."

I smiled at him and softly said, "Are you a couple?"

"Yeah, we been together for years."

"Do you know of any reason we should have mercy on your slime ball bosses? Have they done this before?"

"No, they saw your women and thought they were the hottest things they ever saw and knew they could never get gals like that any other way. They knew they were steppin' way out of their league. They thought you guys looked too nice in your suits to be very tough. They didn't know you were big time wise guys."

"Are you local Florida boys or are you from out of town?"

"We are all from Detroit."

"Have you checked in with the local Capo here?"

"NO."

"We take a dim view of someone coming here from out of town and pulling stupid stuff like this. It pisses the citizens off and we have to live with it. Are these guys big in Detroit?"

"Naw, small time."

"How would the big guys from up there feel about something like this?"

"Well, put it this way, lots of them have vacation and retirement homes down here. They would not like to hear they were not welcome here anymore because these guys fucked it all up.

I looked at Andy and the girls. "How about we let these guys do us a favor and let them score some points at home. I say we let them take these assholes home to Detroit and explain what happened down here. Let the big guys up there handle it. What do you think?" They all nodded.

I looked at Andy, "Who do we know in Detroit City, buddy?"

I was watching the two bosses as Andy said, "How about Tony Capozziello?" Their faces blanched and one of them looked as if he had passed out. Andy walked the girls back to the boat while I made sure our Mob friends started on their homeward trip to Detroit City.

Andy was busy trying to explain what had happened to Frank and Bonnie. They had actually filmed some of what happened before we found the girls. Cat confessed she had been very frightened. She said Angie was much braver and had nearly convinced the two bosses that raping them would be a grave mistake. It was enough of a deterrent to give them pause before attempting anything.

It was a relief to have Cat snuggled up to me later in our bunk and to relax and caress and comfort each other. After awhile she rolled up on an elbow and said, "Scottie, I learned something about you tonight. I was amazed by how easily you and Andy handled those big men tonight. Could you have handled Brad that easily?"

"Probably, most bigger guys don't perceive us as much of a threat so they are unprepared when we resist or attack. I don't look very strong or dangerous. Most smaller guys are always looking for some way to even thing up, the big guys just figure they do have the advantage."

Cat snuggled up tighter then lifted her head and kissed me softly on the lips, her lips slightly parted. Then her little tongue wiggled it's way into my mouth. A surge of desire swept through me and I returned the kiss with growing fervor. I pulled her to my body more tightly and covered her sweet face with kisses. She pushed me away and jumped up pulling the top of her pink baby-doll gown over her head and reaching for her panties. She glanced at me and hissed, "You will always be my hero, my knight in shining armor. Hurry, I need you NOW."

When we got up in the morning both the skiffs were in the water and ready to go when we finished breakfast. The sun was just above the horizon behind us as we headed west across slick calm seas. It was only a four mile run to Mule Key. We slowed well offshore and eased in to the ocean side white beaches.

I was on the tower and Cat and Angie were on the bow deck with their rods in their hands. They were going to fish with spinning gear because Angie was not proficient with the other types of tackle. The were both using an old standard Keys lure, a Bill Smith feather jig. Catherine pointed out things of interest to Angie. We saw a few bonefish, a small nurse shark, and finally, after about fifteen minutes, several tarpon coming towards us in the clear shallow water along the beach. The fish were about two hundred yards off.

Cat saw them as soon as I called out their position and distance. Cat pointed and Angie finally saw the tarpon. They showed dark against the white sand. Cat softly told Angie where to cast her lure. I was moving us off shore a few more yards so Angie would have a clear back cast and a little better angle to throw across in front of the fish so she could bring the bait back in front of the fish.

Frank was on the tower with me filming, or I should say 'digitalizing', the action. I whispered , "Get ready, Babe, wait, wait, OK, NOW!" Angie made a perfect cast, but retrieved the line too slowly. I yelled "Wind faster girl!" She did and a Tarpon saw the lure and charged it.

Her rod bent way over. "Hit it as hard as you can girl." I heard Cat yelp. Angie reacted perfectly and jerked the rod up and back as hard as she could. The fish jumped well clear of the water, flopping back and forth, then landing with a huge splash.

I heard Frank mutter, "Beautiful, perfect, great. Wow, what a jump!" The fish ran away from the boat then jumped again and I saw the lure fly from it's mouth with the violent head shake the tarpon are famous for. The lure almost landed in the boat. Angie reeled the line in slowly. She carefully put the rod down and sat on the edge of the bow deck, her feet in the cockpit. She put her face in her hands and I saw her shoulders heave as she cried.

Cat was beside her almost instantly and put her arms around her. Angie turned to Cat and lifted her head and looked sorrowfully at Cat, "After all you taught me I screwed up. I'm sorry! Sob!"

Cat held her tight, "Hey, you didn't screw up, a tarpon has a solid bone jaw, covered with thin skin. It just depends on where the point of the hook hits the jaw as to if it will penetrate the bone or just slip under the skin. You did great for a first time. No one does much better than landing one tarpon out of every five fish they hook."

"Really, you are just trying to make me feel good."

"No, and you also don't hook every fish that bites."

Angie stared at her, "Did I do good by hooking him?"

"You sure did Sweetie, NOW, let's go get the next one TIGER!"

Angie wiped the perspiration off her prow and grinned at Cat, "Let's strip down to our Bikinis, I am getting hot under all these clothes." Cat grinned and agreed.

Angie jumped up. She looked up at me, "Find me another one Scottie, I'll get this one."

She did. It was a nice fight and she prevailed. I left the tower and got the hand lip gaff in through the tarpon's mouth and out the lower jaw and held it tight to the gunwale of the skiff until it wore down a little more. Cat pulled a scale from the side of the fish as a trophy for Angie. Cat and I guessed the fish to weigh about 75 to 80 pounds. Frank got some good close up shots of Angie and Cat and the fish before I released it. The bigger skiff pulled over alongside our boat and Angie got a big kiss from Andy. Bonnie said she got some really great shots of both fights and said the shots in the little bikinis were really wonderful.

Angie pulled Cat aside and said, "Do I look alright, my makeup must be a sight after all that crying?"

Cat smiled and hugged her, "You look great. You didn't have enough makeup on to mess up. You are still beautiful, girl."

We ran a few miles up to Mullet Key and did real well on the tarpon there. Each of the girls landed two more tarpon and jumped a lot of fish before losing them. Early that afternoon we cruised back to the resort and Ranger. We had a nice lunch and watched the daily shots on the big screen TV in the salon. Frank, Bonnie, and Joe were very happy with the days work. The shots of Angie fighting a tarpon were excellent. One shot zoomed in on Angie's upper body and face. The concentration and strain written on her face offset the beauty and the movements of her thinly covered breasts as she fought the fish.

We let them work on editing while Andy went to my office to contact his offices and catch up on things. Angie and Cat were playing with the children. I went to have a talk with the management of the resort. I let them know we were very unhappy with the treatment our wives had received and that we were debating whether to file a Police report about the incident. They claimed ignorance about what happened and assured me that their security people would investigate. They said that to make up for any inconvenience our stay would be on the house.

When I told Andy about that he laughed, "They had to know about it, the Mob owns the resort through union retirement funds.

The resort was between a rock and a hard place. The guys that tried to grab the girls threw a little weight around to get better service. I'm sure all the resort knows for sure is that they checked out last night in a hurry. The resort is off the hook now that the smalltime slime balls are gone."

We walked in the cabin the nurse and the children were using and saw our two sweet girls sound asleep holding the children. The Nanny smiled and helped us take the children and put them in their cribs. I picked Cat up in my arms and she cuddled to my chest as I carried her to our cabin, placed her on our bunk, and removed her little pink boat shoes. I took off my clothes and shoes and crawled in beside her. She smiled up at me and murmured, "I love you Scottie." and closed her eyes again. God I love that girl.

Later we decided we would go ashore for cocktails and then eat aboard Ranger. The girls were stunning again in different outfits. This time they both wore outfits from Victoria's Secret to show that today's young women can look sophisticated , hot, and sexy without spending a fortune. These fashions were less than one quarter of the cost of the previous day's outfits. All of this would all be pointed out in the narration during the show. This applied to their fishing and lounging attire too. Other segments showed the difference between the makeup the ladies used for a day in the boat fishing and what they wore in the evenings. Catherine stressed the need for the ladies to religiously use a good sun screen or sun block. Cat was trying to teach girls how to look good and protect their skin while having fun fishing.

The next two days were similar and the forth day we left Key West and cruised east to Marathon. We anchored out on the gulf side and met Chico, a top guide for Tarpon fishing under the Seven Mile Bridge. Angie, Cat, Andy, Frank and I went in his boat. Bonnie, Joe, and Jack were in the 25 foot skiff as the camera boat.

We anchored up tide and drifted the baits back under the bridge. It was not my type of fishing. The girls did catch tarpon though. The both did well with the heavier gear and landed several fish each. There were no thrown hooks because the fish were all hooked deep, in the throat or the guts. The girls put on a good show but you could tell their hearts were not in that type of fishing. Frank announced that he had enough shots so our guys climbed aboard the 25 footer and we quickly ran the two miles to where Ranger waited for us. We loaded the skiff aboard Ranger and headed for my old dockage in the Key Biscayne Yacht Club

The girls got dressed up again for another evening out. They wore cocktail dresses from WalMart this time and they still looked stunning. I tried to convince the girls that they would be able save a lot of money by doing their shopping at WalMart instead of at the high-end shops for designer clothes. They looked at me as if I were certifiably crazy. Andy patted me on my back and said, "Nice try!"

Frank and Bonnie had finished filming and we invited them to join us at the Yacht Club for dinner. We had a lovely meal, but not up to what we were accustomed to aboard Ranger. Being a Friday night there was a band and we had a few dances. Cat and I were strutting our stuff and Frank and Bonnie got all excited and wanted to film us dancing. We agreed and I asked the band if they could play a waltz for us. I explained the situation and the leader made an announcement that Cat Easton was going to dance and that it would be recorded on video for a TV show. He requested that the audience please remain quiet until the dance was over.

There was a hush as I led Cat out on the floor. When the music started we went into a routine we do quite often at home in the evenings aboard Ranger. It was just basic ballroom dancing, but we loved doing it. Cat's dress was a 'little black dress' with a V-neck and a flowing skirt ending just above the knee. When I twirled her, her full shirt stood straight out showing her gorgeous legs in stockings, garter straps and black lace panties. She looked truly awesome. I heard the gasp from the crowd. Cat smiled sweetly at me and winked, so I spun her several more times. When the song ended we took several bows and returned to the table.

Frank and Bonnie were ecstatic, they never expected a professional looking routine. We watched the play back on the miniature screen on the video camera and they were very happy with it. We returned to Ranger and they played the dance scene on the large screen TV in the salon. Everyone aboard gathered to watch it.

I was shocked at how good we looked. I thought it was a flawless performance by Cat, she was beautiful and she moved with the unblemished true grace worthy of a Hollywood musical extravaganza star. The crew clapped and shouted in approval, we were congratulated, hugged, back patted, and kissed far more than I thought was our due. I heard Chef Aunt Sarah say, "Lord have mercy! Who says white folks can't dance? Ours sho' 'nuf can!" She had to hug Cat and cry over her, tears ran down her dark cheeks, "Ah'm so damned proud of you Honey' ah jest have to cry." Then she hugged me, "Mista Scotty you was beautiful too!"

Our people were surprised that a couple of rank amateurs looked so good. (Me too!)

The next day we gave most of the crew the day off to sight-see or whatever they wanted. Catherine and I took Andy, Angie and the camera crew to her offices for some shots there. Cat got in some actual work while the filming took place. Her staff at the office was delighted to see her and you could see they were genuinely very fond of Cat. Most even had tears in their eyes when they hugged her. They really loved her. (Me too!) Frank and Bonnie shot digital for over an hour then went off on their own.

Cat tried to call her Dad but Sally answered and said he was out on a flight. She said he was due home about 4 or 5 that afternoon. Cat invited them for dinner that night aboard Ranger.

Sally said she felt safe in accepting for Cliff and herself. Cat gave her instructions on how to find us.

Cliff and Sally walked up the gangway about 6:30 and it was good to see my future father-in-law and his new bride. We had cocktails while we watched a rough edit of all we had done that week. The sound was really rough and the narration had not been dubbed in. Still, all in all everyone thought it was a good effort that needed a lot of polishing. Frank, Bonnie, and Joe were very happy with what we had and said they thought it was going to be great. We still had one more segment to shoot in Andy and Angie's family room with the huge aquarium.

We had all taken a shot at the job of narrator and I was voted unanimously to be the voice of the Cat Easton Show. Joe the Director/Producer said I got the job because I was always hanging around anyway and besides I worked cheap. I have a sneaky feeling that my sweet Cat had something to do with me being chosen. Cat stood up and said, "I have one change we are going to make right now, as I understand it, it will be several months before anyone sees this pilot and even longer before the real show débuts. The name of the show is going to be 'The Cat Murphy Show'. A scattering of claps grew into a barrage and suddenly everyone was cheering. My love pressed against me and kissed me long and hard. I said I thought she was wrong, 'Cat Easton' was recognized by most of the people in the world. No one knew 'Cat Murphy'. Using my name would cost her millions of potential viewers. Catherine reluctantly agreed.

I wouldn't do the narration until the editing was complete, then a script would be written with our help. There would probably be more narration on this pilot than there would be on regular shows. There was a lot of narration Cat had to do too. We wanted her to do the descriptions of the fashions, beauty tips and other things requiring a female voice for the proper effect. A lot of the fishing instructions or explanations were recorded as they happened and would be used that way.

Cat was getting pretty tired, partly from the emotional stress of the near-rape, and from the early mornings and the late nights. Joe, Frank and Bonnie worked with Andy and I. Cat snuggled to my side and snoozed from time to time. Angela rested with her children feeling she hadn't paid them enough attention on our trip.