Voodoo Pt. 03: Magic

The following day they wrote checks, signed the ownership papers and Coast Guard documentation and Magic had new owners.

That very afternoon they began preparations and outfitting for the trip home. Magic's initial price of seventy thousand dollars was reasonable enough for a Crealock 37 with basic sails and equipment but before they were ready to leave they spent an additional twenty-three thousand dollars on a never ending list of equipment to make Magic truly ocean passage capable and supplies necessary for the trip to New Orleans.

Brie and the surveyor started one of their many trips to town to buy equipment and provisions. Will accompanied them on the first trip and then moved Magic to the dock to begin loading from the dock directly onto to the boat. The marina agent and the surveyor were both very helpful in acquiring and arranging for the installation of what Brie referred to as all their new toys.

Will stowed countless items and began to familiarize himself with Magic's many features while Brie brought more and more toys to the dock. Finally after they had done a second check, or was it a third, to see that they had everything, Brie made arrangements to return their rental car later in the week.

While he was stowing supplies below decks Will happened upon a yellowed piece of newsprint in a compartment in the galley. He scanned the clipping and saw that it looked to be a wrinkled, faded, hardly legible poem of some sort but too busy with his work he folded it and put it in his shirt pocket thinking, "later, I'll have time to read it later". He didn't give it another thought until that evening when, after a cockpit dinner under Brie's stars, he found it again in his pocket. He took it out and silently read it as best he could in the light coming from below deck where Brie was uncorking the one bottle of wine they had allowed themselves, and she had brought aboard that very afternoon, to celebrate.

When he had finished reading he called down to her: "Hey Brie, look at what I found earlier today in the compartment just over your head. Read this would you?" He handed it to her just before she climbed back up into the cockpit with wine and two glasses. Brie sat near him and as he poured the wine as she read and the very last section of the poem impressed her.

"There are secrets on that distant shore

Wait not too long to start the sail."

She reacted only with a very warm smile. He thought back on this much later and thought it might have been the same smile she had when he saw the name Magic on the boat's transom. Will wondered out loud if she might have put the poem in the compartment for him to find but of course she denied it, handed the poem back to him and said: "Well Will, I promise you that we will not grow old wondering if we waited too long to start the sail." and she kissed him under the Salem stars. Will went below and put it carefully between the pages of the brand new leather bound ships log Brie gave him as a gift earlier that day. In the years that follow he remembers her promise every time he opens the log.

The following afternoon Brie returned with food and other supplies and as they stowed her purchases she dropped a bomb of sorts, "Will, I had coffee with Keri while I was out today." Will looked at her but didn't say a word. It had been a long time, a little more than a year, since he heard that name. Brie continued, "Well you know, it was fate that she lives only ten miles away." Now she was talking faster, obviously nervous, "Her husband died a year ago and her daughter is living on her own now so I just wanted to say hello.......as long as we were so close by." Will finally spoke but as the words were leaving his mouth his brain was silently screaming, NO, SHUT UP, "Just coffee?

He saw the look of hurt and then anger on her face. Her speech slowed and her voice became soft and low, a sure sign that she was angry. "Damn it Will, I was honest with you about this from the very beginning. I told you everything that happened between us every time we were together. I did nothing you did not know about. Now I want you to let me have this. She is an experienced sailor and I want her to come with us as far as St. Augustine, she has family there."

Brie realized that she had said too much, too fast. This was not how she wanted to ask about Keri coming with them.

Will saw a way out of his rash question. He leaned in and touched the side of her face and said, "So does this mean that after all these years you have decided to let me get lucky with two beautiful women?"

Brie smiled and said, "In your dreams.....and I'll take that as a yes."

They did not speak about it again but Will the following day cleared the aft (stern/rear end), port (left side facing forward) bunk and closet for their new crew mate.

The last piece of equipment, the refurbished life raft in its canister arrived two days later. One hour later will glanced over at the dock to see a woman standing there waving. As he watched, Puffin, their dinghy with Brie at the helm rounded the stern and headed for the dock. They hugged and loaded Keri's bags on board the dinghy.

Brie had lowered the boarding ladder to the dinghy when she left and Will waited there by the rail to help them up. Brie handed him the two bags and showed Keri how to safely use the ladder to get aboard. The help was not necessary because this was clearly not Keri's first time doing this. Will extended his arm and hand out to her to steady her on the ladder. He was surprised by how strong her grip was. When he looked down at her she tilted her face upward toward him and he saw for the first time the face of the woman he suspected deep down that Brie perhaps loved as much as him. Her eyes were, he thought, Brie's emerald green eyes with the lines a happy laughing woman gets as she ages. Her tanned brow had the wrinkles that come from years of worry and living. Below her eyes were a dozen or so freckles and a perfect smile. A face that made you want to know more about her and her life.

Keri was on board and they exchanged just a quick "Hello, nice to finally meet you" greeting. Will turned and reached down in the same way to steady Brie as she boarded. She looked up at him and he saw for, he thought the first time, that her eyes were darker, still green but darker. As he looked at her he saw the same laugh lines though they were harder to see in her chocolate skin. It was as though he were really really looking at his wife's face for the first time. She looked at him and mouthed the words, "Thank you."

Will was more formally introduced to Keri by Brie and he gave her the necessary tour of the boat and showed her her bunk area. That afternoon he was on deck checking their mooring and when he descended the companionway ladder, into the main cabin, they were sitting close together talking.

Brie at one point pulled him aside and thanked him for making this happen. He responded by telling her it would work out fine, that he wanted her happy. She squeezed his hand. He then surprised her by telling her that he had ordered dinner from a restaurant in Salem that delivered to boats in the harbor and they would be eating under the stars in the cockpit.

She simply said, "Thank you baby, that's perfect."

In the evening the three of them shared the last of the wine and had a great dinner delivered right to their boat. Living on a small boat, yes a thirty seven foot boat is small, presents certain "privacy" challenges. Talking over dinner gave them a chance to talk about some of those without actually talking about sex. There was one person on the boat, Brie, who was having sex with the other two and they needed to work out how the privacy necessary for intimate sex was going to be handled.

In the end the solution was simple. If anyone wanted privacy there was only one place on the boat where they might find it, the forward enclosed berth. So they agreed that if for any reason the door was closed the cabin was temporarily off limits. If it was open it was yours for the taking. They agreed that the port (left side) and starboard (right side) sleeping berths were available to anyone in need of sleep but who couldn't use the forward cabin. A lot of words, dancing around the issue of sex on board a small boat but it worked.

As the evening wore on Will made fun of the whole "privacy discussion" by saying he was tired and going to bed, "I need to get some sleep. If either or both of you want to join me, I'll be in the forward berth with the door open."

Brie said, "Still in your dreams!......I won't be long."

As he climbed into the berth he heard a splash. He suck his head out the overhead hatch just in time to see Keri join Brie in the water. He was just going to kiddingly ask them to keep the noise down when he saw them embrace, kiss and sink beneath the water only to pop back up laughing.

He was jealous but in a moment realized he didn't know which of them he was jealous of.

Will heard them climbing back aboard just as he was dozing off.

In his half sleep he heard just pieces of their conversation.

Brie, "I'll........towels.

Keri, "Thanks....talking Will into this."

Keri again, "Trust.....it.....be fine."

Brie, ".....worried........him. Love.....too......."

Brie, ".....Children........never know"

Will fell further asleep.

It seemed that he had been asleep for hours but it was perhaps 30 minutes, when he felt her hand on his chest. He opened his eyes to see Brie's face visible in the moonlight streaming in though the plexiglass of the overhead hatch. Still half asleep he reached out to touch her. His hand found her naked small hard breast and he cupped it for a moment and squeezed her nipple gently before moving his hand down to see if she was wet and would be needing more. He had been married to this woman long enough to know how things worked. If she was naked he might get lucky. If she spread her legs apart slightly and was wet she wanted more. No words were ever necessary.

Then he felt her lifting his knee from behind and reaching between his legs to touch him and he realized that was not possible, she was facing him. It was Keri behind him and he was suddenly completely awake.

He looked at Brie and whispered in her ear, "Baby, we don't have to do this."

She touched his face and whispered something that would haunt him later, "I want this, I want to give you to her."

Tonight, Will went along and enjoyed the two of them. Days later watching them from the helm, as they worked to change sail on the foredeck, he would wonder what she meant by "I want to give you to her."

But tonight he could feel Keri's breasts pressing into his side and he turned to lay on his back.

When he did he saw that she too was in the moonlight. As he rolled over she was moving to her hands and knees. Her large breasts hung down from her chest and he put both hands on one and felt it's weight and size. Unlike Brie the skin of her breast where her bathing suit covered it was white, almost parchment and he, even in the dim light, could see blue veins under that skin running from her chest to her nipple. Her areola was much larger that Brie, covering perhaps half of the front of her breast. Her areola were covered with the small gland bumps that signal arousal. As he caressed her breasts she moved to position herself over his face and lower a nipple into his mouth. Her nipples were longer and much thicker than Bries and tasted of the salt water she was just in.

Both women were looking at his growing erection and Brie was holding it and pulling back the foreskin almost, he thought, showing it off for Keri. He laughed silently at the thought but when Keri mounted him facing him and Brie helped position his penis at the entrance to her vagina he was not so sure it wasn't planned.

He heard her moan slightly as he entered her. As he watched her face her eyes widened and she had an "oh my" look on her face. As she started riding him sliding his penis in and out of her, her breasts swayed and he reached up to hold them and pinch her nipples. After a while she stopped moving and he felt her whole body shudder. She looked down on him and smiled. Keri moved off him and repositioned her self near his head and Brie took her place on top of him. As she rode him Brie and Keri kissed as he watched and they caressed each other's breasts.

Brie knew what it would take. She swayed back and fourth as Keri did but she knew what to watch for, when to reach back and gently tug his balls. He exploded and filled her.

Will was beat, tired and literally drained but Brie and Keri were not done. As he watched, they kissed and rolled into each other's arms beside him. He had heard the stories as Brie told him the details of their encounters but now he was watching his wife go down on this beautiful woman. He was listening to them encourage each other and he found the dirt talk they exchanged very erotic. The three of them eventually fell asleep.

~~

Magic said goodbye to Salem on a beautiful morning with just the right wind for an easy run to open ocean. The weather was wonderful that entire first day and night and all long range forecasts predicted that good weather would be with them at least to South Carolina and perhaps beyond.

They initially set an East-south-east course so they could clear Provincetown Light on the eastern most point of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They planned to avoid the intra-costal waterway and sail far out to sea the entire trip south except for the stop in St. Augustine. Their course would bring them into blue water (nautical for far off shore where the water is sometimes dark blue) and far enough out to sea to avoid shipping lanes along the coast. The shipping lanes were a dangerous place to be in a small boat near any major United States city. Oil Tankers had limited maneuverability and showed little mercy for small sailing vessels.

There was another significant danger in the course they were steering now however. Magic was running south along the east coast at the same time North Atlantic Wright Whales were migrating north. North Atlantic Wright Whales are among the most endangered whales in the world. Efforts are ongoing to prevent whale entanglement in fishing gear but they are also highly vulnerable to ship collision because their primary feeding and migration areas overlap with major east coast shipping. New shipping lanes and extensive measures to reduce ship strikes by slowing ships entering East Coast harbors are in place to protect the slow moving whales. These changes in vessel operations are a part of a comprehensive approach that the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (7) (NOAA) has taken to help Wright Whale populations recover from near extinction.

On their first evening Will spotted Provincetown Light on the horizon far behind them and was reminded of the poem again.

"Now it's business in middle-aged prime

And maybe tomorrow there'll be time."

Will and Brie were already nearing middle-aged prime and except for this trip they had not yet sailed in off shore ocean together or planned a voyage beyond this sail home. But no matter, they would not see land again until the Georgia / Florida border and that suited him just fine.

At sea Magic cleared the Boston shipping lanes and Cape Cod under sail with no problem and they headed south.

Magic was more than they could ever have hoped for. She would sail for hours on her self-steering equipment and not lose their course and when they grew bored they could take the wheel and sail her themselves as though she were a ballerina. They both loved this boat and this time together but for Will it was more than that, he didn't know exactly what or why but something was changing him more and more with every mile at sea. Salem or not this boat and off shore sailing were true magic to him in every way. Everything aboard Magic worked flawlessly as it should and when it should. Will was falling in love with the boat and ocean sailing just as Brie had warned him not to but he didn't know it or all that it would come to mean.

The trip was changing Will profoundly and forever. He could sail her for hours with no help from Brie or Keri. As a result, Brie was able to take many whale, sunrise, sunset and other ocean wild life photos.

Her best photos were shots of Will behind Magic's wheel. Subrina would later write to her daughter Marie that she could almost feel him changing into a different person during the trip, almost as though another woman had come into their lives.

There was always the danger of whales and one of the three of them was always on watch at the helm. Somewhere off the coast of Virginia Brie was on watch in very little wind with the boat barely moving when an inexplicable feeling of dread came over her.

She was surprised when the first whale breached nearby and she started taking pictures. Seven whales surrounded the boat. No one was on deck and when she looked below to find Will or Keri to tell them to come see the whales the forward berth door was closed. She returned to the cockpit with a feeling of regret. Will was making love to another woman and the feeling of dread she felt earlier was amplified. She sat at the helm looking at the whales through the tears that were suddenly filling her eyes.

That evening she sat alone with Will in the cockpit and talked. The following morning Will changed course toward shore to give them the fastest route possible to St. Augustine.

~~

In retirement they spent the days sailing and in the evening they walked the beach and returned to their retirement home, Magic, at anchor in whatever harbor they might find themselves.

At midnight on a cool early Autumn evening they lifted a glass of the best wine on board to celebrate still another anniversary and because of the cool night went below to sleep.

On that night a young sailor rowed his skiff to shore and passed near Magic. He had admired her from a distance and couldn't pass up this opportunity to get up close to the pretty cutter. As he past near the bow he heard the sounds of people aboard. He had seen no lights and, suddenly embarrassed, and feeling a little like a peeping tom, he headed away as silently and discreetly as he could. As he rowed away he heard a man speaking as though he had suddenly remembered. "I'll always love you Subrina."

When he turned and looked back the boat was gone and there was only a ripple in the water. Magic and those aboard had vanished, only a memory in time. He rowed back and found only a small piece of paper with a poem floating in the water. It was frayed and water soaked. All he could read was,

"There are secrets on that distant shore

Wait not too long to start the sail."