Grandfather II - 8. Chapter 8

Leaving the Big Island, we headed toward California. The trip from the Island to the coast of California took 2 weeks, I wasn’t in any hurry. The boys fished as we went, actually we stopped on occasion, so they could fish. I had several rods that I brought from Grandfather I when I sold her. That added about five days to the trip, but it was worth it to see them smile.

On the second day out, Malo caught a fish. I don’t know what kind, Moe said it was good to eat. That ignited their interest in fishing. By the time we reached the coastal waters of California, Malo was crowned the fishing king. He caught five while the other boys caught three with Kana catching none. He was okay with that, every once in a while, I would see a tear on his cheek.

That night as we sat to watch the sun set, I asked him if the tear I saw was because we left the Island. “No, I was thinking of my family and what my dad would do if he had known what I went through with those men.”

“What do you think he would say about you leaving the Islands?”

“I’m not sure. We were fishermen, that was how we made our living. We grew a few vegetables and fruits, like they do on the other Islands. When we knew our Island was going to erupt, my dad told me that he would look out for me. Then when I was attacked and sold, I lost hope in him. Now, I was thinking maybe this is what my dad meant when he said he would look out for me.”

I couldn’t respond to that with words, I pulled him into a hug. “You’re one of my crew now.”

I had the Captain book us into the Long Branch Marina for docking. The first thing I wanted to do is to get the boys new clothes. Moe and the Captain would take care of filling the fuel and water tanks as well as emptying the wastewater tank.

Walking into Long Branch, I tried to get the boys to get a haircut. No way, a trim maybe, so I settled for that. Next stop was a clothing store. Buying pants, shirts, socks and shoes wasn’t a problem, but underwear, was something else. No way were they going to wear anything that didn’t permit free balling. I finally convinced them to buy boxers by telling them they were just like wearing shorts.

We slept on the boat, and the next morning I took them to Disney. I thought maybe three days, no way, we spent a week there. I ended up buying a DVD player that could use the boat’s batteries. Now I needed a screen and all of Disney’s dvd’s. Knowing that our trip on Grandfather II was going to be a long trip, I had no problem purchasing the equipment.

“Billy, what are we going to use to see the movies?”

“I thought we could watch them on the tv.”

“That’s a small picture.” I knew where this was leading, I had already bought the screen.

The next morning we went grocery shopping. The boys wanted to make sure I bought a lot of ground beef, they said they needed that so they could have hamburgers for lunch. I treated them to a hotdog, the smiles said it all. So, more wieners and I added sausages to the list. I was glad I had the boys with me, they had to carry all of the food back to the boat. We continue to shop for food, until I had all of my freezers full, I knew we’d be on the water a long time before we went ashore. I was going to sail to the southern coast of South America, shopping for wine.

“Billy, what are we going to do today?”

“I want to check out a few wineries then we will sail south.”

“Can we fish while you are gone?”

“Yes, or you can come with me.”

I wondered what the decision would be, “We’ll go with you.”

I had to braid their hair, “Wear the new clothes we bought.” While on the boat, they wore their sarongs, but going on land, I wanted them to wear the new clothes.

In the morning I went to a winery I had bought from before. One of the people who worked there, gave the boys a tour while I did a tasting. I bought 25 cases of a very nice red, a table wine, moderately priced. They would ship it to my Cellar in New York.

For lunch, I treated the boys to a foot long hotdog, along with fries.

The afternoon, we visited another vineyard only this one produced a white wine. Again the boys took a tour while I tasted several wines. There was one wine, that left a clean, fresh taste in your mouth, I thought that wine should sell very well. I bought the complete bottling lot. Again, I had it sent to my Cellar.

Back on the boat, I set up the screen to show the DVD’s that I had bought. Akela smiled as he saw me take it to Cabin 5. He patted me on my back.

There was another winery further south of where we moored Grandfather II that I wanted to stop at. “Captain, we can sail anytime you’re ready. I marked the map, as to where I want to dock.” He knew that I wasn’t in a hurry, so he would plot the course and speed.

With all of the walking they did, I kept my eye on Kana.