The Summer Job - 77. Ceremonies

After cookies, the younger kids began to slow down. They had been playing hard all day and by eleven-thirty, many were played out. The younger boys used the showers in the down-stairs locker rooms.

Phillip’s plan was for the younger boys to bed down in the racquetball courts. Gym mats were laid out, and they unrolled their sleeping bags. By eleven-thirty most of the younger boys were lying on their sleeping bags in little clumps chatting with their friends.

Mikie had been keeping an eye on the swimming team’s locker room they had been using for showers. He had unobtrusively been keeping a count on the boys going in and out. By midnight, the showers had been off for about five minutes, and he was short three boys.

He entered the steamy locker room quietly and didn’t see anyone. There were three piles of clothes on one of the benches. He recognized the West Virginia Mountaineers gym bag as belonging to an eighth grader to be named Frank O’Kane. He did not recognize the other piles, but the shorts and underwear were on the small side.

Frank was a nice kid who had moved to town last summer from a small town in West Virginia. He hadn’t fit in very well as a new kid from a small-town and had been a target of the bullying crap the previous year at Grayson.

Mikie looked out into the gym. No one was around, so he quietly pulled the locker room doors closed and flipped the latch. He stepped out of his flip-flops and stealthily approached the showers.

As he got closer, he heard whispered voices, “I don’t want to get caught.”

“Me either. Everybody is gone. I’ll go check again to make sure.”

There was whispering he couldn’t make out, but he ducked behind a row of lockers.

As soon as he did, Mikie heard wet footsteps come out of the showers. In the mirrors over the sinks, he could see Frank with a towel around his waist walk to the middle of the locker room and go back into the shower.

Now confident they were alone, Frank said in a normal voice, “They’re all gone. The door is even shut. We’ll hear anybody come in.”

Mikie moved to get a better look. He could see Frank and two other kids standing nude in the shower jerking each other off. He quickly identified the two other boys as Travis Nelson and Brandon Miller.

Travis and Brandon, an eighth and seventh grader to be respectively, were best friends and often around the Y. All three were good-looking boys, but Brandon was adorable with braces, a tan and long sun-bleached blond hair.

Frank asked, “Feel good Travis?”

Travis laughed nervously and said, “Y-y-yeah. You’re so big.”

“How about you Brandon?”

“Yeah. This is cool. I’m not so sure about the other thing.”

Travis said, “If you don’t like it, I’ll quit, OK?”

Frank added, “If you like this, you’ll love it.”

“All right”, Brandon agreed.

Travis knelt and began to give Brandon head. Apparently, he quickly got over his misgivings.

Mikie grinned, went back into the locker room, had a seat and waited for the festivities in the showers to run their course. The boys were trying to be quiet, but the sounds of their tryst gave Mikie a boner. It wouldn’t last long by the sound of it.

Before coming under Phillip’s influence, Mikie would probably have been stoned and jumped into the fray. After Phillip, he was clear-headed and knew this had to be handled right to avoid trouble or trauma.

It wasn’t that Mikie didn’t enjoy a good joint occasionally, but he was coming around to Phillip’s way of thinking. Pot really was more trouble than it was worth. In a situation like this, he needed to be thinking, and being high wasn’t so helpful in that regard. He pulled out his phone and caught up while things in the shower ran their course.

Brandon Miller came out first, rounded the lockers and found Mikie sitting on one of the benches opposite his clothes. Mikie held a finger too his lips to indicate silence and beckoned the boy to come closer.

Brandon was surprised when Mikie hugged him and whispered, “Did you enjoy your first BJ?”

Brandon blushed, smiled and nodded.

Mikie whispered, “Good. I made sure nobody would disturb you guys. You didn’t think I’d let my favorite seventh grader get in trouble, did you?”

Brandon hugged Mikie back. Mikie didn’t know it, but he had just made a friend for life. Brandon might not have really been Mikie’s favorite seventh grader, but from then on, Mikie was Brandon’s favorite freshman.

Frank O’Kane and Travis Nelson got the same surprise. Instead of embarrassment and serious trouble for getting caught, all three boys got a gentle discussion, acceptance and a trusted new friend. Mikie let them know that they needed to be careful, but their secret was safe.

While Mikie was having his adventure, Seth and Frank Ballard ran into Phillip and asked for a moment of his time. The plan was to quiet things down and for the Gentleman’s Club to meet at one in the morning, so he had time.

He guided them into his office and asked, “What’s on your mind?”

Frank said, “You know our community service is to clean up the park. We found Doug Lambert’s bike hidden in the bushes behind Mr. Quinn’s house.”

Phillip asked, “Nobody has seen him since the day the cops busted Mr. Farmer’s house, right?”

Frank nodded and said, “We were worried and got Mr. Campbell to call his mom. She said he’s going to school overseas, and she is going to rehab. I don’t know what to think of that.”

“David said Jeremy has a theory about that”, Seth said with a grin.

Frank rolled his eyes and said, “Not you too.”

Phillip asked, “What theory?”

Seth said, “Jeremy thinks Mr. Farmer escaped and took Doug with him.”

“It’s probably a good idea to not spread that theory around”, Phillip said. “One day last week, the contractor rebuilding the Farmer House asked me what we wanted to do with the sub-basement access. I didn’t know anything about it, so I went to have a look. There was a metal access hatch in his basement that got welded shut by the Thermite. I just told them to tile over it.”

Marshall Islands, 145 Km Southeast of Mili Atoll

A third of the way around the world, Billy Bridges was standing bridge watch on Lucky Charm. During the transit of the Caribbean Sea, Panama Canal and Eastern Pacific, he had drilled on procedures and equipment to the point Pops was confident enough in his ability that he stood regular morning bridge watch.

Billy (aka Doug) was quite proud he had earned the confidence of Pops and the rest of the crew. Bobby Davis had been a good teacher on all things nautical from the start. They had picked up their engineer Eduardo “Fast Eddie” Carbonell in San Juan and their dive master Chief David Asher and a ton of equipment and stores in Panama.

At sea no one cared about petty stuff. They only wanted to know if you were competent, trustworthy and would do your job. So far, the crew had found Billy a good shipmate.

At a little after 10:00am local time aboard the Lucky Charm, the radio made a strange alert noise and said:

This is the International Tsunami Information Center. A 6.5 earthquake and possible undersea volcanic eruption has been detected in the Marshall Islands. A tsunami watch has been issued. Please stay tuned for further notices.

Leave it to my luck to get a tidal wave on my watch.

Lucky Charm’s helm was on autopilot. Any ship moving as fast as she could go, had to have someone on the bridge for no other reason than to call someone who knew what they were doing if something went wrong.

Billy looked ahead, and the horizon was gray and fuzzy. He looked at the radar, made a few adjustments and swept ahead on their base course. There was an odd, fuzzy return, but it didn’t look like anything he had ever seen. It wasn’t a tidal wave because it wasn’t moving.

Not sure what he was supposed to do, he picked up the bridge mike, keyed the intercom and said, “Captain to the bridge.”

Pops came up the bridge access and asked tersely, “Sit-Rep.”

“We’re on course South of the Marshall Islands. The radio reported a big quake, possible submarine volcanic eruption and issued a tsunami warning. There is something big and stationary on radar about fifteen kilometers West on our course.”

Pops picked up the binoculars and looked ahead. As he was adjusting them, he said, “Good report Billy. That was exactly what you were supposed to do. This far out to sea, a tsunami is no danger to us. We would have to be in the shallows to worry. I’m not sure what we’re looking at off to the West.”

Bobby Davis came up the bridge ladder and asked, “What’s up?”

Pops said, “Not sure Bobby. Cut our speed to twenty knots. If we get any more surprises, we might want to back off.”

Fast Eddie and Chief Asher gathered on the bridge to see what was going on.

Pops said, “Chief Asher, could you fire up our UAV? It looks like there’s a big pumice raft dead ahead, and we’re going to want pictures of this.”

Asher said, “Aye sir. I’ll have it up in five.”

Billy asked, “What is a pumice raft sir?”

Pops said, “When an undersea volcano erupts, sometimes it releases a lot of pumice. That’s lava with a lot of gas trapped in it, and it’s lighter than water, so it floats to the surface. It’s rare and most sailors never see it. I think that is what we are seeing ahead of us. We’re going to get pictures and probably a nice notation in the National Geographic.”

As the Lucky Charm approached, the crew could smell the rotten egg scent of burnt sulfur. To Billy, it looked like someone had put a large gray parking lot in the ocean.

Fast Eddie spoke up and said, “We shouldn't get too close to it. We don’t want our thrusters to inhale that grit.”

Pops said, “Understood.”

Chief Asher’s voice came over the intercom and said, “Our UAV is up. I’ll pipe the take from the cameras to the bridge monitor.”

Pops had Billy con the ship on a course that passed the pumice raft to the North while their UAV took video. The pumice raft was still growing as the eruption appeared to be ongoing. The center of the pumice raft was roiling where more of the material was appearing from the deep.

Pops pulled the bridge satellite phone out, looked up a number on his computer and said, “Billy, as the watch officer, it’s your responsibility to report any possible hazards to navigation. You’ll need to report our position, the nature of the hazard and answer their questions.”

Pops read the look of uncertainty on Billy’s face and said, “Don’t worry. All the information you need is on the displays, and I’ll be here to back you up. I’ll put it on the call on the bridge voice channel. Here we go.”

The tones of the satellite phone dialing came over the bridge speakers and a voice with a distinctly Australian accent answered, “Tsunami Watch Center, Brisbane. Watch Officer McAlister. Who is calling?”

“This is Billy Bridges standing watch on the Lucky Charm. We are at Coordinates 4.488302550985137, 168.67752518158375 on a North Easterly course at twenty knots. I am reporting the sighting of a huge pumice raft forming from the submarine eruption just reported. The eruption is ongoing, and the raft is getting larger. We have a UAV up getting video of it.”

” Lucky Charm, did you say you are getting video of the raft?”

“Affirmative, sir. It’s not pretty, but we’re getting it. It looks like mud boiling out of the deep.”

“Well Mr. Bridges, you and Lucky Charm just became famous. You are the first to get live video of a pumice raft in the process of formation. Well done, sir. You sound awfully young to be standing a bridge watch.”

Billy answered, “I’m fifteen. My Grandfather is master of Lucky Charm, and he’s teaching me the ropes.”

“It sounds like he’s done a good job. Can you stay on station?”

Billy handed the mike to Pops, and he answered, “This is Lucky Charm’s master. We can stay on station for up to twenty-four hours if it would be convenient to Oz.”

“Thank you, Lucky Charm. We have the Melville in route, ETA sixteen hours. Hang on to that video. Vulcanologists will be fighting over it. Brisbane, out.”

The gravelly voice of Chief Asher spoke up from down below and said, “It’s time boss. Billy has been a credit to his ship and crew.”

Bobby and Eddie nodded their agreement.

Pops said, “I concur.” He reached into a cabinet and pulled out a ball cap with Lucky Charm written across the front with the ship’s pugnacious leprechaun totem.

He handed the cap to Billy and said, “You’ve earned this, Billy. I officially pronounce you salty. Now, let’s thaw out some steaks. We’re celebrating.”

One o’clock came around. Patrick and Britt took over watching the boys who were mostly down for the night. The Gentlemen’s Club gathered with their blindfolded candidates all clad only in Speedo and flip-flops.

Phillip led Stevie and the rest through the staff only door into the adult gym and into the big steam room. He sat on one of the benches with his arm around Stevie.

Seth led Fred Ballard to a seat and waited for everyone to have a seat.

Once everyone was settled, Seth said, “I call this meeting of the Gentlemen’s Club to order. Tonight, we will be seeing many candidates for membership. We have changed our induction ceremony because we have grown. Not just in numbers, but in spirit as well. It’s not just about sex anymore. Oh sure, that’s a part of it, but it has become more about friendship. Now, I’m going to ask Phillip to explain the blindfolds.”

Phillip stood where he was sitting beside Stevie and said, “Before we become a part of this brotherhood, we’re blind. We don’t see and understand each other. By keeping secret who we are, others are a mystery to us. When we know and learn about each other, we can see and understand more. We don’t have to come out to the whole world, just each other, but by doing so, it gives us a chance to learn and grow as people. We see that we aren’t alone. We understand that we are connected.”

Seth took over, “Without further ado, we will get started. Let’s begin with our first candidate and sponsor.”

David turned to Jeremy and said, “That’s us.” He helped Jeremy stand and led him to the front.

David said, “I stand to sponsor Jeremy Aubrey. I used to be afraid of him because he would tag me and smile. I didn’t understand that meant he liked me. Since things changed, I’ve found out what a huge teddy-bear he is. I think he’ll be a good friend to us all.”

Seth asked, “Do we have a second?”

All the Gentlemen’s Club members raised their hand.

Seth said, “It appears to be unanimous. Now we will all greet our new brother.”

One by one, all the club members hugged Jeremy, said a word and even kissed his cheek.

Once they were done, Seth said, “We welcome you, Jeremy. Remove your blindfold and see your bothers with new eyes.”

Jeremy took his blindfold off, brushed away tears and said, “When we were in jail and you guys gave us clothes, one of the best moments of my life was seeing that card with all your signatures on it. That was when I knew everything was going to be OK. Thanks, I love you guys.”

That’s how the rest of the night went. Hurts were healed, bonds of friendship and love were forged, couples were united, and old resentments cast aside.

As the ceremony progressed and the brotherhood expanded, Phillip also knew that he too was healing. His love and influence had brought together something greater than any of them had been before.

Goodbye, Javier. I will always remember and love you but, life must go on.