The Peter Charles - 45. Chapter 45

One hour out, Nicky or Charles, who ever was steering, blew the whistle. The boys got on the deck, bag pipes playing as we docked. Then the magic words, 'Joseph, anchor, Johnathan, bow lines, Sammy, stern lines," we were docked.

Cannery men came on board to help unload, Charles checked scales. Johnathan had a bag of shrimp and a lobster for the men for helping, Andy ran to the Wharf returning with two pans. I went and watched, I wanted to be sure I had enough shrimp for our special customers as well as for the judge. “Andy, just take five lobster, enough for your aunt and uncle as well as the Captain’s table. I’ll have more for her next week.”

He came back smiling, “Aunt Mary wanted know if she could have some fish?”

“Sure, take what she needs.”

Glen and Nicky pulled up the truck and car for the chests. With the chests loaded, they took off. I closed up the boat and we walked home. This was the first time George had seen us take our showers. At first he was a little reticent but then he joined right in. Scott brought him a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Everyone clean, we boarded the van and truck. We followed our usual route ending at Dad’s for a late lunch. He laughed when he saw a new boy. Finishing lunch, we headed to deliver our fish. I think George was surprised when I gave him his money and asked for a pan for the fish. His dad came out, he introduced himself, I introduce Glen and I. He saw the fish and smiled.

“How did my boy do?”

“He did very well, even cleaned fish.” He smiled at his son, we got ready to leave, his dad put his arm around his shoulder and I got the impression that was the first time, in a long time, he did that.

Gus’s parents made a big fuss over him along with thanking us for the fish and shrimp. Finished with our delivering, I was ready to go to bed. The boys were hungry so Scott and Steve, as they described it, whipped up a late supper. I passed but the boys said it was good.

Monday morning, I had two packages for Marge. she smiled as she handed us our coffee and breakfast sandwiches. When I got to my office I was surprised, Terry was there. “My free day and since I’l be starting next week, I thought I’d stop by and maybe help a little.” I could have given him a kiss. I just smiled and we began. By lunch time we had made good progress, I might be able to go home at four-thirty.

Glen showed up with my lunch, he was surprised to see Terry. Terry said he was going to Stella’s for lunch, Glen and I chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us, there’s plenty?” He laughed and said he would see us later. He did come back later, about two hours later. We finished at four-thirty, I was glad to get home early.

Walking in the house at five-thirty we surprised the kids. You would expect mayhem but there wasn’t any. The boys were busy with their homework. Callum was reading about pirates, Scott was beginning to prepare dinner. “Dad, you’re home early.”

“Yep, I had help so I finished early.”

“Dad, guess what happened at school today?”

There was no way I could answer that question. “I don’t know, suppose you tell me.”

“We were at lunch and guess who joined us?”

I assumed it was George. “Who?”

“George sat at our table. His friends wanted to know why he was sitting at our table, he told them that he was wrong about us and particularly Gus. He said if you guys were with me this weekend, you would wise up and sit at this table also. They called him a wuss, and left us alone.”

I looked at Glen, “No one said that the bump on his head screwed him up?”

“Nope” I smiled, I went to change my clothes, Glen followed.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know, it isn’t the fishing, it might be that he isn’t such a bad person but is egged on by his friends. Or maybe, his dad had a positive influence.”

Dinner was good, I’m getting use to these fancy meals of Scott and Steve. I went to my office and started to work on my personal accounts. Shawn came in, “Dad, can I show Callum my office?”

“Of course you can.” I smiled, the anteroom was set up as his office. He had a desk, computer with a printer and a file cabinet. It was obvious to me he’d be following in his dad’s and my footsteps. I thought it was amusing that you could tell where the boy’s interest would lead.

The week passed fast, or so it seemed. Friday, we provisioned the boat, Saturday we would leave, Gus would be coming with us, David invited him and of course Rusty as well. I gave the boys the kilts, as we boarded the boat. They had to try them on, I laugh when Callum and Shawn told them there were to wear no underwear if they wanted to be a true Scotsman.

Then as we were about to leave, the pipes played, our boys danced. The patrons in the Wharf came out and watched as the boat moved out. The boys were excited and were smiling. School was over, everyone did well, Glen and I were pleased.

Travis called his mother, she was glad and told him she was arranging another gallery show for when he returned. Unlike the other trips, Scott and Travis brought their paints and blank canvasses with them. Adam wanted them to paint him, they did, he had a mustache. Of course, that wasn’t what he meant, we all laughed, he did as well.

We fished as we headed to the cannery in Alaska. The boys were enjoying the trip, and the fish we caught, soon filled the holds. We didn’t fish for shrimp and lobster.

The cannery took our fish, I deposited half in the boat account and the other half I kept as cash. We fished as we headed back down to our dock, shrimp and lobster as well. The cannery took the fish, Mary got half of the shrimp and lobster. As soon as we unloaded, I took the receipt to the bank and we headed back out, yes the boys danced again.

Now we’d head south, we fished till we reached the California cannery in Sacramento.

Sold our fish, again took half of the money in cash and the other half was deposited to our account. I pulled into the marina, after filling our fuel and water tanks. I hired a bus to take us to Disney Land. I booked the hotel there for three days. The boys had a ball, in fact, I had a ball as well. I bought each boy a preloaded camera. I wondered what pictures they would take.

On the bus ride back, the boys talked about their experiences. Adam crawled up on my lap, “Pappy, that was fun, can we come back?”

“Sure, we’ll come back but our adventure just started.”

On the way back to the marina, Scott saw a market. We had to stop while he and Steve went shopping. I saw them with large bags, I sent the older boys to help them. As soon as they got on board, I could smell the fresh bread.

Arriving back at the marina, we had lunch, sandwiches with fresh bread. I planned on staying there until morning . Scott and Steve wanted to go shopping again. This time we took all of the boys, it actually was fun. The boys saw fruit they liked, so we bought some, someone had a hot dog stand, we had to have a hot dog. The boys had fun, they saw hats that they wanted, we bought them and headed back to the boat with our arms loaded.

In the morning we headed south, as we got close to southern California, we began to fish again. I was shooting for the Mexican cannery in Sonora, Mexico. I contacted the cannery indicating that I was a fishing boat that had a lot of fish would they buy the fish. They agreed to buy our fish, so I pulled into their dock, we unloaded the fish and I had a voucher in pesos. I asked if there was a bank near, the directed me to one close to the city. Glen took the boys back on the boat, I walked to the bank, again I took half in pesos and had them transfer the remaining in dollars to our bank. I called the marina just south of the cannery, made arrangements for docking.

There was a town, a pueblo, about a half mile from the marina. The boys wanted to go and look around. We secured the boat, and headed for the pueblo. We found a market, it seemed to me that there was a market where ever we went. There was an old woman sitting on a rug selling avocados. “Dad, buy some of those.”

I asked how much, she didn’t understand, Scott came to the rescue and spoke to her in Spanish. She smiled and told him, “She wants a peso for each one”

We bought all that she had. Scott smiled, he enlisted the help of two of the boys and with Glen, they went back to the boat. There was a stand selling tacos, each of the boys wanted to try them. We had a taco and while we were eating them, Glen and the boys returned, so they had one as well. I swear I could see the wheels in Scott’s head turning.

We bought some other fruits and a few vegetable native to Central and South America. Walking back to the boat, Callum was going to eat a green pepper, I stopped him. “Those are very hot, it’ll burn your mouth.”

We stayed at the marina for the night. In the morning, I made arrangements to get fuel and to empty the sewage tank. Then we headed south, the boys began to play their pipes and the rest began to dance, in their kilts, as we left. Now I knew what they were planning. Everyone in the marina looked and soon they were clapping.

We continued our trip south along the Mexican coast. I booked us in a marina at Ixtapa. The boys were excited as they had read about the ruins of the Mayan people. I rented a bus which took us to a small village about forty-five minutes from the marina. The site is called Xihuacan which means ‘place of the people who control eternity’. It was sort of a ceremonial center used by pre-columbian tribes as a place to worship their gods. The boys were excited as they read the various plaques. At the visitor kiosk, they had to buy literature explaining the excavation.

They took pictures, acting a little silly, I knew they would remember this day as much as Disney Land. Going back to the boat, the boys were chatting about the temple, “Do you think that the people praying at that temple really believed that a god lived there?”

I listened as the boys talked. “If they believe, isn’t that what counts?”

“But it isn’t God, so did they make up a god, Dad?”

“I think through the ages man has recognized that there must be someone or something that was above them. If you study the evolution of civilization, man always had prayed to a higher being. It was in Egypt, in Greece, with their gods on Olympus, the Romans had similar gods, so I would think that the various people of North and South America would have gods as well. Remember the American Indians had the Great Spirit.”

“So is there a god or do we just need someone to pray to?”

“I believe, there is a god, and that’s the God we pray to and his Son. That belief came from the Bible and the development of religion among the Jewish people. So we have a special connection to the Jews of today, like Pop.” I don’t think the boys knew that Glen was a Jew, he was just Pop to them.

“If you are interested in these early ruins, there is a temple in Mexico City. It was used by the Aztecs and built in a small island in a lake. To go there we would need to arrange to have a bus pick us up at a Marina Vallarta.”

“Can we do that?”

“Sure, we’ll leave in the morning.”