Long Voyage Back by Luke Rhinehart Read Free Book Online

left Fort Lauderdale, and his
    slight beard, longish hair - salt-and sun-streaked - and bronzed skin tone gave him precisely the salty air he probably was trying to achieve. He looked as pleasantly excited as he had when they'd entered the Chesapeake sixteen hours earlier. The only bar in Tangier was a fishermen's hangout rather than a tourist place, so there were no fishing nets on the walls or stuffed fish, but instead dart boards, electronic games, pool tables and a television set. There were half a dozen men sitting at the bar and two old men playing chess at a table. Neil led Jim to a booth next to the bar where through their window they could see Vagabond's masts and cabin top above the docks and pilings.
    `Where you fellas in from?' a large bearded man with a pot belly asked them from his seat at the bar.
    'Fort Lauderdale, Florida,' Jim answered proudly. 'We made it in five and a half days.'
    `That's pretty good,' the bearded man replied promptly. `That must be one helluva powerful dinghy engine.'
    While Jim looked startled and uncertain, Neil and the men along the bar all burst out laughing. Jim, realizing they'd seen Vagabond's entrance, soon joined in. Ònce or twice we cheated and used sails,' Neil said, and remembered he had to phone to get a message to Frank. `Don't blame you,' said the man.
    Neil stood up and went to the bar to order two beers and then went on to the payphone. The wife of the marina owner answered and Neil explained to her the situation and told her to tell Frank to take the ferry to Tangier. When he returned to his table he was glad the television set wasn't on to remind Jim of the outside world.
    `Well, mate,' he said to Jim after he'd taken a long swallow of beer. 'I'd say we'd made a damn good passage, even if we did fall a little short.'
    `Vagabond's a great boat, isn't she?' Jim said.
    `She even tows well,' Neil replied with a smile.
    Ì like crewing for you,' Jim went on. 'It's a lot better when there are only two of us. With Dad and his friends I feel like a passenger. I never get to do anything. But being alone at the helm, especially at night, or when she's surfing down a big swell ...' He stopped, smiling, flushed with the pleasure of the memory. 'Anyway, I really enjoyed your putting me to work.'
    Ì wish all my crew would say that,' Neil commented, smiling.
    `Blast 'em, I say. Hit 'em first,' came a voice from the bar. `You tell 'em, Charlie,' another voice countered. 'And don't forget to duck.'
    `Hey, my friend,' Neil said to the large man at the end of the bar, hoping to change the subject. 'Are there any women on this island?'
    Òh, yes, there's women all right.'
    `You keep them locked up?'
    `Don't have to,' the bearded man replied. 'We keep 'em so
    tired from screwin' they ain't got no energy to go out.' Laughter tumbled along the length of the bar.
    `Must be all the oysters you fellas eat,' Neil commented. Èat oysters?' the bearded man exclaimed, grinning. 'Shit,
    we Bay men can't afford to eat oysters. Too expensive.' A few men laughed.
    `Still,' said Neil, 'it's too bad you don't have a few women in especially good shape to greet tired sailors returning after a long stint at sea.'
    `We got two or three ladies like that,' a little man next to the bearded man said. 'But they always get themselves laid by tourists in speedboats from the eastern shore, men who tell
    'em they're all pooped from motoring 'cross the bay.'
    The quick burst of laughter at this remark made Neil think it was an allusion to some women they all knew. He finished his beer and went to the bar to order two more. As he was standing there, a pudgy woman came in and complained to the bartender that 'The TV don't work.'
    Could he fix it? After handing Neil two bottles of beer and his change the bartender followed her through a doorway into what were probably living quarters.
    `See what we mean?' the little man at the bar said, turning to grin at Neil. '01' Jake's going back there now to give her a quick one.