“You need to turn around and go back where you came from,” she said loudly. “We don’t want any trouble out here.”

  “Trouble? We aren’t bringing you any trouble. Like I said, we’re just being neighborly.”

  The big fat guy in front appeared to be the talker of the group. The guy rowing was slowly bringing them closer. Ellen couldn’t see if they were armed or not but at this point, she didn’t care. If they bore no ill will they would have not been sneaking up on the boat. They would have announced themselves before their arrival. Finally, able to see them in the moonlight, Ellen decided they didn’t look like she would have pictured bad guys to look like. They had no long hair or eye patches or scruffy clothing. They looked like normal people. It was their manner of approach which made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

  “You put that oar in the water one more time and I will put a bunch of holes in you and your boat. Think I’m bluffing, just try it.” Ellen racked a shell into the chamber. If they were gun people at all, they would recognize the sound for what it was. They did or at least the guy with the oars did. Against her previous warning, he pulled on the oars putting more distance between them. She was fine with this direction. Farther away from them was good.

  “Let’s just go,” the up until then, silent guy pleaded, in a squeaky voice and obviously afraid. “This was a dumb idea to start out with. You’re going to get us all killed.”

  “Shut the fuck up! We need that boat.” The big guy, to everyone’s surprise whipped out a small handgun and thrust it towards the other guy’s face. His two friends both shrank back as if they were afraid he would shoot them.

  Alan, silent up until then piped in, “I think it’s time for you to leave before I really get pissed off and shoot you myself.” His voice had dropped about a dozen octaves and Ellen almost looked around to see who had spoken.

  “Oh shit, there is more than one. Let’s go,” gruff voice commanded, followed by the sound of an open hand meeting flesh. “You’re an idiot, you said there was only one on board and that one was only a girl. You’re a dumb shit! Next time we do it my way, no more group decisions.” His voice trailed off as they put some distance between them. Nevertheless, Ellen and Alan could still hear them mumbling amongst themselves.

  It is apparent that finding another person on board was one more than they expected, or were prepared to deal with. While Ellen didn’t want to have to leave with no GPS or depth gauge in the dark, she didn’t want to have to sit and watch for these guys to return. Thinking they were far enough away to not do any real damage she aimed low; for the water behind them and pulled the trigger. This was only to discourage a return visit, not necessarily to do any damage to the dinghy.

  She had forgotten just how loud the shotgun was and immediately wished she had not fired it. However, it did put some hurry in to the rower’s strokes. They could barely see them as they rowed towards shore.

  “Hey, God dam, she actually hit the boat! There’s water coming in. We’re losing air,” one of them rattled off.

  “Oh my God, I told you I can’t swim,” someone else yelled. “This was a stupid, stupid idea. Row faster.”

  They must have made it to shore, because they couldn’t hear them anymore, but Ellen hoped they got a little wet and maybe learned a lesson. The next person they try to intimidate may not be as forgiving as they were. Next time they may just bite off more than they could chew.

  Then she remembered Alan, and the way he had manned up. “That was brilliant,” she laughed. “Shoot you myself? And that voice…priceless.” Ellen was not sure exactly why or what she was laughing at. Maybe it was an accumulation of tension and stress but she could not stop. Alan reached for and took the shotgun from her shaking hands. Ellen didn’t stop him. He was probably afraid it will go off on its own.

  Chapter eight

  They didn’t expect to be able to sleep and it was too dark to safely leave, so they settled on to the cockpit seats. Alan seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as he stared in the direction the men had gone.

  How people could have regressed so quickly in such a short time was beyond her way of thinking and she wondered what they could expect next. Whatever happened, it couldn’t be good.

  “Where is home?” Alan finally asked. He turned and faced her.

  “Huh?” She hadn’t heard what he said, or rather she did hear him, but was trying to think how to answer.

  “Home. You said we are going home and I was wondering where that is. I always kind of thought you lived here.”

  “Well, I do and I don’t. This boat is my home away from home but I have a land based home in Washington.” He seemed to be surprised by her answer.

  “Are you sure we should go there? I mean if it’s this bad here, DC will be way worse,” He wasn’t hiding his worried expression.

  She almost laughed at his mistake, but how could he know which Washington she was referring to? “Not Washington DC. Washington State. I grew up right on the Canadian/Washington border. A little town called Emerson; about twenty miles from nowhere.”

  The look on his face was priceless. Frown lines wrinkled his forehead and his mouth was saying “Oh” but no sound transmitted.

  “Washington State?” he finally asked. Once he started asking his questions continued nonstop. “How are we going to get there? That’s clear on the other side of the U.S. Oh my God, can we sail there? Around the horn? How?”

  She had his attention, but still hadn’t thought exactly how to get there. The way she saw it, they had two options or rather three, but up the east coast and through the Northwest Passage was not a trip they could even consider. To her knowledge, a dozen or more sailboats had already made the crossing, but, she was pretty sure not on a Catalina 34. She was built with the idea of coastal cruising in mind and would not withstand the rigors of the arctic ice. That left them with two options. Around Cape Horn, or through the Panama Canal.

  “Well,” she answered, trying to decide on the fly. “We can go around Cape Horn, but not my first choice. Way too rough and too far. To me, the Panama Canal is the way to go.”

  Ellen saw disbelief and excitement cross his face at the prospect of either. “By way of Cape Horn, we would likely get beat to death around the cape and we would be going the wrong direction for a safe passage. Through the Straits of Magellan, same story. So, that leaves the canal as our only viable route.”

  “But, don’t you have to have electricity for the locks to work? Do you know how to get down there? What if we get all the way there and they don’t have electricity either?”

  He had reasonable questions, and she had no definite answers. Nevertheless, she had given it some thought. What she hoped, was that the U.S. was hit with a high altitude EMP, rather than a solar flare. With all of the tension around Iran and Russia, an EMP made sense by either country or maybe both countries working together had conspired to take out the United States. Whereas a solar flare could possibly take out the worldwide electrical infrastructure. If she had to choose an evil, the first would be the best choice.

  “Well, if it was an EMP then it was likely directed at the US. Hopefully, that would leave the power grid for Panama and Mexico in working order. My only concern at this point, is what is going to happen before we get there. We have a long way to go and I don’t think we are going to have an easy go of it.”

  “We can sail the whole way?” he asked.

  “I hope so, but first we need to get some diesel and some more water. As much of both as we can carry,” Ellen had given the idea of replacement parts, first priority in tasks to do. If she could change them out and the new batteries still have enough charge to start the old girl, they should be in great shape as long as they could find enough diesel to fill her tanks.

  “Diesel? Why?” Alan asked, clearly puzzled. “I didn’t think we could use the motor.”

  Not wanting to take the time to go into detail about why she thought it would work if she changed out the electrical parts, she just said, “If we replace the electrical I think we can. Let’s just wait and see. First, we need to get away from here. We don’t want any more unwanted visitors.”

  She opened the navigation chart book and they plotted a course to Boca Grande channel. They had to avoid the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) because of the bridges and narrow channels. So outside they would go, heading 348 degrees. With her knowledge of the area, line of sight and the trusty compass they raised the sails.

  Once in the Gulf, the wind was a brisk southeast at 10-15 knots. That put them on a broad reach all the way to Boca Grande Pass.

  She prayed the wind didn’t shift out of the east as it would have made getting in to Pelican Bay very difficult.

  But luck seemed to be on their side and by sundown with just the jib still up, the last puff of wind pushed them into the shallow bay. They were very lucky to only draw 4’3” of water. From an earlier experience with a grounding, she was able to avoid the 2 foot shallows.

  “Drop it now,” She yelled at Alan who was sitting at the bow, anchor pennant in one hand, anchor chain in the other. It turned out the guy really did know how to sail. They shared the helm on the way down and Ellen was able to begin charting their next course. With any luck after tomorrow the Annie-C would be a fully functioning boat. Ellen hauled on the furling line effectively rolling the jib up.

  Annie, seemed to be as glad to stop for the day as they were. The anchor set first try. Not that Ellen expected any different, the last vestige of breeze pulled them away from the anchor and it held tight.

  “Wow, that was some trip, wasn’t it?” Alan declared as he stepped in to the cockpit. “If not for the circumstances, this would have been some kind of day.”

  “Just when I was beginning to like you, you had to remind me,” Ellen said, and looking around she was able to inspect the harbor. She had caught glimpses of a couple of other sailboats and one or two power boats when they first made the corner, but now she wanted to see them. Every instance the past couple of days when others were involved had ended in calamity. She was too tired to put up with any shit from anyone else.

  Binoculars in hand she scanned the bay. “Hmm, doesn’t look like anyone is home there,” she said, passing by the closest sailboat. The next boat had two dinghies tied to the transom, plus the one in the davits. She heard voices floating on the wind. “So that’s where you all are,” she muttered and pulled the binoculars from her eyes.

  “You talk to yourself,” Alan stated. He was watching the boat with all the dinghies, his hand across his brow trying to avoid the last of the sun. “What do you think is going on there?”

  “Well, I guess we keep our eyes on them and wait and see. I think we are going to stand watch tonight just in case. I don’t see any movement on the power boats and neither has a dinghy on board or in the water, so maybe they left. That one,” I nodded to the west side of the small bay, “is the only boat I can see that is occupied, as near as I can tell. Three dinghies are accounted for and I suspect they all belong to the sailboats.”

  “So, we wait and see?” he asked. His stomach interrupted with a huge growl. “Sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “I’m getting a little hungry.”

  “Did you think about finding something to eat? Just so you know, I don’t usually wait on anyone. If you are hungry find something to eat.”

  “Well, I didn’t feel right eating your food. I don’t have anything to contribute.”

  “What? Are you kidding me?” She thought she understood what he is saying, but he couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

  “Ok, here is an amendment to the rules I set down in the beginning. Remember those?” She could see that he did and continued. “I hereby appoint you as my new first mate…my brother if you will. As far as either of us knows, neither of us has any family left. I know for sure that I don’t and while we are uncertain about you, it doesn’t matter. From this time fourth you will be my brother. We share equally in whatever is on this boat. We share equally in every duty and equally in whatever else we have to do to survive. We are now family.”

  Alan was staring at her and she wondered if she had offended him by disregarding his father so quickly.

  “Really?” he asked, as he plopped down on the seat. He seemed to relax as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “I can live with that. In fact, I like it. Growing up I always wanted siblings. But hey, are you my older or younger sister?”

  “Your older, much older sister. But, I mean it. I will defend you with my life and I expect the same from you. Let’s hope it never comes to that, but you get my meaning.” Ellen was pretty sure he was trying to flatter her with the younger thing but didn’t siblings joke around? Time to set him straight. “I’ll be thirty-one years old next month.”

  “Wow,” he exclaimed, “I never would have thought you were that old!”

  “What? Thirty-one is not old. Anyways, we’re in this together no matter what. Now, while you keep an eye over there,” she said, pointing at the Island Packet with all the dinghies tied to it, “I will just this once, make us something to eat.”

  “You got it Sis,” he said, and she thought from his big grin he received pleasure just from saying it.

  She had barely begun making sandwiches when he called, “Here they come. What do you want to do?”

  “How many are coming?” Ellen asked, hoping this would be a better encounter than the last.

  “Two boats, eight people, looks like three couples and two kids. The kids are waving.”

  “Kids…are good” she muttered, “who brings their kids if they are looking for trouble.”

  She wasn’t going to trust them anyway, so she reached behind the cushion and grabbed her Taurus 357. She tried to jam it down the back of her pants like they do in the movies, but that didn’t work. She had to settle for holding it in her right hand behind her back and climbed the ladder up to the cockpit.

  “Ahoy Annie-C” a voice hailed, followed quickly by, “We mean you no harm.”

  “Please don’t come any closer,” Ellen answered. “We don’t want any trouble either.”

  “No worries, we too are not looking for any. We’ve already had more than our share today.”

  “Tell her about the bad guys Daddy,” one of the children encouraged.

  “Hush now, I’ll tell them in a minute,” A man, obviously he was the Daddy, answered.

  “We didn’t see you come in, we were down below trying to figure out what to do. Jeff there,” he pointed at one of the men in the other dinghy, “and his wife Linda were accosted by the guys in that powerboat over there.” He pointed to the big fish boat. “If not for Brian, they may have robbed and killed us all. The men wanted their boat because their own doesn’t run. Brian came to the rescue when he saw one of them punch Jeff and try to throw him over the side. One of the others tried forcing Linda down the ladder. I think they were all drunk and who knows what would have happened.”

  They had no trouble guessing which one of the men was Brian. He had his chin down as if he found the high praise misplaced, or was embarrassed by his actions. Whichever it was, he wasn’t basking in the glory.

  “Tell them about the planes Dad, and the fire.” The boy, who looked to be anywhere from twelve to fourteen obvious brother to the first child, said as if he wanted his Dad to hurry up and tell them. It was hard to tell if he was excited by the events, or just wanted to relive the details again.

  “I’m betting we have similar stories to tell, but right now we need to eat and then get some sleep,” Ellen, said trying to give “Dad” an escape from the telling. She was not sure they wanted to hear how bad the day on land had been. Ellen imagined lots of planes fell from the sky. However, she didn’t want to think about the poor souls on board.

  Chapter nine

  Before they left to return to their own boats they all agreed to meet on neutral ground. They decided to meet on the sandbar at the north end of the bay. They also agreed to come un-armed. Apparently she hadn’t been quite as sneaky with the Taurus as she had thought, just as just she was sure they had been armed as well.

  “What now Ellen? Are we going to meet with them?” Alan had remained silent through the whole conversation, and Ellen was positive he had formed an opinion as well.

  “What do you think? Should we trust them?” At no time did she feel threatened, but Alan is half of the equation and he needed to know his opinion counted. Her asking for his opinion, was the first step in building a cohesive relationship. It is just as important to Ellen, to have him trusting in her judgment.

  “Actually, after the initial sighting, I never felt threatened at all. I mean, who brings kids to a gunfight? I do wonder about the powerboat guys. Do you think that it was them that tried to steal the boat?”

  “When we get out of here, I will tell you about my experience with a power boater. I still think about his wife or girlfriend, whichever she was. But that can set for another day. Right now, let’s get something to eat.” It was another loud growl from Alan that reminded her that they still had not eaten yet that day. She had planned on rationing, but skipping meals completely, was out of the question. They would need their strength, for what she feared lay ahead.

  Fried eggs, cheese and bacon went in between the bread she had laid out before they received their company. The hot grease, softened the bread, and all in all it was delicious. Galley tidied up, they sat in the cockpit waiting for the appointed meet time.

  “Do you really think we can make it all the way to Washington? “

  “Is that doubt I detect in your voice?” They both laughed, because she was sure he had detected doubt when she told him where her home was. She sighed deeply, contemplating her answer. “In reality I hope we can. It is a long way to go and the odds are stacked against us. Making it through the canal is the first step. If we can make it to the west coast, then I think we have a chance. The rest is just lots of open water and whatever God chooses to throw at us. This is not an ocean crossing boat. Nor do I think she would stand the beating up the California, Oregon or Washington coast. If we have to, once we get through the canal we will sail up into the Sea of Cortez, and walk from there.”