“Don’t see why she should, the other gals don’t unless it happens to suit them. I just don’t want her swarming into my lap, naked as an eel and twice as lively. Gives me delusions of youth.”
“I’ll clamp down on her, sir.”
“Tom, I don’t want the child ‘clamped down on.’ I want everybody to enjoy this cruise—one big happy family. Ask Hester to tell her quietly that old Uncle Jake loves her but doesn’t like to be pawed. A lie, that last, but an official lie. Speaking of the pool, how’s the filter?”
“Filter’s okay, was just a clog in makeup feed line. Kelp. No huhu.”
“Has the surgeon tested the water?”
“Safe.”
“That’s good. Tom, when I was a kid, striking for quartermaster third, we used to swim off the boat booms and thought nothing of it. But today even the Pacific Ocean can’t soak up all the crud they dump into it. You can put swimming call on the bull horn and take the Skull-and-Crossbones sign off the pool.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Half a second while I make eight bells.” Jake reached out with his left hand, picked the last touchplate of a row of eight; the quadruple double Bong! marking the beginning of the forenoon watch rang through the vessel. He then picked still another touchplate and sounded swimming call himself. “Tom, if a man didn’t have to eat or sleep, he could sail this wagon around the world by himself. Three men could do it easily. Even two.”
“Maybe.”
“You sound doubtful, Tom.”
“Even one man could, sir—if nothin’ never went wrong. Something always does.”
“I stand corrected. And with two pregnant women aboard—three if you don’t keep a close eye on Eve—”
“Oh, Dr. Garcia got her on the junior pill. I don’t take no chances, sir.”
“So? Tom, my respect for you—high—has just increased. She’s safe from her Uncle Jacob. . . but I make no promises about any other male in this bucket. There is something in salt air that hikes up the metabolism. And there is much truth in the old saw about ‘when they’re big enough, they’re old enough and nothing can be done about it.’ Better to roll with the punch.”
“She is and she has and we did—I had this here talk with the Doc. Hester and me don’t expect no more from Eve different than we did ourselves. Anybody knows when a broad starts getting broad she’s goin’ to land on her back.”
“Yes, everybody knows it—yet most parents don’t believe it when it comes to their own kids. I know, I had a family law practice for years. Tom, you’re such an all-around sensible man I’m surprised that you ever got in trouble.”
His sailing master shrugged. “Comes o’ believing what I was told, sir. ‘M chief officer of this rust bucket and Captain says keep my lip tight and see nothin’ and we make ten times as much on one voyage. All fixed. Only he got smart and hung onto the bribe money hisself. Thought he could run it in the dark. You’da thought he’d never heard of radar. Wham. Coast Guard.” Finchley shrugged again. “No complaints, sir, I was a fool. But two years and four months and I get this much better job driving for Mr. Smith-as-was. Smellin’ like a rose. Not so trusting now, is all. Don’t trust too much, you don’t get your ass burned.”
“Yet you don’t seem cynical. Tom, I think the major problem in growing up is to become sophisticated without becoming cynical.”
“That’s over my head, Counselor. I just think people are okay, mostly—even that silly skipper—if you don’t strain ‘em more than they’re built for. Like that piece of standing rigging there. Rated three tons. Pro’ly take five and no trouble. Don’t put six tons on it.”
“We’ve said the same thing, I think, but your illustration is vivid. Beat it, Tom. If there’s no work to be done, grab sack time. Or pool time.”
“Yes, sir. I want to inspect the starboard hull; it’s making extra water. Pump can handle it but I want to know why.” He touched his cap and swung down off the platform.