Molokai Reef (20 page)

Ahead,
Amber nuzzled
da Dink
,
Lagoonabago
’s dinghy,
against the starboard hull. The first client with Amber now helping
him aboard had arrived in a hotel limousine moments earlier. Gybe
secured
Aweigh
to the other hull and scrambled aboard.

The
third and final client arrived within twenty minutes. The girls
helped the clients get settled then Pamela presented a brief safety
lesson. The initial meeting between the girls and the clients was
crucial to the success of the operation. One client was a repeat but
for the other two, this was their first time.

The
girls, but not the clients, knew their assignments – or
pairings. This tactic stroked the client’s ego by letting the
client think they had chosen the girl. Andrea made brief
introductions then manned the bar where the clients selected their
drinks.

Les
acknowledged Gybe then ordered an old scotch, “… one
without a glen in its name. Neat.”

Thomas
asked for a sparkling water. From previous visits, Andrea
anticipated his request and poured a freshly opened bottle into a
frosted glass.

From
his earlier review with Andrea on the laptop, Gybe recalled that
Thomas would be the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of a dotcom company
based in Redwood City, midway between San Francisco and San Jose.
Gybe knew that this was a cover for Thomas’s real occupation.
He was a televangelist from Tuscaloosa. This was his third visit to
Lagoonabago
in as many months.

To
protect confidentiality, clients never divulged last names,
employers, or hometowns aboard
Lagoonabago
. It wasn’t
necessary since Andrea had enough background on each client to keep
him or her quiet if someone decided to talk later or try to blackmail
the other clients. She didn’t allow client-owned cameras
aboard either. For the purpose of conversation, clients selected a
cover story to use during their stay on the boat.

The
third client, Melissa, ran her own Louisiana-based company with more
than two hundred employees. Later, when Gybe checked the computer,
he found that Melissa’s real occupation was raising free-range
llamas on her ten thousand acre ranch in west Texas

And
of course, Gybe knew Les.

Pamela,
Amber, and Lindsey chose not to imbibe alcohol until the sunset meal.
Instead, they sipped mineral water or fruit drinks.

Gybe
helped Andrea prepare to sail. Normally, she would bring
da Dink
aboard and stow it forward on the trampoline. Instead, Gybe took the
two dinghies over to
Ferrity
and tied them astern while Andrea
used the cockpit-controlled capstan to retrieve the
Lagoonabago’s
anchor. Since no one was on the bow, she raised it to waters’
edge only. With an engine in each hull, the cat was easy to
maneuver. By backing one engine while going forward with the other,
Andrea spun the boat within its hull length and nudged it towards
Ferrity
.

When
Lagoonabago
’s port bow was two feet away from
Ferrity
,
Gybe stepped aboard. Andrea backed both engines, then spun the hull
towards the harbor entrance. As always, he was in awe of the
spaciousness of the boat. It was as if two
Ferrity
-sized
boats were sailing in parallel. A net, called the trampoline,
stretched nearly twenty feet between the two hulls forward of the
cabin. Lengthwise, the net spanned at least another fifteen feet
between the bow and a point forward of the mast. Gybe walked across
the trampoline and stowed the anchor on its bow roller, then clipped
on the chain stopper.

Noticing
that they were clear of the harbor entrance, Gybe stopped at the mast
and awaited Andrea’s signal to hoist the main. A gentle
ten-knot wind blew from the east. The captain idled the engines as
she spun the boat into the wind. Gybe raised the mainsail as smartly
as the Marines raised the flag at the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Andrea
fell off the wind and the cat accelerated. Returning aft, Gybe
uncleated the jib furling line and eased out the foresail. With both
sails drawing, ten knots of wind on the beam, and seas of two to four
feet,
Lagoonabago
accelerated past nine knots, a speed that
Gybe’s
Ferrity
saw only when she surfed down big ocean
waves.

For
this evening, Andrea planned to sail to the west end of the island
where they would have an unobscured view of the sunset. To get
there, she would sail west-southwest before turning northward. The
boat would be in no danger of gibing, but as a prudent sailor, she
asked Gybe to attach a preventer to the boom just the same.

He
tied one end of the line to the end of the boom and secured the other
end to a padeye near the leeward shroud. A preventer was needed when
a sailboat sailed a course that was close to dead downwind. If the
wind managed to get behind the large mainsail, the preventer would
prevent the boom from swinging rapidly to the opposite side of the
boat. Uncontrolled gibes where the boom crashed from one side to the
other had killed many an unfortunate sailor whose head happened to be
at boom level. A gibe could cause the mast to fail and fall on deck
causing injury and more damage.

Because
the boat would be running nearly dead downwind, the apparent wind
coming over the port quarter would be negligible. This made for a
comfortable ride for the guests.

Once
she reached mid-channel, Andrea would gibe and set a north-northwest
course, which would take them clear of La‘au Point. The point
was the southwestern corner, or base of the heel, of Moloka‘i.
Then, for the rest of the cruise she would sail first north, then
south – hovering off the west end of the island like a gunboat
on patrol.

Andrea
clicked in the autopilot and joined the others in the saloon.

The
girls and clients were laughing when Gybe and Andrea sat down.
Andrea subscribed to an Internet-based joke writing service. The
girls always knew a few, usually short, fresh jokes. The guests
nibbled from a tray of pupus, sipped their cocktails, and flirted
with the girls.

Twenty
minutes into the sail, Andrea gibed the boat and set a course that
would safely clear La‘au Point. The sound of a breaching
humpback drew everyone’s attention aft. They whale breached
three times before disappearing in a deep dive.

About
one mile north of La‘au Pt. and a mile offshore, Andrea hove to
by backwinding the jib. In the lee of the mountain ridge on the
island’s west end,
Lagoonabago
rocked gently in the
waves. “Swim call.” She announced.

Two
of the pairs, now firmly established, jumped into the clear water.
Les and Amber remained aboard. Gybe helped Andrea prepare dinner in
the galley. Amber shot a glance of concern at Andrea as she poured
Les another drink. This would be his third scotch in an hour.

Andrea
wasn’t concerned about the cost of the decades old scotch. She
knew the drinking preferences of each client and she stocked the boat
accordingly. In fact, the bar aboard
Lagoonabago
would
disgrace the fanciest bar in Waikiki. Instead, the signal meant that
Les needed watching.

Coupling
was discouraged before dinner, but a slight vibration drew Gybe’s
attention to the bow. An old proverb drifted through his mind as he
stepped outside and looked forward around the saloon.

An
oddly shaped silhouette hung beneath the trampoline near the port
hull. Squinting into the sun, he smiled as he made out the hanging
shape of Thomas – arms extended above his head – and then
Pamela, also hanging from the trampoline, but with her legs wrapped
tightly around Thomas. No doubt, some genetic skill passed down from
a tree-dwelling ancestor was at work.

Gybe
returned to the saloon just as Andrea escorted Les outside.

Inside
the saloon, Gybe turned to Amber. “Amber, what happened?”

She
made sure that Les was out of earshot. “Les is getting drunk
and his groping is getting out of hand. Pun intended. Andrea will
tell him to slow down on the alcohol and stop fumbling with my tits
until after dinner. She will remind him of the rules that he agreed
to.”

“
She’s
good at that. By the time Les returns he’ll believe that you
were out of line.”

Amber
grinned. “Gybe, why don’t you stay with me and let
Andrea take care of Les?”

Nothing
but nice, using the word euphemistically, thoughts flashed through
Gybe’s primal mind. Yuummmeee! “I’ll take a rain
check. Thanks.”

The
swimmers showered then everyone gathered around the table for dinner.
Most of the dinner had been prepared before the clients arrived.
The girls took turns serving and clearing each course. Andrea
tolerated no bawdiness or vulgarity so the conversation was light and
lively.

To
the west, they watched the sun set until a group of spinner dolphins
found
Lagoonabago
. To everyone’s amusement, the
dolphins played about the hull arching through the air or jumping
vertically and spinning. It was hard to count the number in the pod,
but Gybe estimated there were more than twenty. The gray and white
five to six foot long mammals clicked and whistled with their long
slender beaks.

As he
gazed at the intelligent animals he pondered their fate. Tuna
fishing fleets had decimated another beautiful – can anything
natural not be beautiful – animal. Because the dolphins
traveled with yellowfin tuna, purse seiners inadvertently had killed
more than a million over the past couple of decades while
unsustainably slaughtering the tuna.

After
ten minutes of play, the dolphins disappeared as suddenly as they had
arrived.

Satiated
with the rich meal, each client rested as Amber cleared the table,
Pamela poured coffee, and Lindsey served desert – a white
chocolate chiboust with Szechuan pepper infused chocolate sauce and
caramel ice cream. Les freed a cigar from his pocket and started
preparations to light it.

Before
Melissa could object, Andrea intervened. A petulant Les resheathed
the oral phallus.

As
they finished desert, a tardy moon, a few days past full. rose in the
eastern sky. This moon was unseen to the crew and guests of
Lagoonabago
which lay shadowed by the high mountains of first
Maui, far in the distance, and then Moloka‘i.

After
dinner, Gybe and Andrea cleaned dishes and secured loose items that
had been used for dinner. The girls and clients disappeared in
pairs. Amber and Les took the Polynesian room, the forward cabin in
the starboard hull. Pamela and Thomas moved to the harem room, also
in the starboard hull. Lindsey and Melissa took the dungeon room
located forward of Andrea’s master cabin in the port hull.

“
Beautiful
night,” Gybe intoned as he and Andrea stood near the helm.

Andrea
hugged Gybe tightly. “That it is. I’m so happy to see
you again.”

After
dinner and after the girls settled into their staterooms,
Lagoonabago
sailed in a northerly direction. Still staying off the west end of
the island, Andrea sailed north until she encountered the rougher
water of Ka‘iwi Channel, the channel between Moloka‘i and
O‘ahu, then she tacked and sailed south. For the next three
hours, she would sail the ten-mile track back and forth like a drug
war sentry. The two long time friends took turns at the wheel.

“
Ahhh-oooo-gaaah”
blared the alarm at 2132 (9:32 p.m. civilian time). Ahhh-oooo-gaaah,
it repeated reminiscent of an old submarine dive alarm. A light
flashed inside the etched diagram of the catamaran’s layout.
The diagram was near the top of the instrument panel in front of the
ship’s wheel. The graphic showed the source of the problem to
be the starboard forward stateroom. The Polynesian room. Les and
Amber’s room.

38

Gybe
sprinted through the saloon, down into the starboard hull, and was at
the door within seconds. Hidden behind a small painting, an override
lock-release allowed him to open the cabin door. Behind him, Thomas
wearing a golden sultan’s hat with blue tail and Pamela in
diaphanous harem pants – no top no underwear - stepped from the
harem room.

Like
the general quarters alarm aboard warships, the ahooga alarm brought
all of the girls and guests from their quarters. Lindsey, finally
deciding to cut the ropes rather than untie the many knots, was the
last to arrive with Melissa. Andrea spun the wheel hard over to stop
the boat.
Lagoonabago
was now hove-to as sailors would say,
bobbing in the swells. Andrea joined Gybe in the open doorway.

A
red-faced, naked Les, chewing an unlit cigar, turned to Gybe. His
fist tightened around the wad of dry grass in his right hand. “What
the hell do you want? Get out. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Behind
him, Amber stood in the corner atop the queen size bed. Her sex was
visible to all through the gaping hole in the front of her grass
skirt. Her rubicund left cheek required little explanation. “He
hit me.”

The
skirt, Amber could have handled. Each girl determined the limits for
rough play. Andrea contracted a well-known psychiatrist to coach the
girls on managing the boundary between sexual exploration and abuse,
a boundary that fluctuated with the passage of time and the evolution
of society.