“Yar, yar, yar! You slimy scum buckets. You there! Yes you! You with the lean! Been eating lemons boy? Why? Cuz you look sour. Sour, man! AWWW!”
Captain Hector strolled side to side on his skip jack. Placing his rear upon the steering wheel, Hector made the tiny power boat gradually spin in the water. His attentive crew of three seven year olds and one grandmother quickly became aware of their slow whirlwind of movement. Their anxious faces alerted Hector yet he mistook their anxiety as lack of courage. With a shove from his thigh muscles he gently stumbled upon his feet and then made a gigantic leap towards his shipmates, lifting nearly two inches off the ground. Landing perfectly balanced and nearly a foot from their faces Hector began tirading on the importance of discipline and camaraderie. While explaining the possibility of a shipwreck and the likeliness of survival if everyone “Just does what I say!” little pigtailed Susie raised her hand to salute her captain. With sudden patience Hector stopped mid-sentence and called upon his curious looking crewmate.
“Yes, First mate Moreno.”
“Unca Hesta, wat’s a shipwreck?”
Straining to hear what his adorable niece was asking Hector leaned closer. Her speech impediment made it difficult for him to understand her. With a little bit of annoyance he took three steps towards the elderly woman with hot pink lipstick and giant green bug eyed glasses. Her large Southern Plantation hat covered her forehead perfectly and her silver silk kimonos blowed like paper in the wind. Hector lightly grabbed the geriatric woman’s arm and pulled her away from the children.
“Listen mom. I’m trying to commandeer a ship here. How can I run a proper vessel if I can’t understand what the hell half my crew is saying. I told Mike to take the kid to a doctor or something. If you don’t fix that tongue she’s gonna be living at home until she’s thirty eating Bom Bom’s and working as a kindergarten teacher’s aide.’
Gladys loved her son. With a smile and a look of favorability that is so typical Mother, she patted his hand and gave a giggle.
“Calm down Hector. You know that your brother and Gina appreciate you taking the triplets out for a little voyage. I realize you’re worried about Susie but it’s only a lisp.”
Acting indignant yet secretly excited to spend time with his family Hector resumed the role of captain. With his back to the children he began to horribly moon walk across the deck until he spun towards them in a perfect circle. With a look of glee in their eyes that nearly melted him under the sweltering sun the Captain began barking orders.
“First mate Tyler, grab the bucket. First mate Shawn assist your crewmate with the bait. Gentleman! Where does the bait go?”
“On the hook Captain Hector!” The boy’s cried out in unison. In a flash the boy’s zipped past their Captains’ powerful legs and high shorts, grabbing the bucket with minnows and their uncle’s trusty old fishing pool. Immaculately clean and shiny the boy’s halted right before sharing to grip the pole. They carried it over to the boats rear like tiny dwarfs hauling lumber through a forest of open blue sky and seaweed strewed water. Making sure to adhere to their Captain’s directions the boy’s calmly aided each other with the holding of the pool as the minnow was lanced upon the hook. They constantly looked towards their Captain as he scrutinized their every move with narrowed eyes. Quickly looking away, only to find him grinning at them, released squeals of laughter from their swollen bellies. Not allowing his crew to fall into chaos Hector began screaming for ‘Discipline! Focus!” in loud thunderous chants. The boy’s straightened up and instantly plopped their line into the water. Tyler shuffled his feet around, pulled his hat up and down his head and then asked,
“Captain Hector. I think were gonna get our shark today! Can we eat him tonight for dinner?”
Hector bellowed out a laugh.
“Sure. But who’s going to clean it?”
“Can you teach us Captain?”
“Of course. I taught you guys how to gut trout right? What’s a little bit of shark cleaning then, huh?”
Staring at each with wonder, the boys began to daydream. The idea of a shark upon their uncles’ boat, with its monstrous teeth chomping up and down elicited a thunderous race in the boy’s hearts. Turning toward his mother Hestor began to whisper.
‘Good luck at getting that mother of theirs to cook a shark. She can barely fix a steak let alone prepare a fine beast like a shark for feasting”
Gladys gave him a look of warning and he turned away dismissively. With a side step Hector avoided knocking into his favorite and only niece who gazed at her brother’s with patience. She awaited her uncle’s orders with diligence. Always addressing her by last name first to install family remembrance, Hector dictated out his call.
“First mate Moreno! I need you to post up over there with your crew. You are granted the special task of observer. This means that you provide lookout for oncoming ships, sharks and other sea life. Dolphins and such. Got it?”
“Yes Unca Hesta!”
She saluted him again and then made the three foot skip to her chair which was dutifully waiting for her. Hestor went towards the front of the boat and began to chart out his position for the rest of the afternoon. As he stood there standing under his canopy, the gentle wind slapping him in the face and the sound of children’s excited voices in the background a thrill of placid contentment swallowed up his entire being. Engulfed in a swell of happiness he sensed that for the first time in a while he was at home. But he was aware. Always aware that the day would come again when adventure’s call would pierce this world of calm and beckon him towards the rolling days of travel. There was no stalling for a rambler. When the monotony of foreign places bore in on him like a pelting hailstorm he turned home only to eventually find another storm chasing him down the road of circulating change.