Makarov
24 March 2008, 12:30 AM
Flawless Coordinates
By: Pitty
Chains banging, men screaming. The usual around the docks. The smell of dead fish scenting the air. It was a rainy day. Just like any other day you read about on the docks. There never is a nice sunny day for the setting on the docks. Hello, I am Frank and I’m only 19. I took a job as a fisherman to pay for my low income family. My beloved father past away. Captain Cay was how he was referred to. A Navy man. I also has a sister. She’s only 13. Her name is Vanessa. Mother is a gold digger. Before Vanessa was born, Daddy was rich. He invested in the stock market and lost big. She abandoned the family. I bet she’s in Las Vegas somewhere living the lifestyle of a soap opera.
Vanessa is one of those sisters you always wish you had. She’s nice and responsible. Since I am 19 now, I officially made myself her legal guardian. It’s tough our life. $20,000 dollar taxes. Then there is every day living needs. We both have jobs and never wear brand names except for the fact we each have a pair of dress clothes just in case we get invited somewhere fancy. Vanessa has a job. She works at the local Starbucks. I love her with all my heart. I never want anything bad to happen to her.
One bitter, foggy, cold day, I went down to work. The waves were rugged and my clothes were soggy. It’s Crab Season. We leave out to London tomorrow. I have saved $3000 for Vanessa for food and anything else she might need. Also with her payments from Starbucks, I think she’ll make it okay. I already payed the bills, and long ago Daddy payed off the loans. My captain is Q. Nobody knows who he is. Rumor is that back in the 90's, he lost all his crew in a very big storm and was rescued by the Coast Guard. Well anyways, he is a grumpy old man. He only talks when he barks orders, but pays well. He walks with a limp. My guess is that he permanently injured his leg during the bad storm. “Rah! Frank, get those crab cages on board!” “Yes Sir.” I liked Crabbing Season. In the contract I signed with Q, it stated that I would be payed. Then it said for how much money we profit, you’ll get to keep 10%. Now, I have seen those shows with Crabbing and they make a lot of money, so I hope this will help me get through with the bills.
I loaded the ship no problem. We sailed at dawn. We’re doing small crabbing now, then sailing to London for a contest and to pick up a third crew member, and finally we’ll compete. I use to live in London. For 10 years. We moved when Vanessa was three.
We’re off. We plan on doing some sort of fishing until we hit London. Wether it being crabbing, fishing, or catching lobsters. I love the smell of the sea. The noises too. I woke up an hour early to do some fishing. I see the fishing chair and lured myself to it. I sat down. Daddy taught me how to fish when I was seven. Oh how I still remember that first fresh water bass I caught. One pound precisely. As I’m sitting there the line is calm, but I hear something loud. “Woah!” I screamed. The line was bent so much that it actually looked like a circle. Using all my force I reeled in. It was nothing like I have ever seen or done. I have caught a shark a few times, but this, this was just insanity. I finally after 30 minutes had reeled in. In the corner of my eye I saw Q just watching me. His rough grey beard, his green hat, his red rain coat, and his blaring green eyes. Drinking his morning coffee. To my surprise, I caught a maybe 7 foot sword fish. I had never caught one of these. I’ve only just heard about them. Once I pulled it aboard, I just stared at it. I knew we wouldn’t cook it so I unhooked the hook and threw it over the railing. Now Q approaches me. Limping he makes it to me with the noise of the concrete in the background as he say in a husky voice, “I would of made you get rid of it anyways.” I was sort of glad with my actions because it saved me time and a life because if I had killed it other animals would just eaten it.
My first orders from Q were to get the cages. He told me he wanted to see if the crabs were here. If they were not we’d have to wait till dark again to see if they will be at our location then. I went and got 2 cages. They didn’t weigh that much, but I am pretty muscular. I got them to Q. “Good” he muttered. We tied them to the ropes and slid them overboard. It’s harder working with one disabled man. Probably explains why instead of working late into the night, leading in the morning, we’ll quit after sunset if the crabs don’t come. Now, back to sliding the cages off the ship. We slid them off no problem. Now all you can do is wait. Q said, “We’re just gonna have to wait maybe 15 minutes.” I nodded my head as if I saying, “Sure there is no rush.”
The fifteen minutes past. We put on some gloves and slid up the ropes. Maybe 2-3 crabs in total. So we just threw them back. Q said let’s give it one more try. Once again, I nodded. We closed the trap, and slid it back down. These fifteen minutes were spent in silence. Of course I wanted to ask Q why he has a limp, but that’s rude. Repeating, we pulled the cage up. This time it was a little bit more strenuous. The crabs looked small, maybe 60 crabs. We got them out of the cage and began to measure them. Every single crab was too small so we had to throw them all back overboard. Q yelled, “That’s it for crabbing!”
We spent the day traveling in silence. Nothing big. I thought on how Vanessa was doing. I worry too much. I can only imagine what she is doing, probably at work.
Meanwhile back at home Vanessa is like Frank said, at work. Now this is what is happening. “Yes, hello, I’d like a hmm let’s see I’d like a caramel frappuccino.” A soccer mom says with screaming kids in the background. “Sure one second please” Vanessa says trying to sound like she’s interested. Vanessa knows she has to work, but does not enjoy this job. She’s been lying to Frank by putting every two dollars she earns into a bank account to pay for her college. When her daddy was alive, he already saved about what 3 year’s total expense would be. Vanessa’s dreams are to open up her own business. She has not decided on what, but she wants to be an owner. Now back to the story. Vanessa hands the lady her drink and returns the lady with her change. “Thanks baby” says the lady. “Vanessa responds to that by saying, “Have a nice day.” And then mutters, “Soccer mom.”
Now back to Frank. “Well, whatever she’s up to, let’s just hope that she’s safe” he says to himself. His thoughts on Vanessa are interrupted by Q barking, “Frank! Get over here now!” Franks walks toward Q. “Yes?” “Son, why are you staring into space? Go mop the deck!” Frank walks toward the hose and picks it up. Click. It’s on Jet now. Frank walks all around the deck spraying the floor. As Frank does this, all he can think about is how boring this is. “It’s 4:30 P.M. and I haven’t done anything.” He whispers to himself. Q walks out, “That’s good now the sun is soon to be setting. Help me get the crab cages ready. I want to get them early.
Frank walks down the stairs and back into the closet and places the hose down. Now he walks all the way back up the stairs and goes to help Q with the cages. Frank oversees Q rolling up his black pants and sees him looking at his leg. Oh how gross it was. It was all scarred. Frank finally sees Q with emotion with his saddened face. When Q finally rolls his pant leg down, Frank enters. “Alright. Sorry I took long” Frank states. The two men tie the cages and push them overboard. The fifteen minutes past in silence. Again Frank eagerly wants to ask Q where his scare came from. “Maybe another time” Frank says in his head. Q gives Frank the signal. They both go back and pull the ropes up. The rain now is beating down. No crabs again. Q says, “Let’s hope they’re approaching near the tourney area.” Of course I hoped so too. I was in desperate need of money. I was tired of job after job. The ways were rocking the boat. Q calls it a day. Frank goes down to the living area and takes a shower. The water is cold. Q never put in a heater. After Frank’s shower he dresses into his night close which contains of socks, sweat pants, and a blue long sleeve shirt. Frank has long black hair. He’s a quiet person, but he doesn’t get bored. He’s more of a listener. The only time you see him talking is if he is answer a question, asking a question, rarely telling a great story, or laughing. He’s also Caucasian. He’s around six feet tall and is built.
Q heats up dinner. Beans and beer. That’s Q’s way of living. Frank knows there’s not too much else so he accepts. Throughout dinner it’s silent. Suddenly, Q ask a question, “You like cards?” “Mhm” Frank replies. Q shows a small grin and reaches for his pocket. He decks out a pack of cards. “Hold Em” Q says. Franks likes this game. For the first ten hands, it’s in silence. Q asks, “Got any family?” Frank replies, “Dad is dead. Mom abandoned us. Now I am the legal guardian of my 13 year old sister Vanessa.” Instead of showing sympathy, Q jumped right to saying, “How did your dad die?” “Well, he was in the Navy. A submarine torpedoed his ship.” Q looks down at his leg. “I saw you see my scar he says.” Back in the 90's my ship was torpedoed. Part of it hit me so I was left with this scar. It explains my limp. My crew all died. The Coast Guard saved me.” All I could do was just take it all in. It explained everything. Now I knew it’s impossible to hide anything from Q.
Flashback to the day Q’s boat was torpedoed. “Quinn I spot a big black thing ahead of us” Arnold said. Arnold was Quinn’s best friend and crew mate. They spent their years fishing. “Quinn! I just heard a big bang.” The thing in the water is traveling 100 miles per hour straight at their small little boat. Ka-boom. Went the boat. Arnold was forced to hit his head on a metal pipe and fell into the water unconscious. The torpedo hit the boat and spit open and slashed Quinn’s leg. “Rahhh!” He screamed. Quinn held onto the only part of his boat that still remained. He just laid there. With all his might he held onto the only remaining part of the boat. “What’s that noise? Who are you.” Everything then went white for Quinn. Two days later Quinn woke up in the hospital just to see the site of a nurse. “What happened?” The nurse replied by saying, “A submarine torpedoed your ship. Part of it ripped your leg open. We did surgery, but you’ll have rehabilitation and a limp for the rest of your life.” “What happened to Arnold?” “Who’s Arnold?” The nurse asked. “The Coast Guard said they only found you. Oh yea. Sorry, they classified a man Arnold Timminson lost at sea. Was he the man?” “Yes. Thank you.”
Back to the present. All Frank could get the courage to say was, “Oh. Sorry.” Q replied by saying, “Ah you couldn’t have done anything about it.” They played cards for the rest of the night. Drinking, telling stories, and laughing. Until Q said, “Let me see where we are.” Q left and came down in about maybe five minutes later. Q then said, “Let’s go to bed. According to our location, we should arrive in London tomorrow morning. Frank decided to go to bed. In bed all he thought about was Vanessa. He knew she was probably alright, so he fell asleep.
“Get up chap.” Frank woke up to a voice he didn’t know. Franks eyes opened. “Um, who are you?” “Miles be the name” Miles was a tall man. Wore a torn navy blue baseball hat. He had the smell of fish all over him, but what I could I expect, we were competing in a crabbing contest. The sign of London. My early years were spent here. Only one person who never liked me. George. He always tried getting me in trouble, but it always backfired since everyone could see his red hair. “Miles, Frank. Frank, Miles. Follow me lads.” Q said.
The two fairly young men followed the man. They had to walk slowly because of his limp. They didn’t say much. What could you expect. All they knew was each other’s name. “Frank? What a mighty surprise it is.” Frank turned around to see George. How did he know it was him? It was simple really, his hair was the reddest of anyone in the world. “Hello George. How have you been.” George did not reply, but he had some look on his face. Frank knew he had seen it before, but he just couldn’t remember.
Q nudged Frank to move on. Q, Frank, and Miles would have to enter the contest. George’s father was the official. He entered everyone. “Boat name. Then the captain’s name.” Mr. White said briefly. “Disenchanted. Q.” “Next in line please.”
We spent the next couple of days just getting ready for our trip. We planned out some things. I got to know Miles better. He was from Scotland. His parents kicked him out for being expelled from school. He told me he set a classroom on fire. I didn’t care if he sounded dangerous. He was always funny.
“Iced Coffee please.” “Sure Jimmy.” Vanessa said. She didn’t mid serving her friends. She got to say hi to them and they’d usually tip her. “Vanessa, you know that dance that is coming up?” “Yeah?” “Would you like to go with me?” “Sure Jimmy, that would be just great.” Jimmy left a bigger tip than usual. Vanessa was happy to know someone besides Frank really cared for her. Ten times more than her mother had ever cared for her. Captain Cay was an exception though.
We leave tomorrow I thought to myself. Alright, I better write home, just to let Vanessa know I’m alright. I hope this gets there within a week. I was never really a good writer though. This time I was determined to try. Right before I was about to start writing Q told me that he was still undecided on where we would go. He said he wanted to be far off, away from everyone and from the coast because the crab know this is a dead crab zone area. All the local crabs are caught here. “Q, do you mind if I go on break? I want to write home before we leave. She’s the only family I got.” Q just nodded.
Dear Vanessa,
We sail tomorrow. We’re still undecided on where we are going to go. As long as it is far away Captain Q told me. We picked up a third crew mate. His name is Miles. He’s a funny man. He’s Scottish. Well anyways I wanted to tell you I’ll be home in probably two weeks. If we win I get a bonus of five thousand dollars. I’ll already be bringing home a few thousand dollars. I hope you are keeping yourself out of trouble. I’ve never really been good with words, but I’m trying. I hope you’re alright. This will work itself out eventually. Just hang in there. Please try to keep that awful job at the coffee shop until I get back. I think you know why.
Frank
I went to the post office to buy stamps. I put six on the envelope so it will make it to the
United States alright. Q hasn’t been barking orders as much ever since he told me the story of how his leg was torpedoed. He’s the local legend around home, but to me, he seems like a pretty good guy.
“Hey! Frank, over here.” George whispered. “Write this down Frank. There are coordinates. This is a great place to go crabbing. You’ll win for sure.” Frank wrote them down and anxiously sprinted back to Q and gave them to him. “Hmm. I see. I guess. Sure Frank, we should go there.” Q had stated after reading the coordinates. Miles and Frank loaded the ship. The cages were set aboard and Miles loaded the food onto board. Frank cleaned the ship and hauled the other supplies. Q read his map. He was old fashioned. After one trip Frank could not understand why George was smirking. Frank didn’t let it get to him. He had work to do.
That night the men went to bed early. They would set off early to get the most of the trip as they could. Wasn’t much of an unheard of. Most people did it. It was kind of custom I supposes. It was still dark when I was woken by Miles. He was definitely the early bird. Q was already awake. Drinking his coffee. That usual look on his face. Now that I think of it, Q is like one of those guards who wear the big black hats. They never show emotion. After this trip, I’m taking him to see them. I want to know if he can get them to laugh.
And we were off. What an exciting trip this would be. Q projected it would be around 8 P.M. by the time we made it to the coordinates. Then he said we’d drift or sent anchor. Either or us would do. For now all we could do was wait. I could talk to Miles. We were close. He seems like the brother I never had. Before Miles came, Q seemed like he wanted to become close to me, but since Miles came, it just seems like the same attitude Q had on day one.
“We’re here boys!” Q screamed. That meant that it was time. We’d have to start crabbing. Miles and I dropped the cages and we waited fifteen minutes. I hope George was right. This contest was only two days, so time was valuable, same goes for those crabs. The fifteen minutes came. We pulled up the cages. Boy! There must have been at least a few hundred crabs in these cages. Big ones too, not just little small ones. Ones that would count in the contest. For a second I thought I saw Q grinning. This continued for hours, but the rain just kept coming down. The boat was shaking a little. Water was coming overboard. With this, Q called it a day.
Miles and myself were both exhausted. Once again we were having Q’s famous dinner, beans and beer. I got use to it. Miles seemed plenty use to it. We didn’t really speak. We kind of were just tired.
“Coming” Vanessa said when she knew Jimmy was at the door. Tonight is the night, the dance. Jimmy and Vanessa both knew that they liked each other. Not as friends, but more than friends. They both cared for one another. “Hello” Jimmy said in a kind of shy tone. Jimmy’s older sister drove them to the dance. Vanessa was glad to get out of her lonely house.
While Miles and I were playing cards, we heard glass break.”Boys! Get up here!” Q ordered. Right as I came up a huge wave knocked me over. I rolled over in pain, but knew I’d have to get up. Q was trying all he could to steer the ship. “Get down to the bottom of the boat!” Q demanded. I did not hesitate and would watch the storm through a window.
As Miles and I ran down we were very nervous. I didn’t get it, why would it be storming, George told me these were great coordinates. I can’t believe I forgot that smirk. When we were little he convinced me to swim in this lake. He said all the cool kids where. What I didn’t know was that it was polluted. How I smelt for a week. And how he was punished for a month.
In the distance I saw a wave. It was huge! Probably at least thirty feet tall. It kept getting closer and closer. I hoped I’d make it out of this one.
Now at the dance, Vanessa knew she wanted to kiss Jimmy. She thought now was a great time. It was a slow dance. She got closer and closer and then boom!
“Miles!” I screamed. But it was too late. Miles had fallen threw the window. Q now limped his way down and forced the door to close. “I began to cry, but you couldn’t tell since I was already was completely soaked. “Boy. You listen to me. I needed to tell you this. I was never going to pick you to be in my crew. But once I saw your last name, I thought of your dad. He’s the one who saved me. The water is piling up and you know the old saying, Captain goes down with his ship. I’m going to help you get out of here. And I hope you tell people the story of old captain Q.” I was shocked. I could just get off the words, “Thank you.” I’d miss Q. I hoped I also make it out. I held my breath and Q opened the door. I swam up and made it to the surface. In the distance I could hear a helicopter. Right then I could swear I saw my dad. All I could here him say was, “Never give up Frank. Never give up.” That was the only encouragement I had to stay alive. Then I felt ashamed for not wanting to be alive for Vanessa.
“This is the most perfect night.” Vanessa thought as Jimmy walked her home. “Nothing could go wrong. And I bet Frank right now is catching crabs by the dozen.”
The helicopter was even closer now. A man jumped off the helicopter. I knew he was there to rescue me. Then, everything went dark.
Vanessa was surprised to see Jimmy’s mother holding back tears at Vanessa’s home. “Vanessa sweaty.” Mrs. McJean said. “What is it Mrs. McJean?” Vanessa asked. “Well, Frank’s boat got lost in a storm. And none of them have been found.” Vanessa ran inside crying. “Jimmy, we should go.” Mrs. McJean said. And then they left.
The next morning Vanessa was woken by the constant ringing of the door bell. Vanessa dragged herself out of bed. She was depressed. She opened the door, and once again, she was surprised to see Mrs. McJean, but this time she was cheery. “Vanessa, great news!” She screamed. “They found Frank! He’s okay. He’s just in the hospital though.” Vanessa was overwhelmed. “Ca can I ga go see him?” Vanessa asked. “Certainly!” Mrs. McJean said.
Mrs. McJean drove Vanessa over to the hospital. Vanessa was just so happy to see Frank. They just stood there in silence. Just staring at one another. Words can’t describe the happiness of this scene.
5 months later into the cold bitter months of winter. Frank, Vanessa, Jimmy, and Mrs. McJean were all huddled around the fire place. Frank was telling the story he promised Captain Q he would tell. The story of Captain Q. Frank told about how his ship was torpedoed. And how his best friend Arnold had died on that very voyage. He explained how the torpedo had hit his leg, hence why he always had the limp. And then to Vanessa’s surprise, Frank told about how Q knew Dad. Frank told on that same voyage Dad had gone all out and saved Captain Q. He said without Dad, he most likely would have died. He told me that’s why he chose me out of all the people who applied to join his crew.
By: Pitty
Chains banging, men screaming. The usual around the docks. The smell of dead fish scenting the air. It was a rainy day. Just like any other day you read about on the docks. There never is a nice sunny day for the setting on the docks. Hello, I am Frank and I’m only 19. I took a job as a fisherman to pay for my low income family. My beloved father past away. Captain Cay was how he was referred to. A Navy man. I also has a sister. She’s only 13. Her name is Vanessa. Mother is a gold digger. Before Vanessa was born, Daddy was rich. He invested in the stock market and lost big. She abandoned the family. I bet she’s in Las Vegas somewhere living the lifestyle of a soap opera.
Vanessa is one of those sisters you always wish you had. She’s nice and responsible. Since I am 19 now, I officially made myself her legal guardian. It’s tough our life. $20,000 dollar taxes. Then there is every day living needs. We both have jobs and never wear brand names except for the fact we each have a pair of dress clothes just in case we get invited somewhere fancy. Vanessa has a job. She works at the local Starbucks. I love her with all my heart. I never want anything bad to happen to her.
One bitter, foggy, cold day, I went down to work. The waves were rugged and my clothes were soggy. It’s Crab Season. We leave out to London tomorrow. I have saved $3000 for Vanessa for food and anything else she might need. Also with her payments from Starbucks, I think she’ll make it okay. I already payed the bills, and long ago Daddy payed off the loans. My captain is Q. Nobody knows who he is. Rumor is that back in the 90's, he lost all his crew in a very big storm and was rescued by the Coast Guard. Well anyways, he is a grumpy old man. He only talks when he barks orders, but pays well. He walks with a limp. My guess is that he permanently injured his leg during the bad storm. “Rah! Frank, get those crab cages on board!” “Yes Sir.” I liked Crabbing Season. In the contract I signed with Q, it stated that I would be payed. Then it said for how much money we profit, you’ll get to keep 10%. Now, I have seen those shows with Crabbing and they make a lot of money, so I hope this will help me get through with the bills.
I loaded the ship no problem. We sailed at dawn. We’re doing small crabbing now, then sailing to London for a contest and to pick up a third crew member, and finally we’ll compete. I use to live in London. For 10 years. We moved when Vanessa was three.
We’re off. We plan on doing some sort of fishing until we hit London. Wether it being crabbing, fishing, or catching lobsters. I love the smell of the sea. The noises too. I woke up an hour early to do some fishing. I see the fishing chair and lured myself to it. I sat down. Daddy taught me how to fish when I was seven. Oh how I still remember that first fresh water bass I caught. One pound precisely. As I’m sitting there the line is calm, but I hear something loud. “Woah!” I screamed. The line was bent so much that it actually looked like a circle. Using all my force I reeled in. It was nothing like I have ever seen or done. I have caught a shark a few times, but this, this was just insanity. I finally after 30 minutes had reeled in. In the corner of my eye I saw Q just watching me. His rough grey beard, his green hat, his red rain coat, and his blaring green eyes. Drinking his morning coffee. To my surprise, I caught a maybe 7 foot sword fish. I had never caught one of these. I’ve only just heard about them. Once I pulled it aboard, I just stared at it. I knew we wouldn’t cook it so I unhooked the hook and threw it over the railing. Now Q approaches me. Limping he makes it to me with the noise of the concrete in the background as he say in a husky voice, “I would of made you get rid of it anyways.” I was sort of glad with my actions because it saved me time and a life because if I had killed it other animals would just eaten it.
My first orders from Q were to get the cages. He told me he wanted to see if the crabs were here. If they were not we’d have to wait till dark again to see if they will be at our location then. I went and got 2 cages. They didn’t weigh that much, but I am pretty muscular. I got them to Q. “Good” he muttered. We tied them to the ropes and slid them overboard. It’s harder working with one disabled man. Probably explains why instead of working late into the night, leading in the morning, we’ll quit after sunset if the crabs don’t come. Now, back to sliding the cages off the ship. We slid them off no problem. Now all you can do is wait. Q said, “We’re just gonna have to wait maybe 15 minutes.” I nodded my head as if I saying, “Sure there is no rush.”
The fifteen minutes past. We put on some gloves and slid up the ropes. Maybe 2-3 crabs in total. So we just threw them back. Q said let’s give it one more try. Once again, I nodded. We closed the trap, and slid it back down. These fifteen minutes were spent in silence. Of course I wanted to ask Q why he has a limp, but that’s rude. Repeating, we pulled the cage up. This time it was a little bit more strenuous. The crabs looked small, maybe 60 crabs. We got them out of the cage and began to measure them. Every single crab was too small so we had to throw them all back overboard. Q yelled, “That’s it for crabbing!”
We spent the day traveling in silence. Nothing big. I thought on how Vanessa was doing. I worry too much. I can only imagine what she is doing, probably at work.
Meanwhile back at home Vanessa is like Frank said, at work. Now this is what is happening. “Yes, hello, I’d like a hmm let’s see I’d like a caramel frappuccino.” A soccer mom says with screaming kids in the background. “Sure one second please” Vanessa says trying to sound like she’s interested. Vanessa knows she has to work, but does not enjoy this job. She’s been lying to Frank by putting every two dollars she earns into a bank account to pay for her college. When her daddy was alive, he already saved about what 3 year’s total expense would be. Vanessa’s dreams are to open up her own business. She has not decided on what, but she wants to be an owner. Now back to the story. Vanessa hands the lady her drink and returns the lady with her change. “Thanks baby” says the lady. “Vanessa responds to that by saying, “Have a nice day.” And then mutters, “Soccer mom.”
Now back to Frank. “Well, whatever she’s up to, let’s just hope that she’s safe” he says to himself. His thoughts on Vanessa are interrupted by Q barking, “Frank! Get over here now!” Franks walks toward Q. “Yes?” “Son, why are you staring into space? Go mop the deck!” Frank walks toward the hose and picks it up. Click. It’s on Jet now. Frank walks all around the deck spraying the floor. As Frank does this, all he can think about is how boring this is. “It’s 4:30 P.M. and I haven’t done anything.” He whispers to himself. Q walks out, “That’s good now the sun is soon to be setting. Help me get the crab cages ready. I want to get them early.
Frank walks down the stairs and back into the closet and places the hose down. Now he walks all the way back up the stairs and goes to help Q with the cages. Frank oversees Q rolling up his black pants and sees him looking at his leg. Oh how gross it was. It was all scarred. Frank finally sees Q with emotion with his saddened face. When Q finally rolls his pant leg down, Frank enters. “Alright. Sorry I took long” Frank states. The two men tie the cages and push them overboard. The fifteen minutes past in silence. Again Frank eagerly wants to ask Q where his scare came from. “Maybe another time” Frank says in his head. Q gives Frank the signal. They both go back and pull the ropes up. The rain now is beating down. No crabs again. Q says, “Let’s hope they’re approaching near the tourney area.” Of course I hoped so too. I was in desperate need of money. I was tired of job after job. The ways were rocking the boat. Q calls it a day. Frank goes down to the living area and takes a shower. The water is cold. Q never put in a heater. After Frank’s shower he dresses into his night close which contains of socks, sweat pants, and a blue long sleeve shirt. Frank has long black hair. He’s a quiet person, but he doesn’t get bored. He’s more of a listener. The only time you see him talking is if he is answer a question, asking a question, rarely telling a great story, or laughing. He’s also Caucasian. He’s around six feet tall and is built.
Q heats up dinner. Beans and beer. That’s Q’s way of living. Frank knows there’s not too much else so he accepts. Throughout dinner it’s silent. Suddenly, Q ask a question, “You like cards?” “Mhm” Frank replies. Q shows a small grin and reaches for his pocket. He decks out a pack of cards. “Hold Em” Q says. Franks likes this game. For the first ten hands, it’s in silence. Q asks, “Got any family?” Frank replies, “Dad is dead. Mom abandoned us. Now I am the legal guardian of my 13 year old sister Vanessa.” Instead of showing sympathy, Q jumped right to saying, “How did your dad die?” “Well, he was in the Navy. A submarine torpedoed his ship.” Q looks down at his leg. “I saw you see my scar he says.” Back in the 90's my ship was torpedoed. Part of it hit me so I was left with this scar. It explains my limp. My crew all died. The Coast Guard saved me.” All I could do was just take it all in. It explained everything. Now I knew it’s impossible to hide anything from Q.
Flashback to the day Q’s boat was torpedoed. “Quinn I spot a big black thing ahead of us” Arnold said. Arnold was Quinn’s best friend and crew mate. They spent their years fishing. “Quinn! I just heard a big bang.” The thing in the water is traveling 100 miles per hour straight at their small little boat. Ka-boom. Went the boat. Arnold was forced to hit his head on a metal pipe and fell into the water unconscious. The torpedo hit the boat and spit open and slashed Quinn’s leg. “Rahhh!” He screamed. Quinn held onto the only part of his boat that still remained. He just laid there. With all his might he held onto the only remaining part of the boat. “What’s that noise? Who are you.” Everything then went white for Quinn. Two days later Quinn woke up in the hospital just to see the site of a nurse. “What happened?” The nurse replied by saying, “A submarine torpedoed your ship. Part of it ripped your leg open. We did surgery, but you’ll have rehabilitation and a limp for the rest of your life.” “What happened to Arnold?” “Who’s Arnold?” The nurse asked. “The Coast Guard said they only found you. Oh yea. Sorry, they classified a man Arnold Timminson lost at sea. Was he the man?” “Yes. Thank you.”
Back to the present. All Frank could get the courage to say was, “Oh. Sorry.” Q replied by saying, “Ah you couldn’t have done anything about it.” They played cards for the rest of the night. Drinking, telling stories, and laughing. Until Q said, “Let me see where we are.” Q left and came down in about maybe five minutes later. Q then said, “Let’s go to bed. According to our location, we should arrive in London tomorrow morning. Frank decided to go to bed. In bed all he thought about was Vanessa. He knew she was probably alright, so he fell asleep.
“Get up chap.” Frank woke up to a voice he didn’t know. Franks eyes opened. “Um, who are you?” “Miles be the name” Miles was a tall man. Wore a torn navy blue baseball hat. He had the smell of fish all over him, but what I could I expect, we were competing in a crabbing contest. The sign of London. My early years were spent here. Only one person who never liked me. George. He always tried getting me in trouble, but it always backfired since everyone could see his red hair. “Miles, Frank. Frank, Miles. Follow me lads.” Q said.
The two fairly young men followed the man. They had to walk slowly because of his limp. They didn’t say much. What could you expect. All they knew was each other’s name. “Frank? What a mighty surprise it is.” Frank turned around to see George. How did he know it was him? It was simple really, his hair was the reddest of anyone in the world. “Hello George. How have you been.” George did not reply, but he had some look on his face. Frank knew he had seen it before, but he just couldn’t remember.
Q nudged Frank to move on. Q, Frank, and Miles would have to enter the contest. George’s father was the official. He entered everyone. “Boat name. Then the captain’s name.” Mr. White said briefly. “Disenchanted. Q.” “Next in line please.”
We spent the next couple of days just getting ready for our trip. We planned out some things. I got to know Miles better. He was from Scotland. His parents kicked him out for being expelled from school. He told me he set a classroom on fire. I didn’t care if he sounded dangerous. He was always funny.
“Iced Coffee please.” “Sure Jimmy.” Vanessa said. She didn’t mid serving her friends. She got to say hi to them and they’d usually tip her. “Vanessa, you know that dance that is coming up?” “Yeah?” “Would you like to go with me?” “Sure Jimmy, that would be just great.” Jimmy left a bigger tip than usual. Vanessa was happy to know someone besides Frank really cared for her. Ten times more than her mother had ever cared for her. Captain Cay was an exception though.
We leave tomorrow I thought to myself. Alright, I better write home, just to let Vanessa know I’m alright. I hope this gets there within a week. I was never really a good writer though. This time I was determined to try. Right before I was about to start writing Q told me that he was still undecided on where we would go. He said he wanted to be far off, away from everyone and from the coast because the crab know this is a dead crab zone area. All the local crabs are caught here. “Q, do you mind if I go on break? I want to write home before we leave. She’s the only family I got.” Q just nodded.
Dear Vanessa,
We sail tomorrow. We’re still undecided on where we are going to go. As long as it is far away Captain Q told me. We picked up a third crew mate. His name is Miles. He’s a funny man. He’s Scottish. Well anyways I wanted to tell you I’ll be home in probably two weeks. If we win I get a bonus of five thousand dollars. I’ll already be bringing home a few thousand dollars. I hope you are keeping yourself out of trouble. I’ve never really been good with words, but I’m trying. I hope you’re alright. This will work itself out eventually. Just hang in there. Please try to keep that awful job at the coffee shop until I get back. I think you know why.
Frank
I went to the post office to buy stamps. I put six on the envelope so it will make it to the
United States alright. Q hasn’t been barking orders as much ever since he told me the story of how his leg was torpedoed. He’s the local legend around home, but to me, he seems like a pretty good guy.
“Hey! Frank, over here.” George whispered. “Write this down Frank. There are coordinates. This is a great place to go crabbing. You’ll win for sure.” Frank wrote them down and anxiously sprinted back to Q and gave them to him. “Hmm. I see. I guess. Sure Frank, we should go there.” Q had stated after reading the coordinates. Miles and Frank loaded the ship. The cages were set aboard and Miles loaded the food onto board. Frank cleaned the ship and hauled the other supplies. Q read his map. He was old fashioned. After one trip Frank could not understand why George was smirking. Frank didn’t let it get to him. He had work to do.
That night the men went to bed early. They would set off early to get the most of the trip as they could. Wasn’t much of an unheard of. Most people did it. It was kind of custom I supposes. It was still dark when I was woken by Miles. He was definitely the early bird. Q was already awake. Drinking his coffee. That usual look on his face. Now that I think of it, Q is like one of those guards who wear the big black hats. They never show emotion. After this trip, I’m taking him to see them. I want to know if he can get them to laugh.
And we were off. What an exciting trip this would be. Q projected it would be around 8 P.M. by the time we made it to the coordinates. Then he said we’d drift or sent anchor. Either or us would do. For now all we could do was wait. I could talk to Miles. We were close. He seems like the brother I never had. Before Miles came, Q seemed like he wanted to become close to me, but since Miles came, it just seems like the same attitude Q had on day one.
“We’re here boys!” Q screamed. That meant that it was time. We’d have to start crabbing. Miles and I dropped the cages and we waited fifteen minutes. I hope George was right. This contest was only two days, so time was valuable, same goes for those crabs. The fifteen minutes came. We pulled up the cages. Boy! There must have been at least a few hundred crabs in these cages. Big ones too, not just little small ones. Ones that would count in the contest. For a second I thought I saw Q grinning. This continued for hours, but the rain just kept coming down. The boat was shaking a little. Water was coming overboard. With this, Q called it a day.
Miles and myself were both exhausted. Once again we were having Q’s famous dinner, beans and beer. I got use to it. Miles seemed plenty use to it. We didn’t really speak. We kind of were just tired.
“Coming” Vanessa said when she knew Jimmy was at the door. Tonight is the night, the dance. Jimmy and Vanessa both knew that they liked each other. Not as friends, but more than friends. They both cared for one another. “Hello” Jimmy said in a kind of shy tone. Jimmy’s older sister drove them to the dance. Vanessa was glad to get out of her lonely house.
While Miles and I were playing cards, we heard glass break.”Boys! Get up here!” Q ordered. Right as I came up a huge wave knocked me over. I rolled over in pain, but knew I’d have to get up. Q was trying all he could to steer the ship. “Get down to the bottom of the boat!” Q demanded. I did not hesitate and would watch the storm through a window.
As Miles and I ran down we were very nervous. I didn’t get it, why would it be storming, George told me these were great coordinates. I can’t believe I forgot that smirk. When we were little he convinced me to swim in this lake. He said all the cool kids where. What I didn’t know was that it was polluted. How I smelt for a week. And how he was punished for a month.
In the distance I saw a wave. It was huge! Probably at least thirty feet tall. It kept getting closer and closer. I hoped I’d make it out of this one.
Now at the dance, Vanessa knew she wanted to kiss Jimmy. She thought now was a great time. It was a slow dance. She got closer and closer and then boom!
“Miles!” I screamed. But it was too late. Miles had fallen threw the window. Q now limped his way down and forced the door to close. “I began to cry, but you couldn’t tell since I was already was completely soaked. “Boy. You listen to me. I needed to tell you this. I was never going to pick you to be in my crew. But once I saw your last name, I thought of your dad. He’s the one who saved me. The water is piling up and you know the old saying, Captain goes down with his ship. I’m going to help you get out of here. And I hope you tell people the story of old captain Q.” I was shocked. I could just get off the words, “Thank you.” I’d miss Q. I hoped I also make it out. I held my breath and Q opened the door. I swam up and made it to the surface. In the distance I could hear a helicopter. Right then I could swear I saw my dad. All I could here him say was, “Never give up Frank. Never give up.” That was the only encouragement I had to stay alive. Then I felt ashamed for not wanting to be alive for Vanessa.
“This is the most perfect night.” Vanessa thought as Jimmy walked her home. “Nothing could go wrong. And I bet Frank right now is catching crabs by the dozen.”
The helicopter was even closer now. A man jumped off the helicopter. I knew he was there to rescue me. Then, everything went dark.
Vanessa was surprised to see Jimmy’s mother holding back tears at Vanessa’s home. “Vanessa sweaty.” Mrs. McJean said. “What is it Mrs. McJean?” Vanessa asked. “Well, Frank’s boat got lost in a storm. And none of them have been found.” Vanessa ran inside crying. “Jimmy, we should go.” Mrs. McJean said. And then they left.
The next morning Vanessa was woken by the constant ringing of the door bell. Vanessa dragged herself out of bed. She was depressed. She opened the door, and once again, she was surprised to see Mrs. McJean, but this time she was cheery. “Vanessa, great news!” She screamed. “They found Frank! He’s okay. He’s just in the hospital though.” Vanessa was overwhelmed. “Ca can I ga go see him?” Vanessa asked. “Certainly!” Mrs. McJean said.
Mrs. McJean drove Vanessa over to the hospital. Vanessa was just so happy to see Frank. They just stood there in silence. Just staring at one another. Words can’t describe the happiness of this scene.
5 months later into the cold bitter months of winter. Frank, Vanessa, Jimmy, and Mrs. McJean were all huddled around the fire place. Frank was telling the story he promised Captain Q he would tell. The story of Captain Q. Frank told about how his ship was torpedoed. And how his best friend Arnold had died on that very voyage. He explained how the torpedo had hit his leg, hence why he always had the limp. And then to Vanessa’s surprise, Frank told about how Q knew Dad. Frank told on that same voyage Dad had gone all out and saved Captain Q. He said without Dad, he most likely would have died. He told me that’s why he chose me out of all the people who applied to join his crew.