Cruising with Fred and His Unsinkable "Molly Brown": Adventures of a Man Past Sixty

© 2011 Capt. Gardner Martin Kelley. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 9/8/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3477-9 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3478-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3479-3 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011911677

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Synopsis

Chapter One 1 Lifeboat Down

Chapter Two Up, up and Away

Chapter Three Boat Bums

Chapter Four Spyten Dievel and the Harlem River

Chapter Five Block Island

Chapter Six Naushon Island

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight The Secrets of the Waterways

Chapter Nine DISASTER

Chapter Ten An Island Home

Chapter Eleven A Cooking Fire

Chapter Twelve A Boat for Fred

Chapter Thirteen The Mysterious Visitor

Chapter Fourteen Unwelcome Visitors

Chapter Fifteen The Island is Home

Chapter Sixteen The Beast of this Lagoon

Chapter Seventeen Fred has a Heart Attack

Chapter Eighteen Fred a New Millionaire

Chapter Nineteen The Big Day and Time to go Home

About the Author

Synopsis

Fred has led a mediocre life for over sixty years. He wants some adventure in his life. He bought a boat to cruise around and down the waterway.

His wife will not join him. He has to get away or in his frustration he will do his first action of violence.

He loves the boat and his freedom. He finds exciting sex with a pretty boat bum. Later he is mugged and thrown off a bridge by a salt and pepper team of robbers and loses his boat and memory.

He rescues a woman in dire distress and becomes judge and jury of her tormentor. The mugger team crosses his path and restores his memory. He kills the pair before they kill him and the woman.

Dope smugglers tradeoffs make Fred well to do. He finds a home for the mental injured woman. He decides to buy another boat and search for his lost craft. Another woman with a young son enters his life and boat. He searches all the way to Florida and gets involved with two crooked custom agents. Violence and death occurs.

He discovers his lost boat after a cruise up the waterway. Fred’s heart worried him as he cruises back to Fort Lauderdale for his woman there. He plans to take it real easy and share her with her young husband. The young wife wants another child. Fred enjoys his lifestyle and his new bigger yacht moored under the overhead roof up the New River. His sex life is complicated by the inclusion of the little boy’s grandmother. She brings the boy to visit Fred. She also announces that a new baby is on the way and she knows who the father is. She is not hoggish and will share. Long live Fred, long will he enjoy his two women.

The End

Chapter One

1 Lifeboat Down

I will kill her, if I don’t get out of the house; I will kill her. This explanation was coming from Fred as he showed his frustration. Fred Johnson had always been a quiet man. He had worked faithfully for the brush company for thirty years. Now that he was retired he wanted a little change and some excitement in his life.

His wife of twenty four years wanted no part of any change. She had her little group of cards and bingo friends. She would go nowhere with him. He could just picture her headstone. "Here lays Maggie Maples Johnson, killed by her frustrated husband, 1915-1975. His first wife had died in an accident when the boy was ten.

Fred had married this woman, a few years younger than he was. He supposed he deserved what he got. He thought from the first that she was more interested in a meal ticket than a husband. Over the years she had done nothing to change his mind. She had kept a clean house and prepared most of the meals. They lived a mediocre life. Well! Fred was a mediocre person. He had dressed this morning without bothering to shower. When he stormed from the house he was dressed in the low price Bond suit and Tom McCain shoes and socks. The Arrow shirt and striped tie had been in use for some time. His Adam felt hat was almost new. Fred was not a hard man to please.

Fred had been trying for weeks to get her to see his side of the story. He wanted to buy a boat and cruise to Florida. The inland waterway would be interesting to see and explore. Fred had read articles; in some p1aces, the Dismal Swamp area for example was much as it had been hundreds of years before. He wanted to cruise through there. His wife said, You are just an old fool. She would then scream and run to her room; the door would slam shut.

He walked toward the river and a small marina. He could think and relax there; it had acted as his sanctuary for some time now.

KELLEY MARU he read from the stern of an old fifty foot navy liberty boat. Fred had become acquainted with the ex-sailor that had served his hitch at Pearl Harbor. He was over fifty and his five foot six frame was as rugged as his face was tan. KELLEY MARU seemed a good name for his boat. Fred wanted a smaller boat. He had to learn not only the ways of a boat but tides, charts and how a compass works. The engine repair would be a cinch. He had been helping his son around the garage on weekends and had learned. Maybe it would come handy one day. He had much to learn of boating. He was determined to do so. Kelley was already showing him chart work. Kelley shook hands and said, Got something for you to see. The for sale sign on the life boat was new.

This is just the boat for you. If I didn’t have so much work and money in my boat, I would buy her myself. This was a good recommendation for the boat and it was love at first sight for Fred.

The twenty six foot life boat was of unsinkable design. The deck house that covered from rail to rail except for a small area at the bow and stern that could be closed water tight. The heavy metal hull would withstand all but major bumps and groundings. The diesel engine requiring only fuel oil, not gasoline, would be a lot safer.

He sat for some time to think out his problems. His friend Kelley had painting to do; he left Fred to think. What about his wife, if he bought the boat and left? Yes! What about her? She would not come with him. She had stated this many times. Then, the hell with her, this is the first day of the rest of his life. Now his only other problem, if he had one, was his son.

Fred Jr., he got his girlfriend in trouble. This was an age the boyfriend did the right thing for his girl. He dropped out of school, got a job in a garage and married her. The pay was small but the boy soon was a good mechanic. His father, tired of the young family just squeaking by, made a suggestion. He would take his money from the credit union and buy a garage. If Jr. would run it a certain way, Jr. would take an amount greater than his present wage; the rest would go into a sinking fund.

The sinking fund would take care of a bad week or unforeseen emergencies. The approval had come quickly and the garage was making money. Fred helped for a long time on weekends, now there was no worry there.

Fred took the for sale sign with the telephone number, to the pay phone. It was Saturday and the telephone was answered on the third ring. After establishing that he had the right party Fred said, I’m looking at the boat; I will give fourteen hundred dollars for her. The price of twenty four is too much for me. The fourteen is with an as is, no fuss if something goes wrong, How about it? The answer came without hesitation. My brother has moved to California, he left a signed bill of sale with me to fill in the sale amount. If you will up the price by two hundred in cash to me, I will sign the slip for the fourteen hundred dollars. If this is agreeable to you I will meet you at your bank Monday morning at ten o’clock. Fred knew a good deal, he could hardly contain himself as he gave his bank address. The deed was done and Fred was jubilant.

He placed a ladder against the boat in its cradle and climbed aboard his boat. He stripped down to shorts and started the first of the many hours he would work and enjoy his new world. There is absolutely nothing as interesting as messing with a boat, he has heard this saying. Now he would find out if it was true.

As the sun settled to be hidden by the trees along the river bank Fred was tried. He knew much more about his boat. He had crawled from bow to stern at the bilge level. He had cleaned and aired the blankets of the bunk. There was a place for him to stay and bed down. He washed up and got dressed.

At home his wife sat contentedly reading a book. There nothing in the kitchen to indicate she was about to prepare supper. Fred got the ingredients to make a salad. He made enough for two as usual. With buttered toast and jam with a pot of hot tea they ate quietly. They had nothing to discuss during their evening watching T.V. On Sunday they were together to have lunch at Junior’s house. Fred gave no news of buying