Leonard flopped down on his bed, exhausted. He was strong, but he had put in a long day and a half, organizing the other guys and then unloading the launch and after they took off, putting supplies away. He had no idea how many boxes he had moved. He felt happy, being useful, but was ready for some rest. He hoped he had gotten enough of the food boxes to the kitchen on the yacht for Nancy to be able to organize the breakfast.for this morning.
Bruce, the watch and clock repairman, was watching Donald steer the yacht and paid attention to the knobs and buttons he was pushing. His mechanical mind was feasting on the new knowledge. Donald was not used to being the only pilot aboard. His usual buddy was off on an African Safari, because Donald had not expected to need his help during the off season for outfitting. Donald had not ironed out how he was going to face this new situation. He had thought he would try to stay up all week and do all of the driving or he could put down anchor and sleep for a few hours, but was feeling uneasy about either of these ideas. He had a special bed that lowered down over the steering area, like a bunk but without a bottom bunk, but didn’t know how he was going to manage some sleep.
An idea started forming in his mind. “Bruce, would you like to steer the yacht for a while?” Donald asked.
Bruce jumped at the chance and Donald cautioned him about a few things he needed to watch out for. Bruce took the steering wheel and looked like he was in Heaven! Donald put the captain’s cap on Bruce and sat beside him. Bruce took to his driving lessons like a fish to water. After Donald had taught Bruce all of the basics, he felt comfortable leaving him at the wheel while he slept. He was sleeping just above where Bruce was driving in case Bruce had any problems.
Nancy had enough volunteers to pull off a breakfast of oatmeal, bacon and eggs and they set it out buffet style. Nancy would be the chief chef and meal planner and she had another of her volunteers be in charge of lunches so that she had a little time off of her feet for a nap in the middle of the day.
Sue was looking for volunteers to do the dishwashing and was getting frustrated with the lack of interest. Jim walked up and put his arm around her and asked what was wrong. “No one wants to help with the dishes and I am completely out of ideas of how to talk anyone into it and this is just the first meal. We will have 20 more meals before we get to our destination and is this how it is going to go the whole time?”
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Jim said, “Leave it to me!” with a smile and a wink and before Sue knew it there were so many people volunteering, some had to be turned away!
Sue didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but her curiosity got the better of her. “I have to ask how you got these volunteers, Jim. It seems like you did it effortlessly, too! How in the world did you do it?”
“I simply promised a kiss to anyone who was on the dishwashing team! It helps to be 25 years younger than all of the women!” Jim said happily.
Donald was dreaming about being at the state fair. He was on the roller coaster, swaying from side-to-side and fearing for his life that the roller coaster was going to fall off of the tracks when he heard, “Donald, wake up! We are in a storm and I can’t control the yacht. Please help!” Bruce was in over his head, trying to keep the yacht from capsizing!
Donald sat up, bumping his head on the ceiling and rolling out of bed. He looked around, checking out the weather, turning on the report on the radio and grabbing the steering wheel, turning into the storm. “We are going off course right now, but it is necessary to drive into the storm to keep from capsizing, Bruce” using the situation for a teaching situation for Bruce.
They were being tossed around, but were no longer in danger of capsizing. “Some of those waves are ten feet high! Jim came running in to ask Donald if everything was ok.
“Yes, we will make it through, alright. How are things in the rest of the boat,” Donald asked.
Jim said, “Everyone is ok. We had to get rid of the lunch buffet and just put out bananas and crackers. I had to stop the dishwashing for now,” he said as he tumbled to the floor.
Donald said, “You need to hold on. We don’t need you to have any injuries. Please be careful! I think you need to caution all of the old folks to stay in their bunks or cots and the ones who don’t have either for the moment, to sit and not try to walk around.”
“Ok, I’m on it!” Jim said as he walked cautiously back to talk to the old folks. Donald and Bruce continued to wrestle with the yacht. Bruce yelled over the noise of the storm, “Is this a hurricane?”
“No, but it's not far off,” Donald responded.