S. Welles - To Ocean's End

Impending heart attack averted. But now this brought up another issue that’d been rolling around in my head for decades: what to do with my crew if my curse was lifted. I hadn’t given it too much thought since I didn’t want to get my hopes up decade after decade. All I knew for sure was that I’d retire for good if that day ever came. No two weeks notice or anything. This was one of my most guarded secrets. Only Sam knew, and only because I’d been drunk when I let slip that bit of trivia.

I unfolded my arms and straightened up. “Are you sure that’s what you want, Mido?”

“Positive,” he said with a nod.

Now how to handle this? I was thrilled for Mido. He had a place to go, and with a beautiful girl, too. But if I came off as thrilled, that would raise unwanted questions. If I tried guilting him into staying, which I had a feeling he expected since they hadn’t wanted to say anything in the first place, that would pull Mido in two directions and make things awkward. I had no intention of doing that to him. I slipped my hands in my pockets and spoke to Jessie. “If you help us, then I’ll let you take my cook home with you. Consider it your reward if we succeed.”

“But what if I try and fail?”

“Trying is all I can ask of you.” I took a step closer. To my relief she didn’t even flinch. She’d come a really long way in two weeks. “I’ll do my best to make sure everyone survives. I’ll even transform on purpose if things get that dangerous.”

“You’d really do that?” Jessie said in disbelief.

I was surprised myself, but now that I’d said it, there was no taking it back. To be honest, I was sick and tired of watching people I cared about die because of me and my curse. “I’m that desperate.” Probably not the best thing to show a bit of weakness like that but I wasn’t above a small guilt trip. I was that desperate to have her help me.

She considered my confession a moment. “Okay. But can we still put off Cyprus for a bit?”

I wanted to ask her if we could skip Cyprus altogether, but how could I ask that when even I liked seeing home now and then? “It so happens that you’re in luck. Sauna netted us a shipment to Le Havre in France the other day. I also have a separate delivery to Athens that can suck up waiting a little longer. We can hit both those places first, but that’s it. You’re going to have to make a decision by then.”

“How much time will that buy me?”

“A good two weeks, barring any delays from the weather or typical dangers. Shortly after I get you home, I’ll be due for my next lockdown, so hopefully all will go well.”

“But never plan on that,” Mido said.

“Nope. These past two weeks have been a testament to that.” I reached inside my bunk and produced two pairs of open-finger sparring gloves. “Now, I have two presents for you, miss bodyguard.” I handed one pair over. “Those are for practicing.” She took them and they both looked them over.

“Wish you’d had those on last night,” Mido said jokingly. Jessie gave him a rueful grin.

“Is that where you got that?” I asked, pointing to the bruise on his temple. I’d noticed it earlier but our conversation had taken off too fast to ask.

“Yep.”

“What did you do to deserve that?” He gave me an embarrassed look that screamed at me to not ask for details. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” I handed Jessie the second pair, which had brass spikes mounted on the knuckles. “Those are for punishing. Get used to wearing both.”

She held a package in each hand, her face a mix of awe and confusion. “Are you sure you want me as a bodyguard?”

“Yep. I don’t tolerate freeloaders.”

“But who am I going to guard?”

“I already explained this.”

“But you’re all bigger and stronger than me.”

“That’s beside the point. I need you to keep watch and throw punches as necessary while my men do their job. Your role is very important. You’ll be the one on the lookout so they can focus on their job, moving faster and working more efficiently, thus reducing the window of danger.”

“Oh.” She hugged the gloves to her chest.

“The English Channel is crawling with pirates, so start practicing.” I waved for them to stop blocking the doorway and headed for the wheelhouse.

A day and a half later and we were off the coast of Portugal. Land was a thin line of bumps sticking up in the distant haze. “All able-bodied hands on deck. We’re back in whale flounder waters. You all get a cut of the bounty if I land one.”

Without waiting for Rammus to arrive, I met Scully at the Harpy and he helped me swap out the six-foot harpoon for another lighter six-footer better suited for fishing. The one we stowed on the harpoon rack would just punch a hole through a fish, then rip a bigger one if I tried reeling it in. Scully tied a rope line to the tail of the harpoon and I hopped into the seat and fired up the hydraulics.

“Hey, Captain,” Scully said, “maybe you’ll finally land one this time.”

“These are the best waters for them, but I’m not holding my breath.”

“Aw, c’mon. You almost got one last time. You only missed by about ten feet, and that was a long shot.”

I spun the Harpy around, testing its full range of horizontal motion. “How many years have I been fishing for these stupid things without actually landing one?”

Scully laughed. “I think this is year thirty.”

“You are correct.” I began testing the vertical range by tilting the harpoon up and down.

“You only try a couple times a year just about every year, and we don’t always spot one.”

“My luck landing one surpasses my inability to eat a cheeseburger in peace.”

“Can’t catch one if you don’t try,” Scully said with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah.” I aimed the harpoon straight out over the bow, then relaxed my grip on the control bars. “I’m beginning to wonder if both are linked to my curse. I have odd luck.”

“Well, do you try to eat a cheeseburger every time we hit port?”

“Pretty much.” O’Toole stepped onto the deck and began running around like he was chasing invisible butterflies or something. Sam appeared behind the Irishman, shortly followed by Jessie, Mido, Ed, and Ted. Those four headed for me and Scully, and Sam followed O’Toole down starboard side.

“Port’s where we run into the most trouble, so it’s no coincidence really, if you think about it.”

I considered his logic a moment. “Okay, you got me there.”

“Yep, and that’s also why whale flounder go for a hundred grand at port. They’re frickin’ hard to catch.”

“They’re frickin’ huge!” I said, exasperated.

“It’s a frickin’ huger ocean,” Scully pointed out.

“I know but still, they shouldn’t be that hard to find.”

“Find what?” Ed asked. The two techies pulled up with an arm around each other’s shoulders.

“Whale flounder,” I said.

“Never heard,” Ted said. “What does it look like?” The two let go of each other and glanced at the ocean.

“A flounder the size of a whale.”

Scully said, “They’re around fifty feet long with a thirty-foot span. They basically look like a grey, lopsided pancake floating on the water, and they’re white underneath.”

Jessie said, “They’re very good eating.”

“But very expensive,” Scully said.

I said, “Oh, you’ve had some before?”

She nodded. “Someone caught a smaller one and shared it with the whole town.”

I gaped. “That fisherman just gave away a year’s salary!”

“We didn’t know until later, but I don’t think he cared. He was already well off.”