Chapter Eight

Hep climbed up out of the cabin and found Poseidon in his usual place, behind the wheel. At the moment, however, he was looking intently through his binoculars at something off the port site of the boat. His jaw was set, and there was a vein pulsing in his forehead. Hep turned to look, and could just see a sailboat on the horizon.

“Is everything OK, Poseidon?” Hep asked. So far on this trip he had never seen Poseidon in any mood other than relaxed with an occasional foray into “annoyed with Scroat in a very chill manner.” Poseidon’s sudden intensity made Hep anxious.

“I don’t recognize that boat.”

Hep looked again. It just looked like a boat. White, with sails. He wasn’t sure what the problem was.

“There are lots of boats I don’t recognize,” he said. “What’s the big deal?”

“I know every boat from the moment it’s named. And I don’t recognize that boat.”

Hep considered this for a minute.

“So... what does that mean?”

“It means they’re trespassing.”

“Trespassing on... the ocean?”

Poseidon put down his binoculars and looked at Hep. “Yes, trespassing on my ocean. I don’t ask much. A little champagne, the verbal equivalent of a high five.”

“So, you’re mad because they didn’t name the boat?”

“I knew that boat as Easy Breezy, once. A stupid name, but I can’t blame the boat for that. But it has some new name now. One I don’t know.”

Hep stood quietly, looking at the boat that was pissing off Poseidon. So it had a different name. What’s the big deal? It’s just a boat, after all. The boat was close enough now that Hep could see a couple of women in bathing suits lounging on the deck. One was perched on the bowsprit, waving to them. Hep waved back.

He went to the companionway and hollered for Scroat. “Hey, you might want to come see this!”

“What is it? Frolicking stupid sea lions? Let me sleep.”

“Nope. Bikini chicks.”

Scroat was on deck in a matter of seconds. He waved at the boat, which was even closer now. All the passengers waved back to him.

He was about to say, “Hey, let’s call them over here for a drink,” when Poseidon pointed at the offending boat. The sky darkened.

“Let the mast fall. Let the waters in,” he said in a low growl.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Scroat said.

The wind picked up, and there was a loud THUMP from the other boat. The forestay had snapped, and the mast was now swaying about in a disconcerting way. They heard someone scream. There was another THUMP, followed quickly by two more, and the mast tore itself loose, toppling over into the water.

There was suddenly a lot more screaming coming from the boat.

They saw it turn to start heading East, towards the nearest shore. The screaming had calmed down after the skipper started the engine and the passengers realized they weren’t in an immediate peril.

Then they heard someone yell “Holy shit! Start pumping the bilge!”

Hep looked at Poseidon and said, “That’s a bit harsh for changing the name of the boat, isn’t it?”

“My turf, my rules.”

“OK. So we’re going to help them, right?”

“What, and endanger our vessel in heavy weather?”

“What heavy fucking weather?” Scroat said. “It’s just cloudy because you’re having a tantrum. You can’t leave them out here to sink.”

Poseidon pointed, and said, “That heavy weather.”

Hep and Scroat looked, and saw a huge wave coming towards them, and the other boat. Visibility quickly reduced to almost nothing as a furious rainstorm came towards them.

“Better reduce the sails. It’s likely some wind is coming too,” Poseidon said.

Hep and Scroat hurried forward and started working to reduce the sails.

“This son of a bitch is crazy,” Scroat said to Hep as they hustled to furl the jib.

“Yeah. Family. What are you going to do?” Hep said.

“What’s he so upset about? I mean, what could they have done to get him in such a state of high piss off?”

“As far as I can tell, they changed the name of the boat and didn’t tell him.”

Scroat stopped what he was doing for a minute. “So he’s going to kill them? Seems kind of disproportionate, doesn’t it?”

“Sure does.”

“Oh fuck. Man, we’re on a boat on the ocean with a murderous maniac.”

“Yeah, I think we’d better do what he says until we get to port.”

“I think that’s the best damn idea I’ve heard in a few days.”

Hep saw one of the big waves about to hit the boat, and grabbed on to a handhold before the boat started rocking. He had a hard enough time standing up right when the seas were calm.

He looked over to the other boat, and saw several people with buckets furiously bailing water before a wave blocked his view of them.

“Looks like they’re still moving, at least.”

The rain hit then, and with it came strong winds. The boat heeled over quite a bit, and Hep and Scroat had to hang on tightly to keep from falling. At this angle, they’d slide right off the boat into the ocean.

Poseidon called “Ease the mainsheet!” and Scroat scrambled over to loosen the line and let the sail out. The boat righted itself.

“That’s enough, thank you!” Poseidon said.
The rain came down harder, and they could no longer see the other boat, just sheets of grey, and huge, blue waves.

Poseidon had a huge smile, and whooped as the boat came over the top of a huge wave, and he steered the boat down the wave at an angle, almost surfing.

“This is living!” he said to Hep and Scroat.

“The very fucking second we get to land again, I’m gonna run,” Scroat said, quietly, to Hep.

“I don’t blame you,” he said. “On the other hand, I’m going to have to excuse myself from crewing as politely as I can. Family, you know. I’d like to avoid as much trailer park drama as I can.”

“You’re worried about drama? The fucker just left a boat full of innocent people to die on the ocean because he had a little hissy fit.”

“Ares kills people all the time for less than that, but you don’t seem to mind.”

“Well, when he does it, it’s kind of funny.”

Hep looked at Scroat, aghast.

“What? It is kind of funny. They’re just people.”

“Sometimes I forget you’re a trickster and I get shocked.”

“I prefer the term ‘well hung asshole,’ if you don’t mind,” Scroat said.

“I think that’s a little too flattering, frankly. I’m going down in to the cabin to get out of the rain,” Hep said.

“I’m coming with you,” Scroat said.

Hep found a towel and dried himself off as well as he could, while Scroat just flopped on to a settee and groaned, “Fuck.”

The lanters and fruit hammocks swung dramatically as the boat heaved up and over each wave. Hep’s stomach lurched a little bit every time the boat moved in a new direction.

“How much longer have we got until we reach Brookings?” Scroat asked.

“Three or four days, I think,” Hep said.
“How long do you think it will be until the crazy fucker up there decides he’s had enough fun pretending he’s a mighty adventurer in stormy weather?”

“I couldn’t say, but I hope it’s not too much longer.”

They heard a wave slam into the boat above them, and water squirted in to the cabin from the portholes.

“He’s going to want to seal those better,” Hep said.

Scroat, who was now wet all over again, groaned and said, “He sure is.”

Hep went to the companionway and opened it up. He looked at Poseidon, who was hanging tightly to the wheel, and said, “Are you OK out there?”

“Never better! Are you holding up down there?”

“Yeah. It got a bit wet down here after that wave hit us, though.”

“Well, there’s no such thing as a dry boat, Hep,” Poseidon said.

“If you say so.”

“Hey, why don’t you guys get some grub cooking? I’m getting hungry out here. And you’re less likely to get seasick if you’re not hungry.”

“Um, OK, I’ll see what I can do.”

Hep went into the galley and dug around a bit, trying to find something that wouldn’t be too difficult to cook in a boat that was rocking and rolling. He decided on ramen noodles. He found an electric kettle that ran on twelve volt power, so he filled it with water and plugged it in. Three minutes later he had the first bowl of Ramen done. He brought it to the companionway, held the bowl out and said, “Dinner!”

“Great! Thanks,” Poseidon said. He left the helm and came to get the bowl from Hep. The rain had let up, and the wind began to die down.

Hep was relieved when the boat stopped rocking as much. He started the next bowl of ramen, gave it to Scroat when it was ready, and then made some for himself. When he was done, he grabbed a couple of oranges out of a net that was hanging in the galley and tossed one to Scroat.

“Gotta fend off scurvy, after all,” Hep said.

“Got any gin to go with this?”

“I’m not sure getting liquored up is the best idea.”

“Probably not,” Scroat said. “So, what do we do for the next several days, anyway?”

“Well, I’m going to do my best to make sure he doesn’t notice any more boats and get pissed off for some random reason. And I’d say the best thing for you to do would be to keep a low profile and try not to fuck anything up too bad.”

“I’d be offended, but that sounds like pretty good advice,” Scroat said. He ate a couple of slices of orange, and slouched down on the settee, trying to get comfortable. “Remind me that I need to kick Ares’s ass the next time I see him for getting us in to this.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Hep said.