are lining up to go with you, are they? And besides, we asked first. And since we’re smaller than the average male, we won’t take up as much room or eat as much, now will we? And don’t forget, we do know how to sail the cat.”
“Like I said, do you have any idea what you’d be getting into? It’s maybe two thousand miles or more to California and even if we got lucky, it’d likely take us a month or two. For us to make it, we’d need a lot of food and water so we don’t die. There’d be no privacy whatsoever. There’s a cabin on the cat and a one-holer inside leading to the ocean, but that’s for tourists. If we sailed, the cabin and everyplace else would be full of supplies. Any of you genteel ladies want to pee or poop, you’d have to hang your butts off the boat and solve your problem that way.”
“Or we could jump into the ocean to relieve ourselves and scare all the little fishies away,” Amanda said sweetly. “Don’t worry, we can do it. Besides, we’ve done it before.”
“And if we guess wrong about the currents or the wind doesn’t cooperate,” Mack continued, “we could die a long and painful death in the middle of the ocean where nobody will find us.”
“On the other hand,” Amanda rebutted grimly, “we could die of starvation here on Oahu, or be raped and murdered when the Japs come ashore, which they will surely do, sooner or later. We’ve talked it over and we’d rather take our chances on your sailboat. We’d much rather do something to save ourselves than wait for the worst to happen. We’d also rather do it sooner rather than later, while we’re still strong enough to do it.”
Mack appeared to think for a moment, then nodded. “I want money, a thousand dollars apiece, and that’d be above and beyond anything we spend getting set up for this cruise.”
“Why?” asked a surprised Sandy.
Mack smiled. “Because, sweetmeat, this catamaran is my living here. Assuming we make it to California, I’m going to have to pick up the pieces of my life and actually start earning a living. California ain’t Hawaii. There they actually expect you to work instead of letting the sun bake your ass. Shit, I might even have to get a job in a factory,” he said in mock horror.
Amanda thought quickly. She had fifteen hundred dollars in the bank. Whether they sailed or not, pulling it out before there was a run on the banks now seemed like a prudent idea. Sandy was a saver, too, but she had no idea how much Grace had. Whatever it was, they would make do.
“A deal,” she said.
“Fine. Now we ain’t leaving tomorrow or anything like that. I say we take a month to get ready, and that includes you nice ladies getting the money, finding supplies that won’t perish or need cooking, and spending every weekend and any other time you can with me learning more about how to sail this beautiful boat that I named after my ex-wife.”
Amanda was surprised. She hadn’t known Mack had an ex-wife or that the catamaran had a name. “What’s the cat’s name?”
“The Bitch .”
CHAPTER 4
ONLY TWO OF THE THREE SUBS THAT DEPARTED PEARL HARBOR made it to San Diego. The third was never heard from again. Whether an accident or a Japanese attack caused the sub’s death they would likely never know. Maybe someday the wreck would be discovered on the bottom of the ocean and the grieving families given some solace. Dane could only be thankful that it hadn’t been him on that sub. The old phrase, there but for the grace of God go I, now carried great meaning for him.
The loss of more key personnel put an additional strain on Spruance’s rebuilding staff, especially with his new job. Spruance was now chief of staff to Nimitz. It also resulted in Dane being promoted to lieutenant commander sooner than expected and his being given a more senior position in Captain Merchant’s intelligence gathering group that was now reassigned directly to Nimitz.
On arrival at San Diego, Dane swore that
“Like I said, do you have any idea what you’d be getting into? It’s maybe two thousand miles or more to California and even if we got lucky, it’d likely take us a month or two. For us to make it, we’d need a lot of food and water so we don’t die. There’d be no privacy whatsoever. There’s a cabin on the cat and a one-holer inside leading to the ocean, but that’s for tourists. If we sailed, the cabin and everyplace else would be full of supplies. Any of you genteel ladies want to pee or poop, you’d have to hang your butts off the boat and solve your problem that way.”
“Or we could jump into the ocean to relieve ourselves and scare all the little fishies away,” Amanda said sweetly. “Don’t worry, we can do it. Besides, we’ve done it before.”
“And if we guess wrong about the currents or the wind doesn’t cooperate,” Mack continued, “we could die a long and painful death in the middle of the ocean where nobody will find us.”
“On the other hand,” Amanda rebutted grimly, “we could die of starvation here on Oahu, or be raped and murdered when the Japs come ashore, which they will surely do, sooner or later. We’ve talked it over and we’d rather take our chances on your sailboat. We’d much rather do something to save ourselves than wait for the worst to happen. We’d also rather do it sooner rather than later, while we’re still strong enough to do it.”
Mack appeared to think for a moment, then nodded. “I want money, a thousand dollars apiece, and that’d be above and beyond anything we spend getting set up for this cruise.”
“Why?” asked a surprised Sandy.
Mack smiled. “Because, sweetmeat, this catamaran is my living here. Assuming we make it to California, I’m going to have to pick up the pieces of my life and actually start earning a living. California ain’t Hawaii. There they actually expect you to work instead of letting the sun bake your ass. Shit, I might even have to get a job in a factory,” he said in mock horror.
Amanda thought quickly. She had fifteen hundred dollars in the bank. Whether they sailed or not, pulling it out before there was a run on the banks now seemed like a prudent idea. Sandy was a saver, too, but she had no idea how much Grace had. Whatever it was, they would make do.
“A deal,” she said.
“Fine. Now we ain’t leaving tomorrow or anything like that. I say we take a month to get ready, and that includes you nice ladies getting the money, finding supplies that won’t perish or need cooking, and spending every weekend and any other time you can with me learning more about how to sail this beautiful boat that I named after my ex-wife.”
Amanda was surprised. She hadn’t known Mack had an ex-wife or that the catamaran had a name. “What’s the cat’s name?”
“The Bitch .”
CHAPTER 4
ONLY TWO OF THE THREE SUBS THAT DEPARTED PEARL HARBOR made it to San Diego. The third was never heard from again. Whether an accident or a Japanese attack caused the sub’s death they would likely never know. Maybe someday the wreck would be discovered on the bottom of the ocean and the grieving families given some solace. Dane could only be thankful that it hadn’t been him on that sub. The old phrase, there but for the grace of God go I, now carried great meaning for him.
The loss of more key personnel put an additional strain on Spruance’s rebuilding staff, especially with his new job. Spruance was now chief of staff to Nimitz. It also resulted in Dane being promoted to lieutenant commander sooner than expected and his being given a more senior position in Captain Merchant’s intelligence gathering group that was now reassigned directly to Nimitz.
On arrival at San Diego, Dane swore that
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