part 35 "The Idiot" part one of "True Reality"

The quality of the area and the fishing didn’t impress me. The first day we went, we caught a few Grunts, a Triggerfish, and a couple Yellow fin Tuna- all were pretty small. The second time we went, we caught two Barracuda that we cooked on the grill that same night.

Andy fed Barracuda to the Key Deer that night. He trapped the doe with the blind eye, and then put her in the back of a cube-van, tying her up with a pile of food near her. The idea was to lure a male into the van, lock it inside, and to take them to a person up in the mainland that was ready to purchase them. He never shared the name of this person, and I can only assume that it was one of his dope connections. Luckily, for the Key Deer, they didn’t cooperate with his plans. He locked her up in the fenced in portion of the yard, claiming that he intended to train her as a pet. Whether he succeeded or not, I cannot say but Andy didn’t ever succeed at much anyway. There are photographs of the Key Deer being molested, forbidden by law.

Two young men lived and worked with Andy and his mommy. One of the guys, Andrew, was a zealously religious person, and probably my sign from the supernatural world that I wasn’t entirely among demons. He was my subconscious reassurance that I was not forsaken, no matter haw bad things may seem to become. These two guys did a lot of bible study, and a lot of Ganja smoking. I thought that I could smoke with the best of them until I met these two. Geesh!

One evening, soon after I had arrived, they were instructed to take me out for a beer and some pool, under the pretense that they were to become better acquainted with me, so they took me out to a local bar called, Coconuts, on Big Pine Key, pretty close to the house. Andy had arranged to have a couple of his dope dealer buddies show up there. When they walked in, the bartender noticed that they were well hammered, especially when one of them fell from their chair moments after sitting down in it. Soon one of them was trying to sneak a pull from the bottle he had brought in.

They took no time cutting into me, asking to play pool with us. They also didn’t waste time at trying to trip me up in their little dope game, to get me involved with what Andy wanted me involved in, for reasons only Andy knew. It was obvious that the guys I came with were uncomfortable with being put up to this very odd and questionable thing that Andy had them doing.

As for the other two, they were not tolerated by the staff for much more of their disturbance, and were escorted out by the bouncers after about thirty minutes. Within minutes of that, we finished our beers and went back to the house. There was a silence among us that really said a lot about the whole affair. When Andrew got out of the car, he mentioned that he didn’t care for going to the bars or being put up to things by Andy but because he was living in his house he had to go along with things or at least make it look like he was. They knew that I knew what was happening.

After a few days, Andrew told me that he was going to buy a Sailboat.  He intended to sail to Jerusalem, where he was to go on a Pilgrimage, asking me to come with him when he went, explaining that he had been saving all of his money or most of it, and that he had it all planned out. As he explained it to me at work that day, I looked down at the floor, noticing an image that was created as a centerpiece in the mosaic tile. It was a Tall Ship with triple square sails and rigging. He took it as confirmation from God because it matched the ring he was wearing.  He only needed a couple of hours off of work to go look at it, and since we were near where it was located, he walked there alone, stopping off at the Bike Week Rally to give a testimony, a message from God. He would later explain how he was filled with the Holy Spirit and moved to a great trembling and tears streaming down his face. He thought that the sailboat was meant to be his because of the scriptures that were written all over the walls of the cabin. He plopped down the fifteen hundred for the boat, and took it to where he could moor it.

Two days later, the boat had sunk. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Having no way to raise her, he planned to depart back to Texas, where he had friends, and had lived, most recently. He left with only the clothes on his back and the things he had learned of. The Keys of Florida had been nothing more than a Siren that pulled him from his course in life, momentarily. I was sad to see him go but I was also happy for his escaping. Or was it meant to be part of his trials and tribulations?

Despite my uneasiness, and my frustrations, troubles or difficulties, I was reassured with daily confirmations that I was being watched over. Danny, I wondered? One was that Sean Adams was here, and was also working on the project I came to help on. Joe Grimminck was here working on the same job, as well. We were all painting. They had been working for Andy up until Andy started doing what he does best, being an asshole and a tyrant, his little Napoleon complex- chasing off both of them with his antics.

They were immediately scooped up and put on the crew that the contractor holding the painting contract had working. Andy was sub-contracting for him, a pawn in the game. It was a typical scenario of the construction business.

On Key West, the condo project was a hotel that was being renovated for economic development. I’d see everyone when I got there to work. An interesting surprise, and to Andy’s dismay, was how elated they all were to see me. After a couple of hours, Andy’s statements regarding how we wouldn’t be drinking while at work, went to having lunch at the bar. We had started the day at four-thirty or five in the morning for our one-hour commute, taking lunch by ten-thirty or eleven, and calling it a day by one o’clock. Andy was drinking the whole time, starting off with the ride in, while he drove without a license. This didn’t help me in keeping my wits-end at all, especially with the whole “when in Rome” programming. My big “save the day” operation with staying out of jail was slowly turning into a big waste of my hope, and picking up speed towards what I felt was certain disaster. Had I any sense or wit in my employ, I would have paid closer attention instead of trying to stay focused on locking myself in as an asset where I had absolutely no business to concern myself with being. The worst thing I could have done, in my dependence on Andy, was to get recognized and praised for excellence by the painting contractor. Andy turned ten shades of red in a silent fury during the esteem I was given, while at Shannon’s Irish Pub, from the head man him self. Andy was now becoming fearful that I would ruin his gig, replacing him as the man for the job at hand. What he failed to remember was that I had my life in Michigan, and had no want for anything in Florida.

The next day Julie and I went to Bahia Honda to snorkel at the State park. This seemed like a great idea after all the great stories about snorkeling that Danny had shared with me. It was a fine idea… until I got in the water for a few minutes.

Unfortunately, for me, my stepfather had taken our family to see Jaws when it was previewing at Six-Flags over Atlanta Georgia- I was five or maybe six. When the diver, who was inspecting the sunken boat, pulled a sharks tooth from a hole in the hull, the Captains head rolled out into view. I went into shock and became instantly hysterical, peeing my pants. They ushered us out, and I have been traumatized ever since. Now, when I am in the water, everybody knows it. My body language screams out: “HELP SHARK”.

At about four feet deep I put my face in the water and started swimming around on the surface, slowly kicking my fins. The water was a bit cloudy from the weather stirring up the brackish waves, causing for great amounts of sediment to become loosened from the bottom. There were few signs of aquatic life but for a pair of antennae I saw pull inside a hole in the mud, it was a Lobster, so-called, protesting my disturbance. There was one or two small fish that seemed to have lost their way. The area seemed lifeless all through the Keys.

Looking around in the distance as far as I could see, I realized my vision was restricted to about eighteen or twenty feet. This limited sight made me very nervous. A slight panic snuck up on me. The water seemed to become murkier still. Hurriedly, I glanced around, looking for sharks, since the depth I was in was now a little bit deeper. That’s when I exploded with panic, scrambling for the shore like a madman. Snorkeling, for me, was done. Check that one off of my list of things to do. It must have been all of four minutes. Okay, now I was ready for a drink.

As I walked the area around the beach, land crabs scattered like cockroaches, and the place stunk of decaying vegetation and “low-tide”. Iguanas were everywhere. Bums were everywhere in the bushes. Thank God, I was leaving in a few weeks! But somewhere along the course of the weekend, Julie had decided that she was going to go back to Michigan for living needs. Little did I know, she was now seeking a job in the Keys and had plans of relocating the household to the area.

Julie made it sound like she was just going back for my tools and such, so that we could both make some money. Since I hadn’t brought anything with me, and Andy seemed to have a lot more in mind for me to do. Julie didn’t share her true plans with me in these regards. What I tried to tell her was that it wasn’t a good idea to go back, that we were going to be going home in a few weeks but all she did was conference with Andy, reassuring me that there was nothing to worry about, even though I explained how I felt like I was in danger- that I could feel something wasn’t right about all of this, that I was just there to get the money and we would be gone. There was something I just couldn’t put my finger on that wasn’t right. What I needed was for her to be here if something happened. It was hard to find a secluded place to do it privately but when I did I pleaded with her, begging her to listen to me, that I could feel something bad was about to happen but I didn’t know what it was, explaining that I sensed it deep in the pit of my soul. She said I was going to be fine, and off she went the following morning. 

The next day we left from the job in Key West. When we arrived back at the house, Andy decided we were going fishing. It wasn’t a choice for me to go along because he needed me to help man the boat. As we loaded it with gear I pointed out that the water line on the canal was ten inches lower than it had been, as indicated by the wetness on the coral. Though I am a novice when it comes to the ocean, it sure looked to me like the tide was out, which meant we couldn’t get out of the canal, past the coral flats that separated us from the ocean. Andy rudely said that we were fine, and that I didn’t know what I was talking about. Well, maybe I didn’t but it was a big boat with a draft that barely passed through the flats when tide was in. We only had one route to take that was marked by flags that were not very easily seen. Even though I knew it was a mistake, I got on the boat and he raced to get us to open water. As we raced across the reef, we kicked up a hell of a cloud of muck, leaving a grey and yellowish trail ten feet wide and spreading as we sped along.

Thoughts of the last time we had been out, and how I was working the bow, keeping at the ready for anchor duty, were running through my head. A sense of pride filled me as I held me eyes steady on the horizon that day, letting my knees bend in response to the waves moving the boat as it rose and fell beneath me. When I weighed anchor at his command, to move to a different spot, the turnbuckle had worked itself loose by the boat tugging in the rough waves. The pin had backed itself out completely, so we lost the anchor. It surprised me when I pulled only a line out of the water. I instantly sensed that there must be some kind of nautical folklore about it- perhaps an Omen or a superstition regarding some kind of doom. It was shameful of me to not have inspected the fastenings but then again, it was HIS boat, he should have said to do it. HE was the Captain, and I was in his care. That’s all there is to it. Filled with pride for having adapting to being on a boat in the ocean, I never revealed my thoughts or my willingness to foolishly accept responsibility for Andy’s boat and anchor.

We ended up cutting the fishing short because we were taking on water, as indicated by the lights on the dash that said the bilge pumps were not shutting off. We raced back to the house.

I hope you are one of my readers in Germany, Sarah.  
It's the only way I can spend my time with you. We will see ourselves soon.
-Your dad.