“It all began on a Saturday. I was First Mate on a party boat, the Maxine, a 25 foot cruiser docked out of Sheepshead Bay.”
“Sheepshead Bay?” Asked Wendy.
“Yeah, in South Brooklyn.” Getting nothing but blank stares he added “Brooklyn, New York.” Some of the older kids recognized that, but not many. Ugh, moving on…
“Anyway, I was twenty-one years old then. The captain, Captain Berkett, was already there checking out the boat when I got to the dock at five in the morning. He was a mean cuss, and didn’t like to meet any of the people coming on board. That was my job.”
Erin asked “What’s a party boat?”
“It’s a boat big enough for a few dozen people. And no, we didn’t go out to party, we went fishing off the coast of Brooklyn, mostly for fluke, sometimes blue fish. And before you ask, it’s called a party boat because we would take parties of people out to have a good time. This trip we had about fourteen people to takeout. They were all friends and their wives and girlfriends who worked together at some job.”
“What job?” Asked Julian.
“I don’t know, stop interrupting! Oh wait, you know some of them. Mr. Jules, Mr. Bill And Mrs Jaquiline, Jacqui’s parents, Mr Theo, Mr Daryl, Miss Melanie, Mr Trent, Mr Larry and Mrs Wilma, and Mr Winston, Lacy’s dad. They were all there at the beginning. If you want to know what they did back then ask them.”
A round of “ooooohhs” went through the group.
“Mr, Theo is my dad!” shouted Winston.
“Yeah, he is” Mitch said to a beaming face. “Now, where was I…
“Oh yeah, so anyway, everyone started showing up around six. I get them and whatever stuff they brought on board and stored. It was mostly beer coolers and a few raincoats. Heh, maybe it was a party.” Some of the kids giggled at that. “So I’m working when I hear a scream coming from somewhere on the dock. I looked around and didn’t see anyone, and it sounded like it was a couple of streets over. I didn’t pay it any mind. I was too busy getting the folks on board, getting a head count, checking the bait and rods and stuff. When everyone was on board I pulled the mooring lines and were headed out to sea. Looking back, I should’ve payed more attention to that. But what’s done is done.”
“Wait, hold up” said Jaqui. “I thought you were with Captain Bern?”
“No, Captain Bern doesn’t show up ’til later.”
“But we want to hear about Captain Bern” said Millie, followed by a lot of ‘yeah’s’.
“Don’t you worry, I’ll get there. Just hold your horses, and settle down.” The kids took a moment to get quiet again. Mitch waited them out, then continued.
“So we’re out there, the group is fishing and drinking, I’m making sure everyone’s got a pole and they’re baited up. Everyone’s pulling fish and having a good time. I report to the captain through the intercom that everything’s going well, and he says nothing. I should’a known something was wrong then, cuz he usually says something, whether we’re moving to another spot, or staying there for a bit. But he was just quiet, only saying ‘ok’. He left his finger on the talk button a little longer than normal, long enough for me to hear a lot of chatter over the radio. I didn’t hear what was coming over, but what ever it was it had his full attention. Not knowing what else to do, I go back and take care of our guests.
“We’re out there for a while and I notice that we’re not going anywhere, and the captain’s not calling me about moving to another spot. Our partiers notice that too, so I head up to the cabin to see what’s wrong. Berkett’s totally focused on the radio and whatever it was spouting. I go ‘Captain, Captain, what’s up’. He doesn’t say anything for a minute. I can barely make out what he’s listening to, a news broadcast of some sort. Then he tells me to pack it up, were heading back. I ask him why but he just shouts at me. ‘Do what I say, now. And don’t upset the guests’. I go back to the deck, tell the guests we’re heading back, tell them there’s a problem, stuff like that. I didn’t even have time to get the lines out of the water when the captain guns the engine and we’re headed back to dock at full speed.
“We get back to the harbor, but the captain doesn’t pull up to the dock, just sorta’ drifts in close. He swings to port, and that’s when we see it.”
Benny asks “See what?”
Mitch said “The end…”
Arid Testimony 