A Life in the Day (54)

CHICKEN of the SEA....BOW WATCHES

It seemed that during the night, as Joel and I were driving the Porcelain Bus,
Flying Fish had sailed onto the decks of the ship, driven by the storm. And the Chief Cook had gone on deck to gather as many as he could to prep for lunch, before the Sun could have its' way with them.
It turns out that Flying Fish are sweet and delicate in taste. and if buttered and lightly battered and quick pan fried, the taste was unusual and more exquisite then you could have EVER expected! BAR NONE!
As we sat at table, the chief cook brought in 2 platters of sweet and salty Flying Fish, 2 platters of buckwheat hot cakes, real honey and pitchers of cold milk and hot coffee for all of us.
Being Sunday and a skeleton crew, we all sat and ate with time as our guest.
We were being asked of our ..adventures? hahahha

A Life In The Day (53)

----------------------- ACCEPTANCE -- CHICKEN of THE SEA -- AND THE MIND ON BOW WATCH --------------------

As we came back down to the Crews Mess, we could see that the crew had relaxed smiles on their faces. Apparently the Officer Steward had passed the word that we hadn't ratted on them. As we walked in the crews mess, we were asked if we wanted something to eat? .............................................. AFTER WE ALL STOPPED LAUGHING....

We were STARVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The short foods we were fed DID NOT FILL THE VOID!!!!!!! hahaha

E S D

A Life In The Day (52)

--------------------AND THE YAWNS CONTINUE--------------------

(and POSEIDON SERVES us REAL FOOD)

That night we did nothing more then curse the day our mothers gave birth to us!

Joel was put in the top bunk, He was a bit shorter then I, so easier to lift. Bad mistake! We should both been put on the floor close to the buckets! As the sea rolled on, in what turned out to be a medium sized hurricane, we found out that our stomachs didn't know that we didn't have anything left to offer and kept calling for more presentations to "The Floor GAWD!"

Joel hadn't realised that he was in the top bunk when he reached to the bucket and fell out to the floor!! He lay where he landed! This was not a time for me to laugh! ( but I gotta admit. I tried!). I rolled outta my bunk to the floor and LITERALLY crawled over to him to make sure he was ok! Nothing broken!, just more vomit!

The next morning, we had to admit, we were both disgusting in our appearance and smell!! and our cabin looked like a toilet that hadn't been flushed for a week of use! As we started to staggered out of our cabins one helping the other, one of the petty officers happened to be coming down to check on us and stopped due to, not only our appearance but the smell emanating from us a short distance away. (He was trying to hide a smile.), and directed us to the crew showers for a, ( clean-up-go-about), and asked if we would join the officers in the mess for breakfast? He had to turn away to keep from showing us his laughter when he saw the looks on our faces at the last remark! But we were game and said,

" Yeah, sure, great, you fucking bet!". He went off laughing to tell the other officers about the 2 landlubber kids!

After we showered we felt it necessary to clean up our cabins and did just that! we mopped first and cleaned up all our mess and then opened up the port holes and aired the cabin, even if the sea was still a little rough. (a little my ass! it was still 15degrees list!), so the salt water wouldn't hurt.(MUCH!).

We made our way to the crews Mess first FOR COFFEE NOW!!! As it being Sunday, there was only a skeleton crew on duty and the rest were in the Mess. We walked into a room of smiles and good cheer, and were asked,

"Want a cup of warm grease, mate?" or,

"How bout some hot greasy bacon and fried eggs, bud?", or,

"What about some steamed okra?".

Try as we might? and seeing the looks in their faces? We started laughing about the same time they did! We all laughed for bit, and said that we were asked to join the officers for breakfast and had to go. Immediately a look of apprehension came to their faces, but went over our heads for the moment.We said we'd come back, and left.

We made our way to the Officers' Mess, with at least Coffee under our belts and REALLY Hungry! As we entered, we saw looks of subdued mirth on the Officers and Captain. faces. You could just tell that they wanted to know if what they had heard in the night was true?

The Captain asked me, with a slight smile, if the seamen had forced Greasy food on us for a joke? (As He was asking this question I could see out of the corner of my eye that the Galley Mess Steward was nonchalantly listening to the conversations. Like a fly on the wall.).

As Joel was about to answer, I could see that He was a bit pissed off, I taped His foot under the table to shut Him up! (Joel and I had developed a good repore during our travels and understood.). I then piped up and said that it was our idea to ask for FOOD! That we were starving! "bring it on, please!', AND HOW WE DIDN'T KNOW OF THE CONSEQUENCES! At which point the Captain and Officers laughed uproariously! The crew was cleared of perfidy! hahaha. At which point pancakes were brought on. ( stable in the stomach.) and toast and coffee. Even seamen can be affected with sea sickness it seems.

As we ate, the Captain and Officers started asking us of what had happened upon arrival at the dock and how we got here? As we drank our coffee and shared our adventures to the gathered assembly, I saw the Galley Steward leave with a smile on his face and go below.

Apparently, we showed ourselves to be ok lads and seemed to be accepted by the Captain and Officers as ADVENTUROUS kids with a goal in life.(go figure!). Pertty much after the meal, the Captain told Joel and I that it would be about a 3 week voyage to SOUTH HAMPTON, ENGLAND and a, SEA of WORTH, and we had the run of the ship as long as we kept out of the Officers and Crews way. Apparently , WE were accepted by the Captain and the Officers.(WHAT A HOOT!)

E S D

A Life In The Day (51)

--------------TECHNICOLOR YAWNS-----------------

The morning seemed to start with white caps, small swells and dark morning clouds on a 34 hundred ton freighter, little did we know what would come ...up (?)....next? haha. We were both starved and headed to the crews galley, not knowing that we were invited to the officers state room mess. Apparently as the crew saw us come in, the word was passed to the cookie to 'SERVE US THE BEST", especially since the sea was getting rough, and we had hit a storm front!

The sea was getting rougher by now , we had to hold on to the bulkheads as we walked in, we should have known that we were in for bad weather when we came into the mess and saw towels wet down and spread on the tables and the edges of the eating areas pulled up!(so the food wouldn't SLIDE off the tables!). As we sat down, the crew all seemed to have smiles on their faces. (why? a happy crew? ), hahaha. Little did we know that we were about to be the BUTT end of a joke!

The crew made room for us to sit among them, and told us that the mess was about to be served and why didn't we go to the officers mess? We told them that we didn't know about that, and were told in return, that we were welcomed here. The crew kept us busy with alot of small talk as the food was being prepared. Our noses were telling us, YEAH BABY!!! They asked us about what and how and why we were on this boat, as our stomachs ROARED! We answered as best we could and saw wonder on their faces.

When the food finally came, served by the galley mates, even they had smiles on their faces as they put down the food. What was severed were mounding plates of Greasy pork chops, Greasy sausages and Greasy fried eggs and 1 small plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with full pots of coffee. Joel and I had no thought about why the crew was only eating the PB&J sandwiches and coffee, if they did have eggs, they patted off the grease. Joel and I ate as if there were no tomorrow, to the on looking , grinning crew.

We ate and ate and ate.......my gawd , but this was the greatest meal we thought we ever had since we ran away from Home, even if some of the plates were sliding off the tables due to the list of the ship! THEN IT STARTED!.............

As we sat there talking and drinking coffee after our meal, and the walls of the mess hall swaying and ,and, and the deck rocking and rolling, and.........OH SHIT! We lurched to our feet and scrambled out of the mess hall to find the outer deck and headed for the rails! All the time in our ears we could hear the crew in the distance laughing.........

We barely made it to the rails! Grabbed, leaned and let out such a cascade of colors! PETER MAX would have loved the palate of colors! hahahaha

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EDITORS NOTE

NEVER ....EVER!

SPIT INTO THE WIND!

PEE INTO THE WIND!

OR THROW UP INTO THE WIND!

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We were there for what seemed days , calling our dog, "RAWLF!".

The weather was really BAD and we were helped to our cabins by some of the crew as the rest looked on and laughed. Who the fuck cared! WE DIDN'T! WE JUST WANTED TO DIE!

We were helped to our cabins and our bunks. As we lay with vomit all over us, the seamen grabbed and shoved our life jackets on the outside, underside of our mattresses and told us this would keep us from falling out to the floor. (ah, what little joys to look forward to !)

E D S

A Life In The Day 50 (PART - 2 )

------------THE STEAMER------------- (AND THE TECHNICOLOR YAWNS!)

( or, how we rode the rails ON THE SEA to ENGLAND )

As We walked up the gang plank, Joel and I could see the Seamen leaning over the rail staring down at us coming up, with curiosity in their eyes and mischief in their hearts.

Joel and I had no idea what to expect! All We knew was that we were on our way to ADVENTURE ! ? ! ?. hahahaha. And a check of $28,000.00 apiece in 1964 at 17 years of age, in the form of "life insurance policies", in our pockets! Now you may be asking, "SO WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?", good question! Here's what I told Joel back in the Cantina after I had asked the "Assurance", agent to write us up for that kind of policy back at the assayers office.

While we were sitting at our table, I then told Joel what my Father had told me about how He and mother had gotten out of Europe (before I was conceived), with all of our money without being confiscated by either local government or the Nazis. He told me that He and mother had decided to purchase "life insurance", from LLOYD'S of LONDON before they left to AMERICA, so that the monies would not be found on them and confiscated. You see, more then $500.00 could NOT be taken out of the country at ANY time! Ergo, I had thought the same thing and had asked government offices of passage, what the reality was now and here in S. America, Venezuela? I was told that NOW in 1964 the laws of the land were that no more then $1000.00 more then one came in with, could leave, and I had seen, as we came into town that, there were INTERNATIONAL Banking companies here in CARACAS.

As Joel listened to the story His mouth slackened and His jaw dropped! (THE LOOK WAS PRICELESS!) HAHAHAHAHA!

He at first wanted to slap me up along side the head in confused anger! then in seconds, He wanted to hug the breath outta me!

"BRILLIANT!" He said, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me earlier?"

Sheepishly , I told Him,"I wasn't sure I could pull it off."

We walked up the gang plank wondering what was going to happen now in this new world of water/sea/OCEAN!? As we came aboard one of the seamen asked us ,"what happened down there, mates?"

Joel and I looked at each other, smiled and said ,"Just a sending off party." Boy were we so cool or what?!!!! hahahaha.!!

We were shown to our cabins on the top deck, reserved for passengers and officers. Joel was the first to succumb to the hazards of a ship life. hahahahha !

Did I mention that we were still a little TANKED? HAHAHA. As we walked to our cabins we had to go thru the "bulkhead" to our rooms. Joel didn't see the base of the way. and didn't lift His feet! ROTF-HMS-LMAO !!! HE CAUGHT HIS FOOT AND WENT FACE FIRST TO THE DECK AND BLOODIED HIS NOSE! I looked , laughed and cried with tears of mirth! He looked up at me ,while dripping blood on the deck, and asked, "What da fax so fudy?", the whole time His nose was running blood like a cheap faucet!

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Bulkhead function in ships ( in ship construction: The naval architect )
...Passenger vessels must satisfy a standard of bulkhead subdivision that will ensure adequate stability under specified conditions if the hull is pierced accidentally, as through collision.in ship: Structural integrity )
...thus permit thinner shell plating. This scheme of framing is strongly favoured in applications where weight saving is important. However, longitudinal frames require internal transverse support from bulkheads and web frames—the latter being, in effect, partial bulkheads that may extend only three to seven feet in from the shell.

In our case? 10" from the deck and 12" from the sides.

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GOIN OFF THE AIR FOR A FEW DAYS! BACK AS SOON AS I CAN !

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BACK NOW,

OK , so where was I ?

Oh yeah, hahahaha . After I picked Him up and scrabbled into our cabin, a seaman looked on and laughed so hard that I swear that he wet his pants! hahahaha

The word was out to the crew! "LAND-LUBBERS! Kids! Get ready for fun!", HAHAHA ! As the steamer was readying to sail, I was laughing my ass off as I cleaned up Joel. We really didn't see our departure from the harbor, but no lose. We would in our, up coming lives , see many.

E S D

A Life In The Day (49)

------------THE CUT THROATS------and THE STEAMER-----------

For the whole time Joel and I were there, the Assayer kept telling us that to protect our claim, we should MAKE a claim! (I'm sure he thought that after the claim was made and the location known, We would become "worms food", thanks to the cut throats that he was obviously working with, and they could claim it for themselves and be rich!). As he opened a Cola for us, he went to the back room to make a call! Joel and I looked at each other and began to sweat! (was this what we were warned about?).

After the call,the agent came out and asked how we wanted our monies, the whole time I'm sure he was thinking, CASH! He was taken aback when we asked him to call a bank representative AND a representative from "GRAND CANADIAN LIFE ASSURANCE Co." to come to his office with a notary.(he had no idea what I had in mind, neither did Joel!)

(Joel and I had come to develop trust over the months we had been together and now it showed. I told Him all about it later ........He damned near beat the shit outta me, then later wanted to buy me a hooker and a bottle of champagne.)

The Assayer seemed to sweat as we waited for the people in question to arrive,( he wasn't prepared for this new situation.), all the while telling us things like , youths like us would do better with CASH so as to have a more exciting life, girls, abundance, a bank would only be a hindrance. Joel and I both had the idea he was doing his best to talk us out of "a bank intercession", as we waited . I managed to get a glimpse out the window and saw some guys out by the corner just hangin out doing there best to look cool.

They blended in about as well as "JASON", in a girl scout bake sale!

The officials arrived after about 30 minutes later, to the chagrin of the Assayer, and as it happened, at the same time.(go figure!).

The first guy was from the Banko National, the other was a pencil necked guy from the assurance company.(but he did know his numbers!). I got down to business and asked that our funds were credited to the bank and from there authorised to pay for the purchase of $54,000. of life insurance in both our names,( remember folks! THIS WAS 1964 !), therefor NOT having any money on us! the other 2 GRAND to buy passage on ANY FUCKING STEAMER OUTTA HERE!--ANYWHERE!!

That's when the Notary took over and made it legal. Meanwhile the Assayer was sweating bullets! The whole time stealing glances surreptitiously out the window, the other people didn't seem to notice, but I did...............

It was now about noon............ The bank official, the Insurance Agent and the Notary kinda picked up on what I had in mind , and I think approved. As a matter of fact they thought it was brilliant! I asked if any of them could help us get passage on a freighter to say, England? To our surprise, the Notary told us that she had a bother who worked in the Port Authority, and could do just that. Then I asked if We could have a ride to our Cantina/hotel , for safety sake. They quickly acquiesced and we were off out of harms way. The whole time the assayer was shitting his pants, swearing, and cursing his bad luck!

The banker insisted that He be allowed to take us to lunch so that Blanca , the Notary, could arrange for passage. We didn't argue. as we waited for our food, they asked all sorts of questions about our travels and adventures to date. They had as much fun listening as We had in telling.

Blanca came back as the meal was being served, with the news that all was well and We had been booked passage on a "LYKES BROS. LINE" freighter and was scheduled to leave port in 5 hours to LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, and to be ready for departure in 4.

When we left each other after the meal, the trio was kind enough to ask if, WE would be ok? They told us that our plan to have them come to our rescue was outlandishly brilliant!, and were happy to assist in the out smarting of the "cut throats".

We were dropped off at our rooms and we all said good-by, where upon Joel and I walked over to the cantina and had a drink,(or 3), to talk over what We were gonna do. It was really a no brainer! As we sat there getting pleasantly SLOSHED. We really didn't have much to take with us, so that issue didn't raise its head, but what about our bikes?

'That's easy,lets go outside.", I said to Joel. The first person We saw was Anso, the kid we had asked that morning to watch our bikes. 'hey Anso! We've decided not to pay you money for watching our bikes." I said. He looked crestfallen, he thought that were cool guys and would keep our words, not like grown-ups. Joel picked up on what I was about to do and started to grin. Anso started to get angry. Before he could start to cuss us out, I told him that We decided to give him and his brother both our bikes. That's when his jaw dropped! HAHAHAHAHA, the funniest look you ever saw! Once he stopped hugging and kissing us on the cheeks, he asked why?

I told him that we had finished our business and were to leave in 2 hours to ENGLAND on a boat at pier 53, and would he and his brother mind giving us a lift? After we had told him why we came to CARACAS, and what other guys had told us to look out for and why we had to get out...........well he understood it all and said he would do everything in his power to get us there on time! We got our packs, lighter now by a few POUNDS!, got on the back of the bikes. Elitto (his brother had joined us crying with joy.), to drive Joel on, NOW HIS BIKE! TO THE PIER. We were escorted by a shit load of their friends , mostly on bicycles and 2 or 3 on mopeds, Thur town to the pier. (TALK ABOUT BEING HAPPY, YOU COULDN'T SEE ANSO'S OR ELITTO"S TEETH FOR ALL THE BUGS ON THEM!~ HAHAHAHAH).

We thought we were home free, with minutes to spare, as we came up to the,"STEAMER", WHEN 2 OLD '48 CHEVY COUPES came screeching up to block our way 30 yards from the gang plank!

What happened next took only seconds and it all seemed to have been choreographed in RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL! AT THE VERY LEAST FROM A SCENE FROM, "WEST SIDE STORY", Anso yelled out something neither Joel or I understood and all the kids got off there bike and seemed to form a skirmish line between us and the 5 guys that got out of the cars. The 5 guys pulled knives! The kids pulled switch blades, pipes and bicycle chains!

Joel pulled out his "sling", and I pulled out my "WHAMO". For a moment we thought it was tits up!, but then the reality of the situation hit us. IT WAS OVER 4 TO 1 ODDS! in our favor even though we were all kids!

The 5 guys realised that discretion was the better part of stupidity(!), and backed off. they got in their cars and with alot of shouting and swearing drove off to where ever they came from. No one was hurt!

Seconds after the "cut throats", drove off , we just stood there in silence all just looking at each other, shaking, coming down from an adrenalin, nervous high! One kid , Pico, I think , started to laugh nervously then was picked up by another and another and another, until we were ALL laughing! After we ALL got done, Joel and I went over to ANSO and his brother ELITTO and hugged and said our thanks to them and all the kids. There was no use in attempting to exchange address because most of the kids lived on the streets and most couldn't either, read or write. So We just said thanks!,and got on the boat and walked into another chapter of my new life.

E S D

A Life In The Day (48)

GOLD ASSAYERS - CUT THROATS - A STEAMER TO ENGLAND !

We went to the south East of CASIMIRO, the whole time making sure that we didn't say a word in any Catina or bar, or whore house, that we had a shitload of gold in our packs.

We came to the village of lOS TEQUES, and needed to replenish some of our supplies, about 14 klicks S.W. of CARACAS.

It was there that we got the lowdown, from other kids, about what we might see and beware of in Caracas! We were told that the ..assayers were in league with local hard guys......and ANYONE listing a claim was (depending on his power,) were free meat!

It was in the fields , with the other kids, close to the jungle that We heard of what to expect! 1), AFTER! We came to an assayers office , be prepared to have monies placed in the form of cash!( ask for a cashiers cheque!!! AND MAKE NO CLAIM!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO CASH!!!!!!! NOT to stop UNTIL WE HAD A BANK TO DEPOSIT THE CHEQUE INTO! AND!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE NO CLAIM!!!!! ), If We did? We would not see the sunrise! We were 17 ! no adults !! , ( and runaways to boot!)

and then we rode into town~!!!!!!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sorry folks now working 10/14 hours per day , 7 days a week for my DREAM! JUST A BIT TIRED? AND TIRED OF HAVING A KEY BOARD IMPRINT ON MY FACE! HAHAHAHA

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We came into the south west end of town, (50 years past? it was a town and only that! and dirty to boot! )

The roads were dirty and shit in the gutters! It all smelled bad! It was like an old time gold town, full of bordellos , cantinas, food /supply stores, bandanlleros and assayer offices .

As we drove in slowly........... we came into town with our eyes open and scanning the territory,( which did well for me in the future!).

Maybe it's because I read a lot of "James Bond" books! (hahaha), but I was aware enough to recognise my surroundings and what might be surrounding us in this .....environment.

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sorry folks. off line , moved. no service.

ready and back now.

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It's difficult to say what was going Thur our heads at the time, but, we were both paranoid and scared shitless! Every eye we saw KNEW we had GOLD! (A SHITLOAD OF GOLD IN OUR PACKS), WE BOTH HAD A SPHINCTER FACTOR OF 4 !

We both knew what kind of a cantina to look for and found one. It was too poor for the "RICH" guys and too "RICH"for the dirt guys, basically, just rite for us.

it was a cantina with less "ROACHES" THEN MOST. we were off the beaten sewer track. The place was cleaner then most. the food was REALLY good. The first night .................and the last night we spent there was US listening to the words of man! (it was reaffirming that we still lived!). You, out there have NO, idea how .........yummy it is to hear voices when you just think you were so close to death!

After we paid for our room, parked our bikes, we went to the area to eat and talk.............TOMARROW!..................what the fuck? That night Joel and I talked about the next day, as we ate Iguana tails,(YUM-FUCKING-YUM!!!!!!), and what we would do to cash our GOLD. The whole time we both had our feet resting on our pack,(!),under the table. We decided that only one of us would go to get food,and start up "bid-ness", and Joel thought that I was more OK in doing that , I was the one. (WHAT THE FUCK! AM I KING SOLOMON? KING DAVID?), JOEL'S mind was in the clouds, ethereal, romantic, colors of emotion............rite , and I was the schlep! hahahaha, OK , so I was.

The morning before, I told Joel that I saw an Insurance Company that I had read about in school named,"GRAND CANADIAN LIFE', at the time, a global Enterprise.

Joel and I both walked in as if we were rough and tough!!!!! (reality? if we hadn't passed water before we left our room? ..........?.............?), . We came to the first ASSAYER OFFICE we saw, as it turned out it was the greatest choice, attempting to look cool!(and carrying a backpack full of GOLD!). I really think we did well, now in retrospect, it worked! The place looked as if we were in the TWILIGHT ZONE (!). Board floors, board walls and hot as hell!

We didn't take time! in Spanish, we asked for an analyse of our ore. As he looked, his eyes grew large with surprise at the weight of a single nugget, (size of a pigeon egg.). Let's get over this episode, suffice it to say the man looked as if he just got every porn movie, food type he loved, unlimited type of booze he ever loved to drink, all for free!, as we put the sack of Gold on his table! He kept asking us if we wanted ANYTHING to drink, we kept saying NO. The man acted like a mad scientist in a "VINCENT PRICE"MOVIE!, or like "Jean Wilder" in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, running here and there to get chemicals to test against the scrapings of the ore. With each conclusion it seemed that he drooled more!, (in retrospect! it was hilarious!).

After 3 hours of chemically washing the samples,weighing and calculating the value, he told us we had the value of $56,000.00 in cash,(U S ).

IN 1964 THAT WAS ONE HELL OF ALOT OF MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahaha!

WE WERE FUCKING RICH !!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUR DREAMS WERE JUST A SUNRISE AWAY !!!!!!!!!! If we lived to see it !

E S D