I can't help comparing the Time Bandit crew to Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Lead by 'Peter Pan' Johnathan Hillstrand. As Andy said in their book, 'His role in the family is to never grow old'. Wendy in the Peter Pan tale was brought to Neverland by Peter as a mother for his Lost Boys. I decided my Time Bandit 'Wendy' would not a mother figure, but a female peer just as independent, wild, and tough as anyone on the boat, bringing some alpha female vibe to the mix. So enter one Samantha Sioux Moreau Blackhawk. Part Sioux, part Creole, full-blooded bad-ass, fully-growed woman. I hope you enjoy meeting her. . .I did.
Oh, and IrishCaptain, listening and singing along to Adele '21' and Meatloaf's 'Hang Cool Teddy Bear' CD's helped inspire the creative juices for this tale, so I give you all props, and hope you don't take offense in my using song lyrics to punctuate the end of each chapter.
Sioux
After stomping down the dock, she found a sorry excuse for a cab and was now sitting in said cramped, cold, smelly, crowded 'cab' steaming. No, she was beyond steaming, heading for nuclear melt-down, perfectly capable going 'scorched earth' all over Dutch Harbor. Who did that 'Crab Wizard' Colburn rat- bastard think he was? He wasn't the first, excited by the resume and references for one 'Sam' Moreau, work out a deal with her rep, return a signed contract and round trip plane ticket. And when meeting face-to-face with said 'Sam' sputter some shit about a big mistake and try to weasel out of the contract. Samantha was her given name she never used. 'Sam' is what she went by in her fishing career. She only shared in her sacred middle name 'Sioux' with a close and trusted few. Well, he can kiss my ass and pay me my full share for the season Sioux fumed. 'I am waay too old for this shit'.
Before she left Colburn's precious Wizard she had bullied him into giving her a bunk for the night where she stowed her gear. Alaskan Crabbers. They were all a bunch of drunk-ass cowboys, all hat with crabs for cattle, who thought their precious little broke dicks would shrivel up and fall off if they had a woman on their 'he-man-wimmen-haters-club' boats. Why did she even entertain the notion of working with them? Oh yeah, she had been trying to get as far away from her ex as possible and the Bering Sea seemed just the ticket. She figured a cold, grey bitch of a hungry sea ready to kill you just 'cause she could, ought to wash the taste of Louis-Philippe out her spirit. Damn! She needed a drink and fast. The lights of the Grand Aleutian Hotel beckoned up ahead she and told the driver to let her off much to the chagrin of the rowdy fisherman who shared her ride. As their cat-calls and lewd 'mmmwaaahs' sucking kisses faded in the wind, she wrapped her scarf tighter, ducked her head into the wind, and stalked off.
Once inside it took just a moment to determine the action was happening in the Sports Bar and she waded into the fray. She pushed her way through the usual 'gettin' ready to go crabbin' suspects; drunk crabbers cussin', hooting, dancing with each other for God's sake, and some totally tore-up fool belting out 'Born on the Bayou'. Sioux hated Creedence Clearwater Revival. Those songs brought back too many memories of cheap beer drunks, hurling, groping, good 'ol boy parties from her miserable youth. Mixed in were some Hollywood looking types taking about chase bats and storylines, a few 20 – 30something ladies, but the crowd as expected, was predominately made up of stupid-drunk bellowing crabbers. Sioux made to an empty stool at the bar shrugged off her jacket, watch cap, and scarf, placed them on the stool and shook out her mane of jet black hair. She ignored more than a few drunken leers, ordered a double shot of vodka, downed it and headed to the Karaoke booth.
She loved to sing and had been urged more than once to do it professionally, but singing was her expression not her profession. . .that would make the raw joy of rockin' well, work. After flipping through the song book, she made her selection and took the microphone offered by the M.C. who leered 'What's your name honey?' 'What'd you care' she snarled. 'Just play the damn song'. Sioux was steaming. Fucking macho captains and their B.S. reindeer games. 'Hey ladies I don't know 'bout you but I really need to beat off some 'bad asshole man' juju. Anybody else? A cheer rose. 'Alright! Then let's get busy.' As the first distinctive piano notes screamed out of the bar's speakers Sioux was surrounded by a group of fist pumping, screaming ladies singing back up as Sioux, belted out Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep'. The guys melted back off the tiny dance floor and (wisely) let the ladies freak and do their primal female thang. That's when the Time Bandit bro's rolled in.
Andy
Andy slowed up as they approached the bar and said 'Whoa John, you betta gird your loins dude, the women look like they're wild tonight.' and let out a rebel yell. Johnathan ignored him and headed straight for the bar, threw some jerk's gear off a stool, bellied up, and in short order, a double Crown Royal appeared in front of him. He barely looked up and mumbled 'Thanks Crystal, keep 'em comin'. The long suffering barmaid gave him a knowing look and sighed 'Shit, it's gonna be one of those nights'. Johnathan knocked back his drink in one quick, thirsty draw and stared glumly into his empty glass. 'Here we go again' Andy thought as he watched his brother do what he had been doing too much of lately, isolating and drinkin' heavy. Real heavy.
Sioux and the other women ended the song with hoots and high fives and she made her way back to the bar. Andy's eyes followed her. There was something about that woman. It wasn't that she sang and danced like a force of nature, but there was something about the sinewy, confident walk and the heavy veil of jet black hair swaying across strong slim shoulders that tugged at his memory. An old memory. She glanced at him and kept walking. Andy felt his heart leap as emerald green eyes, glowing hot like metal on the edge of a knife, fix on him then slide away. He took off after her.
Though stone-cold sober, Andy could not believe his eyes. Sioux. The siren of his childhood. That tall, slim girl with a pirate's smile, and deep emerald eyes that could stop you in your tracks with a glare, or wash over you like a warm, gentle wave. This is crazy he thought. It was her. Here she was close to 40 years later and yet he could see with his own eyes the remnants of the pubescent child-woman in her face, body and eyes. He tried in vain to steady himself. 'Lord help me those eyes' he thought. God, she had to be in her early 50's, yet her body, clad in a tight, well filled out v-neck long sleeved sweater, tucked into skin tight black jeans that disappeared into a pair of red python snake skin cowboy boots was smokin' hot. And that face. Her honey colored skin was unlined, flawless and taunt. The child-woman had matured into her face, which had been just a hair too sharp edged; with high chiseled cheek bones and a nose that was way too proud and strong to be considered beautiful in comparison to the round face, button nose, dimpled blond Scandinavian girls that reigned in Homer. Her skin was still the color of warm honey. He remembered she swore she tanned real injin red in the summer but he never got to see that. He felt blood rushing to his face and other parts in his jeans, as a boyhood memory of longing to lick her long, swan-like neck; knowing she would taste like a honey Creamsicle leaped to his mind. At nine years old he worshiped her. Would have gladly died for her. Yet it was Johnathan who was her favored one. And then another feeling from that time stabbed him . . . hot, gut churning jealousy. It was the only time in his life that he really and truly hated his brother.
Sioux
'What the hell!' Sioux yelled as she bent over and swept her jacket, hat and scarf off the floor and glared at the broad leather clad back that was sitting on her stool with five empty shot glasses in front of him. When the rude mofo ignored her, she was about to give him a hard shove when a hand grabbed her other arm. Sioux rounded, ready to swing, but just in time glared straight into a pair of laughing blue eyes set in the face of a good lookin' hunk of an asshole. Andy stepped back with his hands up in surrender and said in a mock little boy voice 'Spare me My Queen'. Sioux 's mouth dropped. 'My Queen?' No one had called her that since she was 12 and had enlisted two scabby little boys as her personal guard of warrior-braves in what turned out to be her last winter in Homer. The last precious winter that tolled the death of her childhood. Her own voice sounded strange as she whispered 'Blue Fox?'
Johnathan
When he hit the bar he was in a foul mood. Three of his West Coast go-to honeys had blown him off. One was gettin' married to some L.A. used car mogul, Regina in Vegas cussed him out and said if she ever saw him again she was gonna cut his bitch-ass. Technically he had blown off Gloria who was so excited about her first real hard-core porn gig where she was playing an Amish girl kidnapped by an outlaw motorcycle gang. He was no prude, and certainly not one to judge, but coming in for sloppy fifteenths just wasn't a turn-on. He and Scotty were going through another 'you're either on the boat or off the boat' hassle and were barely speaking. He couldn't remember the last time he had more than two days off in a row since opilio season ended last February. Since then his life had been a blur of jumping on and off planes touring with Andy and Sig, media appearances, and charity events. Yeah, get me he thought, 'Mr. Bering Sea Bad Ass T.V. Star'. And with the start of Red Crab season only days away the vicious cycle was about to start again.
He took another long drag off his 50th -something Winston of the day, knocked back his third shot, then banged the empty glass on the bar to signal another had best appear with a quickness. And it did. Fuck me he thought as his mood continued to sink. I'm old, tired, and my nerves are shot, I drink and smoke way too much and Mom says she done praying for me. That if I wanted to go before my time, like Dad, it's in God's hands. Shit, even chasing tail was getting old. Living in hotels around the world was getting even older. But what worried him the most. . .no come on you chicken-shit weenie, what terrifies you the most is what you're feeling right here, right now. Nothing. No excitement at the thought of taking the boys out to pitch another battle with the Bering Sea on the hunt for King Crab. No prickly, tingling over his skin in anticipation of taking the wheel of his beloved Time Bandit, feel the power of her thrusting engines under his feet and the rush of powering through waves the height of tall buildings. Yeah baby! Right. The thought of leaping tall buildings in a single bound of the Time Bandits twin 425 horsepower Cummins engines wasn't doing it for him tonight. Superman has left the building DC fans. Shit. Maybe if he got drunk enough, quick enough, some fool would look at him side-ways and he could kick some ass. It had been known to do the trick in the past. The past. That was the rub. There was just too much of it, too much sucked, and there probably wasn't much future to come. Jeez, I miss Phil. He tried to give himself a mental pull-up. 'Get a grip Hillstrand before you start bawling in your whiskey.' He sensed it was getting crowded around his solitary spot. Most people knew to give him wide berth when he was quiet and focused on empty glass after empty glass.
'What the hell?' Great he thought. Now some pissed off bitch was invading his pity party. He ignored her. Then he heard Andy say 'Spare me My Queen'. 'My Queen?' He hadn't heard Andy use that title for any chick since they were kids the winter they had been transported into the maelstrom, world of one. . . He turned, looked up at the pissed off bitch. His breath hitched, his heart pounded, and a strong, slim arm captured him.
Sioux
She sensed the big leathered asshole next to her turn and stare up at her. She felt herself sinking into an out-of-body experience as she stared into the warm, dark eyes still soft and vulnerable around the edges, of her sweet boy from idyllic time, set in the face of a ruggedly handsome man.
'Little Bear? Take me Lord I'm ready to go' she whispered hoarsely as she clutched the two tightly. Her left arm hugged Andy's broad shoulder and her right arm pressed Johnathan to her hollow of her neck and as a overpowering feeling of sweet affection flooded over her, she kissed the top of his head. He pulled back and gave her one of his old mischievous grins.
'See, I told you so.'
'Told me what so?'
Johnathan looked down at her cleavage, quickly kissed the luscious mound, and grinned back up to her startled eyes.
'Told you not to worry. . .told you one day you'd grow a real nice pair of boobies.'
There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship* bare
See how I'll leave with every piece of you
Don't underestimate the things that I will do
There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch
And it's bringing me out the dark
The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
I can't help feeling
We could have had it all
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
Baby, I have no story to be told
But I've heard one of you
And I'm gonna make your head burn
Think of me in the depths of your despair
Making a home down there
As mine sure won't be shared
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
The scars of your love remind me of us
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
I can't help feeling
We could have had it all
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
But you played it with a beating
Throw your soul through every open door
Count your blessings to find what you look for
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
We could have had it all
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
It all, it all, it all
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You could have had it all
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)
But you played it
You played it
You played it
You played it to the beat.
"RollingInTheDeep"Adele21