Nick sat next to me, finally sobered up, on the couch, and my dad sat in the arm chair across from us. Nick and I were leant forward, waiting for him to say something, anything. But he just sat there. He did this a lot when I asked him about something. It's the main reason I don't have my license and a car right now.

He rubbed his eyes, truly trying to wake himself up. "You want me... to get you a loan... for fifteen grand?" He said, again.

"Yes... that would be nice." I said, mocking his being tired.

"Don't start with me, Michael." He warned. "It's six hours before the banks even open, and you wake me up... why?"

"Because I knew that you won't just let us have this."

He eyed me, then looked to Nick. "Do you two even have a lot to dredge out there?"

"My aunt said that if we buy the boat, we can have the lot." Nick replied. And when we saw him lean back in his chair, we both fell back in ours. 'Oh, God!' It was like being at the DMV. I wanted to snap my fingers to grab his attention again, but I knew it would hurt our chances.

"Look." He said. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I really think you two should be thinking about school, rather than worrying about your jobs."

I could tell that this was getting to Nick.

"And again, I'm sorry about your Uncle, Nick, but I don't want this to become all you two ever do. You have to think about the long run, the both of you. And Nick, you pretty much like a son to me. I can't have you, or Michael, wasting your lives here."

"Mr. Thomas, if we get this boat, we are going to be able to go to college. And even if it's online, we are going to do something. But for now, Emily and I are trying our damndest to get a place of our own, and we can't do that without a job. And with this... We can start our lives easier than we ever could behind a grill at McDonald's, or in some dinky convenient store."

My dad sighed.

"I have, over twenty grand, saved away for Michael to go to college."

I smiled.

"Wait. I'm not finished." He said. "I want you two to still go to school."

"Fred Parker, and Neil Fisher are my uncles deck-hands. They said they'd take over the weekdays and they'd swap out as captain until Michael and I can get our licenses."

"You've already talked to these people?" He said, admiring the initiative that we'd had this morning. "Nice, go on."

"They agreed," I said, "that if we split the profits between the people who worked each day, evenly, that they'd work until we got out of school in may. After that, they'll continue to work for us, alternating between days until they can get a boat of their own."

"What about insurance, and the yearly renewal of the lot?" He asked.

"That percentage will be taken out of our cuts."

My dad rubbed his eyes. He was really tired, which bothered me because I'd been up longer. And it wasn't really helping that he was still debating it in his mind.

"If you cover every angle, by the time the bank opens, and that includes written contracts from each person involved, especially your Aunt's." He said looking to nick. "Then the money's yours. But," He said before Nick and I could celebrate. "If you don't get this done, then that means you get nothing." Our smiles started to show a little too much. And as my dad rose from his seat and looked back at us... he saw that we weren't going anywhere.

"Do you have all of that stuff?" He said.

"Y-yes." I said, trying not to laugh, as I pulled the papers out from under the couch. "We've even got one for you, just in case."

Nick bursted out laughing. "We got a boat!"

My dad, sat down, grabbed the papers from my hands and sat back down.

"Got a pen?" He asked. And when I pulled one from my pocket, he laughed.

"You guys are too much..."

******************************************************************************

That week of school was intensely boring. Even Angela felt the drag of each day as our first real workday approached. She was so excited for the two of us when we told her, and definitely relieved to hear that we had people to help us out while we were at school. Fred and Neil called Nicks cell phone with the details to each day's catch. They even agreed to cut a bill (One hundred dollars) from each paycheck to help take care of the insurance on the boat. They were so kind to Nick and I. Fred even volunteered to give Nick and I lessons on driving the boat. Nick knew already... all he needed was the license which he was waiting until he was old enough, to get it.

I on the other hand was a little less proficient, and after a few days on the boat after school, figured it was best if Nick drove when we got it all situated. It wasn't the driving that got me...it was the damned engine! Nick knew everything about that engine, down to each and every bolt. He knew nomenclature, and he knew how everything worked. That's where I failed... I was... not mechanic material.

Though, I did know how the dredge worked. It was essentially an engine with a rotor that pulled a chain in and out to lift and drop the dredge (the net with the metal frame.)

And before we knew it, we were working our first weekend. Fred had already gassed up like he did during the week and had the boat running in pristine condition when we came out of the convenient store.

"Here's your smokes!" I said opening the cabin door and tossing them to Neil. He was a big, burly man, with a giant beard. He looked like Santa Clause if he were a boat captain.

"Thanks, Mike. Yall two set?" He said, his big voice only made me more giddy to get going. In all reality I did feel like a school girl. And I'm not ashamed about it. I co-owned a boat that was going to bring in around seven hundred dollars in one day!

"Yep. Let's get going." Nick said, closing the cabin, and sliding his work bag under one of the bunk beds.

******************************************************************************

When your pay check triples, you feel invincible. This was my first real pay check. Before this, I was making eighty dollars a day. Here, it was two hundred, thirty eight dollars, and sixty-six cents! That's a jump. And that was also for one days amount of work. You didn't beat that at my age! And it was almost a tragedy when I watched that money have to be put away into my new bank account.

My father had made it quite clear too the both of us, that every cent was to go into the bank before use. And our bank, was the Mississippi River Bank. A local bank that was only a ten minute drive away from the docks, in the opposite direction of my house.

I'd also sold my Jet-ski that week... because we used it once, and... that was it. I figured it'd help us out, why not? What was great was that I'd gotten only a hundred dollars less than what I'd payed for it. So when I checked my account before we left the bank, I got to see the satisfying sight of one thousand, thirty eight dollars, and sixty-six cents.

"This is definitely the start of something beautiful." I said to Nick as I pocketed the small receipt.

"Yep."