15: Chelsea and the Sapona

Chelsea Sutton and Robert Wade flew underwater.

Well, that was Chelsea’s impression of her scuba diving…she was free. She’d have preferred to be able to fly through the air on gossamer wings – that would be the ultimate freedom – but scuba diving was a close second. She weighed nothing. Movement was effortless. And the fish that surrounded them…beautiful.

And in front of them, the wreck of the Sapona. The Sapona rested in only fifteen feet of water, and a few snorkelers were diving the wreck as well.

It wasn’t much of a wreck dive, Wade thought as he wound his way through the remains of the ship, enjoying it for what it was. He had been familiar with its history, even before Chelsea had told him of it as her sister, Stacy, had piloted their boat toward it.

The Sapona was a 350-foot concrete hulled freighter, that had been designed by Henry Ford and built in 1919 by the Liberty Ship Building Company out of Georgia. She had been named the Lone Star, and was one of a handful of ships built with steel reinforced concrete, in the effort to conserveon precious steel during World War I.

Because of her extreme weight, the Lone Star was not cost efficient to operate and was soon sold. Renamed Sapona, a Bahamanian purchased her in order to store prohibition whiskey on board. Rum runners would cruise to and from Florida picking up their illegal cargo from the Sapona, which was moored just off Bimini.

ln 1926, a severe hurricane hit the island. Even though the Sapona had been
moved to a safe protected area, she was bounced off of the sea bed by massive merciless waves and broke in two.

During World War II, the Sapona was utilized as a target for bombing practice. Air Force and Navy planes flew from Florida to drop bombs on the defenseless hulk.

"Some people," finished Chelsea, "see the Sapona as an ugly, rusting hulk sticking out of otherwise pristine waters. But really, it is a wonderful underwater sanctuary. We will see yellow tails, blue tangs, puffer fish, stingrays, queen and French Angelfish, barracudas, and jacks."

And fire coral, noted Wade, carefully avoiding an encrustation.

The wrecks he really liked to dive through were those in Palau – the aircraft and ships that had been sunk during World War II.

But the role he was playing for the sake of his guide, Chelsea Sutton, was that of a neophyte diver, and she continued to stick close to him as a good buddy should.

After they’d gotten their fill of the Sapona, they surfaced and returned to the Scylla and Charybdis.

There was a fresh-water shower below, and Chelsea sent Wade down first to shower off the salt water. When he reappeared topside, Chelsea went down, and Wade went forward to talk to the pilot, Chelsea’s sister, Stacy.

And for the first time, he noticed that Stacy – clad in a baseball cap and dark sunglasses – was Chelsea Sutton’s identical twin.

How interesting, thought Robert Wade. That could come in useful, in more ways than one.

14. Amanda and the Swim Meet

I.

Patrick Teague sat in the corner of the donut shop, sipping coffee.

He found these swim meets very stressful, not only because he was in charge of making sure that everything transpired smoothly, but because his own daughter was one of the participants.

When Cheryl had told him that one of their volunteers had called in sick, but that she had managed to find a replacement, she had said, “Her name is Amanda Sutton. She’s experienced – she was a volunteer last year, when she was a sophomore at the university here. She’s agreed to come for the week.”

Teague had said, “Why did she stop volunteering? Burn out?”

“No, she dropped out of college, and went back home to Bimini to scuba dive for a living.”

Teague had clamped his teeth together. Not knowing that Amanda and her two sisters had formed a business and actually *was scuba diving for a living, he assumed that what Cheryl meant was that the girl had abandoned her studies to waste her time scuba diving, while living with parents who would support her.

Teague hated that. As the father of a child who beamed with joy and pride every time she accomplished something that was easy for those who were not developmentally disabled, he was filled with anger every time he saw someone with no disabilities throwing their lives away – foregoing an education to spend their time playing computer games, or watching TV while drinking themselves senseless, and whining about how poorly they were paid in their dead-end jobs.

Then, when Amanda had been late arriving on her first day, this had fueled his anger even more. He thought that she was taking her responsibilities very lightly.

She hadn’t made excuses, which he had liked. People who tried to excuse their mistakes instead of admitting them annoyed him. And she’d been very professional in her duties yesterday, and very patient and enthusiastic with the athletes; he’d liked seeing that.

His cellphone rang. He looked at the caller ID. It was his ex-wife, Cindy. Teague sighed, and raised his eyes skyward. Talk about someone who was frittering away their life… As he lifted the phone to his ear and said, “Hello, Cindy,” he caught sight of Amanda Sutton, stepping to the counter.

“Patrick,” said Cindy, “You’ve got to help me. My car won’t start, I can’t get a cab, and I’ve got an important appointment in a half hour.”

“Cindy, I’m working here. There’s a tournament going on.”

Cindy sniffed. “Patrick, you’ve got dozens of people handling that swim meet – you don’t need to be there every minute. And you’ll be back in less than an hour if you leave right now.”

Teague suppressed a sigh. The meet didn’t start for another hour…he should be back in time. And if she had an important appointment…maybe she had a job interview!

“All right, Cindy, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

The call from Cindy drove everything from Teague’s mind – he had to get to her quickly, drive her wherever she wanted to go, and get back – and he walked out, completely forgetting that Amanda was even in the building.

II.

An hour later, Teague arrived at the swimming pool, seething.

The important appointment his ex-wife had had was with a hairdresser. A hairdresser.

Oh…she hadn’t been lying, much. To her, an appointment with a hairdresser was important. Certainly more important than a swimming competition in which her own daughter was competing.

And now, he was five minutes late. Which would have been just barely excusable except he’d been rather snippy with that Amanda Sutton yesterday about the same thing.

Huh, thought Teague sourly. His ex-wife and Amanda Sutton. Two peas in a pod.

13. Amanda and the Swim Meet

The next morning, Amanda Sutton left extra early to ensure that she would be at the swim meet well before time. Normally she would just leave early, but she wanted to prevent karma from biting her in the butt. It would be just her luck if she got caught in a traffic jam or something and was late twice in a row, which would cement Teague’s opinion of her as an incompetent.

She therefore got to the swimming pool with over an hour to spare, and decided to stop in at the coffee shop nearby for coffee and a chocolate éclair.

When she walked into the shop, her eyes glanced casually over the patrons already there.

Damn. Teague was sitting in a corner booth.

Worse, he looked up just as her eyes fell upon him.

Amanda nodded in his direction, then turned to give her order to the counter clerk.

What should she do? If she stayed in the shop, as she had intended to do, it would be only polite of her to go ask Teague if she could join him. If she walked out of the shop, she’d have to eat her breakfast in her car.

Not that that would be bad…she had a comfy car.

But when she received her order and turned, she found that the decision had been made for her. Teague was just disappearing out the door.

Well, that cemented it, Amanda thought as she found a booth and bit savagely into her éclair. Teague did *not like her. And he couldn’t be bothered to be polite, or at the very least professional, and not let that dislike show. Which cemented her dislike of him.

She was tempted to tell Cheryl she was quitting. Serve Teague right. But she couldn’t do that to Cheryl or to the kids.

Amanda finished her éclair, and decided she needed another one to fortify herself for the day ahead.

Then, checking her watch, she decided it was time, and headed for the swimming pool.

12. Amanda and the Swim Meet

Amanda Sutton worked hard that day at the Special Needs Kids swim meet. She enjoyed interacting with the kids, each and every one of whom was as sweet as could be, and excited and happy just to finish their race, regardless of where they placed… and that was how it should be.

Occasionally she’d look up to see Teague watching her grimly, but he’d always turn away rather than acknowledge her.

Jerk, she thought. Did he think he’d have to keep an eye on her to make sure she was fully committed to her work?

Well, she wouldn’t let it bother her. If she were going to be spending any time in the guy’s company, she’d confront the problem, but since she was only doing a favor for a friend for the week, there wasn’t any point in making a fuss. He could think what he wanted.

At the end of that day, Cheryl hugged her and thanked her.

“You sure made a hit with Teague,” Cheryl said as they walked toward their cars.

“What are you talking about?” Amanda laughed. “The guy was glaring at me all day.”

“I think he likes you,” said Cheryl.

Amanda laughed again. “You’re fooling yourself, Cheryl.”

“Oh, c’mon. You got off on the wrong foot, but if you got to know each other…”

Amanda held up a hand. “Don’t even go there, Cheryl. I don’t have time for a relationship right now, anyway. Stacy, Chelsea and I have just started a new business, and I’m going to be working my butt off for the next year at least getting it established.”

“Oh, there’s always time to go out on a date,” Cheryl said.

Amanda shrugged. There was no point in arguing the matter.

As she drove home, she thought about Teague, briefly. Yes, they had gotten off on the wrong foot…stereotypically that meant that they’d end up as lovers. And that’s obviously what Cheryl thought. But in real life, that type of thing never happened.

Stacy's Erotica: Anton and the Mermaid postponed

Stacy re-read the last two chapters she'd written, and found them good. But the thought of making love underwater...now that she was putting her mind to it that was stymying her. Although her two characters Anton and Katherine were masters of breath control, and could stay down three minutes at a time, even with exertion, there was no way to have a meaning sexual encounter underwater.

"Pony bottle," she thought to herself. "That's the way to do it. Goggles and a small pony bottle strapped to the back to give air for ten minutes, but not large enough to prevent petting and embracing."

She sighed and shook her head. So, this was going to precipitate Anton and the Mermaid, redux 3, where the action would take place in a secluded lagoon.

Writing a coherent story sure was hard work!

11. Stacy's Erotica: Anton and the Mermaid, Take 2, pt 2

I.

On her next return to his side of the pool, Katherine paused at the height of her turn, hanging onto the side of the pool and gazing up at him with smiling face.

“Are you coming in, then?” she asked.

“Yes, of course.”

Anton briefly considered diving in, using his best form, then decided against it and just slipped in to the water, thankful as ever that the temperature was kept nice and warm.

“I haven’t seen you here this late before,” Anton ventured.

“I thought I would try it,” Katherine said. “And it is restful, swimming here all alone. Just you and the water and your laps.”

“That’s the way I’ve always found it,” Anton agreed.

“I hope you don’t mind that I’m here, disturbing your solitude.”

“Not at all,” Anton said quickly.

“Good. C’mon, I’ll race you.”


II.

When they’d completed their workout, Anton and Katherine relaxed at the shallow end of the pool.

“Would you like to go out for a juice drink?” asked Anton. (They were in training, and eschewed all alcohol.)

“Sure,” said Katherine.

The Barlow Juice Bar was a popular hangout for the athletes in training for the Olympic tryouts. Even late at night, athletes were there, sipping one of a variety of all-natural fruit juices and either surfing the web on laptop computers, or chatting with each other.

Anton and Katherine took their glasses and went to a back corner booth.

By the end of the evening, they were fast friends, having discovering a mutual liking for animated movies (both of them chose the Toy Story trilogy as the greatest movies of all time), a desire to scuba dive the most famous dive sites of the world, and of course, the ambition to be Olympic champions.

III.

A couple of months later, they were halfway through their midnight workout when Katherine swam out of her lane and into Anton’s.

“How’s your breath control?” she murmured as she side-stroked beside him.

“Uh…it’s great. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking…have you ever made love…in the water?”

“I never have…I won’t say I haven’t thought of it, though.”

“Would you like to do it…now?”

“I’d be delighted,” he said.

He wiggled out of his swimming trunks, and Katherine shed hers.

“So,” murmured Anton, “are you ready?”

“Oh, yeah,” Katherine murmured back.

To be continued on the 28th.

10. Stacy's Erotica: Anton and the Mermaid, Take Two

That night after returning home, Stacy fired up her laptop and took a look at the first chapter she’d written for her new story, Anton and the Mermaid.

She’d had the idea to do it as a science fiction story, but she was thinking now that she would tell it in a more realistic vein…something to inspire people. Two people – real people – fighting to save the oceans, instead of a mermaid and a man-turned-merman due to the magic of mermaid breath…

She tapped the keys of the keyboard idly as she marshaled thoughts in her head, and then began.

Anton and the Mermaid

Anton Weaver stood on the deck of the swimming pool, gazing through the crystal clear water to the bottom of the pool, several meters below. It was an Olympic-sized pool – twice the size of pools that the average person swam in at their high school or outdoor park.

It was late at night, and everyone else – Olympic class swimmers all – had left the pool, til only he had remained.

But no, there was still someone else in the pool. Katherine. She was a great swimmer. Her long body cleaved the water like a mermaid, arms and legs moving in effortless rhythm.

They’d existed in an uneasy silence for three weeks, ever since she’d entered the program. He had always been very conscious of her, and whenever he looked her way, she always seemed to always be just looking away from him. Which begged the age-old question – did she like him, or didn’t she? Was she just too shy to approach him, or was she not interested in him at all?

That was the thing, of course. Girls didn’t get interested in him at first sight. They had to get to know him first – at least, the two girlfriends he’d had to date. And they’d gotten to know him and fallen in love…and then they’d gotten to know him some more and fallen *out of love. That had hurt….

But he hadn't shared more than 10 words a day with her, in all this time.

And she was beautiful. She could probably have any guy she wanted. Yet she seemed to keep to herself…pleasant enough with the rest of the people on the swim team, but not one to socialize out of hours.

And yet here she was alone, at the pool. He was the one who always stayed late at night to swim more laps. Everyone knew about it – they teased him about it. So she must have known that he’d be here tonight. And yet here she was, effortlessly performing turns at the end of each lap and continuing on, like a machine, using a different stroke for each lap - front stroke, side stroke, back stroke, butterfly...she looked like a mermaid, so easily did she move through the water.

Stacy nodded to herself. This was much better. She went and got a Pepsi, and then continued on with the story.

[Which will continue here, tomorrow.]


______
Note to my loyal readers: Most of the installments in this "three romances-with-occasional-erotica serial fiction" have averaged 1,000 words or more. For the next week and a half or so, the story will progress in installments of between 200 - 500 words. I'm about to start a cross country road-trip with an elderly, infirm relative, and while I'm hoping it's not going to be the trip from hell...I know it will be. The story will be updated every day, never fear, it just won't progress as fast as usual. The 1000+ word installmetns will resume around October 1.Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying it.And please send vibes my way that the trip goes well!