90 Miles to Freedom (3 page)

Collin just rocked, sobbing.

Joey looked around, hoping for help. He shifted his eyes away from Collin and took in all of the emergency vehicles, the burned car smoking in front of their house. He continued to scan the area, desperately looking for his parents.

Then he saw them. His parents.

Two unidentifiable shapes, wrapped in black-zipped body bags. Someone in uniform was wheeling them to the coroner’s vehicle. “Mom?” Joey managed to choke, scrambling to his feet. “Dad?”

He stumbled toward the coroner’s vehicle, but could go no closer than a few steps before he leaned to the side and was violently ill. He straightened and spat to the side, watching through tear-filmed eyes as the coroner’s vehicle shut its doors.

Having no idea what else to do, Joey turned and went back to Collin. He knelt beside his older brother, watching silently as the neighbors gawked with morbid curiosity and concern.

In the distance, beyond all the people and vehicles, Joey could hear a song playing on his car radio. He remembered he’d forgotten to shut it off, forgotten to close the door. The band on the radio were singing something familiar, a song with lyrics about “life being hard” or something like that. It seemed strangely fitting, that at that moment he could hear that song, those words. He would never forget that song. From that moment on, it would be infused deep into his memory.

Joey looked up as the light drizzle became more of a steady rain. Collin placed a hand on Joey’s shoulder, and that was all it took for Joey to lose his self-control. He bawled like a baby, Collin’s trembling arms wrapped around him.

“
Everything will be okay, Joey,” Collin whispered near Joey’s ear. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t you worry. Everything will be okay. Do you hear me?”

Nothing would ever be the same.

Chapter 5

February 2010

A few months prior to Joey’s graduation, George had secretly been eager to give Collin the money to purchase a used yacht he had found that needed work. George claimed it would be a partial advance of his inheritance and that it would also be a great turnaround investment for Collin. But for George, although he openly admitted to not having sea legs, there was an added bonus to giving Collin money for the yacht. Most homes in Key Haven made use of their boat slips or boat docks, located on the seawall, since they owned water crafts of varying shapes and sizes. When Collin tied his yacht to George’s dock, it immediately gave the family social status among their neighbors.

Up until the point Collin had purchased the fishing boat and the yacht, George and Betty had only owned a few water crafts for the boys to use. Before that they couldn’t bring themselves to purchase any type of boat because they were well aware that the boat would ultimately sit docked and doing nothing, thus being a waste of money.

Now Collin’s fishing boat and yacht made use of both sides of the dock. Not only did the fishing boat provide a living place and a business, but the yacht brought Collin closer to his parents. They all enjoyed the actual process of working on the yacht, though Collin’s younger brother, Joey, never took much interest in it. He was always busy with something else.

But Betty and George had a great time working on that yacht with Collin. Through it they found a new common interest they could all share. The work also gave George something different to add to his daily project list. As Collin had predicted, George looked forward to the new projects at hand and was thoroughly entertained by the whole thing. He was like a kid with a new toy.

When Collin had initially bought the yacht, it had been badly neglected. The boat needed a lot of simple, but time consuming, repairs, as well as an immediate deep cleaning. George had been secretly thrilled, though he frowned critically every time he discovered something that needed to be done. Collin knew his father always enjoyed a new project and was eager to get started.

Several cabinet door handles had been broken or gone missing. Fixtures needed to be replaced and they’d had to install new appliances in the galley. Flooring and carpet were all replaced, and everything that could be painted was given a fresh coat of paint. The outer seating needed to be reupholstered, and the hot tub was given some much needed repair on its motor as well as a replacement of the heating elements. Collin and his parents completed all of these things within the first few months of his buying the yacht.

When it came to cleaning and decorating, Betty had everything well under control. Like George, Betty was eager and excited to have something new to do outside of their typical daily routines. Within a few weeks, she had single-handedly cleaned and scrubbed the entire yacht, refusing to stop until she had achieved her high standards.

Collin and George cheered and applauded after Betty had finished vacuuming and wiping everything down on the yacht, but she would hear none of it. She dug in deep, scrubbing and cleaning every crevasse with determination. When she was finally finished with what she called the “sterilization” of the yacht, they were permitted to tell her how impressed they were. When they did, she simply waved her hand and smiled as if to say, “It was really nothing”.

Despite her affinity for cleaning, there were some things with which she never got comfortable. One day, as she was dusting the lower shelves in the living quarters of the yacht, Collin and George heard Betty scream, and ran to her assistance.

“
Spiders!” she squealed. “Oh, I hate spiders! How in the world did all these spiders get on a boat?”

They had rushed to see her at the first scream but relaxed when they witnessed her doing battle with the spiders. George had stood calmly at the side, arms crossed as he watched Betty swat at the spiders with her dusting towel. She made a funny little scream each time she struck at the shelves. George grinned, thoroughly enjoying the entertainment.

“
Do spiders know how to swim or something? Ewww!” Betty howled again, swatting at another spider and missing it by a foot or more.

“
Betty, my dear,” George said, chuckling quietly. “Did I ever tell that you no matter where you sleep you will swallow an average of eight spiders per year?” He raised his eyebrows and Betty swept a cloud of dust from one of the upper shelves in his direction. He reached for a tissue to wipe his nose, then sneezed.

She glared at him, hands on her apron-clad hips. “Why would you ever go and tell me something like that? I didn’t need to know that. Nobody wants to hear about spiders crawling in your mouth while you sleep. That’s just plain gross. I can’t believe you told me that!” She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “You know, George, nobody, especially me, wants to hear any uninteresting or gross pieces of information. For future reference please keep that in mind.”

She reluctantly got back to work dusting the shelves and remained on high alert for any spiders in the vicinity.

George nudged his son in the ribs. “I’ll bet your mother wears a surgical mask to bed tonight,” he said quietly.

Collin grinned. George loved to torment his wife, but only as long as it was funny. But two could play at that game. George sneezed again, and Betty turned around, a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

“
Well, George, do you know that it’s impossible to sneeze without closing your eyes?”

“
No. No, I didn’t know that one,” George said, looking thoughtful. He paused and glanced up, as if he hoping for some kind of answer. “But do you know that falling coconuts kill an average of a hundred and fifty people every year?”

“
Well, that’s why we don’t have any coconut trees in our yard,” Betty bellowed. Her frown was gone and both she and George erupted into gales of laughter, hooting at each other until tears streamed down Betty’s face. “And now you’re going to hire an exterminator, George. I will never sleep again if I know we might have spiders. Those exterminators are going to check out the whole place, then they’re going to keep on coming back every month.”

It wasn’t only cleaning that had Betty excited. She envisioned redecorating the entire yacht and thought that would be the most fun she had had in a long time. Betty loved to shop and could always find a great deal on almost anything. After they’d cleaned the yacht, she came home almost every day with bags upon bags of newly bought items. She was having the time of her life.

Betty was determined that the yacht should be well equipped with whatever a person might need, just in case someone felt a sudden urge to spontaneously take a little vacation. Betty had also mentioned that if a serious buyer came along, they would want a fully equipped yacht, ready to go at the drop of a dime. She called it the complete package, the “Yacht Al Fresco”.

Chapter 6

Technically, Collin still lived at home with his parents; however, in his defense, he didn’t actually live in his parents’ home. Instead, he lived on his fishing boat, which just happened to be docked outside his parents’ home almost every night.

Morgan, Collin’s fiancée, was the love of his life. She occasionally dropped by when the family was working on the yacht on her days off. Morgan worked as a Registered Nurse at the Lower Keys Medical Center and had been working extra hours to help cover a fellow worker’s vacation time. As a result, she and Collin hadn’t been able to spend much time together over the past week.

Collin loved Morgan with all of his heart, and on the rare times he got to see her, he made big plans to show her just how much he’d missed her. It was pretty easy to make her happy, because they both loved the same thing. Whenever they made a date, he bought her some flowers, picked up Chinese take-out, and rented a few movies that they both had wanted to see. Then they’d relax on the couch at her apartment and he’d rub her tired feet. Of all those, Collin always knew Morgan would rank the latter at number one on her list.

Collin and Morgan had been engaged for over a year but hadn’t yet set a date for the wedding. They had wanted to take their time and make sure they did everything right. Their first priority was to save enough money to purchase the right home. Morgan wanted to stay close to work, and Collin needed to have access to his fishing boat. His preference would be to have the boat docked just outside his back door, as was his parents’ home, since fishing excursions were his means of income. Even though they hadn’t quite saved up enough money, Collin and Morgan had attended a few open houses of homes for sale in Key Haven, wanting to get a better idea of the type of home they’d want and the cost. Both wanted to stay in Key Haven after they married, and Collin’s parents couldn’t be happier about that.

At first it had surprised Collin that the house was more of a priority to Morgan than having an extravagant wedding. In the end, the couple decided to hold a small, intimate wedding near the water. Their only guests would be immediate family members, and their reception would be a simple, fun barbecue at a nearby park.

Both of their mothers, were, of course, opposed to these simple reception plans. The two mothers spent many pleasant afternoons discussing their own version of the reception plans at Betty’s favorite restaurant, the ‘Roof Top Café’. In fact, they decided to go ahead and completely reorganize the reception, making sure they included little to no input from either Collin or Morgan. They wanted to do it on their own.

Betty loved to rave about their plans. “This will be the best reception anyone has ever seen. There is no way anyone will be able to call this a ‘simple’ reception.”

Morgan was always happy to help Collin and his parents while they worked on the yacht. More often than not, Morgan found herself working side by side with Betty, and the two women enjoyed hours of laughter and chat, talking about Collin’s childhood.

Betty didn’t always have the family photo albums handy to pull out and share, but she did have interesting tales to tell. Morgan adored Collin, and was all ears every time Betty told a story. She was intrigued by every tiny detail of Collin’s life. Betty had no problem opening up and telling everyone the most humorous and embarrassing stories. Once she started telling her stories there was no stopping her.