Pirate Radio

500 Miles - The Hooters

Two very helpful tips for not feeling like complete shit when waking up, by George:

1. Don't drink an entire bottle of wine in one night.

2. Don't sleep on the hard wood of a sailboats cockpit - as it could lead to severe back and/or shoulder aches.

He would have added '3. Don't be in the same social circle as Ezra.' but figured that that only applied to a limited amount of people (11 others to be exact) all of whom very cleverly avoided both 1 and 2.

"Wake up! You're asleep on the floor." Ezra scolded, nudging George with his foot.

"Oh for the sake of my sanity, would you just step over me and leave me alone?" George groaned, rolling onto his side to get away from Ezra's foot. In vain.

"We're meant to leave in an hour."

"It's still dark out."

"All the better. No one will know which direction we're going in."

"Uh- I hate you sometimes."

"Ditto."

Ouch. That hurt. Sure George had it coming but that didn't mean it stung any less.

With a groan and a headache he pulled himself off the ground and made his way below deck to change into something fresh and mentally prepare himself for the day ahead of them.

Everyone had breakfast on the pier, everyone except for George that is. He simply choked down a chocolate bar and some apple juice and decided he could go on that until lunch, since he didn't have much of an appetite in the mornings, especially if the sun had yet to rise. Five o'clock in the morning had not been intended for eating and he didn't care that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Nina saying so repeatedly didn't make him want to vomit any less at the thought of a full meal.

"Hey, good luck today." Nina, speak of the devil, startled George by showing up suddenly beside him. He'd spent most of the morning standing next to the wheel staring straight ahead and must have been very out of it to not notice her get on board.

"Uh - thanks. You too."

"I'm not worried about me. I've been teaching Heth and Calvin how to sail little by little over the last few months. They're not yet good on their own but at least they know which one is the jib sheet."

"Ah. You heard my yelling then?"

"It ain't easy to miss that kind of noise." Nina laughed. "I had a proper laugh at: 'It's called 'port' you fool. PORT!'"

George couldn't help but smile. Nina always knew how to make him feel better even when she didn't say or do much. It was more her presence than anything else that sent that warm, safe feeling through George's body despite the fact that she was constantly nagging him about this or that. It was very much what he imagined a loving mother must be like. A loving mother of the independent woman who 'don't need no man' variety. Not only was she sweet and caring when the situation presented itself, but she was also cool and kind of badass. The kind of person who had two boyfriends but still carried two large boxes on her own, simply because she could.

"Do try to be nice to Ezra will you?"

"He criticised the amount of alcohol I brought not five minutes after I arrived. If anything he should be nice to me."

"Well you did bring quite a bit. What's it? Eight bottles?"

"And I wished to Christ, I wished to Christ that I had fifteen more."