The Ship: A Million Miles - Book 1

Chapter Twenty-One

Juan walked to the captain's room with the small red Urn tucked under his arm. He noticed Valerie sitting on top of the table where all the important papers were laying out.

She had a handful of crayons, coloring over the map. Juan gasped and ran inside the room quickly, sitting the Urn on the table behind Valerie. "What are you doing? What are you... Do you realize... What are you drawing? Darling..." He pulled Valerie off of the table and set her feet first on the floor. "This is not your school desk, eh? These are navigation charts. They're expensive." Juan was shaking the map at her.

My father heard the commotion and came to see what his first mate was complaining about this time. After realizing what his issue was, he said, "Is that such a problem?"

"She drew on the Strait of Magellan. And on the Falkland Islands." Juan was hysterical.

My father handed the things back to Valerie. "Here, darling, draw everything you want. This is the Cantabrigian one and the Strait of Gibraltar one. From Tangier to Tariff. Draw anything you want there." He picked her up and put her back onto the table.

Juan made a sour face and turned to look away, "Okay, then."

He motioned with his finger for Juan to follow him. Juan grabbed the Urn he had been carrying around and left the room. "Don't lecture me about my daughter when you have your son locked up. Whose resume, by the way, isn't bad at all." He held the paper in front of Juan's face so he would get a good look at it.

Juan shoved the paper out of his face, startling the captain. "He's not my son, dammit."

"And why do you keep wandering around with the deceased's ashes?" My father glanced at the small red Urn before shifting his gaze back to Juan's. "Perhaps you loved her, and you shit your pants because you were away from the sea. And sailing and family don't match. Get the ashes out of here and look for a place to keep them. The navigation bridge is not appropriate."

There was a beeping noise coming from the room. It had caught Valerie's attention before it beeped faster. "Dad!"

He barged through the door thinking that Valerie needed him for something. "What is it, darling?"

Valerie pointed to where the beeping was coming from. "What's that, Dad?"

Juan and my father hurried to where the beeping was coming from. It seemed that they were about to be hit full force with a vicious storm that they had never seen coming. The storm was moving extremely fast. My father turned to look at Juan, who was peeking over his shoulder. "What the hell..." Lightning lit up their faces as a sound of thunder boomed from close by. "This is fucking weird. The forecast said nothing about a storm."

My father hurried to warn everyone over the CB Radio he held in his office. "Polar Star Training Ship, we have an upcoming storm right in front of us. Do you copy me?" He changed channels on his CB while repeating the question, trying to get someone's attention. Anyone's. It was apparent that nobody was listening. He raced over to Valerie and scooped her up into his arms. "Come on, darling. We could get wet in here." He turned to Juan. "Get the engines started and the wickets and portholes closed. I want everything tied up on deck and the ropes checked."

Juan jumped at his chance for a little action. It was like he'd been waiting for something to happen but all he had gotten stuck with were kids. "Attention to the crew! There is a storm coming. I want everyone in their cabins with your life jackets on. I repeat, everyone in their cabins with your life jackets on." The intercom echoed through the whole ship.

The students calmly stopped what they were doing and obeyed Juan's order. The priest stopped in front of me, looking a little worried. "Now what? We have to do something. They're out there and they know nothing about sailing. Come on! The waves will sweep them away." Pete and a few other students followed the priest on this crazy mission. I was frozen in place, not sure what to do. Do I tell my dad, or do I risk the lives of the students on the lifeboat? I could hear the thunder and see the lightning of the fast coming storm. This was going to be bad.