It suffices to say that because this is one novel in a series, there may be things not understood unless one knows what has taken place in previous novels from this series. Here is a link to the first novel in the series: The Big Gamble in Paradise, paperback or Kindle.
Help Wanted
Adam drove and Trace sat in the passenger’s seat. They drove around Suva for a while. Adam pointed out a few of his old hangouts, but the most notorious was Sneaky Pete’s.
“Would you like to go fishing?” Trace asked as Adam drove along.
“That’s what tourists do,” Adam said. “I’m not a visitor or tourist, I’m a former resident.”
“What did you do when you needed deckhands, a crew?” Trace said.
“I’d just start going to the bars,” Adam said. “That’s where men hung out who needed work. We were just at one. Things have changed around here. This is a tourist spot now. I don’t know what to tell you. Allie might know.”
“Do you mind stopping by her office?” Trace said.
“Not at all,” Adam said. “If anybody knows the landscape of things, it would be her.”
“Dad,” Trace said, “this may be personal. Allie seems to have a special fondness for you. Did you two have something going way back when?”
Adams paused and pressed his lips briefly. “I was pretty sure she was falling in love with me. And I definitely was with her. She was ready, and even though I loved her, I wasn’t ready. I introduced her to Frank, and I was gone for two months. When I got back to Suva, they were married.”
“Is that what you planned?” Trace said.
“Yes,” Adam said, “but there was always something in the back of my mind—I hoped she might have been there for me.” He looked over at Trace and smiled. “Boy, am I glad. I’d have never met your mother, and there would have been no you. Allie and I had dinner together a couple of days ago. She told me she made the right choice. When you love someone, you want them happy, even if it’s without you.”
“She’s been a good friend to me,” Trace said.
“And before your imagination starts conjuring up things,” Adam said. “There’s no way. We are good friends. Spending time with her rekindled an old friendship, not romance. The love will always be there. Marriage and romance can destroy a good love and friendship.”
“But she told me you were a flavor of the month type of guy,” Trace grinned.
“I had to show her she made the right choice,” Adam grinned.
“I don’t have any half-brothers or sisters around here, do I?” Trace said.
“You’re it,” Adam said.
Adam parked in front of the building where Allie’s office was on the second floor. Adam and Trace climbed the steps and walked along the hallway until reaching her office.
They walked in. Allie greeted them from behind the desk with a warm smile. “Sightseeing, sailors?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Adam said, “I’m about to buy some Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and a Panama hat.”
“Sit down, you two,” Allie said.
They sat in two chairs in front of her desk.
“Where have you two cowboys been?” Allie asked.
“Here and there,” Adam said.
“He took me to Sneaky Pete’s,” Trace said.
“I haven’t seen Pete in a month or two, but I did call him and told him you were in town,” Allie said. “I head down there when I get a hankering for a Singapore Sling.”
“How did we get out of there without having one?” Trace said. “Especially how you bragged about them.”
“That’s the point,” Adam said, “if we had them we’d still be there.”
“Well,” Allie said, “if it’s no intrusion, maybe we could all have one together.”
“I’d like that,” Adam said.
“I’m sure you’re not here for chit chat,” Allie said. “What’s up?”
“I need a couple of deck hands,” Trace said.
“I suppose Adam told how you used to get ‘em in the old days,” Allie said.
“He did,” Trace said.
“Everything is done through a union or agency anymore,” Allie said. “The old ways were better. Now you pay an agency for a guy who has never been on a boat or too lazy to pick his nose or wipe his backside.”
“We used to walk in a place and ask around,” Adam said. “They’d always point the good ones out.”
“You might go back and try Pete,” Allie said. “Did you ask him when you were there?”
“No,” Trace said, “wasn’t even on my mind then.”
“Sometimes you can catch a guy hanging around the docks,” Allie said, “but if he’s union or signed up with an agency, you’ll end up getting blackballed.”
“Would you recommend an agency?” Trace said.
“No,” Allie said, “but here’s something you might try; go to some sailors’ dives and leave a word with the bartender. Slip him a few dollars. Tell him where you’ll be and when. Sometimes those guys can do a lot of screaming for you. They’ll send you the more hardworking and respectable drunks.”
“Well,” Adam said, “somethings never change.”
Adam and Trace left Allie’s office and made the rounds to a few bars known to be frequented by seamen looking for work or to get out of town for a while. They drove back to Pete’s for a Singapore Sling.
Arrangements were made at each bar to return at a certain time. Trace planned on having the best candidates meet at intervals at Sneaky Pete’s. It would be there that Sage and Makani would have a chance to give them their approval or disapproval.
As it turned out, after interviewing a couple of dozen men, few were sober enough to convince Trace they would be adequate seamen. None had ever been on a schooner.
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