Cruising with my Mouthpiece

The end of 2005 was nearing.  My girlfriend, Mary had called when Bill was ill and wanted to know if she should come to Indiana for Bill's funeral.  She had been to Indiana and met Bill before.  I told her that I was going to need some one when everyone left and would she go away with me when that time came.  She agreed and she kept her word.

We took a cruise to the Southern Caribbean, just the two of us.  It was the cruise that I had planned on taking the first Thanksgiving that I had known Bill. We had a great trip.

I met Mary in 2002.  She was an attorney in Springfield,  Missouri who specialized in workers compensation.  When I returned to being the claims manager, after my  stint in marketing, I had inherited many files that had been neglected.  She had been working with Dave, but he just never could make a decision on what to do with a file.  She met me and between the two of us, we settled a lot of claims and we just hit it off.

Love Note from B

I flew to Missouri to meet her and attend a hearing.  We've been friends ever since. Our cruise was laid back, I just wanted to get away, enjoy the sun and see the islands.  We traveled to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbados.  Every island we did what we do best, shopped and sunned.  I bought jewelry on St. Thomas and met an islander who was more than willing to show us the sights once we were done shopping. Mary had other plans.

My mother will tell you I have never met a stranger.  Mary will tell you, I need to learn every one on these islands are strangers. While I am very aware of my surroundings, islands are not some where I need to be my bubbly personality.

The last island we stopped at, we got off the boat and there were dozens of islanders wanting to take you to the beaches.  First things first, I have to shop. I had started collecting spoons on my travels over the years and needed to find one from this island  in paradise and we wanted to grab lunch. I thought I was being kind when I told the man, that we were not ready for his taxi service quite yet as we had things to do. He continued to walk with us and I continued to be myself, laughing and joking around.  But I thought we had lost him when we darted in and out of shops.

Our shopping trip lasted longer than anticipated and as I was in the shoppe with swimwear, I noticed this man standing outside, waiting on us.  We were on the second level of a building that hosted many different shops for the passengers of the ships.

I was watching him from inside the window, he was just hanging there, like he was waiting for someone. I summoned Mary and asked her if he was the cabby that greeted us at the beach and she agreed.  I was dumb founded as to why he had not found another fare to take some where.  Mary informed the clerk that we were being followed and did they have a back door we could exit from?

We left and found the area where the cabbies waited for the passengers, Mary is all of about five foot five, but she's a lawyer and she knows how to use  her mouth.  She said we wanted an older cab driver to take us to the beach and they provided us one.  He was a wonderful man who shared the history of the island with us as he drove us to the area where we could have lunch and sun.

Our cabin boy

He introduced us to the bartender, arranged to come pick us  up later and took off.  We enjoyed lunch and found a spot on the beach to camp out for a while.  All of a sudden, the cab driver we were avoiding was walking the beach, he spotted us and came over to confront us.  He wanted to know why we had ditched him, he was waiting on us to take us to the beach. He was rather angry and Mary didn't mince words with him, noting that

My  Mouthpiece, Mary

she would report him to the authorities if he continued to bother us.  He left and I was so naive to think that there was no trouble in paradise.  She sat back down and looked at me with the look your mother would give you when she meant business, "You need to stop being so friendly.  You are going to get us killed."  

"Mary, I don't know how not to be."

"I'll tell you. Shut the fuck up when we get off the boat, I'll do all the talking.'  

And I did.  No more chatting with the  natives. I had been given my marching orders.  On the boat, that was different. We went to see a comedian one night and he pulled me up on the stage.  Every one knew who I was on the boat after that evening.  No matter where we went, people were sure to say hello to me.