Teddy With an I
Keywords: I, Teddy, With, an,
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I finished hosing off the stern deck and my floating home looked presentable again. I neatly coiled the white hose and placed it back on the hose rack. I looked across the river and watched the pelicans dive bill first into a school of bait fish. I watched fascinated as one bird struggled with a pouch full of mullet. There must have been ten tails sticking from his bill. He would tilt his head back and a -lump would slide down his throat. Then several appeared to get caught in his throat at once. He struggled mightily before he cleared the log jam, He took off and I saw fish drop from his bill as he flew away.
I heard the noise of high heels running along the walk. I looked up and saw a woman running down the sidewalk. She slowed and looked back behind her. She tried to catch her breath. Her chest heaved as she bent over trying to catch her breath. She looked back again then looked around. She wasn't twenty feet from me. The afternoon sun was right behind her so I couldn't see much.
She saw me. She looked back again then turned and stepped aboard. She pushed a large revolver at me. "Does this boat run?"
"Yeah, it sure does."
"Then get it moving as fast as you can."
I looked at her and said, "It will take a few minutes, follow me."
She was a very lovely black woman almost six feet tall in her heels. She stayed close as I led her to the pilot house. I went to the controls and started one engine, then the other. I turned and said, "I'll have to go cast off the lines. I ran forward and cast off the bow lines, then the fore and aft port side spring lines. Then I got both stern lines, the water and electric and phone, then hurried forward to cast off the starboard springs. I ran for the wheelhouse and grabbed the thruster joy stick. The bow was drifting to starboard so I pushed the thruster control to the left and the bow slowly moved to the port. I put the starboard engine in gear and played with the two main engines to work us out of the slip. I took the starboard engine out of gear, and swung the wheel over to starboard. I heard yelling from the dock and saw three black men yelling at me. The woman was crouching out of sight on the deck. I pulled both engines out of gear and asked what they wanted.
"Do you have a woman aboard? Have you seen a woman?"
"No thank you, I don't need a woman." I put both engines in gear, and motored away down river. I turned and looked down at the black woman. "You can get up now. They can't see you." I reached down and helped her up. "you can put the gun away now, before you hurt your self with it."
She looked intently at me. "You were never frightened by it were you?"
"Not really, where did you get it?"
She sighed and put the gun on the chart table. "I took it from the guy who was guarding me. They had me in a van down the street, three of them went to eat and left one guy to watch me. I told him if he would untie my hands I would give him a blowjob. He went for it. He came to me and I told him to pull up my skirt and pull down my panties and finger me while I blew him. When he bent over I caught him under the jaw with my knee. I grabbed his gun and hit as hard as I could with the butt of it and got out and ran." I saw a tear run down her cheek. "Then, when I could run no more I saw your boat. It looked like a good place to hide."
"Why did they have you in a van?"
"The best I can tell, someone saw me in the bank where I work and thought I looked sexy and offered those guys a bunch of money to bring me to Miami. They made remarks that I would love the drugs but would have to be a good hooker to get them."
I looked her up and down, she was gorgeous in her gray suit, with stockings and heels. "Honey, they were right, you would make a fortune for someone." I grinned as I saw a twinkle in her eye. "But do you have to call someone and let them know you are alright?"
"That is sweet of you to ask. I live alone. No one is waiting."
"Honey, that is a stupid answer. I could be worse than the guys you got away from."
"No, I don't think so, you didn't have to help me. Tell me why you weren't afraid of the gun."
"Because I know that the gun over there is a Ruger Blackhawk Single Action Revolver. Pick it up and hand it to me."
I took the weapon from her. I shucked the cartridges from the cylinder. I handed it back to her. "Here, it is empty now. Pull the trigger and see what happens."
She pulled hard on the trigger. Nothing happened. She stared at me. I held out my hand. I took the revolver and pulled the hammer back with my thumb. It clicked and stayed back. I handed it back and told her to try again. The hammer flew forward with a nice loud clack. "You have to cock the hammer for each shot."
"I guess I didn't play enough cops and robbers when I was a kid." she laughed.
"In this case it was cowboys and Indians."
I turned off the river and entered a cove where I had spent many nights. I slowed the engines and finally was in the right spot and dropped the anchor.
"You have a very nice boat, do you live aboard it?"
"Yes I do. Let me show you around." I took her down to the salon, It was a very nice room, I showed her the galley and the forward cabins, small but comfortable. I paused at the first cabin. I opened a drawer and the hanging locker. They were full of female clothes and swimsuits.
"If you want you can use anything you want. You look warm in that lovely suit. Help your self." I closed the door and went back to the salon and fixed a Captain and water. The air conditioning felt good and I sat on a settee and leaned back.
She came in the room wearing shorts and a halter top. She looked really good.
"Wow! You look very nice. Can I get you something to drink?"
"What are you having?"
"Captain Morgan and water."
"That is rum isn't it?"
"Yes would you like to try it? Here take a sip of mine, I guarantee you will get nothing worse than hydrophobia."
"Mmmmmm, I like it. Not too sweet, I don't care for real sweet drinks."
I fixed her a drink.
"Now the big question, I have a beautiful young lady at my mercy unless she is a damned good swimmer. I am plying her with rum after saving her life from a fate worse than death.
Now I want you to answer this………… what is your name?"
She laughed, "That is not the question I expected, You are cute. My name is Teddi LaBraun. Teddy with an I."
I grinned, then laughed, hard. I wiped tears from my eyes.
She wanted to know what was so funny. I said, "Girl, when you said Teddy with an I, I thought TIDDY. I'll never hear your name without thinking of your beautiful ones. OK, Teddi with an I, are you married, engaged, or anything? Any kids?"
"No to all those questions. How about you?"
"My name is Bill Nailor, unless you are really mad at me, then it seems to be Willll-yumm. And the answer to the questions is; not now, been there done all that several times."
"Ok, if you won't answer honestly, I won't ask anymore questions."
"Well, if you are going to be grouchy about it, I was married and had three boys, divorced, remarried, no kids, widowed. Now I am a lonely old man rocking and fading away.
"I don't believe that last part."
"I need to ask you another question, Do you want to go back now, or are you afraid they may still be there. You really should report this to the police."
"You are right. Does your cell phone work here?"
"Mine does, yours won't."
She talked for twenty minutes to the police. She hung up and turned to me. "They told me they would meet me at the dock. I don't know how to thank you for every thing you did for me."
"No thanks necessary, I enjoyed it. Come and see me some time."
"I will, I really will. Give me your phone number."
I started the engines and got the anchor in. We were back at the dock in twenty minutes. I was busy tying the boat up. When it was all secure with everything hooked back up I looked around and everyone was gone. I didn't feel much like cooking and slipped into some clean jeans and a T-shirt and walked to the Dockside Restaurant. I bought a dinner to go. I walked back, I had lost my appetite. I put it in the refrigerator and fixed another drink. There was a knock on the door. A strange man introduced himself as Detective Sergeant Brown. I checked his credentials and invited him in. He asked if I still had the pistol from the incident that afternoon. I assured him I had it. I told him I would gladly produce it for him but could not release it to his custody without written authorization from Ms. LaBraun. He smiled and produced such a document. I went below and booted up my laptop. I wrote a receipt out for him to sign and printed out two copies. I had him sign both of them. We verified the serial numbers and wrote his badge numbers on everything. He said they had the four men in custody. A police officer remembered ticketing a van for illegal parking near by that afternoon at the right time. The doors had all been left open and the officer was suspicious. Terri was down at the station identifying them now.
Brown looked at me as he was leaving, "You sure made a big impression on that girl, all she wanted to talk about was how nice and how wonderful you are." I thanked him and after he was gone I sat out on the stern and watched the people walk up the dock. After the traffic slowed down I went to bed and dreamed of a brown angel named Teddi with an I.
Two weeks later I was down in the stern compartment pouring some bilge cleaner down there where I thought it was needed most when I felt the slight shift in the hull that meant someone had come aboard. I lifted my head above the rim of the hatch and saw light brown legs and feet. Teddi!! I looked up to see her smiling face. I scrambled up out of that smelly place and grinned at her. "Teddi, Girl you look great, I've missed you, where have you been?"
"Bill I have been wanting to see you. I missed you too! Actually I can't believe how much I have missed a cranky old white guy."
I just stared her, she was beautiful. I know I was smiling like a moon struck kid.
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Keywords: I, Teddy, With, an,