I did have an interesting conversation with Javier, who was seated across from me at the table. "So, Assistant Superintendant, I'm not all that familiar with your title. Is Assistant Superintendant a rank or a position?"
He nodded in understanding. "We use standard British ranks in the Royal Bahamian Police. You start out as a Constable, then you move up to the Corporal and Sergeant ranks, and then to Inspector and Chief Inspector, then to Assistant Superintendant. I think the closest thing to your thinking might be Lieutenant or Captain. I am the second ranking officer assigned to Eleuthera. Superintendant Musselwhite is in Nassau right now."
"Well, the next time we visit, maybe you'll have a different title."
"Maybe.", he said with a smile.
The Mayor had to chime in with that. "You'll have to hire Mister Buckman here as your constable. He can catch them and you can send them to jail."
"Don't give my husband any more ideas!", warned Marilyn.
I simply shrugged and smiled. "I don't know, hun. You have to admit, the working conditions seem pretty nice." Marilyn pushed me in the arm and everybody laughed. I just shrugged theatrically to the others. "I think the Assistant Superintendant is going to have to catch his own criminals."
"That's more like it!", she agreed.
Marilyn answered a few questions about our family and home, and also a few about my service in the army. She was the one who told them about my black belts and the Bronze Star and my leg, which I would have been happy to let slide by. I could see the reporter's eyes widen, and knew he had more stuff to feed his editor for the next edition.
All in all it proved an enjoyable evening, and certainly beat going out to a restaurant. We assured one and all how much we enjoyed the Bahamas and that we would certainly return some day. Then we thanked our host and beat feet. We were both tired and needed some sleep. Tomorrow morning we were flying out, back to the real world.
Chapter 69: Home
The flight home Tuesday morning was uneventful. We woke up and hustled to get our bags packed. Thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Wilkes, we had very little in the way of dirty clothes, so we just dumped that in one bag and packed the clean clothes in the others. We also had a bag of some souvenirs for Marilyn's family, and a little steel drum to bang on for Charlie. He was a little young, but hey, all kids like to play the drums!
Jim and Samantha were flying us again in the Learjet. When Samantha asked if she should sit up front with Jim again, Marilyn turned a dozen shades of red and sputtered out an incoherent, "That won't be necessary!" I just laughed until I turned red myself. My wife said, "I can't believe the things you get me to do!"
First stop was at Raleigh-Durham, not Charlotte. For some reason Charlotte wasn't able to handle our customs inspection. We made it to the terminal, and waited a few minutes while we refueled for the customs officer to show up. We filled out our forms and when he asked, 'Do you have anything to declare?', our mutual response was, 'We need a vacation from our vacation!' He laughed, stamped our form, and waved us on our way.
While airborne on our next leg, I had Jim send a radio message ahead to have the terminal call the Lefleurs to let them know when we would land. This was to be a quick stop. We weren't going to have a car waiting for us, and Marilyn's family was supposed to drive out with Charlie and load him and all his gear onto the Learjet. I hoped to be out of there inside of an hour.
When we floated in for a real greaser landing, Marilyn looked out her window and squealed, "They're here! I can see their car!" I looked over at her side, but the angle was wrong and I couldn't see anything. It felt good to be almost home. Marilyn was excited to be back. She turned to look at me with a big smile. "I really loved it, but I missed Charlie, too."
"Next vacation, we'll take him too. I think he's a little young for Disney, though."
"That's not important. We'll take him, too. Besides, I've never been there either.", she answered serenely.
I shrugged. "Just remember the deal. For every kid vacation, you and me take an adult vacation. Start making a list of places you want to go to."
She simply smiled and shook her head. We pulled up to the terminal and shut down. We wouldn't need to refuel for the quick trip down to Westminster. After the hatch was opened, we looked out to see Harriet and Big Bob staring at us. We climbed down, and I waved as Marilyn scurried over to her parents. I limped along slowly after her. My leg was still bothering me since the bar fight. I was going to have to get to a gym and a dojo that could work some strength and flexibility back into my knee.
It was a lot cooler in upstate New York than it was in the Bahamas. I was sorry I had left my jacket in the car in Westminster! I gamely hobbled over and shook Big Bob's hand. "Welcome back!", he said.
"Thanks. It's good to be home. How was Charlie?", I asked with a nod towards where Marilyn was cooing over our son. He had a big grin on his face, so he obviously still remembered Momma.
"Oh, pretty good. He's a healthy eater, that's for sure." He looked back at the little jet. "This is for real? You really can charter a jet?"
"It's for real.", I assured him. "Want to see what it's like?"
He gaped at that, so I touched his elbow and urged him forward. He followed me along, and I let him climb inside. He looked around, and his first comment was, "There's not a lot of headroom, is there?"
Well, no there wasn't. "There's bigger jets than this, but for this trip, this was big enough. Man, it really beats going through airports and sitting back in coach. Fast, too! We left Westminster, back in Maryland at ten in the morning and landed in the Bahamas by noon. You spend that long just sitting around in the airport waiting for a regular plane to load. You can't beat that!"
"Unbelievable!"
I grinned at him. "Next time you and Harriet want to take a vacation by yourselves, let Marilyn know. I'll set it up for you."
He stared at me when I said that, but I just smiled and shrugged. Why not, it would be good for family relations. I remembered a trip made a couple of years ago, when the entire family - kids, fiancées, girlfriends, etc. - less us (I was on ready cycle), 20 in all, drove from Utica down to Orlando in a five car convoy. It took three days with that crowd. Wouldn't that have been simpler if they had flown charter and then rented a couple of large vans while down there? Probably cheaper, too, when you figure in hotel rooms and meals on the trip down and back. I had been on that trip the first time through and it was a fucking zoo!
"Well, this is really something, I have to say that!", he said.
"Trust these two to leave us with Charlie and all his gear!", groused Harriet from the bottom of the stairs.
Big Bob ignored the complaint and said, "Mother! You have to see this! Come on up here!"
Harriet grumbled and handed Charlie's bags up the stairs to the pilot, and then lumbered up the stairs. She immediately began oohing and ahhing herself.
"Make way!", sounded from the bottom of the stairs. Marilyn came up carrying Charlie in his car seat. Samantha immediately moved through the press of people and they figured out how to secure him on one of the seats. Marilyn told me I was being evicted from my seat for our son, and she would sit across the aisle from him, so that he could see her during the flight. It was a short flight, barely an hour, but better to see Mommy then spend the time screaming. Charlie was a good traveler, from what I could see, but better to be safe than sorry. I was moved one row back.