“I am your new captain,” Donny said.
“By golly, no kidding. You hear that, Gomez? We got a new captain.”
Gomez, who had gone back to sleep with his head on the table, was not impressed. Donny kicked him on the butt and Gomez woke up with a moan of pain.
“Salute me, you bastard. Salute your new captain.”
“What the hell, by golly,” Velasco said. “What you doing, Donny?”
“Call me captain and salute me.”
“Maybe later. The eggs, they burn if I don’t stir.”
“Screw the eggs.”
Donny went over and pulled the iron frying pan off the stove and dumped its contents on the floor. The mixture oozed red like a fresh kill.
“Hey, Donny, what the hell, Jesus Christ, what you doing?”
“Salute me, pachuco.”
“Not pachuco. Last night you and me, all of us, amigos. Amigos forever.”
“Forever just ended,” Donny said. “You got that?”
“Sure, sure.”
“Mix up another batch of eggs and serve them to me in my quarters.”
“Okay, Donny.”
“You don’t say ‘okay’ to a captain. Say it right, dammit.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“That’s better.”
He went in search of Cleo and found her in one of the guest cabins, lying on a bunk with a blanket pulled up to her chin. The outlines of her thin body could hardly be seen under the blanket, so she appeared to be a severed head.
“Cleo, wake up.”
“How can I wake up when I’m not asleep?”
“Then open your eyes.”
She opened her eyes and saw Donny looking terribly funny in an oversized hat. “What are you all dressed up like that for?”
“I was thinking over what you said last night, about how I got rights, so I’m proclaiming myself captain.”
“That’s nice.”
“Being as I’m now captain, I can marry you.”
“I thought I was going to marry Ted.”
“Sure you are. But I’m going to be like the minister as soon as we leave shore.”
Cleo threw off the blanket and sat up. “Then this is my wedding day.”
“Yeah. You got anything to wear besides those crummy jeans?”
“No.”
“Come on and we’ll search through my dad’s — that is, my quarters and see if some chick left a fancy robe, you know, something flimsy.”
Ted was asleep on the opposite bunk, lying on his stomach with his arms at his sides and his head twisted to one side. His mouth was open and he was making snorting and whistling sounds.
They both watched him for a minute. Then Donny said, “Are you sure you want to marry that?”
“I guess so. I mean, he looks better when he’s awake.”
“Give me your shoelaces.”
“Why should I?”
“Follow orders.”
“But my shoes are the only decent thing I have on. They’re practically new from Drawford’s.”
“I need the laces to tie his hands in case he wakes up and tries to mutiny.” Donny showed her the Luger he had tucked in his waistband and the .22 in his pocket. “There’ll be no mutiny on my ship.”
“Where did you get those?”
“From my dad’s — from my quarters.”
“Are you going to shoot somebody?”
“Maybe. If I have to.”
“Even me?”
“We’ll see. Give me your shoelaces.”
She took the laces out of her shoes and Donny tied Ted’s hands behind his back. At one point Ted’s snoring changed pitch and rhythm as if he was about to wake up, but he didn’t. Cleo watched in silence, deriving some satisfaction from the fact that Ted didn’t look like a bridegroom any more than she looked like a bride.
She followed Donny back to the captain’s quarters, where they had breakfast served by a mute and sullen Velasco. The change in Velasco and in Donny made Cleo uneasy.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” she said when Velasco had left. “Maybe we don’t have all those rights Roger said people had.”
“We got rights same as everybody else. Now we have to make plans. You know how to use a gun?”
“Point it at somebody and press the trigger.”
“No. First you fix the safety.” He gave her the .22 and showed her how to do it. “There. Now you’re ready to shoot someone.”
“What if I don’t really want to?”
“You obey orders. On a ship the captain is God.”
“You don’t look like God to me. He doesn’t wear a hat.”
“How do you know? Nobody’s ever seen him. Maybe he looks exactly like me, fat as a pig.”
“Well, I bet when you pass people on the street they don’t say, ‘There goes God.’”
“Oh, cut that crap and listen. The crew might try to jump ship or sound an alarm. It’s up to you to keep them quiet by holding the gun on them.”
“What if they won’t keep quiet?”
“You shoot them.”
“I don’t think I’m going to like that part. I’ve never shot anyone.”
“You won’t have to. It’s nothing but a threat, see? If they try to pull anything, you shoot a hole in the floor to warn them.”
“That might make the boat leak.”
“It won’t make the boat leak, stupid,” Donny said. “Now there’s one more thing you got to do. I could have saved us a lot of trouble if I’d decided to take over the ship last night. We’d be far at sea by this time. But I didn’t, so here we are, no use crying.”
“You can’t anyway,” Cleo said reasonably. “God never cried.”
“Oh, can the God bit and let me think a minute.” He pushed the cap back from his forehead and the toilet paper padding fell out on the floor. His face was very red and all screwed up like a fretful baby’s. “Now here’s the problem. When my dad drives up from Palm Springs he usually leaves very early to avoid the desert heat, so he may be arriving at his condo any minute. If he should look out the window and see the Spindrift missing, he’ll call the Coast Guard and they’ll send the cutter after us right away. So we have to buy time, an hour at least, more if we can get it.”
“I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we wait for him and invite him to come along?”
“You loony, don’t you know the first thing he’d do? Send for the cops to take me back to that goddamn school. Yes, and you, too. You got that? You, too.”
“I don’t want to go back. I want to get married.”
“Then cooperate. As soon as he arrives he’ll check in at his condo. It’s on the beach and you can see it from the bridge through binoculars. I’ll stand watch, and the minute he arrives I want you to make a call to the condo. I’ll give you the number.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Tell him that you’re Mrs. Holbrook’s secretary. Then you ask him to come to Holbrook Hall in order to discuss his son’s curriculum.”
“Curliculum. What’s that mean?”
“Never mind what it means. Just say it right. Cur-ri-cu-lum.”
“Curriculum. Okay, then what?”
“Then he goes to the school and I order the crew to cast off.”
“What if the crew won’t listen to you?”
“They’ll listen.” Donny patted the Luger in his waistband and laughed. “We’re all amigos, all of us. Amigos forever.”
Manny Ocho knocked on the door and entered without waiting for permission. Though he had a well-deserved hangover, he was freshly shaved and uniformed.
“Hey, Donny, what’s going on? What you say to my crew? And what you doing wearing your father’s clothes?”
“They’re my clothes. I’m your new captain. Be ready to cast off when I say the word.”