Quickly, business at hand was forgotten as the room exploded in a hubbub--people wondering where the ships had been for nearly a year, and what had ha...pened to their sister ship, Kongo.Everyone knew sailing was a dangerous business--ships were lost periodically to storms, reefs, and pirates among other things--especially in the North Atlantic and Baltic where winter storms were severe. That was why we shipped very little to the north during the storm season, concentrating instead on the. It was a text message from mom asking me when I would be home. I texted back at about nine pm. It was six-thirty now. Then I saw mom come out of the bathroom with a glass of water for David. She gave it to him and handed him a blue pill telling him, “We have two hours.” Then told him she was going to dress up for him and put makeup on and would be out shortly.Mom came out in about ten minutes with a sheer white see through babydoll nighty on and all made up with black eyeliner and bright red. I was in my room, sulking, when I heard them walking around. I joined them in time to learn that the dining room table had been inherited from mom’s mother.Mom showed Marty the guest bedroom and we wandered upstairs. My room was praised for being neat and orderly, which it generally is, even when I’m stuck at home. We finished at mom’s bedroom, at which she just waved a hand, but Marty saw a picture of me on the nightstand.“What a nice picture,” she said, picking it up. She sat on the bed. “I. Captain Greasy Spooner earned a stern rebuke when he referred to one of these DS officers as 'an umpire'."We are not at Wimbledon, Captain."Although it was seven years since I had last been at BATUS I hoped that Eddy Two Bears, the Pikani brave who had become my blood brother, was still working as a Tribal Policeman in the area, and would soon make contact. However it was Thunder Face – or to give him his correct name, Face like a Thunder Cloud – who had been a fellow Sweat Lodge Ritual.