Taboo

Keywords: Time, After, Time,

"-A Disclaimer:

Before some fisherman from the Pacific NW jumps my case; Yes I know that most trawlers fish in Alaskan waters the whole fishing season because it's too time consuming and too expensive to make a couple of transits from whatever port is home to the Alaskan waters, but I was informed by a couple of old timers that a few did do it. So I used those exceptions as otherwise the timeline was too difficult to work out. If it still grinds your gills, sorry mate. -Ronnie W."

Prologue:

Some may think the beginning of this story is dark and perhaps it is to some . . .

Who are these men of the sea? If you've ever been slammed with a hurricane off Cape Hatteras, almost beat to death by a typhoon off of the Philippines, had your skin sand blasted by a Red Sea sand storm, whipped to parade rest in the North Atlantic, and/or frozen like a Popsicle off the Korean peninsula or Arctic Circle, fished the waters off Alaska as in this story, You'd know my brother, because you're a man of the sea.

I don't call the beginning dark. It's a part of the cycle of life to those who sail the seas in whatever capacity, and this story is dedicated to them and to those who are left behind to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong.

You love to eat fish and yet you've never considered the true cost of the fish you enjoy eating . . .

In each town of those who go down to the sea in ships there is a memorial of some sort. On each of the memorials is inscribed the names of those who've paid the ultimate price, for the sea has no mercy and knows no pity. . .

On with the story . . .

Jacob Olson, known to one and all as Jake, and his buddy Andrew Moffat (Andy), were the best of friends. They grew up together, went to school together, and helped their respective fathers on the fishing boats which called the commercial fishing fleet quay wall in the harbor home. When their fathers retired the two friends took out a loan and bought the trawler their father's had used to fish off Alaska for the past several years.

The boat was fairly modern and so it only required a few modifications and upgrades during overhaul to make it as seaworthy and modern as any in the fleet. Upon completion of the overhaul the boat was renamed the Carol Ann in honor Jake's wife Carol and Andy's wife Ann. Which name went first was settled by the flip of a coin.

Both men were excellent sailors and fishermen. Jake however was better at deck seamanship and thus ostensibly became Captain and Master. Andy's father had been an engineering genius as was Andy, so he took over the duties of Chief Engineer. Because both were excellent all around seaman it was not unusual to find Jake standing a watch in the engine room while Andy would take the watch in the pilot house. . .

Both men met their future wives at a youth dance in 1948 held in the basement/banquet room of Trinity Presbyterian Church. . .

Jake and Andy were in the same Sophomore Class at Western High School (HS) as were Carol Roberts and Ann Fry but they normally traveled in different circles. The boys noticed the two young ladies sitting together sipping their Cokes and decided to ask them for a dance. Happily the band was playing a slow waltz as the boys gathered the girls into their arms and began to dance.

Carol was immediately struck with the size of this big blonde haired, blue eyed Swede holding her ever so gently in his arms as they glided across the dance floor. She was a 5'8" dishwater blonde blue eyed beauty and yet she felt like a little doll as they danced, and talked about themselves and each other, beginning the age old rite of courtship.

Ann and Andy were also beginning their own courtship as Ann found herself happily snuggled into the arms of her red haired, green eyed giant. Like Carol she was a beautiful young woman. she was large breasted but otherwise slender, the same height as Carol. Her hair was raven colored, which was coupled with brown eyes, and she had a wicked sense of humor which she used well that night.

After the dance they went to a drive in for burgers and fries and then it was time to get the girls home. When Jake pulled up in front of Carol's house she kissed him and bounced out the front door while Ann planted a kiss on Andy as she slid out the rear door.

That night the two girls sitting cross legged on Carol's bed in their PJ's giggled and excitedly talked about their new found boy friends as they each found themselves at the beginning stages of that happiest event of the young, a full blown crush.

The boys were in no better shape. They were thunderstruck at their luck and they too could only talk about their new girl friends.

Score: crushes: 4 anything else: 0

For the next two years, if the boys weren't off fishing, the weekends found them dancing with their sweethearts or sitting in the car at the drive-in theater kissing, necking, and occasionally groping, but the girls kept a pretty tight rein on how much and what kind of groping was allowed.

Shortly after their graduation from Western HS, Jake married Caroline Roberts and Andy took Anna Fry as his new bride in a double wedding ceremony at the old Presbyterian Church.

The two men had planned on having a joint honeymoon but their father's quickly disabused them of the idea, pointing out they were not going square dancing they were waltzing and whereas it takes a group to square dance, waltzes are done with a him and a her. The boys got the idea.

After Jake talked it over with Carol they decided to honeymoon in Seattle. Ann on the other hand wanted to go to Vancouver, British Columbia so that was where they went.

To say the honeymoons were great sessions of sex would be an overstatement. If you asked the men they'd have said yes, but to the ladies it was good, not great. Yes they'd each experienced a mild orgasm or two but not the mind blowing ones they heard their girlfriends talk about.

The problem was simply that Jake and Andy knew the rudiments of sex but they'd paid too much attention to their shipmates and their talk of how to properly make love to a woman.

I do have to mention it here . . Sailors are the raunchiest people in the world. Being cut off from the women for so long seems to make the mind a very inventive device when it comes to tales of women and sex. Because sailors have a LOT of time on their hands since there is little to do if your not eating sleeping or working the average sailor's mind gets very inventive indeed, hence the sea story as opposed to the fairy tale. Fairy tales start out "Once Upon a Time. . ." Sea stories on the other hand usually start out, "Now this ain't no shit. . ." The problem is that no sailor ever starts out his latest lie about him and the ladies with that disclaimer so Jake and Andy were suckered in by disguised sea stories.

Carol and Ann were comparing notes after the honeymoon and each arrived at two startling conclusions: They knew damn all about how to excite a man and to truly drive him wild and the men knew even less about their women. The women bought several books about sex that their girlfriends enthused over (In plain brown wrappers of course) and started reading. The single biggest thing they learned is that great sex is largely communication and it has to be a two way street.

The ladies proceeded to turn themselves and their men into lovers by suggestion and example. Doing for their men and having their men try the latest lesson on them. When the men learned what making love to a women's clitoris and using their tongues and fingers to worship their vaginas could do to the women they were off to the races and never looked back.

Life was good for the two families but that is a relative term as the work was hard and dangerous, the separations long and the loneliness pure agony. The two men knew this going in as that was the life they had led from the time they first crewed a fishing trawler as young men just as their father's and just as their grandfather's had done before them. The ladies knew most of it as their circle of friends while growing up included a number of kids whose father's fished for a living.

Shortly after the marriages Carol and Ann both discovered themselves to be pregnant. Carol and Ann both belonged to that group of women who are continually hot and horny during their pregnancy and damn near insatiable to the point that the two ladies almost wore the men out. The only saving grace was that it was time to go fishing and the men got a respite.

One month after Carol gave birth to Nicholas (Nick) Ann gave birth to John (Jack). Why Jack? In some parts of the world John for some reason becomes Jack and other then it is a custom in this part of the world I haven't a clue.

As soon as Nick and Jack could toddle they were on board the Carol Ann learning those things that future men of the sea needed to learn.

Following graduation from Western HS the two best friends joined their fathers as full-time crewmen on the Carol Ann.

At the end of two years with a lot of studying Nick became the 1st Mate while Jack was made Assistant Engineer. Actually Jack also worked on deck when he was needed as the trawler was really not large enough to need a full time Assistant Engineer, but it was nice to have someone skilled and knowledgeable to give Andy a hand and to be available should an emergency occur.

Most trawlers the size of the Carol Ann carried a crew of 6, ie; Captain, 1st Mate, Chief Engineer, Cook, and two deck hands. The Carol Ann had a crew of seven but the fishing was still good in those days and so the wages were decent even if the money was split 7 ways instead of 6.

In 1972 Nick and Jack met two young college students at a dance at the Eagles Lodge Hall in town one Saturday night. . .

Nick was astounded at how good it had felt to hold this tall beauty in his arms and how nice it was to bury his nose in her auburn tresses, smell her sweetness, and to watch her green eyes twinkle as she smilingly asked and answered questions.

Keywords: Time, After, Time,