Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Phoenix Part 4 - DRAFT

By this time everyone on the ship stopped whatever they were doing and watched the dingy rescue.

Jack felt very self conscious as he was helped onto the deck. He felt uneasy with all the attention, esp the the young women whose eyes wandered over his body sinfully.

A tall large man came forward and put out his hand.

"Mate, thanks for saving my wife."

"Yeah, no worries."

"My name with Joseph Wever. Call me Joe. And this is my boat. Make yourself at home."

"Can I get you a beer mate?"

Jack shrugged. But Joe pushed a bottle into his hands.

"Here have this. Its great stuff - Tasmanian lager." I liked it so much I bought the brewery.

The tall man looked at Jack curiously and asked, "So where's your boat?"

Jack stared stone faced not knowing what to say. A few of the beautiful young girls, one of them topless, stared at him curiously with cat like femininity.

He stammered, the effects of the hypothermia still clogging his brain cells, "I don't have one... I err... I was out for a swim."

"You were out for a WHAT?!!!"  a bemused Joseph barked, almost choking on his words.

The crew started giggling. 

"A Swim." muttered Jack defensively.

"Out here?"

"@#k mate. You've come out a @#king long way for a @#$king swim mate." Joseph said with a light mocking tone.

An oldish man from the boat's bridge - leaned over and said,

"If you're trying to swim to Tasmania you're a bit late mate."

"Tasmania???" Jack wondered - starting to feel very foolishly. He had this image of himself running aground into a Tasmania beach and screwing up his suicide attempt.

"A sheila's done it already. Swam there in 14 hours across the Bass. But you're heading to the South Pacific."

At this stage, Jack angrily gritted his teeth and wanted to jump back into the ocean and carry on his swim the moment their backs were turned.

Joseph, having had a good laugh, and seeing the pain in Jack's face, slapped him on his back.

"Sorry son. We're just having some fun."

"Sit down. You must be exhausted. You're about 100km out at sea."

"Come join us - we've got some great sausages on the barbie."

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