My Journal

By Harriman Nelson

54

I decided to let Chief Sharkey pilot, and had Kowalski act as co-pilot. We landed in the same Santorini harbor we’d seen on TV. The dock was packed with inquisitive tourists snapping pictures at Lee’s rented sailboat, but they soon turned their cameras and phones toward us.

Unfortunately there were also reporters.

As soon as Will, Ski, and I climbed up the steps to the dock, having left a disgruntled Sharkey behind for security, the grand inquisitors began….

“Why is the captain under arrest again?”

“Was he fishing in a restricted area?”

“Is the girl underage?”

“No comment,” was all I dared, confused by the questions, surprised by the sight of Joe with a waiting taxi.

“Bad enough you have to treat him like an errant child,” Joe hissed, grabbing my arm, as I neared, “but to have the police pick him up at the church supper….”

“What?” I asked, incredulous. “They were supposed to keep him from leaving the island, that’s all.”

“Well, it didn’t turn out that way. You can imagine the surprised parishioners. Lee donated his octopus to the pot luck, then the cops burst in, grabbed and carted him off. No explanations. Nothing. Then I got a ride from one of the parishioners to follow the cops to the station, where it turned out the police had orders from YOU to put him in jail! Lee was livid, let me tell you!”

“I didn’t tell them to do that! How...how long ago?” I gulped.

“About two hours, give or take.”

“Was the girl with him at the time? Er, Melina?”

“Yes, and she’s still with him, thank God, though probably not without some argument by her fellow church members. ‘Κακό αγόρι’ we  heard them whispering. ‘Bad boy’ it means from the phrase book, but loses in the translation.”

“Surely they know he’s not bad! He’s a hero!” Ski said, outraged.

“Well, what would you think if one of your own is on a date with a foreigner who gets dragged of by the cops?

'Astinomiko tmi ma’," he told the driver with a little phrase book help, which I was sure meant  the police station.

The sky had those pretty orange and pink strips that announce the end of day and the beginning of night. The whitewashed buildings rising from sea level to the volcanic heights took on the hues and looked lovely. Only I couldn’t appreciate the view.

Oh, lord, what had I done...the best laid plans and Lee had been treated like a common criminal.

Santorini is not a large island and we reached the police station in record time. Joe paid the driver and we were accosted by more reporters  before  we were escorted inside by one of the officers, thankfully rid of the press, and taken directly to the desk of the Chief of Police.

Behind him was one of those little offices with a window in the door. We could see behind the door, in profile, Lee, seated, and Melina next to him. His lips were tightly pursed and he was staring straight ahead (which was sideways to us), as Melina, her head on his shoulder waiting  with him for whatever came.

“Admiral Nelson?” the chief said. “Ton echoun apomonotheir opos zitithe...er...” he paused accepting Joe’s worn phrase book, leafed through it then, “we... isolated...him...here…no  room in cell…what…is…the…charge?”

“There seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding,” I said quickly, “I only wanted him to remain in port until the doctor here could examine him...”

“Giatros? Kalos...,” he said, confused, leafing through the book, “Doctor, good.” Then he opened the door. Lee turned, saw us and glared.

He didn’t say a word as Will checked his stitches, blood pressure and drew blood. Ski assisted  to set up the portable blood test kit, so Will could see what beasties might lie within the dark fluid.

“Lee,” I began to say but he turned his head away from me. Melina followed suit.

Silence.

Finally the timer dinged as the blood test results were finished. Will checked the results with a satisfied smile and held up an ‘okay’ sign to the chief of police.

“You’ll live,” Will said to Lee.

“I know that,” Lee said coolly, facing him. “I also know how to treat the damn stitches in spite of your opinion to the contrary.”

“Skipper..”

“Don’t call me that,” Lee said coolly, then to us all, “don’t any of you ever call me that again.”

“Skipper,” Ski braved, “sorry...they only wanted to make sure you were okay, sir. Because they love you. We all do and...”

“Well they had a pretty bad way of showing it. Arrested! Humiliating me, embarrassing Melina? Just because Harry and Will couldn’t trust me to take care of the damn stitches! Well, were they clean, Doc? Are they infected?”

“I’ll admit you took care of them. No infection. And the blood work doesn’t show any problem. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. You’ll have my resignation ASAP, Captain.”

“Don’t be an ass. Denied. I know it was a doctor thing. My  problem is with him,” Lee said, looking directly at me. Then he rose and began to pace about the small office, “I’ve had enough of your hovering! Enough of your paranoia!”  Then he stopped pacing, turned and faced me, fuming, “couldn’t you have called me before siccing the cops on me? Couldn’t you have simply asked me to report to some clinic or hospital if you were so damn sure I’d hurt myself? My God, Harriman, if you’d wanted to humiliate me any worse, you couldn’t have done better! Arrested in front of Melina’s friends, even her priest for Pete’s sake! Arrested! Just because you couldn’t stand not to interfere in my life! Well, you’ve interfered enough!”

“Son,” I began, “the arrest was a simple misunderstanding….

“Perhaps ‘it’ was a misunderstanding,” Lee interrupted, “but ‘this’,” he stressed, pulling off the Nelson family ring, “ ‘isn’t’,” and flung it to the floor, taking Melina’s arm and marching  out of the room.

I was about to follow, but Joe waylaid me, taking my arm.“Let him go, Admiral. There’s nothing you can do or say now to fix things.”

“This is all my fault,” Will said, and picked the ring up off of the floor, and handing it to me,  “I’ll speak with him as soon as he cools off. If I hadn’t been so sure he had to have gotten infected...”

“No, Will,” I said. “It’s my fault. All mine....”

The crowd outside had pretty much dispersed in the few minutes it took for us to exit the station. Apparently Lee or Melina had satisfied them with some kind of explanation when they’d emerged. I didn’t care. My heart was bleeding. Lee had, in effect, dissolved our relationship. One that had been so difficult in securing between both of us in the first place. He had removed himself as my son, the discarded ring proved that. And I was certain that he’d removed himself from ever resuming command of Seaview as well. I even doubted that he’d return to NIMR.

As soon as the flying sub docked with Seaview, I headed to my cabin with orders not to be disturbed.

I’m still here. Holding, turning, and studying the ancient ring in my fingers. The ancient Celtic ring that had been passed from father to son for centuries. And now rejected by last of the line.

Oh God, Lee...what have I done...

What have I done?