Memorial Day just passed which reminded me of one of my strangest weekends ever. I have friend named Jack who loved to sail. His family were members of the Saint Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. His dad died of cancer when Jack was 21 but because his dad had been a board member Jack was given a lifetime membership.
One of the perks of the club was that they owned a small island on the Sacramento Delta called Tinsley. The delta is a long chain of rivers and Islands The island was very small, but it had a nice lawn area, pool, bbqs and lodgings which Jack got for half price which was a big deal for us in our early twenties. The other, better off members of the club would bring their boats and stay on those. But there was a converted lighthouse with several rooms boatless people. Aside from the two of us who were in our twenties most of the rest of the guests were much older.
Jack and I had stopped at the "crawfish guy" on the way up and had a feast of crawfish, corn and a couple of beers. Another member had a pavlova cake that he insisted was left over and he gave that to us. Full and a little tipsy, we turned in around 10:00 in our room at the top of the lighthouse. It was a warm night and we had our windows open.
I think I had been asleep for maybe an hour when I started dreaming that I was hearing screaming. Suddenly I found myself awake and saw Jack throwing on a pair of shorts. The screaming was coming from somewhere out in the Delta. Maybe 4 or 5 voices yelling "help. Our boat flipped. Help."
Jack was not only a sailor, but was also an EMT and volunteer firefighter and he loved action and drama. In about 1 minute we were running down to the dock where the Island manager and a few guests were already getting a little skiff ready. Jack and a couple of the guys jumped into the boat, leaving me to help whoever they brought back since I had First Aid and CPR training. It was a foggy night and the boat was out of site in a few seconds.
Me, Pete, the Island manager, and a few older guests stood on the dock hearing our guys calling out and the victims yelling back. After a few tense minutes we heard Pete's radio crackle with Jacks voice "We found em. They managed to swim to a little island. They're are four of them we're going to bring back two at a time."
A few minutes later they brought back two soaking wet guys. One of them was a guy in his late 20's with long hair, a scruffy beard and what looked like prison tatoos. The other guy was a youngish African American guy. The both walked up the dock and Jack his crew went back out. I took a look at them both, they were just a little cold and wet so we gave them towels and coffee.
The African American guy who said he was named Ralph turned his back to the other guy and looked scared. The other guy was shooting daggers at Ralph. I would have been happy to just keep everyone quiet but this sort of loud guy named Saul who had made it clear he liked to be in charge started asking questions. He asked the other guy, Burt, what happened. Burt's face got deep red, and he started breathing in an angry way "That N---er flipped our boat. We were out drinking beer and he got drunk and stood up and started jumping up and down."
Ralph jumped up. "That's not true. You and your f__king friends were trying to kill me." He looked at me, "we work in the same canning plant and they asked me out on their boat. They stopped the boat and started calling me the N word and stuff and then..." He looked at Burt" You said you were going to beat the sh_t out of me. So I jumped out of the boat."
At that Burt jumped up to attack Ralph. Ralph jumped up to defend himself and somehow I got caught in the middle facing Burt who was swinging his arms wildly and cursing. With me trapped in the middle on this slippery dock, having huge fists pummeling me, I heard Sol yell "Throw them in the water. They're all crazy. Cool em off."
I realized that no one knew me like they did Jack and they probably thought I'd come of the boat too. I started yelling "I'm a guest. I'm trying to stop this fight. Help me." After a few more rounds of "cool em off". Pete who had been on the phone with the coast guard and another youngish guy came back down and grabbed Burt and pulled him off of me. With that Ralph calmed down. Pete suggested Ralph go up to the poolhouse to take a warm shower. So Saul escorted him up.
After a minute Burt tried to run up the ramp to find Ralph. I jumped up and blocked the ramp. And he screamed for me to get out of his way. I'm not a tough guy but I can also hold my own and I told him to sit down and wait for his friends. Pete also reminded him that the Coast Guard were on their way which seemed to make him settle down a bit. I guess he didn't want to give them any reason to arrest him.
(Next time the thrilling conclusion)
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