Southern Cross
***
There are traditions to tales like mine. Traditions, that, like the laws of the sea, men avoid to their peril. As this is a sea story, let's begin with the proper invocation.
So there I was, no shit, at the Tsukishima pier...
***
Thirty years ago, a young aerospace engineer could look forward to a long career in Houston or Florida's Space Coast. These days, everyone says, "Go West, young man." As in so far west, it becomes east once more. With the advent of the commercial space race, every little Micronesian island chain is busy courting space companies to come and build launch sites. Oh, and incidentally, provide numerous jobs for people who have little in the way of natural resources or industry. The companies, such as SpaceX and my own, are just as eager; Micronesia is in a perfect spot for space launches.
Why, you ask? Look, pal, this is a sea story, not an aerospace class. Just push the "I Believe" button and let's move on.
Anyway, I got swept up in this Micronesian space race not long after leaving the Army. Five years of tax-free pay without anyone shooting at me? Sign me right up! It's satisfying work, but the headhunter forgot a few details in the process.
It's boring out here. Look, Tsukishima is a tropical paradise, but not the cute girls in bikinis type. More like the old men escaping the evil ex-wife type. (No wonder I fit in so well.) There really is only so much beer to drink, snorkeling to do, and diving before island fever sets in. Sometimes you just have to get away. Unfortunately, Hawaii, Australia, and Thailand are just too far away. And expensive as well.
So, thank God for the boat rentals. For eighty bucks a day, I can take a small boat out into the atoll for a time of peace, quiet, and all the fishing and diving that I might feel the need to do.
As I said, so there I was, on the pier of Tsukishima, readying my boat for the day's trip. I wasn't planning on doing anything but taking my boat out to St. Vincent. I'm sure the islanders have their own name for the island, but if you went into the local Rumrunners bar, none of the English-speaking locals would recognize it. Not that I needed the name to anchor off the island and work on my sunburn as well as reading through the local "bestseller".
Okay, that's a bit generous. One of my co-workers found some lurid little thriller that took place on Tsukishima. Some little B-movie monster hunter schlock, but whoever wrote it had to have lived on the island. She had gotten too many of the details right. Well, except for the gremlin and the transforming into monsters part. Still, reading it was a rite of passage for people on the island, and it would be a perfect way to kill a lazy morning. My hands moved mechanically through the tasks of seamanship as I dreamed about open seas.
"Hey, mister, that's a big boat you've got."
There are fewer pleasant ways to awoke from a reverie than the purring of a young woman's voice. I looked up towards the dock. Two girls stood on the causeway One, tall and willowy, rolled her eyes as she carried a small Igloo cooler. Her friend, a petite and dark-haired munchkin, winked at me. Both girls wore light-blue sundresses and wide-brimmed straw hats. Willowy would have made a great fashion model, but by the way her friend moved, I could tell she'd be a handful.
Now before you think this tale will take a dark turn towards the territory of Penthouse Letters or late-night Cinemax, let me be perfectly clear. Even though the saucy munchkin purred a seductive game, both of them were boat bunnies. That meant hands off.
Boat bunnies were young women that loved sun, sea, and boats. Sure, many of them traded on their looks to get a lift from one island to the next, but not many wanted to get kissed by anything other than the sun. Still, many men picked them up for the pleasure of a young woman's company (and the eye candy). Those few who let their hands wander could ruin the deal for everyone. Boat bunnies fled the islands where those animals lived. That meant no more eye candy, which tended to make everyone really upset.
"Where are you ladies heading?" I asked.
"Rumrunners," the tall one said. She set her Igloo down to tuck her long pale hair under her hat.
I pursed my lips in thought. I wasn't planning on heading out there, but Rumrunners on Matamoros wasn't that far from St. Vincent. And they did make a decent cheeseburger. Jimmy Buffet was right, there's nothing like a cheeseburger in paradise. (He's wrong about Heinz's 57, though.) And it had been a while since I talked to anyone besides engineers. "I'm heading that way. You girls in a hurry?"
"If we were, we'd be at the heliport instead," Willowy said.
"Hop in," I said, beckoning the girls with a wave. They stepped into the boat with the practiced ease of ladies familiar with the water. Sunlight glinted off of a carrot necklace that the munchkin wore.
Willowy shook her head, but her hands quickly untied the mooring line. Planting a foot against the dock, she pushed the boat away from the pier. The girl looked like she had more experience with small craft than I did.
I grinned as I stepped behind the wheel. "Ladies, please stow your hats." I shrank back from the frosty glares. "I can't really open up the throttle otherwise"
"Mister, we did say that we weren't in a hurry," Carrot Girl said, sitting on the boat's bow.
"Suit yourself." I shrugged, nudging the throttle just enough so that the boat leisurely pulled away from the dock and into the open ocean.
***
It took a while for the shore of Tsukishima to recede across the horizon, especially at the snail's pace the girls insisted I take. But it was long enough for the three of us to work our way through the usual pleasantries. Willowy's real name was Reisen, and that carrot girl cousin of hers went by Tewi. Both of them claimed to be on summer break from college, but I doubted either of them had graced a campus in over a year. Tsukishima is just too remote for the average boat bunny to just stumble upon by accident.
"So, what are you girls doing out here?" I asked, keeping a firm hand on the wheel and the throttle.
"An art student friend of ours recommended the atoll," Reisen said. She held her hat firmly against her head.
"She wouldn't shut up about it," Tewi growled. She sipped on a box drink. "As if we weren't real women if we hadn't seen the ocean."
"There's more to the world than just the sea," I said. For a moment, I was caught up in the mountains of Afghanistan, kicking in doors. "But not many of them are as pleasant."
"Are we far enough away?" Reisen said, wincing as she craned her neck towards the vanishing shore.
Warning bells went off in my head. It never happened to me, but enough guys in my unit had been out on a pleasant night that turned into a wild ride and a missing wallet right after the girl they were with went all secretive. If either of them tried anything, I'd pitch them over the side and come back in an hour and fish them out. A good long swim far from shore tended to adjust attitudes
I glanced back, just to make sure no one was about to do something stupid. Tewi slid off of her perch on the bow and ran to the stern. Cupping her hands around her eyes, she looked back to where we had come. Behind her, the barest edge of Tsukishima peeked out from the horizon. "Should be good enough. Hey, mister, look at Reisen." She pointed towards her friend.
Despite myself, I turned around. For the first time since stepping aboard my craft, the ash-haired beauty met my eyes. She had pretty pink eyes like an albino, but no albino that I knew of had eyes that glowed.
Reisen stood up and took off her straw hat. I shit you not, two snowy white rabbit ears sprung free. I glanced back on a hunch. Tewi's hat was gone as well. Unlike her cousin, Tewi's bunny ears huddled tight against her raven dark hair like, well, a mini-lop's.
I'll be damned. I had two honest to God bunny girls on my boat. Hugh Heffner would be jealous, if he wasn't into the factory-made identical blondes he so loved. And from the way Reisen eyed me with that glowing stare of hers, I would be damned, literally, if I said the wrong thing.
"Do we have a problem?" Reisen said. Her tone commanded a level of respect that I hadn't heard since the Army. As she spoke, my thoughts turned fluid, jumbling together like some thick stew.
"Not at all. You girls seem nice enough," I said, shaking my head. The confusion cleared from my head as I spoke.
Reisen's eyes faded to normal. She sighed as she wrung out one long white ear. "I hate wearing that hat, it wrinkles my ears."
I wanted to touch her ears. They seemed like they'd be softer than Angora. However, the First Rule of Boat Bunnies still held sway. "Are those real-"
"Call us cosplay enthusiasts," Tewi purred. She flashed a lot of teeth at me in what I hoped was a smile.
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" I said, pointing to Reisen. The tall bunny girl's long ears twitched.
"Believe, no. Leave it as, yes," Tewi said. "You are going to leave it, yes?"
Need to know. Got it. I'm no stranger to secrets. "Suit yourself," I said, with a shrug.
***
Fortunately for the bunnies, St. Vincent was one of many small islands around the atoll that was unoccupied. I cut the engine and anchored off the shore. Or what was left of it. Coconut palms and zebra wood shrubs covered the island with dark green leaves, leaving little room for surf and sand.
"Hey, Long Ears," Tewi shouted. The short girl in a racing suit teetered on the edge of the boat. "Aren't you going to come in?"
Reisen lifted her head just long enough to shake her head. She had traded her sundress for a modest pink bikini and a fluffy beach towel. Both bunny and towel lay sprawled out on the bow, soaking up the sunlight.
And, yes, before you ask, cottontails. Both of them. And more lifelike than any "cosplay enthusiast" could buy.
"Spoilsport," Tewi said, plunging in the water. I saw a flash of blue and green among the crystal blue water and she surfaced, spitting water.
"It takes forever to get that algae smell out of my ears," Reisen said, wrinkling her nose. "Have fun among the sharks."
"I can't help it if they like me," Tewi said, treading water. She looked up at me. "Don't tell me that I'm swimming alone."
What can you say to an invitation like that? Stopping just long enough to grab a mask and snorkel, I dove over the side.
***
The smooth sea held from St. Vincent to Rumrunners. That let me open wide the throttles, and the small boat, a clunker by most standards, sliced across the water like the flying fish that leaped from our wake. Occasionally, a small wave launched the bow into the air. Cheery giggles and salt spray greeted its inevitable return to the sea.
But even with taking the long way across the lagoon, the U-shaped island of Matamoros and its unwelcome marina grew ever closer. Tewi tapped my hand and shook her head. I backed off the throttle, almost bringing the boat to a stop.
Immediately, the straw hats and sundress came out. Reisen slicked her long ears back until they hung behind her like long white ribbons from a bow. Tewi just set her hat at a rakish angle and smiled. "You know what they say about all good things," she said, smoothing her skirts underneath her before she sat.
"You sure that you don't want another trip around the island?" I asked. Even with the sprawling Rumrunners bar and resort taking up a third of the island, Matamoros still had some of the best beaches in the atoll. Some days I wished that my company had built its facilities here, but I was well aware of the dangers in keeping large numbers of engineers anywhere near polite society.
"If we weren't meeting friends," Reisen said wistfully, eyeing the golden brown sandy shores.
"College friends?"
"More like the dorm mom," Tewi said, laughing. Reisen flashed her cousin a glare so cutting that it could have sliced diamond. "Oh, lighten up, Long Ears. At least I didn't call her, 'Grandma.'"
"Don't let her hear you say that." Reisen's eyes grew widen as she huddled against the railing and shuddered.
"One of our friends went prematurely white. Reisen found out the hard way just how sensitive she can be about that," Tewi said, pulling out another box drink from the cooler at her feet.
"She put the Evil Eye on you?" I said, working the wheel so that that boat steered to the right side of the traffic buoys.
"Worse. She said that if I continued to tease her, my hair would go white as well," Reisen muttered.
I bit back a chuckle. Reisen's fur was pure white, even if her hair wasn't. Looks like my two guests are as much young women as they were rabbits. Then again, I did remember a twenty-something version of myself agonizing over each stray hair in the sink.
The waves lapped against the bow as the craft crept closer to the marina. Peace, however, were nowhere to be found. Tewi climbed her way back and forth across the boat, looking out towards the horizon. Reisen had to pull her back over the railing once, before her cousin disappeared into the water.
We circled around to fish Tewi's hat out of the drink. At least she had the good grace to look abashed while Reisen scolded her. Both of their spirits quickly returned, and the last mile to the dock was full of laughter. Some of it was even my own.
It was with regret that I pulled back sharply on the throttle. The engines surged in reverse and then cut out, leaving the boat motionless just inches from the Rumrunners pier. The waves finished the job, nudging the boat against the pier so that my two assistants could tie the craft securely to the dock.
I checked their work before stepping onto the floating concrete rig. "I'll be out this way for a while. If you see me, don't feel shy about asking for a ride," I said, holding out my hand. A mere pleasantry; most boat bunnies kept on the move.
"Thank you," Reisen said graciously, holding my hand as she stepped out of the boat. She knelt down and took the cooler from Tewi. "I'd like that."
Once more, I offered my hand. Tewi pulled herself out of the boat and onto her toes. For the briefest of instants, her lips brushed my cheek. "For luck," she said catching my eyes.
I watched them walk down the pier towards Matamoros island, trading the occasional wave. After the bunny girls disappeared from sight, I settled my dock and fuel fee and walked towards Rumrunners in search of a cheeseburger in paradise.
Some proprieties have to be observed. Even if it meant listening to that damn song again.
***
It's been five weeks, and I find myself once again sipping a Jack and Coke out here at Rumrunners. Maybe I'll see them again, but they're most likely halfway to Kwajalein by now. Boat bunnies aren't known for staying in one place, and I guess that'd be doubly so for those two. All I have left from that day is a kiss and a promise of good luck, along with a bundle of fading pleasant memories. It wouldn't be the first time I'd gone sentimental over a kiss.
Then again, something inside is still telling me that my luck's about to change...
***
Author's Notes:
Thanks to Captain Vulcan for giving this a look prior to posting.