Fishing for Jacks – “The Surprising Rest of the Story”

Fishing for Jacks – “The Surprising Rest of the Story”

MSgt Gordon McDonald had been a “PJ” or pararescueman, or para-jumper or whatever you wanted to call him for more than fourteen years. Sitting in the right open door of the Sikorsky HH60 Pavehawk helicopter, his practiced eyes scanned the sea. Being midweek, it was a quiet day and the boat traffic had been light. They had passed two of the big Bayliners heading out to the ‘stream’, where the warm currents mixed with the cooler water and the big fish congregated. Moving south they had passed the 50 foot Hatteras coming home from the trench, and as they had swung around the bow he remembered the Captain as he had waved. God he loved the lines of a Hatteras. They were probably one of the most beautiful boats in the world. The water had glassed off now, and at 120 knots and 500 feet it was a beautiful day and he had the best view in all the world.

He loved the feeling of the wind whipping through the half-open door, and as he glanced at his watch he knew they would be turning for home soon. Just another training sortie...out to the trench and back and another two hours spent doing what he loved. Suddenly, he saw a flash, a single bright point of light that flashed with the brilliance of the sun itself. He had been in the business a long time, and he knew the flash of metal and his trained eyes jerked towards it. He didn’t see it again, and almost let it go. The flash from a metal object is different than the flash off the water...its brighter and the sun doesn’t penetrate it, but instead reflects off of it with an intensity like nothing else on earth. The only thing brighter is the flash from a rescue signal mirror. Whatever it was had to be small, and he had been chided more than once for chasing a piece of aluminum trash that some idiot has tossed overboard. Still, he keyed his mike and spoke into the interphone.

“Skipper, can you bring her around to the right...I spotted something.”

Captain Richard Millard looked over at his copilot, and rolled his eyes. Gordy was at it again....his Eagle eyes looking for something when nothing was there. Still, he started the turn, feeding in the right pedal and coming up slightly with the collective. As he did, he answered.

“Ok Gordo.....watcha got? We need to be getting back and I don’t want to start chasin waves again.”

Gordon scanned harder, looking for it again and seeing nothing. Perhaps he was a little jumpy, but you just never knew and a boat could sink or capsize and......” He shook his head, hell, the seas were as calm as glass and there hadn’t been a boat since the Hattaras and that was more than fifteen minutes ago.

“Coming up on BINGO fuel skipper,” Lieutenant Simmons remarked. The big twin General Electric turboshaft engines sucked a lot of jet fuel, and right now they were approaching that fuel point where they needed to turn for home.

Suddenly, Gordon saw it again....the flash, and he keyed his microphone while he grabbed his binoculars and scanned the area.

“Little more to the right Skipper. I don’t know...but I got something there...hold the heading now...steady......coming up on it 800 yards out.”

Capt Millard brought the nose of the Pavehawk up and slowed the speed to fifty knots. As he let the chopper settle lower, down to a few hundred feet, the four blades of his machine started to whip the sea. Suddenly, he saw it too, and as he did the chill went straight down his spine.

Suddenly, Gordon screamed: “GOD...it’s a MAN! MAN IN THE WATER! WE HAVE A MAN IN THE WATER SKIPPER!”

Capt Millard saw him then, too. Dead....surely dead. God, there wasn’t a boat in sight, and they were almost 80 miles from land! What the hell was happening...... He had to be dead.

Gordon’s voice blasted in the interphone: “HE’S ALIVE SKIPPER!!!!....He’s bleeding out. Lots of blood in the water but its red and its still coming out. I gotta go in Skipper....get it down and get me THERE NOW!”

Capt Millard was almost shaking....trying to stay calm as he brought his bird in over the man. SHIT! He calculated the risks....with all the blood there had to be sharks, and the man must have been attacked to be bleeding like that. He scanned the clear water but saw no shadows. He looked back to the man and he didn’t see any arms.....the man was just a body and his legs were spread and he was floating on his back....the sunlight flashing off the earring in his left ear. Still, as he looked over the nose he saw the man give a kick with his legs, still half-fighting to stay afloat, and he knew really he had no choice. He brought the bird over the man, and the airspeed slid to zero as the big machine went into a hover.

Lt Simmons voice cut into the loop: “Bingo fuel skipper. You’re into your reserves. We gotta do this fast if we’re gonna do it.”

Capt Millard nodded, and gave the command. “Go Gordo....and take the bang stick. You don’t have much time so do it right but do it fast.”

He was directly responsible for his crewmembers, and his pararescueman could only go into the water on his command. He knew his master sergeant was a professional, and he knew he had the training. Still, the risk were real and the fuel was short, and yet if he didn’t try the man in the water was dead for sure. He worked the controls as he felt the man leave the chopper, jumping the thirty feet and into the open ocean. God the PJ’s were crazy, but Gordo was as good as they come. He worked to steady the helicopter, rock steady, and SSgt McGinnis came on the loop as he began to lower the high speed rescue winch.

“Basket going down now. Swimmer in the water....and he’s at the man already. No sharks in sight. Come right now skipper....slide it right and hold it steady. Man, there is a LOT of blood in the water skipper.”

Capt Millard held the machine steady, the four bladed rotor whipping the sea into a froth. Below, his sergeant was working to get the man into the rescue basket, and it wasn’t easy with the spray and foam generated by the hovering helicopter. His winch operator was standing in the door, feeding him instructions and monitoring the rescue in progress. They were all professionals, and they were a team that was as good as they come. Still, it wasn’t easy, and right now everything was in the balance. His copilot was getting nervous, and he gave him something to do to keep him busy: “Make the call Lieutenant....and let’s get em ready.”

His copilot keyed the UHF radio, and called the rescue coordination center. He relayed their position, situation, and gave them the nature of the emergency. As he finished the call, things back home were put into motion and the nearest hospital would be put on alert. Still, they had to get him there alive or it was all for nothing.

Two minutes past....an eternity when you are low on fuel and one of your men is in the water. Lt Simmons suddenly spoke up: “We are fuckin out of fuel skipper. We gotta go now if we are gonna make base. Oh God....shark...BIG SHARK in the water sir!!!! Fuck! This is shit man!”

Capt Millard was in control, and his voice was level and calm. He looked out the window and he saw it...a big Tiger probably, and he was a hundred yards out and closing fast.. He forced his eyes back to the gauges, and then he gave the orders: “Bring em up together McGinnis. OK guys...lets get this done...FAST! Lieutenant, forget the base....work up the numbers for the city hospital....we’re gonna go straight in and put him on their pad. All I need is fuel to there and that’s a lot closer. Lay in the direct inertial course and we’ll punch it in as soon as I have them off the water.”

“It ain’t THAT MUCH closer skipper” Lt Simmons said. “We gotta go soon!”

SSgt McGinnis came on the loop: “He’s coming up now. They are both out of the water---Gordy’s clipped into the cable too....two are coming up on the hoist skipper.... OH GOD....his COCK IS MISSING SKIPPER! The fucker’s bleeding from where his cock is supposed to be........GOD!!!!!”

Capt Millard couldn’t wait for them to get inside, so he made the turn, and dropped the nose of the machine to pick up speed as he turned for shore, the two men hanging below and still in the rescue basket. SSgt McGinnis had them inside thirty seconds later, and once the side door was shut he accelerated the Sikorsky to its maximum forward speed of 140 knots, leaving him two knots to spare. In the back his men were working on the now unconscious patient, and by the time they landed thirty-nine minutes later they had three IV’s running and had checked the bleeding. Still, he was barely alive. Something awful had happened to him, and the police were obviously gonna be wanting to know everything the crew could tell them. They had found the man’s wrists tied together with a nylon zip tie, and he had been neutered by someone and obviously left for dead. Other than that they didn’t know much. But whoever had done him in had to be one sick fucker.

Eleven Months Later

I loved making love on the sea. The sounds of the birds outside, of the waves slapping on the sides of the hull, and the gently rolling of the boat all make for a perfect experience. I listened outside, and even heard the sound of a small fishing boat as is motored nearby. Yeah, making love at sea is better than doing it anywhere else. I leaned over and kissed Matthew....letting my tongue slide into his mouth. He returned the kiss, deep and passionate. Afterwards, he smiled at me and then rolled over, spreading his legs and opening his ass. Hard to believe. Just a year ago I was married and fucking my wife, and worrying about the guys that were chasing her. Now I was divorced and the bitch had taken it all. She had the house, the good cars, and most of the money. All I had left was the Jackfish and the first mate. Still, that was enough. I still got to go fishing and fucking the eighteen year old wasn’t too bad. Funny how life turns sometimes.

I moved over and up on my knees and pushed my rock hard cock up against his hole. He moaned, and then the boy spread his legs farther apart apparently anxious for me to enter him. Yeah, the eighteen year old sure had a hell of a tight ass, and while it wasn’t a pussy it still felt damn good to fuck. I pushed in, and he moaned louder, and then as I went in to his prostate he arched his back and said “Oh...OH YEAH MIKE.”

I liked fucking him. He gave some good head too, and the boy could sure suck a mean cock. He was a natural there. A LOT better than my wife ever did. Yeah, sex with him wasn’t bad, and ever since we had snuffed my wife’s cute little boyfriend we had grown closer and I liked him a lot. Shit...I’m not really gay...I mean, I like pussy and I sure as hell think about it from time to time. But for now, the divorce had been damn ugly, and she had taken so much from me that it was almost enough to make you swear off women. Yeah, as I pumped my cock in and out of the boy I could feel my big balls swinging against his ass, and I liked the feeling and I liked it a LOT. I knew too that he was enjoying it as much as I was.

I could feel the boat rocking in the cove and the motion of the boat added to the enjoyment of the fuck. I loved fucking in the master cabin of my Hattaras. My wife had always hated doing it on the boat, at least with me. But not Matthew. He liked it here, and after the divorce and the loss of the house I had just moved onto the Jackfish with him and the two of us had been having a lot of fun since. Every weekend we did the same thing. We would leave on Friday after work and then fish the trench or the stream through half of Saturday. After catching the fish we would bring the Hattaras to this little private cove, where together we would spend the rest of the weekend laying in the sun and fucking our brains out before we returned to the port on Sunday evening. We were having fun, and this was our own private place and our own private world. He’s a great kid, and I knew it was more than a friendship now.

I picked up the pace and he started his grunting. I loved listening to him as I pushed my cock all the way in until the head of my dick banged his prostate. I could feel his little walnut sized organ deep inside of him, and I liked the feeling of pushing against it when I pushed in deep and hard. I reached around and grabbed his teenage erection. He gasped when I took his cock, and then I started working my fist up and down...sliding it over his pole and working the end as I fucked his ass.

Suddenly, it all just came together at the same time, and I yelled and he yelled and then I was flooding his bowls with my seed. He was grunting too, his jism shooting out of his cock and onto the towel we had spread on the bed to catch it. As he ejaculated I could feel the muscles in his ass gripping my cock like a vise, and his entire body seemed to spasm with his orgasm. It felt like the muscles in is firm ass were milking my cock as I came, and I just kept pumping into him again and again and again. Finally, I was done, spent and wasted, and as I collapsed into the boy he said “God, that was great Mike. Just fantastic! I love you dude....I do!”

“I love you too Matthew.”

Suddenly, I heard a noise, and I turned and when I did my face went white and the fear swept through me in an instant. I was staring at a living ghost....and he had to be dead but he wasn’t. Oh GOD he wasn’t dead at all! My mouth went dry, and I swallowed...my mind racing....trying to find the words to say.

Mathew turned too, and then he screamed: ‘AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God! Its YOU! What the....what are you doing here.....I thought you.....oh, hey....”

Then, his eyes saw the 44 magnum handgun staring at him, he said “OH SHIT!”

“Oh shit is right Matthew. Ain’t this special. So Mikey, turned gay have you? Fuckin’ your first mate now. Never would have suspected that Mike...nope....never would. You both need to listen, and not say a single word from either of you. Every word you say is gonna cost you one inch off your cock. You, Matthew, just lost an inch. You see, you are both gonna listen to me, and you are gonna do what you are told. Cause if either of you so much as breathes wrong I swear to God I’m gonna pull the trigger, and they will be picking up your brains in pieces if I do. Don’t give me an excuse to kill you, cause even though you deserve it its not what I want.”

I was staring at a living ghost. He had to be dead, but he wasn’t. No sir ree, sure as shit he wasn’t dead at all. I narrowed my eyes, and looked at him close. He looked a lot weaker than when I saw him last, and his body had lost the chiseled look it had the last time I saw him and had fished with his balls. Yeah, life had not been kind to him since then. Then I said “God. Its YOU!... I thought....I thought you were....”

“DEAD?” he said. “Yeah....well, I’m not NO THANKS TO YOU. You just lost an inch too.”

I swallowed. Had to wait for the right chance. There were two of us and one of him, and right now, with the gun pointed at us he had the upper hand. I knew I had to stay calm, and try to humor him. But he didn’t want us talking, and I figured perhaps doing what he wanted for now would be a better course of action. Then, as I looked at him, he reached down into a small bag he had set on the floor and pulled out a set of handcuffs. He threw them onto the bed between me and the boy. Then he said:

Mikey, cuff your left ankle to Matthew’s right. You guys are gonna stay close for a while, and I don’t want you running around.

I said “Hey...Gary....God....we saw you go under man. Shit. I was gonna fish you out but we didn’t see you again. Look...I’ve got some money. I screwed it up...I know it and the bitch even left me after you di..... I mean, after it happened. I should have let you have her I guess...Hey, I’m glad you are alive Gary....I really am. I owe you. Please...”

“Quit your bullshitting Mike. That just cost you another inch. When I came up the last time I was by the bow, and you didn’t bother looking there. I could hear you laughing though. Yeah, that I’ll never forget. My fucking hands were ziptied, and I couldn’t get back in, and then you cranked her up and left me for the sharks with my missing prick pouring my blood into the sea. If I were you right now I wouldn’t talk anymore and just put on the cuffs where I told you to.”

I swallowed. The truth cut me to the core. Then I said “Gary...please man....stay calm here...OK? I’ll pay you man!”

“That’s three inches you owe me now.”

Mathew was shaking, and I could feel his fear next to me. I swallowed, and tried again. “How much Gary. I know its been shit for you...how much money you want?”

“Mike, you have now lost four inches off your dick. You wanna lose it all? Keep talking and you soon won’t have a cock left.”

GOD. What to say to that? He motioned with the gun, and I took the cuffs. Shit. Not much choice...he was too far away to jump....and I was naked and my options were limited. What the heck? I took the cuffs, and snapped them closed around the boy’s ankle...and then around my own. I looked to the boy, and smiled. He had tears in his eyes, and he was afraid...very afraid. I guess we were in this together, and that was something.

Gary reached down and took out three more pairs of cuffs. He had some green dots painted on these, marking them for something. He tossed them to the bed. “OK, now cuff the boy’s wrists to the rail, and then cuff your right hand to the rail behind the bed. I want both of you cuffed to the rail so we can talk and you guys won’t try anything stupid.

I swallowed. Around the cabin was a steel rail that was used to hold onto in rough seas. It was solid and built into the boat and was as much a part of the hull as anything. I knew if I was cuffed to it I would become a part of the boat and my options would disappear to nothing. Still, with the gun in my face, what choice did I have? I tried again, more desperate this time: “Hey...come on....don’t do this. We can reach a....”

“Shut up Mike. I don’t want to hear anything from you. Don’t make me gag you like you gagged me. I’ve got the same kind of ball gags in this bag, but unlike you I don’t want to use them. After a while they are damn uncomfortable. So, get the cuffs on now.... By the way, your little outburst means I get another inch. Five inches is a lot of cock to lose. If I were you I would stop talking or your cock is gonna look like mine.”

Matthew was whimpering....literally shaking with fear. He was looking at me for guidance, and what could I say. Fuck. This was bad, and yet I wasn’t getting anywhere. It was clear that he had planned this for quite some time. Hell, he must have been planning it since he was in the hospital. He had his bag of tools and toys and whatever else he had. I was trying to think. THINK! God....Gary had said he didn’t want us dead, and that was at least something. I took the cuffs, and put it around the boy’s wrists and then I hooked him to the rail.

“OK. You next. Cuff your right hand to the rail.”

I swallowed. God. I did it...what else could I do? As soon as it snapped closed he put down the gun and came over. He checked all the cuffs, and then he took another pair and grabbed my left wrist and pulled it up to the rail, where he secured it. They too had a green dot painted on them. I felt so helpless then...sitting on the bed with my back resting on the wall....my two arms spread out to the sides and nothing I could do. I knew I was in trouble. God...what was he going to do?

Next, as I watched, Gary reached into his black bag again and pulled out some rope. This time he went to us and began to tie our legs out.....so that soon they were lashed down to the footpost of the bed. I was spread eagled, as was the boy. I was more vulnerable than I had ever been in my life. My lip was quivering, and Matthew was literally crying like a kid.

Next, I saw Gary pulling out some chain and some padlocks. He had quite a few, and all I could do was watch him. I had no idea what he had planned, and I had no idea how to make him change his mind. I knew at this point if I tried to talk he would gag us both, and then I’d be totally out of options and about as helpless as he had been in the chair. And so, I just watched, as he took out the locks and went about his tasks.

First, Gary took the chain, and laid it out at our feet. It was about fifteen feet long. It was a thin chain, like they have on kids swing sets, and if you had a good set of heavy duty wire cutters you could probably cut it. I had just the pair down in the tool kit in the engine room. On the two ends of the chain attached to the last link were two big fishhooks. I recognized them. They were the big game hooks like the long-liners use. I’ve used them myself, when I’m out chasing the Black Marlin. They are big and almost as thick as a pencil. I could see that they had had their eyes opened and the chain had been inserted, and then the eyes had been bent back and soldered closed. The hooks were as much a part of the chain as was any link. My mind started to race, thinking of the hooks and remembering it when I had hooked his balls and tossed them to the fish. I tried not to think about it.

He took the chain, and at its midpoint he put it around the rail. Then, he took a padlock and locked the chain, so that it was literally locked to the rail that we were tied to. The two ends of the chain with their big hooks were free.

Then he said: “So...who wants to be first? I’ve got to chain you two lover-boys up, and it doesn’t matter to me which one of you I do first.

Matthew suddenly started babbling: ‘No...oh no..no no no. PLLLEASE, I’m only eighteen man....please. Don’t...don’t hurt me!!!!!!”

He laughed. “Well, I guess I’ll let you be first then since you are young and eager. You enjoyed the hell of it when I was in the chair and you were rigging the wires and hooks for your friend’s little sadistic fishing trip. You are one weird kid. Still, since I ask you a question I won’t hold it against you for answering. But no more talking, unless you want me to start chopping off your cock too.”

Matthew screamed....then bit his lip...afraid to speak...and literally shaking the bed with his fear. I looked to his cock, and it was half hard and looking scared and insignificant. Gary took a padlock that had a very long shank on it. I have seen them in hardware stores before, and the shanks have multiple catches and the length of the shank can be adjusted depending on what you are locking. As I watched, Gary slipped the shank of the lock through the chain, about a foot from one of the ends. Then he went to Matthew, and grabbed the teenager’s scrotum. As he did so, the boy jerked and the bed shook....and he tried to pull his legs together. He was struggling then against this bonds.....and I could see it was a useless gesture.

Then, as I watched, Gary took the padlock with the chain through it and slipped it around the boy’s teenage scrotum. Next, he pushed it closed...shoving the lock through the long shank with a click...click..click...and he tightened it up until it was so tight that it literally was crushing into his sack just above the boy’s balls. The youth’s two testicles were below the lock, trapped there and literally bulging out, huge and round. The lock opening was so small that there was literally no room at all and his scrotum skin appeared to come to almost a single point within the lock. It was immediately obvious to me that the lock was around his balls and the opening was so small that without the key thee was no way to remove it.

He came to me next. I tried not to show any emotion. I had to fight to stay calm. Like he had done with Matthew, he took the other end of the chain and about a foot from the end he dropped it through a second padlock, another lock with a long shank that could be closed tighter than normal. Then, I felt him grab my sack...feeling my balls and pulling down on them, stretching out the cords. I know my eyes were open wide, and the fear was real enough. There is something primal about feeling a man hold your balls and put them into something that is too small for you to take them out of. He pushed the lock closed, up against my scrotum, almost crushing the top of the sac. Below the lock, I could see my two testicles were bulging in their bag, stretched and hanging and supporting the weight of the closed lock above. It was a bad feeling. I was chained, literally, by my balls to the rail that ran through the room. As I looked at it, and calculated what it would take to get it off, the feeling of fear started crawling up my spine and I began to realize I was in serious trouble.

As I looked down, at the boy and then at my own trapped balls, my cock stirred and grew harder by the second. It was the last thing I wanted to happen, but it had a mind of its own and it went into a full blown erection in less than a minute. Likewise, Matthew’s dick grew too, the feeling of his trapped balls in the lock too much for him to ignore.

Gary laughed at our boners. Then, he took out a wooden ruler. That’s when he started to talk again.

“Lets see, the kid owes me one inch of his cock. You...well you...who can’t keep his mouth shut, you owe me five inches now. I want to get this right.”

He went to me first, and gave my dick a few strokes to make sure I was rock hard. Then he took the ruler and laid it across my erection. I was as hard as I have ever been, and my dick measured out at 7 and one half inches. I’ll never forget that number. He measured five inches back from the tip and then he made a little dot on the underside of my shaft, right at that length. Then, well, then, he took the end of the chain and the big fishing hook, and as I watched he pushed it right up until the razor sharp point of the hook was pushing on the little dot on the underside of my dick.

I suddenly saw what he was going to do, and I started begging. I couldn’t help myself.....I HAD to do SOMETHING! “PLEASE...for God’s sake Gary...DON’T! DON’T DO THIS! I’m sorry...I know what I did to you was wrong. WRONG! Please........PLEASE MAN, please forgive me!”

He said “tsk tsk tsk Mike. I told you not to talk. That just cost you another inch.” Then, he picked up the hook and moved it another inch closer to my body and then pushed it back down and let the tip contact the tender underside in the new spot. Then, he grinned. I looked at him, eyeball to eyeball, and that’s when he shoved the hook in hard, and I bucked my hips and then felt the sharpest pain I had ever felt in my lifetime. I bucked and jerked my hips and screamed like there was no tomorrow....and he shoved that hook up from the underside and right through my cock, six inches back from the tip, one and a half inches from my body. I spasmed, and my cock started spurting. God knows why it did that! But I was shooting out a load of semen as he was working the hook through my dick. I screamed, bucked, and jerked. Next to me I could hear Matthew hollering for help and screaming as well as he bucked his hips and rattled his chain.

Gary was done in less than a thirty seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. He dropped my dick, and it was just throbbing....the pain intense....and it was bleeding. Not as bad as it could have been...but my dick was pieced with the big hook and I could see the huge barb jutting out through the top of the shaft. I knew immediately that there was no way I could take it out, even if my hands were free. It hurt a lot worse than anything had ever hurt me before...and my eyes were glassed over with tears. As I looked down, at my pierced dick and my padlocked balls, I could see the white spunk I had shot up on my belly and that was now lying, matted, in my pubic hair.

He went to Matthew next. I saw him take the youth’s teenage shaft, and lay the ruler up along it. His dick measured out at six inches. The teen had a much thinner dick, more the dick of a boy really, and he made the mark an inch back, just behind the head, which was flared, large and purple. I couldn’t help but remember when I had made the first wire noose and put it around Gary’s dick not so long ago. Same spot. God.....and then, as I watched the boy screamed and Gary pushed the hook up, through the boy’s shaft and out the top, just behind the head of his pecker. Matthew was wild, thrusting his hips and fucking the air....his dick hard and eager and stiff. He just stared at it after that. His eyes were glassed over and he just stared and stared, and as he took in the hook and the barb and the hole in his dick he just seemed after that to be whimpering continuously.

Gary left then. He was gone about thirty minutes, perhaps more, and I had no idea where he went. I felt the pain in my dick and looked at the chain and let my mind wonder with the feelings of helplessness. I was thinking that if he left us here like this that someone might find us eventually....but this cove was pretty isolated and it might be a few days before anyone came aboard to check things out. Still, we would be missed on Monday and a few people knew about where we were. About the time my mind was working out the possibilities, Gary walked back into the room.

Gary stood at the foot of the bed. He had a huge grin on his face and I hadn’t seen him smile like that since I had seen him with my wife. We were staring at him....and as we were he unsnapped his jeans and pulled them down. He was wearing another pair of blue Tommy Hilfiger boxer shorts, just like the ones I had ripped from him less than a year ago. This time he lowered them slowly, and as he did I gasped.

His empty ballsac was pretty much the way I remembered it....hanging loose and empty and worthless. Still, an empty ballsac catches your attention even if you are the one who emptied it. Yeah, it was totally empty alright. But it was his missing cock that drew most of my attention. It was gone. He had a stub instead...perhaps it was an inch long, perhaps not quite even an inch. It was mangled too, and from the look of it I could see that the fish must have ripped it off. The cut wasn’t clean and it was apparent that the wire had crushed its way through his cock before it had finally separated. That probably slowed the bleeding somewhat, and perhaps it was the reason he had survived.

I could tell that his nub had been worked on though, and some doctor somewhere had tried to reconstruct a head of sorts, but it was all mangled up and the little stub didn’t look much like a dick at all. It just looked more like a knob, with a flat end and a piss hole to match. I could see some scars above it too, where the doctors had to have made some repairs inside. He was basically cock-less and ball-less and just looking at him made me sick. His pubic hair was missing too. I don’t know if he had shaved it off, or if it had been shaved off for surgery and just had never grown back. I had no idea...but with nothing but a flat nub for a dick and without his balls he looked like a little boy instead of a twenty-four year old man. In fact, he had picked up some fat and lost some muscle, and it was obvious that life without his balls had not been good for him.

I felt terrible. I had ruined the man, and used my boat to almost kill him, and then had left him for dead in the open ocean. Why? Because my hot young wife had wanted a hot young man? Shit....it wasn’t his fault! Oh God I felt like shit! How he survived I had no idea, and yet I knew suddenly that I was glad that he had.

I said “I’m so sorry Gary.” What do you want man?....name it. Money? Just tell me what you want!”

He pulled his pants up and zipped his fly. Then he spoke to me.

“Nothing Mike. Nothing. I’m going to leave you now. You took everything from me I’ve ever had. You took my cock. You took my balls. You tried to take my life with your boat. My bank account is empty, and I sold my car to pay off some of the medical bills. I don’t have shit anymore. Its funny, but you know, I never would have touched your wife if she hadn’t begged me to. She wanted me, and she asked me to fuck her and begged me to give her something she said she had been missing. I made a mistake. But hell, you’re almost fifty and she was twenty-three, the age I was a year ago, and she told me the only reason she married you was to get your money. You have no idea what you turned my life into. No idea....but you will.”

I answered him “Gary....I want to make it up to you. I was wrong. I’ll do anything, and I mean that. ANYTHING.”

He went to me then, and took a key and unlocked the handcuff on my right wrist. Then he dropped the key on the bed, and I picked it up and looked at him. I couldn’t figure the expression. Was he letting us go? As I was looking at him he went to my desk then, where my pants were hanging over the chair where I had taken them off before I had gone to make love with Matthew. As I watched, he took the knife off my belt, and for a second, I felt fear like I had never felt fear.

Gary opened the knife and ran his finger along the edge. Then he said “You know...this knife of yours.....it hurts like hell when you use it to take a man’s balls. Yeah...it hurts like hell then and I will never forget it. I don’t think you will either.”

Then, he tossed the open knife towards me, and I thought he was trying to stick me with it. GOD, it landed right between my widespread legs, next to my padlocked balls and missing my nuts by only a few inches! I know I sure jumped as the knife sailed through the air. It was close! There is something about an open knife landing between your legs, when they are tied out wide and exposed, that can make your heart skip a beat. Still, I had thought for a second he was going to use it on me...but then apparently he had changed his mind. I took my free hand and picked it up.

Gary then went to the door, and turned back to me. Then, he spoke his final words to us.

“Well, you two lover-boys have fun. Don’t ever forget me, or what you two did to me. I’ve let you live. In fact, I’m leaving now and I don’t plan to bother either of you ever again. I just hope that after you think about all of this and what I could have done, perhaps even should have done, then you will learn a lesson and do something worthwhile with your lives. I know I sure plan to. Good-bye.”

Then, he walked out the door, and, leaving it wide open, he was gone.

I breathed a sigh of relief. We were alive! I didn’t waste any time. I took the key and unlocked the second handcuff, the one around my left wrist. I unlocked Matthew’s wrists too, and then I tried to unlock our feet. The key didn’t fit the cuffs our ankles were sharing, and I noticed that pair of cuffs didn’t have one of the green dots on it. The key didn’t fit the padlocks either. I untied the ropes, and freed our legs. I started to look over the chain, and to study the rail. I figured there had to be away to get out of this, but as I looked at my balls trapped in the lock I wasn’t coming up with anything I wanted to contemplate.

I heard a small motorboat outside then, probably the same one I had heard earlier and had ignored. I figured it was how he had got here in the first place. As it motored off and the sound drifted away I knew he was gone. We were free, sort of we were, but not totally because we were still chained to the rail by our balls and cocks. So, he said he had “let us live.” Perhaps he was hoping we would be discovered this way. Perhaps he figured that the hooks in our cocks were the real lesson and maybe he had just wanted to make a point. Still, we weren’t free yet, and I’d have to think my way out of this and that would take a while. But at least my heart was beating slower, and I was beginning to think that everything would be OK. Hell, the hooks through our cocks could be removed, and the holes weren’t so big they wouldn’t heal.

Matthew was leaning over, looking at his balls and the padlock that trapped them. “My cock hurts so bad Mike. God....the fucker put the hook all the way through it. “

It did hurt, yeah like hell it did....but I knew they would heal once we got the hooks out. I had more pressing problems. I studied the chain, and the locks. Perhaps I could pick the locks with something, or maybe try and get the rail off the wall. If I had a way to get to my wire cutters I could cuff off the barbs and back out the hooks. All I had to do was get to them. Of course, the problem was they were in the hold with the engines. At least I had a knife, and I could perhaps use it to undo the big screws that held the rail to the wall. It might take me a few hours or maybe even a day, but I could probably get it done. Perhaps I could cut the chain with the knife. That too would take a while, but it probably could be done if I worked at it long enough.

I was trying to THINK, figuring my options, when I heard the pencil roll across the nightstand, and then drop to the floor. In that instant, everything changed! As I looked over at what I had heard, my throat went dry. The glass of wine on the nightstand confirmed my fear. I knew as soon as I saw it that we were in a lot more trouble than I had realized. We were listing! The boat was leaning, perhaps as much as six or seven degrees already, and OH GOD the fucker had obviously opened the two stern plugs and had let in the sea. My boat...OH GOD..my boat was sinking!

Mathew saw the look on my face, and said “What’s wrong? What? What’s WRONG MIKE?”

I looked to him and with a quivering voice I said “THE BOAT....OH GOD THE JACKFISH! We are sinking Matt....we are sinking.....she’s got a small list going now and its gonna get worse FAST!. We gotta get to the engine room and get the bilges going or I’m going to lose her. If he opened both stern plugs she’ll founder in less than twenty minutes. They are almost four inches in diameter!”

That’s when it hit me. The knife. My own knife. My balls. My dick....what he had meant by him taking six inches. Of course. I should have seen it earlier, but in my fear I had not thought it through. Sure, I could get loose. Just take the knife, cut off my balls, my own balls, and then, after I castrated myself then I could take off my own cock too, right behind the hook. Yeah, take the tip off six inches back, and then, after THAT, after I had unmanned myself, I could go and save my boat.

God!

And if I didn’t do it...couldn’t do it....then I’d drown. Drowned by my balls sure as shit I would. I looked to the ankle cuff. Shit. He had thought of everything. Since we were cuffed together, we would have to go together, and that meant the kid was gonna be without his balls too or we would both drown. No other way.

I burst out laughing then...a long delirious laugh, a cackle almost that scared Matthew to the core.

He looked at me, and then I turned to him. It was all crystal clear to me, all of it.

“Matthew....we are getting what we deserved. We took his balls man. We did. We cut them off and fed them to the fish, and then we took his cock too. You rigged the lines and helped make it happen and you are just as guilty as me. We don’t deserve to have balls not now we don’t. Nope, not after what we did we don’t. You know it and I know it. And that’s just what he’s done. If we want to live we are gonna have to cut them off ourselves soon or we are gonna drown.”

The boy looked at me, and then looked down at his balls. He tugged on the chain.... hard, and he grunted as the chain pulled on his padlocked balls. There was a crash, off in the galley, as some glasses somewhere hit the floor. The boat was listing more, and I knew that time was short. His face went white, and he looked back at me and said “NO! I don’t want to lose them! It’s not fair....I can’t. I WON’T!”

“Matthew...we don’t have any choice. And you know what, we don’t deserve them either. He’s right....it’s payback time and we have it coming too. Yeah....you know it too and as much as I want to keep em I know he’s right and if he was me I’d be doing the same thing. God....OH GOD! I didn’t deserve my wife. I don’t deserve to keep the boat. I don’t deserve any of it.... We tried to kill him man! We cut off his balls and tied them to his cock and let the big fish drag him into the ocean. We are getting off easy Matthew. All we can do now is try and save the boat. Our balls and part of our cocks are already history.”

Matthew was in a panic...then he said “I don’t care about the fucking boat. I want to keep em Mike!”

What could I say? Then, suddenly, I had an inspiration. It was a long shot at best, but they say it isn’t over until it’s over. “Matthew, WAIT! I’ve got an idea! What if we cut them off, pack them in ice, and then rush to the hospital? They can sew them back on if we do it fast enough!”

My mind raced with the possibility. Perhaps. It was unlikely Gary had considered that. It was a wildcard, but still it was something to shoot for. At full speed the Hatteras could make port in less than an hour. If we got on the radio they might get to us even sooner, or at least have a medical team standing by. Time was of the essence, but if we did keep them on ice there might be a chance. Hell, it was our only chance and with that on my mind I picked up the knife and held it against my own dick. There wasn’t any doubt what I had to do.

I was shaking, and Matthew was whimpering. Time stood still, and I looked to the kid again and he was shaking then too and then he stared at me and the knife in my hand..

“I love you Mike” he said.

I looked at him and he was so serious. I nodded, and then I bit my lip and pushed the knife right into my own cock, against the hook. I started sawing it back and forth, but I didn’t get very far. OH GOD THEN I SCREAMED, and then I just stopped and my shaking hand dropped the knife and my entire body felt weak. I couldn’t do it....the blood was already going and oh GOD IT HURT just so fucking much! I grabbed the towel and held it tight around my dick...trying to stop the bleeding and then I was screaming and crying and squeezing my dick so hard so hard so hard. I screamed out at the top of my lungs “I CAN’T....OH GOD MATTHEW...I CAN’T!!!!!”

I bit my lip again and tried to get it under control. I heard more dishes crash in the galley. I knew if we didn’t get to the engine room pretty soon, the twin diesels would be flooded and I’d never get them started. I had to do it...and now.

Matthew knew it too. He started ripping up the sheets.....rolling them tightly and then he took a folded strip and put it around my cock...at the base. I watched him, and then he said “HANG ON” and then, with a jerk, he pulled the sheet into a knot, as tight a knot as he could make. I almost fainted.

It was a good idea. “Quick...do my balls” I said!

I spread my legs, and he wrapped another strip of the sheet up above the padlock and against my body. He wrapped it and then, making the knot, he said “Hang on” again and then, he jerked it closed as hard as he could. I almost threw up....but FUCK.....the bleeding in my cock slowed and my balls turned bright red. I fell back then, and almost fainted. Then, I took the knife again, and this time I went for my balls first.

Matthew was holding a marker pen, and as I looked at it he put it to my lips. I opened and took it, biting into it, and as I bit it then I did what had to be done. It was the single most painful thing I’ve ever done, and as I took the knife and sawed it through my own testicles I knew I was doing it and I almost bit the marker in half. I was screaming into the self-made gag....screaming as I worked the steel through my own nuts. God it hurt! Bad!

I was bucking my hips almost as if I needed them to move with the knife to help me get it done. The kid was staring at me, watching me, and I could feel his eyes taking it in as I castrated myself. I bit down again even harder....and then I felt them starting to give as I sawed with the knife...the same knife I had once used to castrate Gary against his will. God! My body spasmed....I bucked my hips some more...and it seemed to be taking forever. I was desperate...trying so hard to complete my own castration before I passed out. I was working the knife back and forth and back and forth with a desperation I cannot truly describe.

The boy next to me started grunting, and I looked to him and was surprised to see that he was ejaculating as he was watching me do it. He was cumming as I was castrating myself! As I worked the knife the youth’s sperm literally was shooting out of his skewered cock with a vengeance. The first rope of cum hit me on the chest, and his second went across my hands as I was moving the knife. It was too much, and I screamed louder then. Finally, I pushed down with the knife as hard as I could and then my sack came free and the lock dropped off and my balls were in my hand.

I was breathing hard, deep and trying not to faint. I still had my cock to go and I wasn’t sure I could do it. Then, somewhere below, I heard water, and then the wine glass on the nightstand toppled over and hit the floor, making a mess. Shit! I took the knife and grabbed my shaft....and it was rock hard in spite of the deep cut and I remember how that surprised me. Then, putting the knife right behind the hook, back in the cut that was bleeding, I looked down and that’s when I froze. The knife was under my dick and I was staring at my cock and I could just imagine the stub I was about to turn it into. I would be all but dickless! Hell...I knew I had no choice but it was a terrible feeling. I swallowed hard and then I pulled with all my might. I saw a fountain of blood, shooting out, and Mathew vomited. My dick was still hooked like a skewered hotdog, hanging on the chain, but I was no longer attached to it. God! I almost passed out then...the room tilted and I was weak and dizzy. I grabbed the towel we had used to catch Matthew’s spunk earlier, and ripping off a strip of the heavier material I tied it around my own cock on top of the rag Matthew had tied earlier. Then I pulled the ends as tight and as hard as I could, and then harder still, until finally the bleeding slowed and then stopped.

I had a flashback as I did it.....remembering Gary’s cock after the fish had taken the end, and how I had been thinking at the time that he couldn’t pee if he wanted to. I remember laughing because it didn’t matter. I knew as I looked at my own tied stub that taking a piss right now was also impossibille. This time I didn’t laugh at all.

Still, I was free!

I felt the list of the boat, and knew it was filling fast. My eyes were watery, and I was on the edge of losing it altogether. I put my hand on the kids back, who was still bent over and retching out his guts over the side of the bed. Finally, he finished, and then, as he looked back at me with the shit dripping off his chin I said “Matthew...I’ve got to do you now. Then we can save the boat, pack our balls in ice, and get to the hospital.”

He started crying, yet he nodded. He knew too what had to be done, even though he personally wasn’t strong enough to do it. Then he closed his eyes. I was hurrying....grabbing the towel I ripped more of it into strips and used them to tie his cock and then his balls. He didn’t cry out when I did it....just whimpered and stood there with tears coming down his face. When I jerked the knots tight he grunted, but other than that the teen held it together.

The, I grabbed his balls...and pulled them out. At only eighteen, his sack was softer and more delicate and you could tell it was a bag for a boy. I was calmer now...and took the knife and put it up under his sack.....directly under it and next to the metal of the lock. With my left hand pulling out on his sac, I looked at him and his closed eyes and his fists that were clinched. It was time. I didn’t hesitate, and just jerked my right arm as fast and as hard as I could. The knife went clean through his tender sack with a single pull, and as he bucked his hips and grunted it was done.

When I grabbed the chain he screamed....his sensitive cockhead with the imbedded hook was obviously so painful that nothing else mattered anyway. I took the tip in my right hand, and pushed it down on the bed and the towel. Then I laid the knife right next to the hook, angling the blade so that it would cut as close to the hook as I could. He was crying now.....and then I said “Hang on buddy.....NOW!”

As I said that he tensed, just as I pushed on the blade and sawed it back and forth, working it behind the head of his dick with as much speed as I could come up with. As I was cutting the head off his dick another little shot of semen came up and out of the end, then along the knife as I as making the cut. He grunted and screamed at the same time, and I held him and tried to be as fast as I could. In less than three strokes of the knife I had shortened his cock by an inch. More importantly, it was done and we were free.

I literally had to jerk the boy up to get him moving. He just wanted to lay in a ball and cry, and we had no time. I shook him....and he looked up at me, and I slapped him in the face to get his attention. He nodded, and then we half tripped, have ran out of the open bedroom door and down the hall to the aft deck. He wanted to get our balls and take the severed cocks with us, but I knew the first priority was the engines and the boat and the openings in the hull. After that we would have time to get them off the bed and ice them down and then head for town.

It was tricky running with our ankles cuffed together. I was heading for the engine room, and he had made the turn to the galley, to get the cooler and the ice for our severed organs. If time wasn’t so critical our movements would have been hysterical. As it was we tripped into a ball on the floor, and I almost feinted from the pain. My entire groin felt like it was on fire!

I grabbed him then and jerked him to follow and we arrived at the aft deck about a minute later. As soon as I got there I jerked open the engine covers and jumped into the hold, dragging the quivering teenager with me. As we hit the salt water it stung so fucking bad....the boy grabbed his crotch and tried to climb out. With our ankles cuffed together I fell backwards and went into the water to my neck. I got myself up and standing again and then I spun him around and slapped him, harder this time. Then I looked him right in the eye to get his attention. When I had it, I spoke and he listened.

“Matthew....we don’t have much time. WE HAVE to stop the flooding....then get the engines turning and after that we will get topside, collect our manhood and get it in the cooler. We’ve got less than 15 minutes...maybe half that so we can’t pause for anything. So you gotta HELP ME.....OK? OK?”

He was crying and the tears flooded his face. But then he nodded his head, and said “OK!”

After that we moved as a team. I found the bilge switches, and I threw on the starboard and port pumps. They were high capacity pumps, and could push back the sea even with the stopcocks fully open. But, when I threw the switches, nothing happened! What the fuck? I went for the fuses. I jerked open the panel...and my hands were shaking. I was hurrying. The bilge pump fuses were missing! I laughed. He was good. Oh Gary was very good and he had thought this out well.

I didn’t give up easy though. I popped the two high amp fuses out of the radar and oven circuits, and pushed them into the empty spots where the bilge pump fuses were supposed to be. Then, I flicked the two toggles again...and NOTHING! OH FUCK! I hit the panel with my hand....SHIT! What the fuck had he done? I HAD TO GET THE PUMPS GOING!

We ran back to where the pumps were, back into the hold again where the water was waist deep and rising. Matthew was right with me, as if he had a choice, and we were figuring out the running and working on keeping our one common leg together. I reached down....went down underwater then and felt the pump on the port side. As I did so a sick feeling seemed to just overwhelm me. He had pulled the wires off the pump...just pulled them right out of the pump housing and he had destroyed the pump in the process. OH FUCK! There was no way to fix them in the time I had if they could be fixed at all. I looked to the night sky and cursed him. The bright stars answered me back, vivid, clear and bright.

I went to the sea plugs. On the Jackfish they were opened and closed by two worm valves, and were normally closed except in drydock. I went to the port plug first, and I was actually surprised when I grabbed the handle on the port valve and cranked it close, shutting out the sea. I was breathing. If I could close the starboard side I’d be home free.

Matthew and I sloshed our way to the starboard side and I fumbled for the handle for the other valve. GOD! IT was MISSING! Oh shit the fucker had taken the handle! Fuck! Oh FUCK! He had taken the starboard handle off the fucking valve! I would need a wrench to turn it, and that was in the toolbox.

I felt like he was playing with me, as I fought the sea and waded forward to where I kept the tools. We were both bleeding....I could see the rising water and it was stained with our blood as we sloshed through it in our desperation. I saw the toolbox...and my heart went to my throat. The drawers were missing! Oh the feeling when I saw the empty spaces where the drawers that held my tools were supposed to go. He had taken the drawers out one by one and most likely carried them topside and dumped them overboard. I had no tools, and without tools I couldn’t turn the valve or stop the sea.

I felt the feeling of dread....water was coming into my boat and I couldn’t figure a way to stop it. Suddenly, it hit me. The engines ran with a closed loop fresh water system. If I cut the rubber intake manifold and rerouted the output line I could turn the engines into a pump and that might do the trick. I didn’t waste any time. Using the knife I reached down and cut the rubber intake manifold for the starboard engine. It was thick rubber, and it did not cut easily. Finally, I had it loose and then I let it drop into the bilge. I cut the return hose next, and then just pushed it up and shoved it out one of the bilge vents. Now, if I could just get the engine running, then it would suck the water from the bilge and dump it overboard as it ran. It might be enough.

I looked to the port engine but with the port list it was already mostly under water. There wasn’t a chance in hell it would start and I didn’t bother wasting time on it. We ran forward then....and I was out of breath as I reached the wheelhouse. The fucking key was gone....he had obviously taken that. I opened the third drawer down, where I kept the spare, and pulled it out and shoved it in the ignition. I turned the key and prayed....and I heard the starboard engine turning below.......then, it started... OH GOD IT STARTED! When it did the generator kicked on line and all the running lights came on and the boat lit up like a city, turning the night into day.

I tried the port engine anyway....and it turned and turned but it wouldn’t hit. I revved up the good motor and we ran back to look. We could see that my idea was working.....the water was being pumped overboard by the engine! The big diesel was sucking in the water out of the bilge, running it through the engine, and then pumping it overboard. We watched for a few minutes, and we could see that even with the water coming in the engine was pumping it out faster and the overall water level was going down, and for the first time I knew we might save her.

I flipped the radios on, to make the call, and the dials came to life with the power application. I reached up and ..............oh FUCK....the fucking microphone was gone! GONE! I looked around for it, but then I saw the broken wire where he had just jerked it out.....and without a microphone I had no way to call anyone.

OK. OK. THINK! We had an engine turning, we were pumping out the boat, and now we needed to get our dicks and our balls on ice. If we could do that, I could probably make the port in a couple of hours, even on one engine, and that might be fast enough. It would be close, and I knew it was marginal but hospitals can do amazing things these days.

I upped the idle slightly on the engine, and I could see we were gaining on the sea...pushing it back. We were both smiling. We were near the galley, and we hunted all over for the damn cooler. It didn’t make any since he would have taken that! Shit...we couldn’t find it, and I always kept it there. Now, it too was missing. Shit...well, we could use something else if we had to. Hell, we could just put them in the frig! I should have thought of that earlier!

I jerked open the icebox to check the ice and that’s when I saw that it was EMPTY! More than that, it was off and there was no power to the door light. Oh FUCK! What got my attention though wasn’t the missing ice. Instead, there was a note, and it simply said “No balls allowed.”

Matthew was stunned when he saw the note. Gary was taunting us...hell, he had thought of everything! Then, suddenly, the big diesel started to die....it just slowly lumbered down and then the rpms were dropping off and I looked to the console and saw that the “WATER” light was on. Oh God...there was water in the fuel! The fuel tank had water in it...oh what had he done???? Suddenly and forevermore the big diesel engine lumbered down and then, oh God then, it stopped and everything went quiet. As it did...the lights flickered, and the boat went dark. The emergency lights came on, and a strange eeriness came over the boat. I could hear the sea lapping on the hull, and then, with the water still pouring in through the starboard valve, she slowly shifted the list and rolled gently to starboard. For a second, I thought she might go over.

Matthew said “Lets get our balls....Mike. Please....even without the ice we can try.”

I looked to him....and if he hadn’t been so cute I would have just laughed. Still, we had to go by the bedroom on the way out, and we needed to get to the raft and get it inflated. I nodded, and we headed down the hall....and then, OH GOD...then I saw that the door had closed. I knew, before I even turned the knob, that it was locked.

Damn! He was a lot smarter than I had ever given him credit for. With the starboard side flooding first now, the list went that way, and the door opened to the hall so he had known that it was sure to close when the list to the boat was great enough. By locking the door but leaving it open, Gary had pretty much assured himself that we would lock ourselves out. I had never even given the door a thought. I tried knocking down the door...but I was too weak and I knew it was hopeless. It was over, and I knew it. We couldn’t get to our balls or the rest of our cocks, still hanging on the end of the chain on their hooks like bait. And even if we could, there wasn’t any ice to put them on. And even if there was, the engines wouldn’t run now and we couldn’t go anywhere or use the radio to call anyone. Reluctantly, I knew it was all lost, just as sure as if we had tossed them overboard.

We never said another word. We went back out to the deck, feeling our way in the half light, and as I glanced up to where the raft was stored I could see it was missing. I swallowed....it was almost like he was having the last laugh and we were dead men. For a second I considered swimming for shore.....but it was 500 yards and with our ankles still cuffed together and our balls and cocks just open, seeping wounds I didn’t think we had much of a chance. Maybe it was a better chance than he had had. Maybe. As I let that thought sink in, I turned and looked aft, to see how much time we had left.

The sea was almost even with the transom. What caught my attention though was that the raft was tired there, just floating in the water, directly behind the boat, and Gary had already inflated it and left if for us. I laughed. I don’t know what I was thinking then.

“I’ve let you live.” he had said. And so he had.

It was time. The water was up to the transom, and all we had to do was just walk aft and step aboard. I was calm. He had been thorough, and I had tried, and hell, I deserved to lose it all and so I had. I felt for the boy more than for me. I had been his undoing, and while he had gone along with all of it in the end it had cost him. Well, he was an adult, and he had made his own decisions and now he too would learn to live with them.

I let the raft drift off the boat, and watched as the sea took her a few minutes later. She tilted, the bow came up, and hung there, hesitating as if she was tasting the air. Then, slowly, ever-so-slowly, my joy and my dream and my home and my love slid ever downward and then in an instant just disappeared into the sea. Matthew put his arm around me, and I felt the tears then take me over. I looked around the raft, and there was a first aid kit there, as well as the cooler we had hunted for in our desperation earlier. I opened it, and there were iced sodas and Jack Crevalle sandwiches and a note:

“Dear Eunuchs,

They say “Paybacks hell.” Well, you deserve it all. What you did, you did to yourselves. Live with it. I won’t let chance find you. Instead, I’ll send someone in the morning to pick you up, something you wouldn’t do for me. – Goodbye.”

This story © Copyright June, 2002. All rights reserved. Not to be copied without the consent of the author. All comments are appreciated, more than you can know. [email protected]]