Why

Are you holding this book?

Did I give it to you after you went sailing with me?

Did one of the Adventurers let you borrow it?

Are you a high ranking "Adventurer", relaxing on the deck of your schooner, riding at anchor in a picturesque lagoon in the Caribbean, reading this story about you and your fellow "Adventurers" for the umpteenth time?
Or perhaps you picked it up at an estate sale, twenty years from now.
I doubt that you found it in a book store. I 'm an adventurer, sailor, pilot, and air show stunt man but a writer, not really. Not that I can't tell a good story, it's just that publishers are picky about proper English, grammar, style and all that. On the other hand, I do believe in miracles so if you did (or do) buy this in a book store;
Thanks and may the rest of your life be a fantastic adventure.

Rayford Cogian



The Magical Product

The big god said to the little god, "I think I'll start a pyramid scheme and sell it to all the mortals."
"But, but, but," said the little god, "Isn't that against the great law?"
"Well of course it is. But I'll do it in such a way that no one can tell that it is a scheme at all," the big god got a far away look in one of his eyes and continued,
"First I'll start with a very magical product. That's a very important item in these schemes you know. Then comes the famous marketing plan, the one where you bring in two friends then they bring in two friends and so on, and so on, and, well anyway, that's basically how it works until there are millions bringing in two millions. That's when it really gets interesting. And it doesn't take long either. For my different levels, I'll set up manufacturing at the top, jobbing next, distributor, that sounds good, dealer, and user at the bottom."
"But, but, but ," interrupted the little god, "when all these millions and millions of mortals get these magic products, won't the market be saturated? Won't the millions who get in later have a hard time bringing in two friends and so on, because their friends will already have the magic product?"
"Don't be ridiculous," replied the big god, "now you're thinking like a mortal when you come up with crap like that. Long before that can happen my magic product will self destruct, and the mortal will already be so addicted to it that he will have to have another one and the whole cycle will start over again."
"So what will you call your magic product," asked the little god.

"Well," said the big god, " I think I'll call it Automobile."
Te'thys

The goddess of sail sighed a long sigh and a sad swirly breeze danced across the marina.
The varied collection of sailboats rocked gently at their moorings and the lone human looked up briefly pushing his wool, Greek fisherman's cap back ever so slightly. Then he returned to his task of scrubbing the teak toe-rail along the starboard side of the sloop. There was nothing out of the ordinary to see. No one else was around this day. Still for a moment there seemed to be a presence about. The mood passed as the maverick breeze faded.
This marina was more or less typical of many others, except much smaller, in that most of the boats were never or seldom used. Even on weekends, during beautiful weather the majority stayed in their slips.
The goddess of sail did not like this situation and it was getting worse all the time. Humans were building and buying more sailboats but were using them less.
Te'thys turned a small part of her attention to Mireathea, the reflection sprite, and communicated in some goddess like manner,
"Shimmering shadow one I think that it is time I stepped in and took control of the sailing vessels as I once did. Too long it's been since humankind was filled with the wonder, romance and adventure of wind filling flaxen billows."
"Please forgive my rude interruption of your eloquent reverie dear protector and director of all who sail upon the seas, lakes and estuaries, but flaxen billows went out with the ox drawn plow."
"Oh! I know that. In fact that is the whole point. Synthetic sails, fiberglass, smelly motors. Oh for the days when strong back strained on long oar when ere I withheld my sweet breath from canvas and sails lost their fair curve and fell to slapping and shaking in time to powerful strokes."
"I think you just got turned on by all those sweaty bulging muscles" Mireathea said mischievously.
"Careful now playful sprite, I might forget that your incestuous ancestors have bequeathed you an intellect somewhat lower than a river slug, but I am all forgiving. Besides, I have a place for you in my plan."
"Plan, what plan?" Mireathea asked worriedly.
"Why my plan to bring sailing back into prominence of course. I will do it and you will help me. Yes I can see it now, the old energy is coming back. Mira, men are going to raise their eyes to heaven and call my name again."
"And will sailors pitch coins over their shoulders into the water when they become becalmed like they used to before they quit obeying the old customs, so you will blow your breath across the water in a fair direction?" Mira asked.
"Yes"
"And do I get to keep all the coins in a secret place like I used to?"
"Yes, and by the way, where are all those coins that you used to get. There must be mountains of them in your old secret place."
Mira thought a while and then answered sadly, "I can't remember. It's been too long ago. But it doesn't matter. The fun is just in the doing. We'll have a great time again."





Rayford Cogian sat on the edge of the slip, feet over the edge resting on the cross member just inches above the water. An occasional maverick wave would wet the sole of his deck shoes. The slap-slap-slap of the water against the hull had a very hypnotic and relaxing effect on Cogian. The hull belonged to Cogian's 26 foot sloop "Pi-Seas."
The slightly abrasive polish gave satisfying resistance to the circular motion of the cloth against the hull as Cogian applied just the right pressure. He had been applying pressure for about an hour, representing progress of four feet along the sheer stripe from the stern forward.
At first it seemed as though someone had stepped onto the docks from the walk way. The yacht club marina where Cogian's boat was slipped was small, about sixty slips, and sometimes when it was still and no one else was around, you could sense a person walking onto the docks. Cogian looked up and around. He could see a good part of the docks. There was no one in sight. No cars in the parking lot except his own.
A shadow of ripples whirled across the cove toward Cogian. The ripples swirled in a vortex fashion. The air just above the disturbance shimmered slightly as it passed where Cogian sat. "Pi-Seas" shivered in her rigging and her ample freeboard forced her to strain against her lines. One by one the other boats in the marina joined in the dance as the zephyr moved along the docks and into the trees on the shore.
"This footstep like feeling was probably caused by the approaching breeze," Cogian thought. He looked up at the rigging, humming ever so slightly now, and pushed his cap back slightly. The sky seemed a darker blue and Cogian could sense tiny sparkles at the edge of his vision, like the last few flashes of a fourth of July rocket burst. Dark, deep, matronly, moaning sounds came from the moving of the dock planks as they worked against the wind. Hearty laughter did the rope halyards make and the steel wires clinked and tinkled as they played against the mast.
Cogian had heard the sounds of the marina before. The frantic storm sounds, the social sounds of the light breeze, the silence. This sound, this breeze that crept across the cove and murmured to the marina and it's inhabitants was different. When the little hairs on the back of Cogian's neck settled down and the sky returned to it's normal brightness, Cogian shook the feeling away and returned to his chore.
The polish ran down the side of the boat into the water at Cogian's feet. As he rubbed, he watched the cloudy mixture of polish spread into shapes like cloud pictures. There was a cow ,changing into a tree, no, now,"My god, there's a beautiful woman, with long wavy green hair and she's talking to me" Cogian thought. The apparition moved her mouth and her eyes flashed at Cogian as the sun glinted off of the dimpled surface. Cogian tried to blink his eyes but couldn't. Tried to look away, that didn't work either. Minutes seemed to pass and then another, fainter face appeared. It was younger, pixy like, slightly behind (under) the first figure. It too seemed to be alternately laughing and talking.
The boat moved away from Cogian a few inches. He was still leaning against it with the polish rag in his hand.. The movement brought him alert. He looked up, checked his balance then when he looked back down at the figures, they were gone. Only his own quizzical countenance peered back at him from the lake. Many times that day did Cogian look down, only to see normal reflections coming back. Once though he had looked up at the sky, whistling in an off hand way then jerked his head down so fast that his cap slid off his head. That time, he thought he caught just a glimpse of her again. But on closer inspection it turned out to be the reflection of the bow sprite of a neighboring cutter.
That evening as the Gemini chased Orion and Scorpio across the southern sky, Cogian lay in the cockpit seat, snug in a heavy sleeping bag. As his eyelids began to drift closed, a plan began to form in his half dream. At times he would seem fully awake, staring up at the night sky, but then he would suddenly snap awake with the plan slipping out of his conscious grasp like the last vibrations of lute strings at the end of a haunting melody.
Cogian wriggled out of his sleeping bag and climbed down into the roomy cabin. He fired up the alcohol stove and put water on for tea. By the time the water was bubbling he had made his bed and was ready to call it a night. The chronometer showed midnight.
Sipping on spiced tea, sleeping bag wrapped around him, Cogian contemplated his surroundings.
"Why was he the only one in the whole marina that was using his boat? Why weren't there people in all of these boats having fun just like him. In fact, it would be a whole lot more fun for me if there were other people out here," he thought, "I'll bet there are thousands of people who don't own boats that would love to do this." Cogian realized that he had made the tea a little strong so he poured some more hot water in his cup.
"You know," he said to the open hatch, "if I could get some people to come out here to the boat and try various aspects of sailing, some of them would have to like at least some parts of it. They wouldn't have to all be sailors. Some could just ride around and get to be outdoors and be with friends. Just spending the night like tonight is great fun for me and it might be for others too, even if it is pretty cold tonight. After all, I have my sleeping bag and my stove." Cogian freshened up his tea again and drew pen and paper from a cabinet.
The moon was low in the west when Cogian stuck his head out of the hatch for a little fresh air, and it was fresh. A glow in the east seemed to forewarn dawn, but it could have been from city lights twenty miles away. Mist rose quietly from the water in miniature self generated cyclones as Cogian turned out the light and fell asleep. A few minutes later the chronometer silently showed five A.M.





Fikes

For a man who had just lost his job, Rayford Cogian appeared to be pretty relaxed. He had spent the weekend on the boat as usual, but now he should be in his office, the cockpit of a corporate jet, doing Monday morning work five miles high. Instead he was raising the mainsail on the twenty six foot sloop as he motored out of the yacht club harbor into the main body of the lake. One other sailboat was motoring out from a marina across the lake. The mainsail and the boom it was attached to swung slowly across the boat and back.
"The wind must be somewhere else." Cogian said to no one and dodged the boom as he stepped from the cabin top down onto the cockpit seat then to the cockpit floor. He tied the tiller so it would be centered, then climbed backward down the companionway steps into the roomy cabin.
"Well, let's see what's for breakfast." he hummed a little song as he rummaged through the galley cabinets.

"Hello there in Pi-Seas." came a male voice from outside.
Cogian had listened to the approaching boat as he cleaned up the breakfast mess. Now he looked out through the port window and saw the hull of the boat as it pulled along side.
"I'll be right up." Cogian yelled as he secured the last of the dishes and grabbed his hot cup of tea.
"O.K. I'll just throw a line over your cleat if that's all right." the man said.
"Yeah, that'll be fine." Cogian said as he climbed up into the cockpit. "Hi, my name's Cogian."
"Marlan Fikes. Not much wind today for sailing."
"No, not yet any way. Want a cup of hot tea or instant coffee?"
"Thanks, I have one sitting here. Nice boat. Do you race her any?"
"Not at all." Cogian answered, "As you can tell, she's built for comfort, not speed."
"I'm disappointed." Marlan said, "I thought we might run down to that point, winner makes lunch. Of course there's no wind so we couldn't race any way."
"I can tell that's a pretty fast boat, and a good looking boat too." Cogian said. "It seems like I remember the name Fikes in the winner's column quite often in the yacht racing news. Any relation?" Both men laughed.
"Tell you what." Cogian said. "I was going to work my way down there any way and anchor in that cove where the stream comes in behind that point, so lets see who gets there first."
"What about the wind," Marlan asked.
"Oh, it ought to be coming up soon," Cogian said. Then he took a coin out of his pocket and pitched it over his left shoulder into the lake.
"You think that will do any good," Marlan asked.
"Sure. Especially since the wind usually starts picking up about this time."

Cogian chanced a glance back. Marlan was in trouble. His boat was much faster than Cogian's but also more tender. He had put up a huge lightweight foresail at the beginning of the race. Now the gusty wind was heeling him over so far that he was losing steering control at times. He couldn't let go of the tiller to let the sail down. He just held on. When Marlan's boat would straighten up a bit, she would accelerate and catch up to Cogian. Then a gust would knock her down and she would come screaming toward Cogian, out of control and pass close by, sometimes in front, sometimes astern of Cogian. At least so far.
Cogian knew that that they would ram together if he didn't do something to change their relative positions. As he thought this, Marlan caught another gust. His boat laid over until the boom was touching the water. At this angle of heel Marlan could not get enough rudder control. The sleek racer spun around and headed straight for Cogian.
Cogian put the tiller hard over and headed for the point of land. Better to run to shallow water if they collided. They could at least walk ashore if they were able and the boats wouldn't sink. The sound of the boat charging up from behind grew loud in Cogian's ears. Marlan's bow was going to hit his stern square in the middle of the transom, right where Cogian was sitting. Marlan's bowsprit raised up as if to slam down on Cogian, then stopped.
Cogian turned hard again to keep from running aground. Marlan's keel was at least a foot deeper than Cogian's. As he turned he could feel his keel also dragging through mud.
"Please don't hit a stump or big rock," Cogian said to the boat.

"Sure that grounding didn't hurt the boat?" Cogian asked later. The boats were tied to a tree as far up the creek as they could go. The wind shrieked high above in the treetops but there was not a ripple on the tiny creek's surface.
"Not at all," Marlan replied, "My keel swings back and up. It was a quick stop but no damage."

"That's the most awful concoction I have ever seen," Marlan said, looking at the sandwich that Cogian handed him, "what is it?"
"Tuna and Catalina dressing," Cogian said as Marlan lifted one corner of the bread to view the reddish mixture.

"You know it's a shame that a couple of old sea dogs like us can't make a living sailing like the sailors of yore." Marlan said between bites "Say this mess is pretty good, where did you learn to cook?" he grinned.

"Yeah funny you mention that" Cogian said "Not the cooking but the sailing for a living, I was thinking about that last night. Matter of fact I wrote down some ideas how I might just be able to do that. Kind of weird though, it just sort of came to me. It was like I would doze off and then another part of the idea would come and I would wake a little and write it down and then drift off again for a while."
"Hay that's great," replied Marlan. "I'd like to take a look at that sometime if you don't mind."
"Help yourself." Cogian handed him the papers. "I'll have to interpret some of the scribbles. Want another sandwich?"
"Sure and maybe some of that tea if there is any left."

"Listen, if you need any help with this count me in." Marlan handed the papers slowly back to Cogian after reading the whole manuscript, some parts several times. " I've been looking for something like this for a while but there is nothing like it that I know of. In fact I didn't really know what I was looking for until I read this. "You say you wrote this last night?"
"Yes" Cogian replied. "I really never gave it any thought until last night. I just became unemployed and came up here to mess about on the boat for a few days and get my head straight. I'm not used to the quiet and I guess my imagination got to working overtime but I will tell you this, I have a distinct feeling that this whole thing came from somewhere outside of my conscious mind."
"Well I'm not going to say that I'm glad you're out of a job but I almost wish I was because this is as about as excited as I've been about anything in a long time." Marlan took a slow sip of tea and made a face because it had cooled again. He noticed Cogian's eyes were a little droopy. "Listen if you put this thing into motion keep me in mind and I will help out in any way I can on my days off at least to start with. Who knows? I wouldn't mind being a full time sailor."
The slight movement of the boat brought Cogian alert as Marlan stepped over into his boat, slipped the lines and drifted silently out of the little cove toward the open lake.
"I'll see you later Cogian." Marlan yelled back. "I wasn't kidding about what I said. Give me a call."
Cogian watched the trim little racer catch the open wind and disappear quickly around the point. "Wonder what he meant by that." he thought.







Soliciting Restaurant

The pretty young waitress did a quick turn as she went around Cogian's table making her short skirt flair up exposing some white panty and making her dark braids fly around her head like a carousel of beads. She gave the fiftyish couple two tables away their check and accepted their payment by credit card. As the couple started to move toward the door Cogian got up and walked by them, then stopped and smiled.

"Hi there, say aren't you the folks that have the little sloop just down the dock from me at the Yacht Club Marina?" He asked.
"Well no." the man said. "would be nice but you might have seen us in here before."
"That's right." Said the lady. "but we sure wish we did have a yacht or a sailboat that you could stay on. So what kind of boat do you have?"
Cogian pulled a zippered plastic bag out of his back pocket and pulled some pictures from it. "Come on. I'll walk out with you and show you these pictures of my boat. Most people carry pictures of the grand kids but I carry these pictures of my boat and some of my friends that go sailing with me." Cogian continued to walk out with the couple as they showed interest in his pictures and sailing.
"My name is Cogian. Nice to meet you."
"We are the Bront's. I'm George and this is my wife Alice. Boy these are some neat pictures. That is a beautiful boat. How big is it?" George asked.
"She's twenty six feet, a very roomy boat with stand up headroom in a cabin that you can walk around in and has an enclosed head, er bathroom with shower and sink and so on."
"So can you spend a weekend on it and sleep and everything?" Alice asked.
"You sure can" Cogian answered. "And it has a private double cabin forward and can sleep two more on the seats in the main cabin. It also has a galley with stove and sink for fixing a good meal for the crew and there is tv if the sunset isn't everything you had hoped for" Cogian laughed.
"Well look folks," Cogian continued "if you are interested in sailing or just getting out on the water how about going out with me. I could sure use the company and it's always more pleasant not to mention safer than going out by myself."
" Gosh that sounds great Mr. Cogian. We'd love to do that."
" Fantastic." Cogian said. "And it's just Cogian, so how about next Friday? The weather is supposed to be beautiful and I was kind of hoping to go out about noonish. Do you think you could go or is that a busy work day for you?"
"No I'm in business for myself and I could get away then if you are sure that it's no trouble. Don't you think so hon? "
"Absolutely I can hardly wait." Alice answered.
"No trouble at all and in fact I would be grateful if you both would come along with me then. So let me give you some directions to the marina."

"So are they going sailing with you?"
Cogian sat back down where he had been sitting in the restaurant.
"They said they would Bridget. Next Friday about noon. Want to come?"
The waitress frowned for a second. "You keep on asking me I might some day. But it's not like no date right? I mean I got this ole boyfriend…. And .. well you know."
"Ask him to come along." Cogian said.
"He don't care anything about any sailboats." Bridget said.
"Besides, thursday is my night to work at the bar. That's when I make most of my tips for the week. Then I'll sleep till noon Friday so sailing is out. But keep asking ,if you want to."
"Can I have some more coffee?" Cogian asked.








The Bookstore

Elise rolled the heavy two wheel dolly of books to the science fiction section of the store. There he was again. The man smiled over the top of "A is for Asimov" and said
"Hi. Who are you going to bring with you when we go sailing?"
The man had asked her to go sailing before. He had shown her pictures of his boat. In all the pictures there were several people on board apparently having a good time.
Elise thought it would be fun to go sailing but had been a little evasive the last time they had talked. She had been reluctant to ask if she could bring someone else. That might seem a little rude. But now that he had brought it up ...
"Well." Elise said. "I'm sure my boy friend would like to come too.
"Fantastic." the man said. "When would be a good time?"

Ripples circled out from the center of a disturbance and brushed by "Pi-Seas" as she lay in her slip. The maverick breeze ruffled her sail cover and made the loose corner flap now and again like the clapping of a gleeful child. The murmur of the waves against her hull couldn't hide the mirthful sounds coming from under.






Jill Donavan

"Sir .... Hello sir .¦" The lady fell in step behind the man as he came out of the store and headed diagonally across the parking lot.
"Sir,can you help me,Sir?" The lady persisted, staying a few steps behind the man.
"Well have a nice day" the lady said loudly and stopped pursuing the man.
The man stopped, turned around and faced the lady. She was dressed shabbily but warm enough except for her feet which were covered with several pairs of socks.

"I'm sorry." the man said. "I didn't realize you were talking to me. How can I be of assistance?"
"I just got to town a few days ago." She began her story. "I'm supposed to meet my husband at the little motel down the road a ways. I don't have any money and the motel manager is going to kick my two little kids and me out if I don't come up with a week's rent."
The man could tell that the woman was much younger than he had first thought, maybe in her twenties or perhaps younger but she was street smart and tough.
"I'll take you back to the motel and pay the manager a week's rent" the man said.
The lady assumed an indignant look and said "Listen mister, I'm not that kind of girl. I appreciate the offer but I'm not getting in a car with any stranger. Please just let me have the money and I'll be forever grateful."
"How much is the rent?" the man asked.
The woman looked down to her right and thought "About a hundred dollars." She said.
"All right. Tell me the name of the motel and your name and room number and I will go there and pay your rent."
"That's not a good way to do it." the woman stammered. "My husband might find out a man paid my room and get mad,or the motel man might just keep the money and kick me out any way or.."
"I see your point" said the man. "Let me ask you something.
"Would you be interested in checking out an opportunity that might allow you to earn a good living and have a lot of fun at the same time?"
"What do you call a good living Mr?"
"Well considering your guts and persuasiveness I wouldn't be surprised if you were making a hundred thousand the first year. There is one catch though"
"I thought so. Lay it on me"
"You have to be perfectly honest with me. Other wise I couldn't trust you in the opportunity that I am referring to."
"OK you can trust me." She said off-handedly
"All right let's see if I can. I want you to tell me how much you average a day panhandling like this."
The woman screwed up her face trying for another indignant look then she thought better of if and relaxed.
"Oh what the hell. About a hundred a day."
"All right good" the man said "and how much do you pay someone to let you do this?"
"Half" She answered.
"Can you get to this address next Friday?" the man asked handing her a card.
"Sure I've got wheels and some better clothes.
"See you there then." The man said as he took five twenty's out of his billfold and handed them to her.
"Thanks mister. What's the catch?"
"No catch. I just don't want that motel guy to put you and the kids out on the street." The man said as he turned and walked to his car.
A slow smile came to the young woman's face. "What's your name mister?"
"Cogian. Rayford Cogian." He replied as he drove off.
"My name is.¦" She stopped in mid sentence as Cogian pulled into the traffic and disappeared. "Jill Donavan." She finished to herself.





Marlan's Decision

The Finney box company had been foundering when Albert Finney hired the new salesman. The fellow was fresh out of college. Bachelor of business from a small school in east Texas somewhere. Finney had seen the hungry look in the young man's eyes and hired him on the spot. What the hell, the way things were going, they would probably be out of business in a year anyway. Might as well give this young man a chance. All it could do, at worst, would be to give him some experience.
In the four years that followed, Marlan Fikes had indeed acquired a great deal of experience. The first year he managed to lose three of Finney's larger accounts. The thing was, those three accounts had bullied the previous account executive into giving them more and more discounts and concessions until Finney was losing money on them. The next year Fikes added enough new accounts to put the box company back into the profit zone. The third and fourth year he brought back two of the three original large accounts that he had lost in the first year but on a profitable basis. The third account had gone bankrupt and been absorbed by the other two. There were also two small government contracts, one of which was brought in by the new salesman that Fikes had hired recently.
Finney looked out of the cluttered room that he used for an office and plant control point. The sixteen foot square room had glass walls on the three sides facing the busy factory. One glass wall had a glass door that opened directly onto the factory floor. Another wall at the side had a door that led into the business office where three ladies were occupied with their duties. He could see almost all of his seventy employees at any one time. He could see Billy Plumber the janitor emptying the trim cans that were stationed every fifteen feet down the wide middle isle. He could feel the vitality and drive of the place. The whole area was well lighted by long overhead flourescents. Finney saw Marlan Fikes talking to the new salesman. He was evidently showing the new man how the cutting machine formed the panels on the packing boxes for the government job. It crossed Finney's mind again that he was going to have to do something to keep Fikes happy. Of course he wasn't going to make him a full partner or anything like that even though they had talked about it several times in the last couple of years. Sales Manager ,that would be a good boost for Fikes's ego and an over-ride on the new man's sales. Finney decided to tell Fikes immediately.
Fikes finished talking to the salesman and walked the fifty feet to Finney's office, opened the glass door and walked in. As Finney opened his mouth to say something Fikes handed him a regular white envelope.
"What's this?" Asked Finney.
"my resignation." Fikes answered. "It's effective in four weeks."

"Hay Cogian" Marlan Fikes said into the phone "You still doing your sailing thing?"
"Yes." Cogian answered. "In fact we are going out on our first sail with some guests Friday. Want to come along?"
"Sure do. and listen. I'm in, full time. O.K.?"
"Well sure but don't you want to try it for a while before you jump in full time?"
"Nope. Count me in for the duration for better or worse. I just quit my job. See you Friday."
"O.K. then and don't forget ,bring a guest."
"I'll bring a couple if that's O.K."
"Hay wait" Cogian said "I left the boat tied up at the dock at your marina the other night. Do you think you could go out a little early Friday and fill up the gas tank and sail over to the yacht club? That would really be a big help."
"Sure be glad to" Marlan said.
"Great. See you then."
Rayford Cogian put one boot up on the desk in front of him and leaned back. It was early December. By the end of the month if it kept going the way it was now there should be over a hundred guests. From these first guests would come the nucleus of what Cogian planed to be a great empire. An empire that he alone would control.
Cogian stood up, reached down and pushed the pre-programmed phone button that would dial time. His manner of dialing the phone was like his manner of doing everything else, very precise, very .. almost elegant.
This Friday was very important. There were eight guests scheduled but probably at least two or three wouldn't show up. If they all did show up it would be a little crowded but the boat was large enough to carry nine safely in mild weather. The weather was perfect. The plan was to meet at the marina, a small private marina owned by the yacht club of which Cogian was a member.
Another part of the plan was to use the yacht club marina for as long as possible until some money started coming in. This wasn't the cheapest marina around but since Cogian was already a member why not use it. Of course when the marina committee would find out about their facilities being used for another one of Cogian's enterprises there would be hell to pay. He would probably be asked to resign his membership but you never could tell what their reaction was going to be in any given circumstance.
"Time eleven twenty six, downtown temperature sixty four" the time machine informed Cogian after a brief message from the bank trying to entice participation in their I.R.A. "while there's still time".
Cogian replaced the phone in it's cradle and stared absently at his reflection in the picture frame on the wall. It was one of those oriental prints about four feet square with a foot wide mirror all the way around it. Even without the mirror Cogian could see his image quite clearly in the glass. A large boat, probably the artist's idea of a sampan, was the predominant feature except for the reverse image of Cogian looming up from the boat's deck as though he were an ancient god of the sea surveying his domain. Cogian reached down and picked up the wool Greek fisherman's cap from the desk and put it on. The ancient sea god reached down into the murky water under the sampan and smiling back at Cogian, placed a dripping black cap on his head.






Lawler

James Lawler saw the man approaching but didn't recognize him. The parking lot was only partly full. The auto parts store didn't care if you worked on your car in front of their store as long as you didn't scatter parts all around.

"Hi, I'm Rayford Cogian. Did I see you racing that big scow with the 26 on the side in the regatta at city lake Sunday? I was in the cruising sloop that you passed like I was standing still."
"No I'm afraid you have me mixed up with some rich guy" James said smiling. "If it had been me I would probably have been the one going the wrong way. I don't know the front end of a sailboat from the back. But it sounds like fun."
"Oh I'm sorry" said Cogian "Maybe you just look like a sailor and I mean that in the nicest way." Cogian grinned. He could see that the man was in a good mood and could take a little joke. "Well if you're going to go around confusing the front of the boat from the back, how would you like to go sailing with me and a few friends on Friday and see if you can get that straightened out?" Cogian waited expectantly ....
"You mean you want me to go sailing with you this Friday?" James asked.
"Sure if you want to" Cogian answered. "Here are some pictures of my boat." Cogian brought the sandwich bag out of his back pocket and shuffled through the pictures so the other man could see. James' hands were greasy from tinkering with his car.
"Oh wow that's a great looking boat. I bet you could live on a boat like that."
"You sure could. And I have used it as a bachelor pad a few times.
"Well like do I have to tell you now if I want to go?" James asked
"No. Here take my card and call me if you can make it. And if you can't we can do it another time. Oh there's a little map of how to get to the marina on the back. See the card folds open. And if you get right back to me you could bring a guest."
"Yeah, well that's another story. I don't guess I'll be bringing any guest." James said. "Any single girls going to be there?"
"I think there might be one or two but they may bring guests,or not. Who knows?" Cogian put the pictures back in his pocket. "Any way give me a call okay?"
"Sure" James answered "Say you know anything about carburetors?"








Blair Womack

Blair Womack threw her purse in the chair. Most of the insides were on the outside, laying in the floor around her feet. Most men and some women would be embarrassed if they were caught carrying some of the things she kept in her purse. She got up and walked around the rented coffee table then over to the only piece of major furniture that she owned, an antique china cabinet that her grandmother had given to her mother and in turn her mother gave it to Blair. Just as she was pulling out the fourth drawer, and starting to dump the contents on the floor she heard Lavon's car door slam. Blair counted to three and decided nothing was going to fall off Lavon's car because of the tremendous jarring effect of Lavon's door slamming.
The last time he had taken her out they went to a semi nice restaurant with valet parking. The parking attendant, a very cute college ball player type in tux couldn't get the car started. He told Lavon that he would have to park it himself down the street. Lavon got in and slammed the door. The left front headlight fell out of it's socket and just hung there, swinging bank and forth on it's wires about four or five times until they shorted out throwing sparks and going fuzzzhett.¦bzzzhhssffzztt
As they drove off down the street, Blair noticed a sort of tugging at her dress. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the door was closed on her dress and that part of it was outside the car dragging through the mud and slush of an Oak Lawn side street. Hell never mind the dress, that was no place to stop the car and open the door.
Blair was wondering if the cute attendant in the tux would remember her if she went back to the restaurant alone when Lavon stumbled through the door. His arms were full of boxes and sacks. He had evidently just been Christmas shopping. Just as he started to kick the door shut with the back of is heel his other foot sort of stuck on the carpet and he lurched forward yelling "woooaaaaahh" not quite able to get his feet to catch up until the china cabinet stopped the forward progress of his upper body. He broke into his silly boyish grin, the one that made the stews that flew with him go out with him even though they couldn't stand him most of the time. It wasn't that he was not likable or mean or didn't bathe but rather the matter of dependability. He was almost always late for dates or didn't show up at all and he very seldom had any money, a condition he blamed on his ex wife.
"Hurry, help me set these packages down." He said.
Blair grabbed a few of the top packages so Lavon could get his balance. They both sat down on the couch. Lavon put his arm around her and leaned his head back so that he was looking at the ceiling.
"I really hate to tell you this but I've got to run, and I mean right now. I'm already running late." Blair wasn't surprised that she felt just a little relieved that he wouldn't be around and under foot all day. "Oh.. I thought you were off for the next two days. What happened?" "I'm sorry hon I know you had something planned for us but Jerry, you know, the tall nerdy acting guy, well he called in sick this morning so I've got to take his flight to Cancun." Lavon got up, yawned and stretched his arms upward as far as he could. "Boy .. I sure wish I'd of known about this before we went to that luau last night." With that and a quick peck of a kiss Lavon scurried out the door.
"Be careful and call me when you get back." She called after him. The car door slamming brought a hint of a smile to Blair's lips as she closed her own apartment door. Then she thought she heard another sound like the sound of the last few turns of a coin that has been spun on a metal table top. Her smile broadened. She recognized the sound, a hubcap on pavement.
"Now where did I put that man's card that wanted to take me sailing?" She thought as she resumed pulling drawers out of the china cabinet.






Marlan The Sailor

Sailing, in it's true form is like getting something for nothing. The romanticism stems from the idea that, given ideal conditions, you could lean back in your little sailboat in Galveston Bay and sail all over the wet part of the world. This has been done of course, and will continue to be done as long as there is a puddle of water large enough to float a one man sailing canoe and a puff of wind to blow it from one side to the other,and back. Another exciting thing is that you can sail anywhere you want to no matter which way the wind is blowing, if you are willing and have the time, to sail some where else first.
There is an opening of about fifty yards from the end of the Pine Harbor breakwater to the rocky cliffs along the shore. That's plenty of room for two or more boats to pass as they go to or from the marina. The Pine Harbor Marina is a full service facility with gas, maintenance, restaurant and three hundred or so slips which are usually full. If you drew a line from the end of the breakwater, across the lake, to the mouth of the cove where the yacht-club marina is located it would be two and one tenth nautical miles long and run two hundred eighty degrees on the compass. Today the wind was light and from two hundred and eighty degrees.
The gas attendant gave Marlan Fikes the change from a ten dollar bill. "That'll be six dollars and forty three cents sir." Marlan took the change, thanked the man and walked out of the gas shack. He unwound the loosely wrapped lines from the bow and stern cleats, stepped over the gunnels, and in to the cockpit of "Pi-Seas". With one pull the old nine point nine horsepower outboard motor fired and raced to an ear splitting shriek. Marlan grabbed the twist throttle and idled the engine down to a steady "ticketty whing whing, tickety whing whing:. Then Marlan pushed off gently from the dock, waived to the gas attendant and slipped the trusty outboard into forward. It died. The old twenty six foot cruiser, with it's slab sides and high freeboard had plenty for the gentle breeze to grab onto. The boat nonchalantly drifted back to the dock. The resulting "kerwhump" probably didn't register on anybody's Richter scale but several heads turned. On the third start Marlan coaxed the gears into forward without killing the engine and eased away from the dock.
As Marlan approached the "cut" between the breakwater and the rugged shoreline he realized that he would have to tack several times to get to the yacht club marina since he was directly downwind from it. Of course the easiest way would be to just motor straight across but there was plenty of time and the rigging needed to be checked anyway. The best way to check the rigging is to put the sails up and let her fly.
"All right now lets put on our life jacket." Marlan said to himself as he prepared to raise the sails. Then he headed directly into the wind, tied the tiller to neutral and set the engine speed just above idle but fast enough so that it would run smoothly. "This deck sure feels slippery." He thought as he went forward to the mast. "Must need to get these deck shoes resoled." The mainsail went up easily but one of the jib hanks hung about half way up the fore-stay. He could see that he had twisted the hank when he hooked it on and it was binding. Marlan stepped forward toward the bow pulpit to get a better angle on the jib, to pull it back down. Even with the jib just part of the way up it began to catch a little of the light breeze. Since it is located at the very front of the boat this caused an imbalance which began to turn the boat to the left. As the boat slowly bore off, the breeze began to push on the right side of the sail and consequently heel the boat to the left. Marlan wasn't surprised by this but he was surprised when the breeze suddenly quit and the stable old boat shook herself upright. The sudden change threw him off balance. He put his foot back to catch himself but the patented non skid tread on his shoes just had too many miles on them. The pain, as his ribs hit the stainless steel rail of the pulpit made Marlan clinch his eyes shut and grimace. Little sparkles were exploding in his blurred vision as he forced one eye open. He looked into the water flowing smoothly past the beautiful, fine entry of the boat. From the bow pulpit of his underwater boat the Sea God grinned mischievously back at Him.
Marlan rested against the pulpit for several moments before trying to move. The jib sail flapped lazily as the boat eased further off downwind. No harm there. What concerned him now was his ribs.
"Was anything broken?" His right arm was draped over the rail. He moved a little.
"So far so good." Then he slowly put both hands on the rail and eased himself to his feet. He moved his elbows around in circles with his arms bent. No pain seemed to indicate that no great harm had been done. His life jacket had cushioned the blow, probably be sore as heck by tomorrow though.
With the jib hank turned around and refastened the jib rose smoothly to the top of the mast. A slight shove on the tiller and then a minor correction for heavy-handednes brought the bow to two hundred and thirty degrees true. Two tacks and twenty minutes later the main part of the lake disappeared from view as the boat glided into the yacht club cove. The yacht club marina was well protected from strong southerly winds which built up across the lake by the "S" turn the cove made. The marina was protected from the other directions by the small hill and trees that ran on three sides. By the time Marlan could see the vacant slip, which was "Pi-Seas'" Permanent home, he had the sails down and held tight by rubber bungees. There was a blond woman and a man wearing blue jeans and a light blue nylon jacket standing on the docks next to "Pi-Seas" slip. With the motor ticking over slowly Marlan brought the boat close to the empty slip. When he got almost even with it he turned hard to the right until he was going directly away. Then he slipped the motor into reverse, the forward motion slowed, a little more throttle, the boat stopped and started to move slowly, backward into the slip.
The motor on this particular boat was mounted like most sailboat auxiliaries, on the stern by method of an adjustable motor mount, that is one which can be swung up and down a couple of feet. The purpose of this arrangement is to let the motor be pulled up when not in use. That, of course being when the boat is under sail power. The unusual thing about this boat is that the stern rises about four feet out of the water. This means that in order to steer the motor, or adjust the twist throttle, the pilot has to lean way over the stern, jeopardizing balance, or swing the right foot over and place it firmly on the motor mount. It was in this position that Marlan decided to take another look at the blond. From this close he easily confirmed his first impression that she was an attractive woman, although she appeared to be somewhat older than he first thought. She had a turtle neck sweater that had an expensive look, like it had been worn many times but kept it's shape and texture. She did a lot for it. The slacks she was wearing were probably wool and gray. Marlan noticed that the wide smile on her ample mouth began to change to a frown of concern.. As he followed her gaze down to the level of the boat he realized why. The stern of the boat was fast approaching the end of the dock. Without trying to appear alarmed Marlan reached down smoothly and flipped the motor into forward. Of course it died.
There seemed to be some scurrying on the dock but Marlan was too busy trying to restart the motor in the two seconds he calculated were left before crunching into the end of the slip. The boat wasn't moving very fast but the motor could possibly be knocked off if it hit. The boat stopped. Marlan looked to see the blond holding one side of the boat. She was standing in a braced position with her feet wide apart, her body bent slightly at the waist and both hands on a lifeline stanchion. The man in the blue jacket had grabbed the lifeline on the other side of the boat. The lifeline, being covered with a white plastic tube, which looked like a long piece of spaghetti, just slid through his hands. "Whoa there" the man said and put his hands on his hips as though he had just leaped on a team of runaway horses and saved a damsel in distress.





Blair to the Marina

Blair looked at the mess around her. She had looked for the man's card in all the places she could think of. He had been sitting in "coach" on the plane and invited her to go sailing with him when she served his drink. For some reason she said maybe "just to be nice perhaps" but when he said she could invite another guest to come with her if she liked, she took his card and told him she would call him when she had a free day. He also showed her some pictures of his boat that he carried in what looked like a plastic sandwich bag. Probably a "come on" with a hard sales pitch at the end but Blair could handle any hot shot salesman. She had three cameras, a barbecue grill, still in the box, and a five inch t.v. to prove it.
Somewhere in a pseudo science fiction story Blair had read about a group of beings who go around in another dimension "setting up" things for humans in the dimension that we humans live in. That is to say if you reach for your comb in the bathroom they will have left it there for you. They just go around setting up reality for you. Of course each of us think reality is there all the time. Not so according to the story. Sometimes, according to Blair's recollection, humans do something that the beings don't anticipate quite right and this can cause problems. Like for instance Blair remembered distinctly putting that card in her purse. In fact she had put it in the little zipper section to keep it from getting torn. That had been the first place she had looked. It had not been there. Even the little amount of dirt and grit that finds its way somehow into deep recesses of purses had been dumped onto the floor. The zipper was open. She turned the purse upside down again and the card fell out onto her foot.
"Ah,Cogian, that's it" Blair said to herself. "Now I'll just give him a call and see if he still wants to take me sailing."

"That Mr. Cogian," Blair couldn't remember his first name.
"seemed like a real nice guy." She thought. Her white vintage, fin-tailed monster of a classic car whispered along the highway as though it had it's own guidance system.
Blair had lived on the coast as a little girl and watched the sailboats go out of the bay into the gulf. Since then she had wanted to have her own sailboat. So far she had only been sailing once for a short time with a guy she had met at a party. That had been in a little boat they had carried strapped to the top of his car. The wind seemed to be a little high for such a small boat but the young man assured her that he could handle it easily. After a shaky start it did seem that it was going to be a good sail except for the occasional wave that broke over the bow, soaking them both. The soaking seemed to really make it more fun and they were laughing and splashing water at each other with their hands from the bottom of the little boat when a strong gust hit and turned them over. It would still have been fun except that the mast got stuck in the mud and they weren't able to find the sail, as it had come off. Funny, that fellow never did ask her to go sailing again.









Ernestine

The stain on Ernestine's apron spread slowly turning a section of the white lace a dark red. The little daises which she had embroidered on the front flap didn't entirely escape either.
"Oh heck, heck, heck" she said getting a little louder with each heck and backing away from the drain board in little steps until her back touched the solid edge of the washing machine. Her eyes went from the strawberry juice slowly dripping from the drain board to the highly polished linoleum floor to the apron to the half pint size container laying on it's side. Her mouth made an "O" and then relaxed into a child-like smile. At times like this she could hear her special education teacher, Ms. Blum "When you make a little blunder just smile, clean up the mess and go on with your work." Ernestine hummed a little tune while she took off her apron, wiped up the mess with it, threw it in the washer, put another one on and continued cooking dinner for her and Billy.
Sally Bell had thrown a fit when Ernestine told her that she and Billy Plumber were going to get married.
"How can you even think of such a thing?" Sally walked around the living room of their large old house. Her handkerchief daubing at somewhere just under her nose.
"I know Billy's a nice young man and smart too but I just don't see how you think the two of you can make it." Sally would walked quickly to a table, wipe at some imaginary dust, then walk back across the room to another piece of furniture, daubing the hankie at her nose as she went."
Sally sneezed.
"And what about children?"
"We've talked to Dr Morrison, You know, down at the clinic." Ernestine stood with her hands behind her back, lace up high top shoes twelve inches apart, and looked at her mother's apron belt. Her voice was low and as steady as she could ever make it. Her mother knew that this was not a stance of weakness, but rather one of stubborn determination. She also knew that Ernistine and Billy were not people to do something as important as getting married without much thought and consideration of the consequences. It was just that the idea was so new to her.
"Listen honey", Sally put her hand on her diminutive daughter's shoulder, "I guess I've known this was going to happen ever since you and Billly met at that driving class. Well I guess I should be thankful that you at least picked one that actually got a license." Ernestine put her arms around her mom's waist as far as they would go, then they both sat down and began to plan out Billy Plumber's future.

The Plumber's old car sat outside in the driveway that ran up to their apartment. The apartment had been built inside the garage twenty years earlier by the owners of the property. They had used it for the woman's mother to live in and then later had rented it out for some extra income. After looking at about twenty or so similar apartments, making offers on several, Ernestine had made a deal on this one. She not only had made a good deal on the rent but got it reduced even further by about twenty five percent by paying six months rent in advance. The savings on this arrangement far outpaced the interest that she and Billy were getting for leaving their money in the bank. They had then spent a little more of their savings to furnish the tiny apartment to suit their taste.

Billy Plumber held on to the rail and took a step down. The bus door folded open and he stepped out onto the pea gravel that covered the side of the asphalt topped street. The neighborhood was old, lower middle class, if it could be put in any category. Billy could see his and Ernestine's apartment across two back yards. In the summer he wouldn't be able to see it for the trees but now all the leaves were falling and you could see through the neighborhood like you were looking at an X-Ray, and seeing the bare bones.
The lunch box in Billy's hand still had half of a tuna fish sandwich wrapped in foil. He could have that for a snack later. Billy had grown very fast until at age fourteen he stood just over six feet. At first this had caused some problems with the other boys at school but then Billy had been put in a school for children with various special needs and with the emphasis on training and discipline that he received there wasn't really time to have social problems of any serious nature. The last school had been drivers education. Even though well over half of the class had not received their license, Billy had not had any problems. But Billy did not like to drive. He and Ernestine would sometimes take the car and go for a little drive on Sunday morning when the traffic wasn't too bad but that was about it. They both felt that it was important for them to drive a little every week to keep up their confidence.
As Billy turned into the alley he saw Ernestine waive from her kitchen window. After he sat his lunch box on the drain-board, Billy bent over and put his arms around her waist, picked her up and swung her around slowly. She liked that. He did it every day.
"Do you remember the man that quit the other day?" Billy still held her off the floor.
"Yes, I guess so. You mean the sort of boss guy?"
"That's the one. He was a salesman. Well anyway, he was getting some stuff out of his desk today and we got to talking and he asked if we would like to go on a boat with him."
"Well what did you say?"
"I said that I would like to but I would ask you."
"Wellll" she drug out the L's for a long time as Billy leaned over until her feet touched the floor. She pursed her china doll mouth, squenched her eyes and poked a forefinger into each pudgy cheek, covering the ever present dimples only temporarily. "I believe I would like to do that" She said.
"Where do we go?"
"It's up at Metro Lake about thirty miles."
"Will we drive?"
"Sure I'll drive."
After dinner they sat on their couch together and watched T.V.. The room was small but comfortable. Billy's painting hung on the wall behind the couch. It was a sailing vessel trying to tack through a narrow cut with steep cliffs on each side. The sky drooped malevolently, a swirling mass threatening to drop a scorpion's tail of a waterspout. Billy had painted the picture on sailcloth when he was four.











Blair Arriving

Blair could see only one person standing on the dock as she turned into the little marina parking lot. He was wearing a shiny blue wind-breaker and jeans. She walked slowly as she went out the walkway because something was different here. Her whole body had slowed down and for the first time in a long time she felt like something good was going to happen. The ropes banging loosely against the boats made a good kind of noise.
"What did they call those ropes? Halyards," She thought. It seemed like it had been a long time since she had felt this carefree. Off to her left a nice looking sailboat was threading its way into the cove. The sails were down, flapping gently against the boom. She could barely make out the faint hum of the motor.
"Hi.. I'm James, James Lawler." The man in the blue jacket offered while Blair was still fifteen feet away, hands in pockets.
"Blair Wommack. Are you waiting for Mr. Cogian?"
"Yes. I think we might be just a little early but according to the map on this card this is the exact slip. But as you can see there's no boat."
"There's one coming in now." Blair said. "I saw it from the walkway" As she was talking the sound of the motor became louder and the sailboat came into view around the corner of the covered docks, rounded up and started backing into the slip. Blair smiled at the lone man at the helm. Then it became apparent that he was going too fast. He was going to hit the dock if she didn't do something.
"Thanks a lot, both of you." Marlan Fikes was slightly embarrassed but coming in a little out of control seemed to fit right in to the way everything else was going this day. Besides, he felt as though it was partly the girl's fault for distracting him.
"If you'll hand me those mooring lines there on the dock I'll tie her down."
After introductions all the way round Marlan invited them to come aboard and look around the boat. The distant crunch of gravel made them look up for a second as two more cars rounded a curve on the marina road, were visible for a second then disappeared behind some trees.
"Wonder how many people will be here today" Blair said as she took Marlan's hand and stepped up to the high deck of the big sloop.






















First Sail

The tires bit into the gravel as Cogian turned on to the road that ran from the pavement down to the marina. By this time Cogian was looking ahead to see if any of the prospects had shown up. As he rounded the last turn he could see about five or six people. The gate was evidently unlocked because they had already walked out to where the boat was docked. Cogian drove to the end of the dock and parked next to a silver Mercedes, got out and started down the board-planked walkway toward the waiting people.
"Hi every one, hope I haven't kept you waiting too long." Cogian shook hands all around and said "O.K. Marlan let's get every one on board and go sailing." Cogian climbed up on the cabin and sat down "I'm going to pass around this ship's log and I'd like each of you to please sign it and put your address and phone number and the name of your guest if you brought one."
Marlan started the motor. The smoke drifted lazily away from the boat and it's passengers then disappeared as the motor cleared it's throat and began to run clean and smooth.
"Can you see the motor?" Cogian asked. "Here, sit on the cabin top, scoot around on this seat." He arranged several passengers so they could see the motor better.
"Now Marlan, would you kill the motor and start it again? I want everyone to see exactly how it's done."
Marlan did as Cogian asked. The motor was warm now and started easily with a short pull of the starter rope. Then he killed it and started it several times showing everyone the technique.
"Who wants to try it?" Cogian looked around. "Don't do it if you don't want to. This is not a sailing class but if you'd like to try it, speak up."
Before they lifted the mooring lines, Blair, James, and Billy had started the motor at least once. As they rounded the covered docks and headed down the cove toward the open lake, Ernestine was at the tiller with Marlan showing her how a slight movement to port would turn the boat to starboard and vice versa. Cogian was up on the cabin top showing Jill and Blair how to raise the main sail. Billy and James were exploring the cabin below.
Ernestine could see how the boat would turn when she would move the tiller. She looked over the stern at the rudder where it disappeared into the water making a little fuss of waves as it moved in unison with Ernestine's commands. As her gaze traveled back along the wake to where it rounded the dock, she saw two people, a man and woman, standing on the dock. They were waiving, apparently trying to get the attention of someone on the boat.






"I think we should have turned back at that last dirt road."
"We've already been down that road. Twenty minutes ago."
"Look, I'm looking at the map and we're supposed to turn before we get to that water tower up ahead. If there's not another road before we get to the water tower, lets turn around and go back to that dirt road we just past."
George didn't answer her. He knew she was probably right. Alice had been right most of the time in the three years that they had been married. They seemed to have a good time together and they were doing so now, even though their playful banter could seem a little rough to an outsider. So called middle age and raising children by previous marriages and all the other tribulations of reaching the golden years had mellowed both of them and sharpened their sense of humor toward life in general. They were an amiable, fun loving mature couple who were a little off course and running late. George swung the old station wagon around just past the water tower and drove back to the dirt road. Ten minutes later they pulled up in the marina parking lot.
"I don't see anybody around," Alice said.
"Well we're about fifteen minutes late. Say, maybe that's them there," pointing to the boat motoring out of the harbor.
"Quick George, run out on the dock as far as you can and see if you can get their attention by waiving. I'll lock the car and be along in a minute."
"Okay, but you be careful walking on the docks. It looks like there might be a loose board here and there.
The docks moved slightly under his feet as he walked briskly out toward the furthermost part of the marina. The boat he was looking at might be the group he and Alice were supposed to meet, and were late.
People were sitting around on the boat's deck. There appeared to be five or six. George could here the small outboard running and doubted if yelling would do any good, so he waived both arms. The boat was about fifty yards away, and headed away from them as Alice joined him and began also to waive her scarf. It seemed that the person doing the steering was looking at them. George and Alice Bront were still waiving after the boat had turned around and was drawing closer.

The Bront's came aboard and signed the log. All guests and crew of the first sail of the "Adventurers" were under weigh.
"This is sure a perfect day" said Blair from the foredeck.
"Yeah, quite a change from my ordinary weekday" answered Jill sitting next to her on the sloping cabin top. "I can't believe I just learned how to raise the main and jib sail on a cruising sloop."
"Well what do you normally do on a day like this?" asked Blair
"Prostitute and panhandler" answered Jill offhandedly.
"Sooooo" said Blair smiling "Been down that road myself. As of late though I'm a stew. For the Texflight commuter. How did you meet our hero Cogian?"
"I was working and we met professionally" said Jill laughing.
"O.K. I won't ask which profession" said Blair.
It was, in a word, successful. Everyone seemed to get their own brand of enjoyment out of the adventure. The Bront's were versatile and mature in their approach to trying many new things. They learned to trim the sails to head close to the wind or head off and run with it. The Plumber's, Billy and Earnestine seemed to be born to sail and soaked up every aspect of it with an insatiable thirst for more. They could read the wind and see a shift coming. Jill and Blair were immediate best friends. They loved to be out in the sunshine and fresh air and the freedom of sailing. James was interested in everything about the boat and it's mechanical systems and much to Blair's amusement he was most intrigued with the little brunette Jill.
Just sleeping on a sailboat at anchor can give you a workout from rolling slightly in your bunk. The sailors felt pleasantly tired as they motored slowly into the cove and then the slip. Marlan unhooked the gas line and let the little outboard idle until it quit from fuel starvation. Cogian and Marlan showed those with any energy left how to stow the equipment and leave everything ship-shape for the next voyage.
"I want to thank you all for being such wonderful guests" Cogian announced from atop the cabin. "I have passed the log back around as we motored in and asked you to fill in the bottom part of your page where you signed in at the start of our cruise. There I hope you listed some of the things you enjoyed and also any criticisms and suggestions. Also I hope you filled out the part where it asked if you would like to be a guest again.
"Well thanks again and hope to see you next time."
Cogian lingered awhile until the guests were gone and helped Marlan do a few little clean up things. He was also curious to see who was driving the silver Benz.
It was Jill.
Marlan and Cogian sat in the cockpit and drank some hot tea and snacked while the sun sank below the horizon. They both were very excited about their first sail in the new venture and talked into the evening. Later Cogian motored back across the lake and left Marlan at his marina where his car was parked then motored back. He would have sailed but he was getting a little tired after a long day.
Cogian secured the lines, made some more tea and wrote in his journal of the days activities. Later still he lay in his bunk and looked at the stars through the open hatch. A slight breeze still lingered and made myrthful sounds in the rigging as he dozed.
"The waves lapped excitedly against the hull and woke Cogian. He rolled out of the huge berth and padded across the teak and holly cabin sole to the hatchway. He looked out across the center cockpit at the boats anchored all around him. They were his boats, the Adventurers. The full moon spilled its warm silvery liquid across the dimpled water. There were many boats, too many to count. Some of them were large, forty and fifty feet in length."
The waves lapped excitedly against the hull and woke Cogian. He rolled out of his birth and looked out of the open hatch. He was still tied securely in the slip. There was no center cockpit. There was no moon in the starlit sky and it was chilly. He pulled his sleeping bag around him and heated the tea. A few sips and he lay back down. He pulled the journal out and wrote a few details of the dream.
"I will finish it tomorrow." he thought.





The Gathering

There were nine people aboard the first sail of the "Adventurers", Ernestine and Billy Plumber, George and Alice Bront, Blair Wommack, Jill Donavan, James Lawler, Marlan Fikes and Cogian. In the following twelve weeks these nine built a basis for the way the "Adventurers" would grow into the empire that Cogian had envisioned that night in his dream.
Cogian had a backlog of prospective guests that he had talked to and that were interested in going out for a sail. He had sixteen trips scheduled for the next twelve weeks and was adding more daily. Most of the trips had from three to seven people scheduled to go. Many of Cogian's guests invited other guests.
Billy and Ernestine Plumber together scheduled seven guests over the same twelve weeks. Four of those brought their own guests during that time.
The Bront's brought six, two of whom were the Mintz's who also brought in nine. Four of the nine brought seven more. The Bront's other four also brought some guests...
Bront's brought A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Mintz's A, brought Aa, Ab, Ac, Ad, Ae, Af, Ag, Ah, and Ai
Ac brought Aca
Af brought Afa and Afb
Ah brought Aha
Ai brought Aia, Aib and Aic
B brought Ba
C brought Ca
D, E, and F brought none within the twelve week period.
The Bront's were responsible directly and indirectly for bringing 24 guests aboard in the twelve week period following their first sail.

Blair Wommack took a stool at the bar to wait for Lavon. He was supposed to meet her at three. The day was bright outside and it was taking a long time for Blair's eyes to become accustomed to the dim surroundings.
"Hi Blair" the bartender greeted her "what can I get for you?"
"Hi Lupe, just a glass of water with a lime for now." She looked over at the door and around the room to see if she could spot Lavon. "Let me sit here and rest a minute and see if flyboy shows up."
Lupe wiped off the bar in front of Blair and sat her drink on a napkin. "Major buisness man aproaching off the starbord quarter, or are you expecting your dad" Lupe said with his usual sarcastic smirk.
"May I buy you a drink and join you in a little conversation" the suit said as he sidled up to the stool next to Blair.
"Well I'm sort of expecting my sort of boyfriend to join me here and he is late. I'll buy my own drink but if you want to sit here and talk till he gets here that's fine." She studied the gentleman's face while she was talking and gathered he was from out of town, married, salesman, staying in the hotel down the street, just wanted someone to talk to and see if it led to anything later.
"Bernard Kapler" The man said as he slid onto the stool.
"Blair Wommack. Married?" She asked.
"Scotch and water" He said to Lupe "No Single, divorced about ten years, two boys and a daughter,about your age, and about as pretty"
"Where you from?" She asked.
"Born and raised right here. Only time I lived some where else was when I was in Nam"
"I'll bet you were a pilot" Blair said. That was usually in the line somewhere if they were trying to impress the lady.
"No, nothing so exciting as that, I was in the medical corp."
"So what do you do these days, salesman or businessman?"
"No, I returned to my medical practice when I recovered from the military and now I'm almost retired. Mostly I just do volunteer work in the free clinics. What do you do.. no let me guess first, I'll guess you are an airline stewardess or maybe a model."
"Well I've got to say you're a lot better guesser than I am. I had you pegged for a mercenary just back from a bombing mission in some third world country looking to make up for lost time in the lady department." While Blair was talking she motioned to Lupe and he brought her bourbon and water and another scotch for the doctor.
"Oh sorry, no more for me" He said "I've just barely touched this one and I think it will be plenty."
Lupe took the drink back without comment, squirted something from a hose into it and gave it to a blurry eyed patron down the bar.
"Ever go sailing Bernie" Blair asked.

Lavon blinked as he pushed his lanky frame through the padded double swinging doors of "Lupe's Bar and grill" They were left over from the previous tenant. Lavon sat his flight case down against the wall and hung his uniform coat on the rack. Lupe sat a scotch on the bar as Lavon moved to take a stool.
"Hay Lupe"
"Hay Flyboy Any thing to eat?" Lupe knew he didn't want any thing but it was the ritual.
"No thanks, seen Blair?"
"She was in earlier looking for you, but she left."
"Any one with her?"
"Not when she came in"
"Soooooo"
"She left with her dad in a suit"
"Big bucks?"
"Don't know. He didn't tell me" Lupe said with his smirk
"Nice suit though."
Lavon took a large drink of his scotch and looked around the room for any familiar face. His watch said that he was only about forty five minutes late. "She could have waited a little longer before taking up with the first guy that bought her a drink" Lavon mumbled to no one. Lupe wiped an imaginary spill off the bar two stools down but made no indication that he heard.
"Mind if I sit here?" She had come in silently and was standing by the stool next to Lavon.
"Sure" Lavon said as he turned around to see who belonged to the sexy voice with the rough edge. "I mean sure it's okay with me. I'm Lavon."
"So Lavon, what's with the monkey suit? You drive one of those airport shuttles?"
"Nope, I fly the big ones." Lavon said laughing. There was something about this girl that he really liked, beside the obvious.
"Just get yourself a big ole sasporilly" He continued "and I'll tell you how I almost killed forty three people in a thunderstorm between Knoxville and here this morning."
"Ixnay on the asporillasay" She told Lupe, who was standing there listening to their conversation and waiting for her drink order "I'll just have a beer"
"I have twelve local and nine imported " Lupe said "Any one in particular?"
The girl turned to Lupe and threatened him with her eyes.
"Draft it is." Lupe mumbled as he shuffled off down to the hoses and dispensers with long handles that had names of beers, once popular, but now long extinct.
"Well listen, I'm not doing any thing this evening" Lavon said after they had talked for a while "If you're not busy maybe we could see a show, or go for a drive or something. That is if you have a car. I took a cab here from the airport."
"Can't tonight." She said "but if you're free during the day sometime you can give me a call and maybe we can go sailing."
"You have a sail boat?" He said surprised. "I mean yeah that would be great. Can I have your number?"
"Here is my card. I'll look forward to it."
As she went out the door into the bright sun, Lavon looked at her card .
"Jill Donavan" just the name centered and her phone service.

Blair brought in six guests in the period including Dr. Bernard Kapler who in turn brought in two.
Jill Donavan brought in four guests in the twelve week period following the first sail including Lavon. Lavon brought three guests, all stews, but none of them brought guests.
Marlan Fikes brought in the Plumbers on the first sail and one other after that during the following twelve week period.
Three weeks after the first sail Marlan found a nice twenty five footer that was for sale at his marina. The price was almost a give away deal. He told Cogian about it and Cogian gave him a check and told him to buy it. Another boat was a welcome addition during this time. Marlan and Cogian were excellent sailors but they needed some help in that department soon. Cogian and Marlan talked about the possibility of training the Plumbers, Blair and Jill and maybe the Bronts as captains. That would take the load off of Cogian and Marlan.
The guests of the first sail including Marlan but not Cogian for the twelve weeks following were forty six.
Cogian directly and indirectly brought over three hundred guests.





Bernie

"We're going to meet my friends Cogian and Marlan at the boat." Blair turned to Bernie Kapler as she guided the old Caddie around the turns of lake road. "They want to check me out as a captain so I can take people out on the boat. Isn't that great?"
"That is great" Bernie answered "I hope I won't be in the way"
"No, don't be silly. Besides you can help. Didn't you say you had done some sailing?"
"Yes actually I was on the sailing team in college. The team went on to be in the Olympic try outs but I was off by then. I also had a small cruiser for a while and I would take the family out some weekends but I got too busy and that era was over some time ago. I appreciate you taking me with you today, I hadn't realized how much I miss sailing until just now."
Cogian and Marlan gave Blair a concentrated lesson in many of the things that she would need to know in order to safely take guests sailing. It would take many lessons such as this before she was ready. Bernie, on the other hand ...
"Bernie we sure could use an experienced Captain to take all the guests that Blair and others invite sailing." Cogian said while they were practicing dropping anchor "Blair is excellent captain material but we need someone now. Do you think you would be interested in something like that. It doesn't pay anything but if you like sailing and have the time you might think about it."
"Hay nothing to think about" Bernie said "I'm ready to go as soon as you say I'm checked out."
"Great" Cogian said "Let's just go over a few of this boats systems and as far as your sailing ability you are more than qualified. We can keep your first couple of trips small until you get used to the routine."
"Can I bring a guest too?" Bernie asked
"As many and as often as you want." Cogian replied.
It was getting cool as they drove away from the marina so Blair put the top up.
"Well if you're not a hoot" she smiled over at Bernie "I invite you to go with me while I'm getting checked out as captain and when we leave, you're the captain and I'm still just a passenger."
"I think in just a few more trips you will be ready to take out you're own group if it's small and you have a good first mate" Bernie said.
"Well do you have one in mind?" She laughed.





The Speil

As Cogian walked on to the stage the one hundred and fifty or so guests quieted and settled in their seats. The old theater squeaked and groaned but it was cheap and perfect for this occasion.
"Most of you know me or have at least gone sailing with me. For those of you who don't and haven't, my name is Rayford Cogian. Call me Cogian." Cogian moved to his right a few steps to the center of the stage and looked out at the audience for a few seconds.
"You have been invited here tonight because I am about to embark on a great adventure,and I want each of you to come along with me. In fact I must have you along with me on this adventure because without you there would not be an adventure." Cogian strolled slowly back and forth in front of the podium not getting more than a few feet from it.
"I think that we can have a great adventure like Christopher Columbus had searching for a new trade route. Just remember that old Chris's fun was in the searching, not the finding." Cogian stopped in front of the podium and looked at the audience.
"What I am saying is this. I am going to show you my grand plan of adventure now. The fun starts the minute we take the first step to implement it." Cogian reached behind the small lectern and punched a button. The creaking of old pulleys from behind the dusty curtains announced the slow parting of the royal purple pleats to expose a surprisingly bright beaded screen. The house lights dimmed perceptibly and a moving picture of the twenty six foot sloop that most of the guests had sailed on appeared on the screen. Some of the audience laughed and pointed as they recognized themselves on the screen waving at the camera.
"Actually we've already started our adventure haven't we? Cogian asked as he walked toward the screen and lifted his arm as if to point at the water just below the boat.
"As you can see the first step was to go sailing as a guest on this boat. Step number two was to invite a guest and go sailing. Step number three was to come to this meeting and some of you are up to having invited several guests already. Some of these guests are here tonight also and this is wonderful. Let's all give ourselves a big hand for getting off to a rousing start to a great adventure." Cogian clapped and walked from one side of the stage to the other extolling the audience to participate. Then he walked to the screen and the clapping subsided.
"Now the adventure has begun. Sailing in this boat on our local lake for an hour or so. That's part of it. Another part is being outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine, visiting with friends and meeting new people. Part of the fun can be learning to sail the boat and actually becoming a captain yourself if you have the desire and acquire the skills and experience. Some may be perfectly happy to just relax and visit with congenial companions and let others take care of sailing the boat." Cogian paused for a second and scanned the people on the front rows to make sure they were still awake. "Others.¦,may want to become more involved and sail larger boats on more exotic waters. Some may want to explore the possibility of using sailing as a vehicle for not only fun but a means of livelihood as I did for many years or as an adjunct to a present career.
Cogian pointed to the white part of the screen under the still sailing sloop.
"OK, let's talk about these different steps for different folks. Step one go sailing as a guest. We've already done that. Step two bring a guest sailing, many of us have done that too. Step three come to this meeting, well you're here. You will notice that none of these steps have cost any money. Now for the next step, step four. This step costs three hundred dollars and you can complete that step tonight. Here is what is included in step four. You will be entitled to sixty hours sailing time." As Cogian pointed to the screen under the sloop, a simple graphic showed the step four.

"Now I am going to show you my plan that will offer you the opportunity to invite guests if you choose to do that and in the event any of these also desire to continue the adventure at the step four or three hundred dollar level you will receive a commission of fifty dollars."
"Please note that your sixty hours will be charged one hour for every hour you are on the boat and one hour for every guest you bring aboard more than one time. In other words the first time you bring a guest the guest is free. If you bring the same guest again you will be charged against your sixty hours" Cogian walked to the front of the stage and started speaking in a lower but completely audible tone.
"I am going to confuse you now but what I say here is necessary. You are not paying any money for an opportunity to make money. You are paying for the sailing and the adventure that we have been talking about. We do not require a payment for the opportunity to make money by inviting guests to come sailing with us. If there is any one here who does not wish to go sailing with us or become a part of the adventurers but wants to invite guests for the opportunity to earn the commission if the guests joins at level four we will extend that opportunity. Of course all persons who invite guests must attend our training course prior to inviting any guests and we have the right to refuse any guests for any reason. Now back to the members." Cogian paused just a few seconds before continuing. "Now if you decide to go in this direction, you will be essentially building your own business. If you have ever been involved in any kind of direct selling or multilevel marketing such as "Cosmetics" or "Soaps and Cleaning products" you have probably seen how down-line works but just bear with me while I go through the mechanics." A few people coughed and looked slightly bored. Cogian continued.
"You can see if you keep inviting guests until ten actually pay the three hundred dollars it would look like this.¦" The screen showed a graphic depicting the down-line.
"You receive fifty dollars for each of your guests who sign up at the three hundred dollar level" Cogian pointed at the chart as he spoke. "So if you brought in ten guests that sign up that would be five hundred dollars commission to you" he finished.
"I'm not telling you that you will bring in ten people who join the plan." Cogian continued "I'm not even saying that you will bring in one person. I'm just showing you the mechanics of the plan . It is easier for me to use ten because I can do the numbers in my head.
This is the top of your pyramid. It is small but complete. It has power to attract success. Remember even if you only have one guest sign up it is still the top of your pyramid.
Now let's take the next level of the down-line. If ten people that you brought into the plan were to each bring ten people, that would be one hundred. You wouldn't get fifty dollars commission for each one of those. You would only receive twenty five dollars and that would be a total of twenty five hundred dollars" Cogian added the next level to the picture on the screen.
This base is attracted by the power of your apex and extends that power many times. Your numbers may not be the same as this example but the powerful principle works the same. At this point the power has taken control and will proceed without further help from you.
"Okay,so why would people that you brought to the plan want to bring in others?" Cogian asked the audience. "Not because they will earn fifty dollars on each one they bring in even though that's true, but think for a moment, many of you have already brought in a guest, some of you have brought many, and why? You were not promised any reward. You did it because you wanted to. It was fun. The people you invited appreciated your invitation and had a good time and adventure. How much more fun is this than to invite people to buy some soap? Or cosmetics? Now lets add the third level of your down line."
"This base is attracted by the power of the apex and second downline base. It increases the power or the pyramid many fold. Nothing can resist the power of this force." Cogian indicated the next level.
"The one hundred each bring in ten and you receive a commission of fifteen dollars for each one of those. That is one thousand times fifteen dollars for a total of fifteen thousand dollars for that level.
Cogian added the third level down line to the chart on the screen.
"Now we go to level four of the downline, the final level." Cogian continued. "And again I'm not saying this will actually happen this way. I'm just using the bring in ten bring ten and so on for four levels. So if a thousand bring in ten each that's ten thousand.
Your commission at that level would be ten dollars each or one hundred thousand dollars" Cogian added the next chart for level four of the downline.
"These are the steps and mechanics of multi-level marketing. Before you can have multi-levels you first have to have a single level. That means you have to invite someone to go sailing and that person has to join the "Adventures".
Cogian looked over the audience slowly. About half of the people had already invited guests. Some of those had invited others.
"I am almost certain that there may be someone here who will not even invite one guest, but that's okay because if that person joins the "Adventures" he will get his sixty hours of sailing. Others may only invite one or two guests but that's okay too because that is the extent to which they want to participate. There is one thing I am very sure of though,No one in this room will come even close to inviting as many guests as I have." Cogian waited a few seconds looking around the theater with a slight smile on his face.
"During the last few months I have invited over three hundred guests that have actually gone sailing with me. that's three zero zero" Cogian added with emphasis.
"Now how can I accomplish such a magnificent feat?" Cogian asked
"Well to begin with I am a natural born salesman. I am tall, good looking, beautiful black wavy hair" This as he ran his hand through his thinning mop of salt and pepper strands. "My dress is impeccable" as he strode arrogantly in front of the podium in his jeans with a piece of rope for a belt and well worn deck shoes. He removed his light blue blazer and laid it across the lectern revealing his handsome sailcloth shirt.
"But I owe it all to this amazing magic shirt" Cogian declared with a grandiose sweep of his hand across his chest. The audience's amusement turned to laughter at this statement.
"I think we know the real magic" Cogian continued as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out some pictures in a plastic sandwich bag.
"When you show people these pictures of you and your friends having a true "Adventure" on your sailboat, that's all the magic you need. I know that I have walked up to many of you here and asked if you owned the boat just down the dock from me. Those of you here were intrigued by this and we had a nice conversation that culminated in you going sailing with me. Those of you who were not intrigued are not here" the audience laughed again. "And then there is the one couple that said "why yes, we have the twenty two foot cruiser just three boats down from you, but we haven't been out there in so long we are amazed that you even recognized us." Needless to say I hadn't recognized them at all but they went sailing with me and are here tonight. Just owning a sailboat isn't always enough. Sometimes you need good companions to share in the "Adventures".
Cogian moved back to the screen where the boat was still sailing above the charts.
"I've shown you the mechanism of a four tier down line. That's as far as we take it" Cogian pointed to the illustration on the screen.
"And remember the most important thing" Cogian put up his hand palm outward to the audience "You don't sell any thing. You invite guests. You do not explain how the "Adventures" works. You invite guests. When the time is right we will have a meeting like this and your guests will have an opportunity to join with you in this great "adventure". So what is the only thing you do?" Cogian asked
"Invite guests" the audience responded.
"Exactly" Cogian replied and clapped his hands until the entire audience responded in kind and came to their feet.
"Some people who would disparage multi-level marketing say that it is not a true marketing method. They say that only the people who get in early will make any money, that the people who get in later won't have anybody to sell to because everyone who might be a prospect will already be involved. They also say that it is fraudulent, cheating, and illegal. Some say flat out that it just doesn't work. If that were true some of our largest cosmetic and cleaning products firms would not be the international giants that they are and even branching into Russia. I wouldn't be surprised if these firms were a key factor promoting capitalism in that country and making many new small businesses. If that were true the small company that started in a basement forty years ago wouldn't have grown into a five billion dollar a year international giant that provides jobs for thousands of independent business people known as distributors, or associates. " Cogian was pacing the stage now. He was "on a roll" "in the groove"
"I want to tell you something astounding" Cogian continued. He felt great, almost light headed.
"Most of the large businesses in the united States use multi-level marketing concepts. Surprised? It makes sense. Look at US Motors. Huge auto manufacturer. How many people here have bought a car from them? Hold on a minute, I said from them. That means you went to Detroit and gave your money to them, who ever "them" is, maybe the CEO, Of course not. You didn't even buy it from the Jobber or the Distributor, or the Dealer. You bought it from the Salesman who was probably the fourth tier or level in the Automobile downline or Pyramid." Cogian caught his breath. He didn't mean to say "Pyramid"
"Okay,everybody who is a prospect for a car has one, right, sure. So end of story. No more sales for the salesman and the last salesman to go to work just will never sell a car because there is no one left to buy it. Right? Of course not. They wear out, or even before that they build a fancier, sexier one and brain wash people into thinking they have to have the newer one. People are addicted. They have to have more to satisfy their habit. There is no end." The voices in Cogian's head faded slowly away and he stood looking at the audience. He was completely aware of what he had said, he just hadn't planned any of that last part about the cars. "Where did that come from?" he thought.
A much larger "yacht" flashed up on the screen along with the first boat and charts.

"After you bring your guests, and they bring theirs and so on, you may want to explore more challenging "Adventures". You might want to move up to a larger yacht such as this one we are adding to our fleet. You might want to increase your skills as a sailor by becoming a Captain of such a yacht. And you just might want to put your self on the track to earn larger commissions." The top boat and the charts disappeared. Only the new Yacht remained.
"When you are ready to move up to the next level in the "Adventures" the fee is for your sixty hours. Your commission for bringing your guests into this level is . The math is the same as for the first boat. If you bring in ten you would make . On every guest they brought in you would make so if they brought in ten each that would be one hundred at or ,000 and so on. Since this is the largest boat we have now and this is the top level we have available now we cannot speculate on higher more "Adventuresome" levels we will surely add in the near future." Cogian hesitated for a few seconds to let the words sink in and let the audience look at the charts which had flashed back on the screen with the new much larger numbers for the step up to the larger yacht.
"When you make the move up to the level you will trade in your level so you actually pay only . Look at it this way if you want to" Cogian explained "When you move up and get your trade in, your first level becomes essentially free because you are getting your money back in the trade up" Cogian paused for a second "Then when you move up to subsequent levels you will receive your previous fee back as trade in on that level . Of course the level is the top level we have right now but as we add new levels, larger boats, we plan to use the same procedure and philosophy.
"I want you to pay particular attention to what I am about to tell you now. This is one of the most important aspects of the upward move. First, you already have your guests that you have brought into the lower level. These will follow you right up for the same reason you moved up. Then their guests will follow them and so on. This means that you already have your people. You don't have to bring in new people for the move up. Of course you will be inviting new guests along just because it is fun and easy and believe me it gets addictive in itself. Every morning I can't wait to get out and meet new people and show them my pictures and talk about sailing. I've done the same thing with cosmetics, soap, insurance, real estate and a lot of other stuff and I've got to tell you, this is more fun and more rewarding in all ways, hands down. No offense to you real estate and insurance people but that is hard work to me. Talking about sailing is just what I do any way and that makes this a wonderful "Adventure" for me and it will for you too."
Cogian walked to the screen. It was now showing a forty six foot schooner anchored in a little crystal clear lagoon. The beach was dazzling white back to the palm trees. The blue sky was broken only by an occasional puffy white cloud. You could see the shape of a ray fish flying in slow motion in the boats shadow which was clearly visible on the dimpled white sand bottom.
"This is my idea of the ultimate "Adventure", living aboard a beautiful schooner in the tropical islands of the world. Every week or so your guests will leave their homes and come stay with you for a few days and sail around in paradise. Others will have other ideas. Some will want to be captains and fleet captains, some boat locators, sailing instructors to train the ever growing need for more captains and so on. There is opportunity for you here. Try it all and see where your passion lies. Those of you who join me here tonight will be part of a core group that will form the apex of a great pyramid to come. This apex although small will be complete in itself. The pyramid though small has powers that will attract more power. Those who follow your lead will form each successive layer of an ever broadening base." Cogian paused and indicated the graphic of a pyramid growing by adding progressively larger sections to it's base.
Cogian walked to the front edge of the stage. He spread his arms as to embrace the whole audience and spoke in a powerful voice
"Would the nine of the first sail of the "Adventures" please stand and come to the front down here by the stage? Thank you. Come on Ernestine. Now I have much more for you who follow me and for those that follow you and yours. If your desire is to accompany me on this fantastic "Adventure" move down to the front now and we will begin.





The morning After

"We have the twenty six foot "Pi-Seas ll", the twenty six foot from Marlan's marina, Her name is "Cursur" and Marlan's own boat "Get outta my way". Cogian spoke softly to eight of the first nine, James Lawler was not there, plus Bernie Kapler, brought in by Blair and the Mintz's who were brought in by the Bront's. "And we should own this baby before the day is out" he looked around at the beautiful, though dark, interior of the thirty three foot ketch "Arlen". "Her name will be "Pi-Seas lll" Cogian announced with gusto.
They were seated around the dinette, navigation station and quarter berth. Cogian was leaning against the galley counter.
"That's four boats, assuming we get this one and as of last night's meeting we now have two hundred and three members. We now have three Captains with three more ready in a day or two and a captains class starting next week. Forty one are enrolled so far in that but many have never sailed before so it may take a while to develop sufficient resources in that area. If any one has any good ideas how to get some experienced sailors signed up lets hear ‘em." Cogian looked expectantly around but no one spoke up. "Okay then" he continued "Billy Plumber has agreed to take on some of the record keeping at least temporarily, so Billy can you give us a quickie over view for our first real organizational meeting?"
Billy took out his folder and very carefully laid it on the dinette. "Last night we signed up one hundred and forty one "Adventurers" for a total of forty two thousand three hundred dollars. Previously we had sixty two sign up for a total of two hundred three or sixty thousand nine hundred dollars income. We owe three hundred and fifty dollars for the theater, four hundred twenty six dollars slip rent and three hundred fifty dollars maintenance and repair. The twenty six foot that Marlan found was forty five hundred and this boat if we buy it is.."
"Excuse me Billy but should we put this boat in there before we actually buy it?" Cogian asked.
"However you want to do it." Billy replied. "But it's twenty seven thousand that we will need plus any maintenance that has to be done before it can be put in service."
"It doesn't need a thing Billy, it's ready to go now." Cogian assured them. "And would you see if we could finance any of this?" Cogian asked.
"All right. I will ask someone at the bank if we can get a loan on the boats" Billy replied.
"So, if that's all the business, let's see if this big hunk of wood will actually move under sail." Cogian climbed up through the companionway and began the starting procedure for the diesel auxiliary engine.
Blair made the mainsail ready while Bernie worked on the jib. Marlan took the helm and Cogian showed Jill and the Bront's how to handle the engine and raise the mizzen. Every one took a task and together eased the boat away from the dock and into the lake.
"Do you think I'll ever get to sail this one?" Blair asked Bernie.
"Absolutely. You are about ready to captain your own boat now and I'll bet it won't be long before you get checked out in this one. The schedule is going to get very hectic in a hurry if I'm not mistaken. We are going to need every captain we can get and we need them to be checked out in as many boats as possible."
"Yeah but this thing is so big" Blair said.
"That makes it easier to handle" Bernie replied. "Things happen slower in a bigger boat and on this lake she will probably handle any weather you could throw at her. That doesn't mean you should go out in bad weather but if you got caught out this boat would take the rough waves and wind. Of course you would shorten sail and then take them all down and go with the engine if it got too rough."
"It just seems like there is an awful lot to learn in a short period of time" Blair said.
"Don't sell your self short Blair" Bernie said. "You are going to have all the help you need starting out. Cogian is not going to let you take on more than you are ready for. When you are made captain of this boat, or any of them, you will be ready. Plus on your first few sails as captain, you will have experienced help with you."
The heavy ketch felt like a ship compared to the light weight boats they were used to sailing. She would heal if the wind picked up and stayed for a while but a puff didn't move her much. She reacted very slowly. Also once she was moving she didn't stop very quickly.
Cogian heated water for his evening tea on "Arlen's" alcohol stove. It even had an oven. The cabin was roomier than the smaller boats but not that much for a boat three times heavier than "Pi-Seas". She was an older wooden ketch with a lot of classic class.
"You're going to do just fine." he said to the boat as he looked around the cabin, opening cabinets and peering into cubby holes. "I could have bought several twenty two foot and maybe another twenty six for what you cost and your upkeep and maintenance is going to be horrendous just like Billy Plumber said, but I think we need you right now. We will get more smaller boats later." The day had been busy. They had had their first business meeting, such as it was, and taken new "Adventurers" and their guests out in all of the boats except Marlan's. Bernie, Marlan and Cogian had been the captains. Bernie had used the time to add to Blair's training by letting her do most of the skippering on the "Cursur" under his watchful eye. Blair was staying the night on "Cursur" and Jill was on "Pi-Seas". They had asked to spend the night on the boats and Cogian had readily okayed it. The cabin lights were on and there was definitely a party happening. Cogian put a tea bag in his oversize cup with the non tip wide bottom and carried it up on deck. "It's nice people are having fun" he said to himself. The tinkling sounds of a water sprite's laughter drifted up around the boat and mixed with the human merriment coming from down the dock.




















Sales Class

"What is the first big "No .. No" when bringing in guests?" Blair asked the fifty or so new "Adventurers".
"Don't try to sell any thing" several answered.
"That is exactly right. We only invite guests. We do not discuss any aspects of the club, sales opportunity, or even that it is a club. What is the next thing?" no one responded. "No advertising of any kind. Not in the paper, on the Internet, bulletin boards or any where else. All we do is invite guests. All selling is done in a controlled environment, mainly group meetings, held by Cogian or someone he has trained." Blair said "your guests should be invited personally by you, face to face. "If possible you should try to approach only those people who seem to be mature and with whom you would want to be ship mates. Please skip over the bums and reprobates." Jill Donavan raised her eyebrow and smiled at Blair from the back of the room where she was monitoring the class. Later that afternoon she would be teaching the same class to another group.
"Can we invite the same guest back?" A lady asked.
"Technical answer, yes. Practical no." Blair answered. "The "Adventurers" will invite all guests back who, in their opinion will make good members with the stipulation that they bring a guest also and then invite them to the next meeting so they will have an opportunity to join if they wish. If you invite the same guest back you will be charged against your sailing hours.
"Miss Wommack" a young man held his hand up.
"Yes"
"I'm not a member of the "Adventures" but I want to bring in some guests so I can make some money. So how do I do that?"
"We are going to cover a number of ways to approach people. Also we will actually go out with any one who wants us to and show them how to invite guests." Blair answered. "In your case and any other non member sales persons the problem is the same as for members. You have to actually ask people. But when it comes to explaining why you won't be sailing with them that presents a unique challenge which we will show you how to overcome. The best way to approach this is the same as every one else who is a member, that is act as though it is a friend's boat, that is true, and do not mention that you might not be going along with them for the trip. In fact you should show up at the marina and meet your party. As happens many times, we will ask a guest to sail on a boat other than the one on which their sponsor is sailing or is a passenger. In actual practice you may well be asked to go along if there is room even though you are not a member. Of course you do not have to accept. In any event your guest will soon feel right at home with their new friends having a fine "Adventure".
"And will I receive the same downline commissions that the members receive?" the young man asked.
"Yes" Blair answered "you will receive the same commissions that a member does. The payment of commissions is separate from membership and is available to any one who wants to earn money this way and who will adhere to all of the rules which includes taking this class. All salespersons, including members, will be screened as to their recruiting habits and the acceptability of their recruits." Blair paused, then "It should be noted that any salesperson, be it member or non member, will have to have been invited to go sailing by a member and have been subsequently invited to a group sales meeting put on by Cogian or one of his designates. This is the only way a person could know about the sales opportunity since discussing this aspect with new guests, or anyone else, is not allowed. Again,class what do we do?"
"Invite guests" the class responded.