The Shake Down Cruise

We had accumulated
A cast of characters
That we called a crew
In preparation for
Sailing to the South Pacific.
My brother and I
Invited a couple island girls
To come along with us
And they were excited
About going.
In our minds
Those girls were
The only provisions we needed
And the fulfillment
Of all our fantasies,
But that was not to be.
The Diamonds,
Proud possessors
Of the Araner,
Decided that a preliminary
Shake down cruise
Was in order
To get a feel for the boat.
My brother went along
As a part of the
Skeleton crew
And I stayed back on shore
With my aunt
Getting her affairs in order.
They were only supposed
To take the boat out
For the day,
But when they didn’t show up
For two days,
We sounded general alarm
And called the Coast Guard
To search for them.
I don’t know how anybody
Could lose a boat that size
But they didn’t seem to be
Anywhere to be found.
I was mainly concerned
They had taken off and left us,
But the boat finally showed up
After three days.
By then the parents
Of the two girls
Had second thoughts
About the whole voyage
And wouldn’t let the girls go.
The parents just didn’t understand
How the boat’s disappearance
Added to the allure of the adventure.
Speaking for my brother and I,
We didn’t see how
Being lost at sea
With a couple girls like them
Would have been a problem.
At any rate,
The boat was ready
And in a day or two
We were on our way.