Chapter 24 - Do Something Different Every Day

The time had passed without incident as Finne, now back at the helm of the Stargirl, had changed course and headed up the creeks of Maryland's eastern shore.  The breaking of the dawn over the eastern horizon had provided a beautiful view of the ancient property lines that now were cut and parceled into a broad spectrum of development varying from preserves to condos.

This particular stretch of the Choptank River was well developed and waterfront access was a at a premium.  Watermen and tourism had combined in Cambridge, MD at an expotenttial pace over the past 30 years while an equally expansive number of Washington and Baltimore vacationers made their way through the town en route to Ocean City, MD.  Finne passed under the new route 50 bridge and was crossing the right of way from the historic bridge which had been taken down at the middle years ago when the new bridge became operational.  The two ends of the bridge directly off his port and starboard were still in use as a public fishing piers.  It was now 6:00 AM and Finne counted six on the port-side pier and five on the starboard, all locals whom he knew were curious about his entry to the area.  Trolling at such a slow pace through the well traversed channels would catch most watermen's eyes as dangerous, and the slip through the cover of darkness plan was deteriorating quickly.

"Tom, its me." Sarah heard Finne say into his phone as she staggered up the ladder from the galley waking hungover and unbalanced from what she considered to be the worst sleep over her life.

"I will be out front in a few and need a ride and a place to stay for two.  Its a discreet matter." Finne continued then listened for a brief moment before hanging up.

The pounding in her head was a more critical issue then trying to figure out where they were or where they were going.  Sarah trusted Finne from the deepest parts of her soul and knew he would take care of her.  For that matter, she reached her hand up after reaching the second-to-last rung on the galley ladder and requested simply, "Help me up and get me some Advil!"

Finne was surprised by her approach yet quickly reached her and assisted her to the deck.

"How about a Bloody Mary?" He asked.

"Do you have that?" Sarah asked genuinely.

"No, but I know a good place. We're going to head back on land, ok?"

"Ok."

Ten minutes later, Sarah and Finne stepped off the Stargirl and into a twenty-one foot Boston Whaler that had pulled along side after Finne had tied off the anchor line to one of a series of identical and symmetrically aligned white spherical buoys a few hundred yards off shore from the Hyatt Chesapeake Beach Resort.  Finne told her in advance to not say anything about the past 36 hours or herself unless he specifically asked her to do so.  Nothing was said by anyone on the water shuttle ride to the dock.