Agent505

As we enjoyed an ice cream treat at the soda fountain just a short walk from the garage door, I explained everything I knew about the machine. The Cavalier 96, then, held 96 six-ounce bottles, was made in 1958, and was likely left in a bar in South Dakota prior to its restoration. “South Dakota, to Arizona, to Colorado, here,” Jason said. I might’ve inserted a fictional stop in Colorado to throw off the scent, making certain to keep my cousin’s shop out of the mix. “Still, Greg, Shelly,” Jason said, shaking his head. “This is something I could not have guessed, especially after all we’ve been through. And on the cruise itself? You have one fine poker face. How long was your cousin, the auto body guy, working on this?” Shelly gave me a glance. “About six weeks?” “Yeah, something like that,” I said with a nod. “Fortunately, the unit was mostly intact, and it was more sandblasting and, you know, finding a key or the glass for the door, that’s all.” Jason took a deep breath

Our flight home wouldn’t be until six o’clock Tuesday, though, as Shelly had indeed factored in that one-day buffer. So how would we spend the afternoon? Shelly, Michelle, Raine, Crystal, Orchid and I all gave it a round robin discussion. Still groggy from my nap, I only paid loose attention. “Day trip to a theme park?” “Nah, too expensive, not enough time, and too many crowds.” “Go out to dinner tonight?” “Too many big meals already.” “And still too public.” “Hit the movie thearter?” “It’s Monday, nothing’s playing anyway.” “Watch a show at the spring and order pizza tonight?” Had Shelly suggested that one? “Second,” I said. “And maybe a movie here on the couch afterward.” Thus, after a quiet morning, our group went out to the spring and watched a costumed performance. Though Raine joined us in the audience - she used her chair but kept her legs for the time being - Orchid and Crystal performed with the other mermaid-tail clad performers. They might’ve known we

“Wait, wait, wait,” Melissa said. “Didn’t you say that the third place, second, and winners of this contest would have part of their cruise paid for? Just now, you said that second place would half, and third-” “What I meant was, that the runner up would only owe ten percent of their cruise fees,” Hannah said. “Second runner up, accordingly, would receive a third place prize but not have any additional part of her cruise paid for, while the winner, then, has her whole cruise paid for.” Another pause for applause. I hope that means everyone got it. “So why not say who the winner is already?” Arthur asked. “Because we’re still not done!” Melissa said. “First, we’ve got other awards to impart. As you all know, every good contest has an award for Miss Congeniality, or for the best effort, or for the best sport. Well, the Caribbean Coral Swimsuit Contest has something even better than that. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now allow Hannah to explain.” “Yes, yes,” Hannah said.

At least there was plenty of other people - some of them with superior posteriors - along the track. I managed to keep one mid-twenties woman wearing blue leggings in my sight for most of the way, though I think Shelly might’ve slowed down - perhaps intentionally - once she got my intentions. Fortunately, there were plenty more to follow. Perhaps as punishment, though, we did six laps. All the same, this was a good run, and a good workout. Following our run, we returned to the stateroom to get clean once more. Though there was no longer time for a good, relaxing shower, we made haste as the morning meeting was scheduled for nine. I reminded myself that there was a madness to the method; er, a method to the madness. I might’ve even carried Shelly through the shower, even though there was a good seat. We were efficient, I promise. Once Shelly got her legs back, the two of us got dressed and made our way down to the conference room. I was pleased to learn that it would be a

We later met up with Mandy, Nick and Michelle, who met with us outside of the Red Frog Pub. Even though the pub itself was closed at that early hour, we were still able to find a table to meet and chat. Shelly and I laid out what we knew to be available, before giving our friends a chance to contribute. “I read something about a dune buggy experience,” Nick said. “We tried to get it on Tuesday, but it was already booked solid.” “What was that supposed to be like?” Shelly asked. “Just like it sounds,” Mandy said. “They take a large dune buggy vehicle, I imagine that holds four to six riders and a driver, who then drive around the dunes north of the beach.” “Do they give you helmets?” Shelly asked. Mandy giggled. “Yeah, I imagine they’d make people sign all kinds of wavers if they didn’t.” “For what it’s worth, though,” Nick said, “I read at least two reviewers say that they didn’t feel great afterwards.” For the next few moments, Michelle googled stuff on her phone, as did

As picturesque as it was under the water, Raine and Shelly both agreed that Occulus Lake from the surface was nothing like a lake back home. So, we didn’t take any more contest photos here, only documenting the location with a simple landscape photograph. Michelle may have wanted to explore more, but now knowing what we learned below, thankfully, she was discouraged easily enough. Instead, the girls got dressed while Victor and I packed up our gear. Our group headed back to Francisco’s ranch, giving us a good forty minutes to visit with Francisco and Meina, as well as their grown son Julian who might’ve been home from college, though I did not hear where he currently lived nor where he was taking classes. I would learn more about Francisco’s seven children, of whom Julian was the youngest and the only one currently on the island, as several had moved to the states while another still lived in Nassau. Suppose it goes without saying that JM was a proud uncle, indeed. Dinner

Fortunately, we did not need any machetes to find the beach. Barbary Beach was immaculate, untouched, natural and turquoise. The sands flowed out into the bay in an even, flawless manner that delivered a simple, flowing wave pattern, artistic and beautiful. An occasional strand of flotsam or plant matter might’ve found its way ashore, but any coral reef structures were far enough out where they couldn’t be seen to break up the simplicity. With our same stock of gear from Wednesday along, our group went straight to work. Though I still could not find the monopod I had purchased exclusively for this trip - I likely had left it at home - my main tripod worked as well as it had thus far. Shelly broke out a lovely hot pink floral pair that had a tie around the back of the neck - I guess the industry term would be a bralette - accompanied by a low-rise bikini bottom with three little braids that allowed the skin to be visible along the hip. Michelle’s matched suit was forest green

With another beverage and a snack - today’s treats were a Coke Zero, a cup of hot tea and an ordered plate of nachos covered in cheese, meat and jalapenos - I sat down and got started with Alex, as I had done the day before, followed by the next model, and so forth. Today’s batch of photos included many of the same shooting locations, as a trend quickly ensued as the majority of the models had used the Half Moon Cay Beachfront as a backdrop. Thus, it was a welcome change when Blossom, Ayna and even Arylon had submitted photos along the Bonefish Lagoon, an inland lake that had been stocked with bonefish. After a quick Google, I learned bonefish are a regional game fish, not unlike silver bass or even whitefish cod in the northeast, and is almost entirely fished for sport. Suppose you wouldn’t get to keep them anyway, knowing the rules. Only when I got to Tessa’s photos did I hesitate just a little, even though some of them were photos I had taken. I recognized at least two

Fortunately, I didn’t have much time to think about what had just occurred. Instead, Tessa threw on a sport bra under her top, and wearing the same shirt but now sporting a pair of Sketchers, emerged from the room less than the five minutes advertised. Without a word exchanged, the two of us made our way to the elevator. Once we met up with Raine, we wandered around the interior spaces on Deck Five. Tessa offered to do the legwork for Raine, while the three of us made small talk about the day’s photos and where we thought we were in the scope of the contest. I tried to keep out of it their discussion, knowing that I held the keys to the scores. Thankfully, both Raine and Tessa seemed to agree that the resulting scores had been fairly fair. “Last I looked at it,” Raine began, “I was at least in the top twenty, but the scores have been very competitive. For a contest with older models, the competition is a lot closer than I might’ve guessed.” Modest as ever; Raine must not