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Jack is the owner-operator
of Poco Cabesa's only air-sea charter service, "Following
the Equator Air & Sea Charter and Freight."
Unfortunately, the Sea
part sank a while back and the Air part consists of a weathered
PBY Catalina Flying Boat dubbed "Sylvester" that's
always in need of a major overhaul.
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(Above) A better preserved
and maintained example of the PBY Flying Boat. |
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Mom
is somewhere in here.
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The only child of an
often absent Navy "swab" and a Tuscaloosa bowling alley
cocktail waitress, Jack grew up beside the waters of Perdido
Bay, running wild like a latter day Huck Finn.
Life was great until
seventeen-year-old Jack was found atop a shell mound in
a horizontal position with the elderly mayor's Cajun child-bride.
Jack's irate father gave him a choice: the Navy or a heavy
equipment job with his uncle.
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A man
with an intense dislike of manual labor, Jack chose the
Navy (where at least he knew he wouldn't have to dig) and
spent several rambunctious years in the service as an often-busted
Flight Crew Chief aboard a succession of flat-tops.
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he got out he went to work for an international air charter
company operating out of Baltimore which went bust and stranded
him in Pakistan. |
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Jack
left southern Asia owing these men money.
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Then he went to work
for a cargo line operating out of Dubai that was secretly
owned by people in Uncle Saddam's Iraqi inner circle. When
the CIA and then the Israelis and George Bush the First
joined the party, Jack decided it was time to leave and
slipped onto a Cuban fishing boat in Havana harbor and washed
ashore on Joetown.
Poco Cabesa has a way
of collecting old Navy men.
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| Surprised
Jack was overjoyed to find his favorite old C.O., Cap'n
Roy Riley, who just happened to be married to the queen
of the nicest place on the island. This kind of arrangement
suited Jack just fine. |
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When he saw the lovely
beach spread that Her Majesty
Gert had bestowed on her once-rollicking husband, Jack's
idea-percolator went into overdrive.
The idea that eventually
bubbled up was, Jack would start an air charter service
and he and Cap'n Roy would build a resort on that lovely
stretch of beach.
But dreams and reality
usually committed murder-suicide in the world of Riley &
Waller. The former's clogged arteries, the latter's talent
for procrastination, and two hurricanes destroyed whatever
hope they had for success. So Cap'n Roy leaned back and
enjoyed the view for his remaining days.
Jack half-heartedly attempted,
and attempts still, to make the air charter idea work.
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He occasionally over-indulges
(but never when flying is to be done) and favors steel-drum
bands and dark rum. When circumstances require while far
from home, Jack's even been known to pull out his six-string
and play for fuel money.
He's an able mechanic
but a better supervisor, a decent aviator, and a crusty,
politically incorrect cuss who's unwilling to suffer fools
silently.
His motto is, "If the
dough don't show, the show don't go."
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That means if a client
or cargo can pass customs at the country of departure and
it's a cash deal, that's good enough for Mad Jack.
And if FTEA&S pays
its bills on time, it's a miracle.
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All you have to
do in order to become entirely pure is to commit all the sins
there are. I have done that. Anybody can do it. Anybody can
build up a perfect moral character.
-- Mr. Twain |
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