Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers”
by Bob Kranich
Robert’s Best, (Part 12, Excerpt 97)
This is a new story. Robert’s Best is a sail boat. Grandfather Roberts is going to sail it on the Intercostal waterway from Texas to Key West, Florida. That will be an adventure. Then his grandchildren and their parents will come to Key West on a visit. There will be a lot of funny happenings until the criminals from a previous story get into action. A side note is that a 1935 antique Chris-Craft Model 557 Cabin Cruiser is going to play an important part in the rest of the story. Grandfather Roberts has arrived in Key West. He has meet Honest Dave and had a tour of his Chris-Craft. Both He and Dave are looking around Key West for a house for Grandfather Roberts. They have just hired a carriage and driver and the driver found Grandfather Roberts a house on the Atlantic to purchase.
Roberts’ Best
He and Bessie, clop, clopped off down the street.
“Tom, I know it’s been busy, but if you're hungry, I’ll buy. You need to see and eat at Sloppy Joes. I don’t drink, and I’m guessing you don’t either. However, they do serve a great steak and fries!”
“Dave, I’m for that. Now that I’ve got my house, thanks to you and Franklin, I’m rested, not a care in the world. How do we get there?”
“It’s only a couple of blocks from here, on Duval and Green. We can walk.”
Sloppy Joe’s was a one-story structure, right on the corner. In fact, it was kind of an open air establishment. It had many openings with folding double doors. There were five, six-foot wide openings right out onto the sidewalk and street. It was decorated inside with all kinds of paraphernalia, stuffed game fish, rods and reels, pirate stuff, boat hardware, and signed photos of all the famous people who had visited.
We went in and took a table between two doors off Green Street. “It’s not very classy, but it’s the place to visit when you’re in Key West. Of course you know, Tom, that Joe and Hemingway were just like this,” as he crossed two fingers, “real deep sea fishing and carousing buddies in the 1930’s.”
“Is that right, Dave? I guess now that I’m an islander I will have to read up on the history. Sounds like you’re on top of it!”
“Can I help you, Sirs?” the waitress asked.
“Yep, your steak and fries, please,” Dave answered.
“I’ll take the same,” I added.
“Drinks, Sirs?”
Dave put in, “We’re teetotalers, we’ll take some sarsaparilla.”
“I only have Ginger Ale,” she answered.
“Yep,” Dave and I both replied.
“Well, Dave tell me about your Homestead antique business.”
“Tom, it’s like this, I’ve been interested in and collecting antiques since as long as I can remember. Never could pass up a yard sale or an antique shop. I’ve got a couple of consignment locations, you know, antique malls. Also I’m set up in an old barn on the edge of the Everglades. That is my center of operations, furniture refinishing and tons of antiques I’ve bought over the years. I fixed me up a little suite in that barn, and I can hold up there and fix antiques to my heart’s content. I also have a few other endeavors, such as flea markets where I sell authentic treasure maps to the tourists. Well, that was a mouthful. How about you, Tom?”
“Oil engineering. I started right out of college with a West Texas wildcat drilling company. They hit it big, crude oil, brought in a couple of wells right after I joined. I bought into the company, and we hit it big a couple more times. By age fifty-five I had a good share, so I sold out and then invested some in a few other companies. They also made it good. I guess I was blessed by the Good Lord. I’m not a millionaire, but I’m set up OK. I’ve been tinkering around ever since.”
“I’ve got a great son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. Wife’s with the Lord.”
“Tom, I guess we have to take the good with the bad. Here comes our food. I’m famished!”
While Dave and I talked and dined, we didn’t see the two men who came in one of the far door openings. They eased up to and sat at the bar.
“What’re you guys drinking?” the bartender inquired.
“We’ll take a couple of Sloppy Joe Specials.”
They were dressed a little sporty, though not so wild they stood out, because in Key West, anything goes. Hawaiian shirts peeked out from under their light-colored sport jackets. Tropical dress pants and leather sport dress shoes finished their attire.
One was tall and thin, the other, kind of average height but stocky and with a scar across his forehead. Both had black hair and were tanned. The tall one had a faint moustache.
“There they are, Vince, the two guys I told you about. The one with the long side burns and pony tail has got that old Chris-Craft. He thinks it’s a cruiser, it’s just an old tub! Ha, he should see ours, then he'll know just what a cruiser really is!”
“What about the other guy?”
“He’s got a small sailboat, one mast, about twenty-eight to thirty feet. Heard that he sailed down from the Houston area.”
“They got any dough?”
“I haven’t had any time to look into it. But it looks like the sailor may have bought a house down by the end of United Street.”
“How do you know that, Frank?”
“He and Chris-Craft rode that tourist horse and carriage down there, went in, and a realtor showed up. Course it had a For Sale sign out front. When the realtor dame came out she had some papers in her hand and was smiling.”
“Well, check ‘em out. You know, even Chris-Craft may be loaded!”
“I’m on it, Boss.”
Back at the Key West harbor on the pier: “So what’s your plan, Tom?” Dave asked.
“The realtor will naturally verify the check. So, I’m going to touch base with the owner, see if she wants to part with any furniture. I’ll live on this boat until I can move in, sooner better than later. Then I’ll complete the furnishing of the place, and see if I can talk my son into coming down for a visit. Hopefully, he will leave my grandson for a two-to-three week visit.”
“Let’s see, that will be in a month to five weeks. Tell you what, I’ll call you and come back and then we’ll tour, cruise, and sail around if you want?”
“It sounds good to me, Dave.”
From the Author:
My second full-length book , Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers is composed of 336 pages. There are 12 stories running from 6 pages to as many as 72 pages. It is fully illustrated with 88 watercolors and sketches. The watercolors I made roaming around Key West after I finished my 750 mile hike from Georgia to Key West. (See book or Don Browne’s SouthWest Florida Online News records, A Walk Across Florida.) As you read these stories you will experience Key West, the Keys, and the Caribbean. These stories span the time of the early 1800’s to 1969.
bkranich.wixsite.com/bobkranich
