Captain Ugo

A chapter draft from my current book project.

The boats left and we rowed on. The air had taken on a strong salty smell and ever-present cloudy sky was much thinner. The outline of the sun was clear. The biggest difference was people, lots of people. We saw more people in that one day than either of us had seen in our entire lives. There were people on small and large boats, and people on the shore, all going about their business, paying us no mind. We could not see to the other shore. We were in a very large bay. It was very strange and unnerving for both of us. A few guys fishing gave us directions on how to get where we were going. It was still a good two days rowing. There was still plenty of empty shoreline for making a camp. That night we saw our first stars though the thin clouds. They were amazing! There were others close by, but they ignored our presence. Perhaps this place is not so bad after all, I thought. The next morning, we found the small channel we were told to take and rowed by another smaller bay. Not long after that, we came to a little boat dock.

“How are we gonna find Ugo?” I asked.

“The same way we got here, ask around.” Raven answered getting off the boat.

“What about the boat?” I asked.

“I guess we’ll have to leave it here. Let’s take what we can carry.”

We gathered up our things and walked into town.  Oscar followed us. Raven asked an old guy if he knew Ugo and where we could find him.

“Yeah… He’s one of the few blacks in the whole Confederation. People are afraid of him. He practices voodoo and anyone who messes with him does not live long. What do you want with him, anyway? “

Raven told the same story she had told the boat guards.

“You oughtta just go back where you came from. He don’t like people too much. He hates us whites and even blacks. I’d advise you to leave him alone but if you still want to see him, I’ll tell ya where to go.”

“We are not looking for trouble. If he tells us to leave, we’ll go.” Raven answered.

“Does she do all the talking for you, son?” The guy eyed me.

“Yup. It usually works out better that way.”

“Whatever suits ya…” He said and told us where to find Ugo.

I saw him first, fishing on a short pier. He was a big man, even sitting in a wheelchair. His had lost his legs just below the knees. Despite his years, I could also tell he was also very strong. He looked like he was cut out of solid rock, solid dark black rock. Tattoos covered his whole body, even his face. Old sneakers and cammy pants cut off into long shorts were his only clothing despite the still cool weather. It could not have been much over 50 degrees.

“What you want with a tired old man?” He said not even bothering to turn around.

“Old friends of yours, Nan and Caesar, sent us. They said you may be able to help us get where we are going.” Raven said.

“Never heard of ‘em. You are misinformed.”

“Ever seen this before, sir? They asked us to give it to you.” Raven pulled out the old notebook and held it up.

“What the hell is that?”

“Some pretty cool poems and stories somebody wrote a long time ago, but if it’s not yours, well be on our way. Sorry we disturbed you. Let’s go, Pick.”

“Wait. Let me have a closer look.”

Raven carried it over to him on the dock. I stayed put.

“That was from a different world. I guess you did see Nan and Caesar. I’d would’ve guessed that they had not lived this long. I’m just tired of people fucking with me, that’s all. So what do you want with me?”

“I’m Raven and that’s Pick, sir.”

 “I’m Ugo. We can go to the “Bucket of Blood” and you can tell me what’s on your mind. But no more sir shit.” He accepted the notebook from Raven and put it on his lap.

“Bucket of Blood?” Raven asked.

“It’s a bar.”

He spun around, and wheeled off the dock leading the way down the street. We had to almost jog to keep up with him. I noticed people gave him plenty of room. The guy who told us how to find him was right, people were afraid of Ugo. Oscar never barked or growled, and stayed close to Raven and I. We soon came to an old wooden building painted black. The door was dark metal with  “Bucket of Blood” hand painted in red on the door. Ugo Pulled himself out of his chair onto the top step and lifted it onto porch. He was back in the chair in a flash. I could tell he had done this many times. It looked fluid and natural. Once in the bar, he lead us to a table.

“Wait here.”

We watched as Ugo wheeled up to the bar and put in an order. He handed the young barmaid a few coins, and spoke with a few people sitting there. He was the only black guy in the whole place, but he seemed to know everybody. I realized he had been the only black person we had seen since crossing the border. Not only that, no body messed with him. 

When Ugo returned, I could not help but ask, “How do you get along with the locals so well?”

 “Let’s just say I know too many of their secrets. Anything happen to me, then everybody will know. So they tell the people I’m some kinda dark voodoo priest. I benefit from their fears outweighing their reason. Somethin that’s not hard in these cold cloudy dark times. Now, tell me what exactly what you seek.”

Raven started to speak and paused as a young, skinny barmaid brought over three tall beers. Ugo raised his glass, “To dark times.”

Raven raised her glass bumping his, and I followed her lead.

“To dark times.” She repeated. I nodded in agreement.

Ugo downed half his beer and we settled for a big swig. Raven looked around and spoke. “Pick, Oscar and I want to go to South America. It is too hard, too dangerous and too long to walk through Mexico. We want to go by sea. Caesar and Nan said if you could not help us, you could get us in the right direction.”

Ugo only looked at us. I guess to see if we were only bullshitting him or not. It’s not everyday people show up looking for a ride to South America. “What do you seek there? You cannot run from yourself.”

“Peace, only to live in peace.” Raven answered.

Ugo looked at me.

“I owe her my life. I will help Raven. I don’t know if I’ll stay there or not, but for now her goal is my goal.”

Ugo downed the last half of his beer. “With no legs, my sailing days are behind me. I cannot help you. Go west along the coast. There are boats for hire. But if this is all you got, use your whiteness and settle here.”

“No thanks. Sorry we wasted your time. Thanks for the beer.” Raven stood.

“Not even a name? Nothing? This is the best you can do? What the hell happened to you, man?” The beer went to my head and I was angry.

“Life happened to me, kid.” He snapped back.

“They botherin you, Ugo?” A big man by the door asked from across the room.

“Nah, we just talking a little.” He shot back.

“Sit for a second. I’ll tell you where I’m at.” Ugo said. Raven sat and we listened.

“Before I joined the military, I sailed the world over. I was only fifteen when I left. After about ten years of wondering, I joined the Navy, naturally. I had no use for big ships ran by small men.  A year or two in, I was well on my way to being busted out. Then I found out about BUDS, and got the orders to go. They thought it was funny and I would not last three days. I found there people more like me who could not function in the Navy and even less so in society. Most of ‘em did not make it. Those who did, went on to do Uncle Sam’s dirty work all over the world.

“My specialties were small boats, weapons and navigation. No one had the solo sailing experience I did. No one knew how to sneak in and outta places like I did either. Being white, I’d been welcome at yacht clubs the world over. Being black, most though me a smuggler, pirate or worse. I learned how to slip in and outta places quietly and unnoticed. Uncle Sam found many good uses for such skills. I traded in my legs for a small pension. So how do I get to stay here you asked earlier? That’s easy. Ever read “All The king’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren?”

“Yeah.” Raven answered.

I did not know what they were talking about.

He talked low, leaning in for us to hear. “There’s dirt on everybody, right? You just gotta find it. Let’s just say what I found would not go along with the white supremacy, and Christian bullshit the leaders speak so highly of. If anything happens to me, anything at all, everybody is gonna know. So they put out they word that I’m some kinda voodoo priest. There are some dumb mutherfuckers here. It happens when there is no real school to speak of. Easy to control ‘em and feed ‘em bullshit. But one day, they’ll figure it out. I’ll just have to see how many I can take with me.”

“Man, it sounds like you can go anywhere. Why are you still here?” I said.

“Kid. It is a little hard to sail with no goddamn legs.”

“If you count Oscar, we got six legs. You can teach us.” Raven said.                   

“And what do I get?”                                                                                                         

“You get the fuck outta here.” I answered for Raven.

“And we’ll trade our guns and other stuff.” She added.

“You some crazy ass kids. My old boat is about twenty miles west further down the coast. It’s secure but not ready for the open ocean.  I tell ya what.  Let’s go to her, and get her ready for the open waves. We go and get her ready. If I decide I can work with you, it’s a go. If not, I’ll help you get a boat and you go on your own. Keep your stuff. I got all I need.”

“When do we leave?”

“Tonight. Slip out unseen and unheard. You came on a small boat down river?”

“Yeah.” Raven answered.

“Where is it? I’ll meet you there a little after sunset.”

We told him where we were and made our way back. We had most of the afternoon left to kill so we wondered around a little. Several “security” goons surrounded us as we were on our way back to the boat.

“What you want with Ugo?” A big dude with a beard and too many tattoos asked.

“We were just wanting some advice on where we could get a bigger boat.”

“I think that’s a damn good idea. In fact, find one before dark and get the hell outta here.”

“Hint taken. We’ll be gone.” Raven answered.

We made our way to our small boat, and rowed off under their watchful eyes. Once we were well out of earshot, I asked, “Now what the hell do we do?”

“Make them think we have left town and you go back and get Ugo.”

“Why me?”

“You are better suited for it. I cannot carry Ugo if it comes to that.”

“I’ll do it. Don’t leave without us.”

Well out of sight of the security guys, we turned into the small bay, and hid the boat in some tall grass. We hung out there undetected until almost sundown. I slipped ashore and went to find Ugo. There was no point in carrying a gun. If it came to that, we were screwed. It was fairly easy to stay hidden in quickly gathering dark. I made my way back to where we were.  There was no sign of Ugo. I made my way back up the road where we first found him. In the dark, I saw some strange shapes in the road. As I got closer, I say Ugo’s wheel chair. He was on top of one of the security guys carving some strange sign into the man’s forehead. The man was already dead. There were two more corpses. One was the guy with too many tattoos. His eyes were missing. Ugo may have used a wheel chair, but this proved to me he was still a dangerous as hell professional killer. I never told Raven about how I found Ugo.

He said just loud enough where I could hear him, “You ran into these guys and decided to relocate. You hid further down in the reeds in the bay on your left going west. If I’m right don’t answer. Just go back. Don’t get caught this time. I’ll be along in a few hours. In the meantime, I have a reputation to keep. They will think twice before trying to follow us.”

I made my way back to Raven, Oscar and our little boat. I only told her Ugo had run into a delay and would be along soon. We watched for him and he came along. We got him, his chair, a small bag, his uzi and ammo in the boat and pushed off with out a word. We rowed out into the ocean going straight south. It was very calm. By daybreak, we could not see land. Raven, Oscar and I had cast our lot with a professional killer and able seaman.