Free Port Starbird (Storm Ketchum Adventures) by Garrett Dennis

here's your tank, I'll just set it down over here." She leaned it up against a post in a shady spot under the house. "Hey, Don," she said as she joined the group at the grill. "And you are?"
    "I'm Len . Nice to meet you, Kari."
    "Ketch, you shaved!" she exclaimed when she finally looked more closely at Ketch, who rose and motioned to the chair.
    "Here, have a seat and I'll get you some wine," Ketch directed. "Yes, I was getting tired of the beard, and I figured I'd better do it now before I got too burned."
    "You look ten years younger !" she marveled.
    "If you say so . But even if I were ten years younger, I'd still be twenty years older than you."
    "Ha! Flattery will get you - well, maybe somewhere , who knows?" she grinned. "But really, I'm older'n dirt already, and I've got the big four-oh comin' up next time around."
    "I'll have to teach you how to count in hexadecimal - then you could tell me you were twenty-eight and my math would be technically correct."
    "Huh? What's that?" Len asked.
    "Never mind, I'll explain later - or never," Ketch waved as he walked away. "First the wine."
    " And tinfoil and butter, dammit!" the Captain yelled.
    Ketch returned momentarily with a bottle, a wineglass, and a corkscrew (and foil and butter) and pulled up another lawn chair. Kari took the bottle from him and inspected it. "Is this the kind I like?" she asked. "I can't even read this label. What language is that? It doesn't look like anythin' I've ever seen." She removed the wrapper from the neck. "Huh - can't open it neither!"
    " The language is Euskara Batua. It's from the Basque regions of Spain and France. I think you'll like it," Ketch said, taking the bottle back from her and working the corkscrew. "I tasted it. It's not exactly the same as what you're used to, but it's close - and better, I think." He was glad he'd thought to remove the price tag.
    He poured her a glass. "Ooh, this is divine!" she shortly exclaimed. "I needed this! Where'd y'all find it? I'm gonna have to get me some of this!"
    "Hey Ketch," Len interrupted. "I been wonderin' about that life ring y'all got hangin' out front, and I keep forgettin' to ask. Why's it say 'Port Starbird' on it?"
    Thank you Len, Ketch thought. Kari couldn't afford to shop where he'd found that bottle - and neither could he really, other than for special occasions. "That's what I named my house," Ketch answered. Almost all of the houses in this town had names - the only thing that was unusual about the white life preserver with red lettering hanging on a nail next to the steps was the spelling, which Len had noticed.
    "Well, I know that, but I hate to tell you, it's spelt wrong, did you know that?"
    "No it ain't," the Captain said, and Kari concurred.
    Ketch explained. "The 'starboard' part is spelled the way it's supposed to be pronounced - and yes, it's also the way people often misspell it, and it's the basis of an old joke I know. I also wrote a song based on that joke."
    "No shit? I got to hear that!" Len declared.
    " If you mean the joke, okay. If you mean the song, I'll play it for you sometime - but not tonight."
    "Aw, come on, why not? What's the matter, you shy or somethin'? Y'all don't have to be shy with us."
    "Well, we'll see," Ketch relented. "Maybe after we eat, if I've had enough to drink. I'm not used to playing in front of strange people."
    "What, them girls up there? They ain't too strange. They'll think it's cool you wrote a song. Somebody get this man another beer!"
    The fish didn't take too long to cook, and when Mario called down that the table was set, the Captain carried the pan upstairs and the others trailed behind with the wine, the Captain's chips, and some of the Captain's beer (at his direction). The sides Ketch had bought earlier were laid out on a table on the screened deck off the kitchen. Everyone filled their plates and carried them out to the front deck to eat. The dog followed the food.
    As i t turned out, they didn't have to wait until after dinner