Phoenix Rising

Chapter 1 : Boats Missed.

Henry had a gambling problem. Actually it could be fairly said that Henry had a great many problems in his life! Gambling, drinking and being a womanising slob were his principal problems but there were other character flaws that occasionally made themselves felt. Usually they did not affect his life at all, or at least he did not allow them to.

Tardiness, facetiousness, indolence, licentiousness and shiftlessness were all minor traits that could have been listed as his trivial negative qualities.

In fact they battled for attention!

After all, Henry was really quite well off, in fact he was rather wealthy; though to look at him you would have thought that he was a typical wastrel. The trouble was that he was twenty four and until his twenty fifth birthday, he was as rich as Croesus but only on paper.

Every nephew and niece dreams of being the recipient of a fortune from an uncle or aunt. For Henry that dream had come true. Aunt Maisy had left him millions but she knew him well, too well. So the will was read and the usual fortune went to charity and good causes. Henry was the recipient of the fifteen million that was left over, but strings were attached. Until he was twenty-five he was ‘only’ paid ten thousand dollars a month from the trust fund, auntie Maisy had known what she was doing.

That had been four years ago and now that red letter day was approaching fast, but not soon enough for Henry. Not that that made a difference in his attitude and the way that he viewed life. He took his allowance in cash every month and spent it, often in the first few days, to leave him destitute the rest of the month as he waited for the next lump sum of cash.

On the island of Nassau, in the Bahamas islands, is more than one Casino. Each one was like a little slice of heaven for Henry. A place where all those character traits could mix, combine and ferment to form a heady cocktail of conduct that was tolerated because of the money that he could play, and lose, on the dice tables.

How had he got there?

Well there are so many ways, but the one that Henry had used was to take a cruise. Over the years he had often taken cruises when the ‘binge’ feeling overwhelmed what little self control he had managed to garner. He found that paying for all the basics of life a month in advance meant that he could spend the rest and always had some security to fall back on.

That had been the plan.

Four days from Miami and then three days on the island. Gambling and whoring, drinking and maybe doing the odd line of coke. Then back on the ship and another two weeks that would take him to Aruba or Curacao before he turned around to be back in the bank of America in Miami to pick up the next dollop of aunty Maisy’s fortune in cash.

That fourth day in the Paradise Island Casino had been nothing less than a twenty four hour binge. Henry had won big for the first time. With just five thousand he had been the main benefactor of a three hour roll that had seen him empty the table float and a follow on fill of a hundred grand. The heady, elevated thrill of having a pile of chips a mile high, the adoration of the female guests and the whiskey all combined to fix Henry to the table as he tried to recreate his win and go for a million.

Of course it was not to be.

It never is.

The dice were passed, the rolls petered out and all the drunken strategy in his fevered mind came to naught. The dawn was breaking as Henry left the casino with dragging feet, to find a taxi to take him back to the ship.

“Fuck aunty Maisy,” he muttered as he realised that he did not even have enough money to take a taxi.

The reason for his bitter mood was the fact that he knew that credit was the one thing that the conditions of the will did not allow. A single credit card, loan, floater, mortgage, prepayment or retainer and the money would be gone.

Gone forever to some cat home or good cause that had nothing to do with Henry. Worst of all was that that lawyer, Mrs Crystal Veryon, who controlled the trust fund, knew that if she could just catch Henry panhandling once then she would be the main beneficiary because the trust fund would live on and she took her fees as the administrator.

That bitch was like a spider in the middle of his life, her tight lips and old fashioned politeness, looking down at him. To her he was the only thing that stood between the money and her own bank account. All she had to do was catch him out.

Once!

After about six months he had realised that that prissy cunt of a lawyer had even set a private detective on his tail to check his every move. Had he taken out any loans? Was Henry breaking the terms of the will? Even his E mail account and his Facebook page had been hacked but nothing had come of it.

The result of this harassment had made him cautious and careful to stick absolutely to the rules. The money remained in the trust fund and he was nearly through the tunnel. Soon he would be rid of her and all her wiles.

So Henry walked from the casino to the dock!

But the huge silhouette of the ship was gone.

Missing!

Tardiness had claimed its victim.

He looked at his watch and realised that the fucking ship had gone on without him and now he was stranded in the docks in Nassau with not a red cent in his pocket and two weeks to manage without any money at all. No money and no way of getting his hands on any money.

So he sat.

Henry had one character trait that held him in good stead, he lived in hope.

So he sat on a crate and thought about what he was going to do. Well, eating for the next few days was really no problem. He had enough player points to eat burgers for a month in the casino and if he asked for a room he might just get one.

Henry walked along the docks, from the massive piers where the liners docked, opposite Potters Cay, where the smaller boats and yachts of the rich were tied up. From there he could see the casino and the blue of the bay.

At last he found himself looking at the boats tied up and thought that in just a few short months he would be able to buy his own and solve all his problems when his twenty fifth birthday arrived with a bundle of money that even he could not spend quickly.

Or at least too quickly.

He cast a professional eye over the boats, motor cruisers, yachts and others that were almost small cruise ships before deciding that what he would buy would be at least thirty metres long and fast.

In the end it was all a daydream and he could feel the first pangs of hunger that meant that he would have to return to the casino and start begging from some fucking supercilious manager to get a room.

The walk was long and left him exhausted but at last he was over the toll bridge and sitting in the player’s bar that stood at the centre of ten empty craps tables.

He pulled his player’s card from his pocket and proffered it. In exchange he got a burger and fries and a whisky to smooth it down.

This was going to be a long two weeks...

Chapter 2 : Boats Found.

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