“Military police vessel, this is the sailboat to your bow, do you need me to stop… Over?”  I asked several times as the blue lights following us lit up our surrounding, revealing even more gun ships.

“Military police vessel, this is the Captain of Aleph Tav to your bow, do you need me to stop… Over?”

The military police vessel approached with no radio response and followed us for a while.    I slowed down to about one knot… The intimidating vessel matched our speed and continued following.    It was unnerving trying to navigate in an unfamiliar shallow area, surrounded by gunships in the middle of the night, with flashing lights following us.

I pondered: “Come on Father, the Aleph Tav is completely  invisible in every non Hebrew translation of the Bible; why can’t we be invisible now?…”

Then, without explanation the military police vessel backed off and returned back to its post.

I increased our speed to three knots and continued on the same course, past many other war ships as Andre scanned for obstacles with a spotlight.  Then we saw several docks completely full of boats, so I proceeded on course heading deeper into the canal which eventually would lead us to a dead end.  Then right there to our starboard, a long old dock with all the slips empty.    Gabriel and Andre tied up the boat while I walked all around looking for some one, some number, some office… any way I could communicate with the dock owner that we were there, but nothing.  There was nothing but a long empty dock all to ourselves, so we settled for the night.

In the morning, I was awakened by the squeaking sound of a rusty bicycle. “Hey!… You can’t leave here unless you come speak to the BOSS!” Demanded a homeless looking man.  He was dressed poorly and several of his teeth were missing.  He did not look like any one of importance but he stood next to his old bicycle with determined authority, so I responded: “Yes, absolutely, I’ll be right out.”  I went below to look for my wallet.

He seemed upset as he escorted Andre and me down the long dock without saying anything.  Then he led us to a small building, and with a frown pointed us to a door.

“What is his name?” I asked “… Your boss?”

“It’s not a he, it’s a she… And you can call her Miss B!” responded the man in a stern voice.

Andre and I walked into the quiet office.  There was a middle aged woman on a computer.

I took a deep breath; “Miss B?” I asked as I called her attention.

“Yes? That’s me…” She responded turning away from her computer.

I explained who we were, what our mission was, and that we had stayed on her dock overnight.  She looked at us for a moment then said: “ok, so… what can I do for you?”

I paused for a moment.  “Well… We just wanted to check in before we headed off.”

Miss B just looked at us…

“The Dock Master brought us here.” I said while pointing at the door.

“Ahh… Randy; I see.  That dock has been closed for years, so… Have a nice trip…” She said while turning back to her computer.

Outside, the man was waiting next to his bicycle; “What she say?…” He asked.

“She told us to have a nice trip…” I responded.

“Alright, see what I’m sai’n? Miss B is the Greatest, I’ll do anything for her. She treated me good and I’ve been here for over 20 years.  I’m Randy, Dock Master, and I will not let any one come to this dock and leave with out speaking with the BOSS, Miss B.  If she say you all right, you alright by me…”

With that, he led us to see how well he cleaned the bathrooms.  We told him we didn’t need to use the bathrooms, but he insisted so he could show us his work.  After going through a detailed tour of the bathroom, we headed back across the long empty dock careful to avoid the holes where boards were missing.

We untied Aleph Tav and Randy the Dock Master stood next to his bicycle waving us off as one waves goodbye to an old friend…

Fascinating, I realized in the end that Randy was neither unfriendly, or friendly.  He was not some homeless man, nor do I know if he actually had a home.  In fact, I don’t even know if he was employed at that marina at all… What was clear beyond the shadow of a doubt is that Randy was loyal… He was loyal to someone who had been kind to him some 20 years back, and for that, he was the perfect Dock Master.

From there, we sailed straight into Heaven… Or better known as the ICW, the intranational coastal waterway.

To be continued