FFL brought his kids back to the City Marina laundry in Marathon, the Florida Keys. FFL was so out of sorts the last time this Captain and The Kid chatted with him. He would escape from home to do his laundry here so he could talk to sailors and for a full-load followed by a spin cycle and full load dryer, he would escape to other places through these boat people. FFL had kids at home so felt guilty about his wanting to run off to the Caribbean, or South Seas. The Kid encouraged him to bring the kids along.

So, here we are. Two terrors. One is climbing in and out dryers, and the other went from knob twisting to crawling behind the trash can between the machines. FFL looked embarrassed. It was clear he missed the point of the idea for bringing these wild offspring with him to the Marina. This experiment was to see if his plight could be turned around and he could enjoy his escape and begin to introduce his offspring to getting away.

Right away this Captain recognized that his kids were one step ahead of him in this.

"Do you know where your kids are?" I asked FFL.

"One's hiding behind the dry..." He began to answer.

"No, no. I mean do you know where they are?"

FFL looked confused. He wanted to answer the same way he began when I first asked but hesitated with a wrinkled up look like he was trying to figure out what I meant.

"They havn't been here two minutes and they already are escaping from here. That's a good thing. Now you gotta channel that so its escape and not free-range, outta control chaos."

I asked one kid why they didn't go out to look at the water and the boats. He said his dad told him to stay inside. I asked why.

"He said we can't fall in the water, 'cuz he don't have 'nuff quarters to dry us off."

FFL explained that he meant dry their clothes. The dryers at Marathon City Marina are notorious for taking a long time to dry. One load, one time took so many quarters to get our clothes dry that by the end of our patience, the dryer had more money in it than an ATM machine. The Kid talked to FFL for a few minutes to convince him to let the kids wander around by assuring him that we and others would keep a watch on them. I nodded in disagreement, but FFL thought I was toying with him and agreed to let the kids explore more as long as they didn't run or climb into things that they should not climb into. One kid agreed and went outside and immediately climbed into the Sheriff's dinghy.

Being a father should not be about not being a person. So what to do if that conflict comes up? Stop being a person? Too many people have completely changed who they are to be a father or mother so that instead of them raising their kids, someone who they are not, but think that they should be does the raising and the kids get all screwed up because they were raised by strangers. Take who you are, add a bit of being somewhat more responsible, and get to know these people who you brought into this world. When you do it by who you are and not by trying to be someone else, then you will really know your kid and later on when you get back to being you, you won't wonder who those people are who claim to be your kids because they don't seem to be like you.

As we talked to FFL we could hear one of the kids talking to Bag Man outside. Bag Man was telling the youngster about a sale on M&M peanuts.

"Two for $2.39. The big bag." Bag Man expressed.

"I ain't got $2.39."

"Boy, it's not about how much ya got, Its about how much you save. You don't pass up a killer sale just because you don't got the money."

Bag Man explained to the boy about discounts, finance, sales, and the economy. The boy sat quietly and listened with an occasional nod that he was following what Bag Man was explaining and that he was also in agreement.

Inside, the other boy was talking to Webster who had motored in to use the book exchange. Webster lives aboard out in the Harbor. Webster does not always answer questions directly, but often will answer by defining things according to his own definition and understanding. The boy noticed a key dangling from Webster's rope belt.

"What's that for?"

"A key unlocks goods that are of value and thus are protected for safe keeping."

"What are you keeping safe. You don't even have a real belt."

"Belts are real if they, by definition, accomplish their intended purpose."

Before our very eyes, FFL's boys were having discussions with two characters many people would not take the time or effort to even to speak to. The boys, whether they knew it, or if FFL knew it, were escaping to other places.

The concern once expressed in FFL's eyes had softened, then turned to one of delight. He had never expected to see his boys talking to people at the Marina and seemingly to be enjoying the conversations.

Bag Man went on about how to save, spend wisely, and the economic uses for bags. Webster defined the difference between motor-sailing and sailing by the wind. The boys asked questions and eagerly listened to the answers. FFL concluded that his boys could share his place of escape with him from now on. He also was beginning to think that maybe this was the first step to getting away to other places and perhaps even by boat.

Education is often really messed up by schooling. Fatherhood is often really messed up by lack of education. Educate your kids. Don't let some father do it, even if you have to be a father when you are doing it. Take your kids along to far away places and places of escape. You really get to know one another when you do.

The Captain and The Kid