Covered

“Hey Chip, how is it going? Is my boat going to be ready on time this year?” 

“Good morning Mr. Prentice, I am willing to bet it will be ready early. We got a new mechanic that is a hound dog for over time. We are actually running a little early this year.”  

“I heard about him, Dave was saying he was a hard worker, but kind of odd, antisocial and such.” 

“Yeah, he likes to keep to himself. That is fine with me though.” 

“Well, I look forward to meeting him.” 

Chip paused to choose his next words carefully. 

“Well, that is the thing Mr. Prentice, he stays low profile. He tries to avoid any contact with customers. He basically communicates through me.” 

“He can’t avoid me forever, you know me, I like to know who is working on my boat.” 

“Yeah, I also know you are a condescending ding bat that likes to warm up to the people that work on your boat, only to complain about them later.” Chip said under his breath, then followed it up with a louder “Have a good day Mr. Prentice.” in a tone that almost suggested to say, “fuck off”.  

Chip already knew his new mechanic wouldn’t get along with Mr. Prentice, he had no intention of letting them meet. Wave Crest Boatyard and Marina had been short handed in the mechanical department for years, they had resulted in hiring out to different mobile mechanics, but that wasn’t a good solution. They worked on their schedule and not on the boatyards so over the years, several boats had missed their launch date by a week sometimes more.  

Then one day back in March, Chip opened his email to find that somebody had applied for the mechanic position. A job interview was scheduled with him and Dave, the general manager, and this applicant by the name of Steve, Stephen Black was his full name on the application, but in the email he said he went by Steve.  

About a week before the interview Chip was making one walk thru of the marina when her hear a truck pull into the boatyard. It sounded like a semi-truck had showed up, and Chip was wondering if a boat was being delivered that he had either forgotten about or didn’t know about. Then he saw an older square bodied GMC pickup, like from the 80’s and painted in flat black paint and it had black rims. The truck looked like it would disappear if it were dark out. The truck stopped in a parking spot, well away from the other cars. It had four doors and a short bed, obviously custom. The truck set higher than normal and had big knobby tires on it. It had Maine veteran plates on it with the Marine Corp insignia. Man stepped out of the truck and walked to the center of the parking lot and looked around.  

Chip was in speaking distance now and decided to great the stranger. 

“Can I help you?” 

“No, just checking this place out.” the stranger said with a raspy voice. 

“Are you thinking of keeping a boat here” Chip asked, trying to see the man's face, the sun was behind him and Chip couldn’t make out his facial features.  

“Yeah, you have a boat here?” 

“Yes, I do actually. I have a nineteen foot Seaway with center console. What do you have?” 

“Just a small skiff. Nothing special.” 

This didn’t sound right to Chip, people don’t go scouting boatyards for a skiff, but he didn’t want to make any bones about it.  

“Well, the crew here is already gone, most of them leave at 3:30 some work a little later. Friday’s, they hang out over there and have a few beers.” He pointed to a picnic table just outside of a large barn door.”  

Chip had moved now so he could see the man's face. He looked to be in his thirties, square jawed and clean shaven. He had a black ball cap on with the Marine Corp insignia on it. It looked as if he was bald under the hat, but Chip wasn’t sure.  

The man looked around a little more and turned to Chip. 

“Do you know the crew well?”  

“Yeah, why do you ask?”  

“Just want to get a feel on what kind of people work here.” 

“They are a good crew, and they do good work. Very friendly but stick to their work. Every so often in the summer the do a cookout and invite the customers to come and join. It’s a ‘meet the crew’ kind of deal. The general manager is big into customer and crew relations.” 

The man nodded his head like he was agreeing with him. Said goodbye, got in his truck and left.  

After that the next time he saw Steve was when he walked into the interview and him and Chip shared a grin, but no more than that.  

The interview itself was awkward, Steve had a raspy voice and talked low which sometimes made him difficult to understand. His resume was His resume was impressive but didn’t delve into the details of his military service, other than to say he was a mechanic. Other bullet points where he could weld, he could fabricate, and he was a good electrician.  

Prior employers all had glowing reviews, only complaint was that Steve never seemed part of the team. Not that he wasn’t a team player, it was just that he never participated in any of the company parties or social activities.  

Chip was fine with all that, they needed a mechanic, and he didn’t if this guy was going to be anti-social. Dave, the general manager seemed to be concerned about this