Galveston Causeway

This is part of a novel I am writing, so it is unfinished. This novel, a fiction-based on facts writing called Towboat. I worked on towboats and barges in the shipyards for about 10 years, so I am drawing from experience as I write this novel. I am Brian in this writing. All the names will change later once I decide on the names I will use. I write sections like this when I get the inspiration, so I don't always have my writing laptop with me. What I have written here was written on my work laptop, which I do not bring home, so I am posting it here until I can copy it into the novel.

The phone started to ring down the hall. Brian rolled over in bed and held his pillow over his ears to block the noise. It kept ringing. Brian looked out from under his pillow to see what time it was. The clock on the bedside table showed 04:33. Who in the world would be calling this time of day? The ringing finally stopped. Just about the time he fell asleep again, the obnoxious phone started ringing again. He then heard a bedroom door open, then his mom answered the phone. A few seconds later, he heard a knock on his bedroom door, and then it opened. His mom said, “Bruce wants to talk with you.” "Ok, thanks.”

After his mom went back to her bedroom, Brian hung his feet over the side of his bed. He gets up, walks over to the chair nearby, and picks up the blue jeans he took off a few hours before. He pulls his jeans on, buttons them, and secures the belt. He walks out of his room and down the hallway to the phone on the wall near the top of the stairs. The receiver was cradled on the top of the phone with the long, coiled wire hanging almost to the floor.

“Hey.” “Did I wake you up, sleepy head?” he heard Bruce say over the phone. “Yeah, what’s up?” he said while rubbing the blurriness out of his eyes. “I need you to meet John at the shop. Barges broke loose near the Galveston Causeway. You, John, and Greg need to take the ski boat down there and help them get those barges back together.” “Wait, what? We are going to use the ski boat to help make up barges?” “No, use the ski boat to go out to the barges to help them get everything back together. I have coffee on at the office, so get over here now.”

Brian pulls into the shop’s parking lot. The lights in the office area and the main shop were both on. He parks his Monte Carlo near the shop’s main door. Walks in to see one of the pickup trucks with the ski boat already connected. There were a couple of coolers in the boat. He walks through the door that leads to the office area. He could smell fresh coffee. As he poured coffee into his cup, he saw Bruce wave him into his office. Brian took a seat on the other side of Bruce’s desk while he was finishing a phone call. Brian sets the coffee cup on the desk and wiggles out of the heavy winter coat. As he picks up the coffee cup, Bruce drops the phone into the cradle. “A few hours ago, the Howard had three empties and a bow thruster waiting for a train to go past the causeway. They were steering against the south wind when the winds shifted from the north as the front blew through. They were blown out of the channel, and when they hit bottom, the barge wires broke up. By the way, have I said that I hate trains?” “Yeah, Bruce, I hear you mention your train hate all the time,” Brian said.

Greg walks in from the parking lot looking like he just crawled out of bed. He plops down in the chair next to Brain. “What’s up?” he asked. Bruce got him up to speed about the tow breakup. “So, what are we supposed to do?” Bruce sat back in his chair and said, “The Howard has two new deckhands. Mike is the captain, called me over the VHF asking for help. Apparently, when the front blew through, the water got really choppy. They can’t get to the bow thruster or one of the barges. Those are in shallow water. I need you two and John to go down there to see how you can help. I need those barges in Corpus Christi by Friday, so this will cut our time close. The Howard is full of fuel, so is the bow thruster. They are both sitting low in the water. With the tide blown out, those vessels hitting bottom are making it all difficult. Also, I put some groceries in the ski boat that the Howards needs. We were going to get groceries in Corpus, but with the extra deckhand on board, they need it now.”