Retrieving Ballast

By: S.L. Kotar, J.E. Gessler

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

“Ask him about John Paul.” If one sentence stuck in Rose Theodore’s mind, that was it. Innocuous by itself, within those five words lay a world of accusation, charged against Captain Blake not only by the speaker, First Officer D’Artagnan, but held in resentment by the entire crew of the Reprobate. Although the un-Civil War had ended and Rudy returned to England, the horrors of his service in the artillery lingered. Professing “not to be the man I was,” Rose is more than willing to give him the time he needed to recover. Not so the federal agents who have swarmed over England and France, hoping to recover the lost treasures of the Confederacy. Although both Rudy and Rose had anticipated this threat, what neither had considered was the restlessness and doubts of the crew. Having themselves escaped the ravages of war, they fully expected Rudy to be unscathed by his experiences. Seeing him weakened in body and mind, they wondered if indeed, he has been broken beyond redemption, and thus the prophetic challenge, “Ask him about John Paul,” meaning, We have seen the chink in his armor and no longer trust him. Saying farewell to one beloved member of the blockade-running ship, Rudy and Rose are compelled to travel to France and clandestinely transfer bank accounts out of Europe and thus federal hands. On the brief voyage from England to France, Rose is finally compelled to read the journal Rudy entrusted to her years before. Written by the nicknamed John Paul Jones, the former journalist for the New Orleans Echo who went by the simple byline “David,” is a detailed account of his encounter with the redoubtable riverboat gambler, Rudy Blake. Within its detailed pages, David spins his magic, transporting her back to 1853 where blackleg Rudy was known as “Blake the Snake.” From initial contact through the long and complex development of their friendship, Rose is permitted to see the young Rudy Blake make his way from itinerant seaman to wealthy man-about-town. Taking her through his trials and errors, two vastly different Games of the Century, kissing booths, brothels and slave marts, she learns firsthand that which Rudy would never willingly confess. And from the passionate writing, she comes to understand the other half of the equation: David, re-christened “John Paul Jones” when Rudy purchases his dream: a sailing ship which he christens Gemini. Although John Paul’s journal finishes before his tragic experience in South America, a twist of fate finally allows both Rudy and Rose to hear the end of the story.