The Root of Money

8

8Brackish gray spears of oil and pollution roiled beneath the blue-green surface of the Singapore Strait. Captain James Halpin stood on a narrow metal platform outside the bridge of the cargo vessel Malaikat as it slipped through the narrow eastern entry from the South China Sea. A favorable westerly current buoyed the vessel transporting forty four containers of wheat and soy beans. Halpin felt his ship maneuvering easily beneath his feet as he enviously eye-balled a handful of yachts moored along the north shore.

The day was temperate and a breeze carried a familiar stench to Halpin’s beet red face. His sun-cracked lips craved a cold beer, a need he was more than willing to satisfy. Years ago he commanded gigantic oil tankers. That was before his inebriation was identified as the cause of a costly spill, stripping him of that position and leaving him to pilot vessels he felt beneath him, offering a fraction of the pay he once enjoyed. When a former associate offered temporary command of the Malaikat he leaped at the opportunity and the promised bonus for this special transport. The voyage to Long Beach, California would carry a light load of containers stocked with coconut oil, cane sugar and finished clothing, plus four containers transporting shells of buses built to resemble municipal vehicles operating in southern California.