Thank you again changing
thank you tt, Hops and Hope
All of you have such faith in me, and in her, in the relationship: certainly more than I do.
I'm just having a repetitive attack, after reading the book about KC. Gus is not called an N in the book, but his broken promises, his procrastination, is mentioned and then to see her quoted as saying she felt like 'poor, white trash' was so hurting to me. Then her trying to get rent from Welfare and couldn't until she left him, them finding a nice Welfare woman who cried with her and gave her the rent. Then her leaving and how frightened she was---while I was 45 minutes away not knowing a thing going on. All this is new news to me.
Then Gus persuades KC to live with him, at 13, and was therefore in charge of him and allowed him to go on that ocean trip in an ill-equipped sailboat, at 17. Gus kept co-ordinates every day from satellite calls from KC, as he expected the boat to sink. Then when the Mayday call came in, he did nothing.... except call his girlfriend and asked her to look after everything. When all was said and done, the Icelandic Search and Rescue had 3 sets of co-ordinates, one from Gus, one from his girlfiend (a difference of 1.5 nautical miles to search) then co-ordinates from the satelitte phone company upping the search area to over 22 nautical miles.
IS&R was quoted in the book and well on the way out spotted 3 flashing lights, that then disappeared. There is no way those lights came from either the boat, now sunk, or from the men. They locked in that position and had to decide where to begin the search, in an angry ocean that could swallow Uncle Tom, now dead and KC. They chose to think of the flashing lights as some kind of miracle and went there, where they saw floating debris and then the two men. KC's body had shut down and his jaw locked shut and had likely 15 minutes left when the helicopter lowered down to get them.
He could only mouth 'Thank you' when on the 'copter and Uncle Tom's body lay on the floor in front of him. KC had hung onto the body in the ocean for about 1 ½ hours.
Tom had a misguided dream, KC had misguided loyalty to Tom, and Gus was the N who would be the hero for his son, yet allowed him to go on this journey. Two other boys, one was Tom's son left the journey at Newfoundland, as the boat leaked all the way up the St. Lawrence River.
I knew nothing until my daughter sent me a link to the Toronto newspaper's story. I went through most of my shock then, 2004, and now again with things I never knew.
Love Izzy