Bob Banel

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2023

Stories (5)

5 Stories

112 karma pts

?

“Space Chunking” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #247

Captain Billy Chunk had the Conn of the SpaceTug Delilah. He had the throttles jammed to the firewall and was in a losing hot pursuit of the SpaceTug Medusa. The Medusa had a fouled Dok-A-Lok coupling on a Jumbo Class SpaceSkow and was now married to it for better or worse. The Medusa was being dragged along on a Nantucket sleigh ride trajectory and headed for something definitely worse than a burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Medusa had FUBAR'ed it drives and was neither use nor ornament. The crew headed by Captain Julie "Sweet" Stacks...

Read story

“Captain Billy: Ad Astra Per Aspera or Bust!” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #188

Author's Note: Ahoy! Follow along in Contests #180, #184, & #185. A sea change occurs for the Good Tugboat Samson and crew! Thing's get more messed up than a soup sandwich!It was 0530 Monday morning on the Seattle waterfront. The Good Tugboat Samson was all fast and standing by Pier 17, their home dock. Captain Billy stepped out of his stateroom freshly showered, shaved and squared away. He was in a "Semper Paratus" mood for facing the challenges of this particular day. An earlier message from Seattle Dispatch said there would noontime v...

Read story

“Vaudeville is Dead and Maybe Captain Billy Too” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #185

Author's Note: The saga of the Good Tugboat Samson continues. Starting in Contest #180 and #184. Captain Billy Chunk and his crew face new challenges from outside and inside on the waters of Puget Sound.It was early Monday morning aboard the Good Tug Boat Samson. The crew was mustered in the Galley for a Safety Meeting. The topic of the Monthly Safety Packet was "Ladders: Step Up to Safety!". Ladders? A sense of Deja Vu washed over Captain Billy as he was certain he had heard this topic for the umpteenth time. The verbose Mister Mate Mark be...

Read story

“Captain Billy versus The Electronic Pop-Tarts” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #184

Author's Note: Due to the bit of bad luck that befell The Good Tugboat Samson it was 86'ed out of San Francisco Bay and was repositioned North to Puget Sound. Deckhand Nicky has been replaced by his twin brother Deckhand Micky. (Refer to Contest #180 "It's Unlucky Not to Be Superstitious")Captain Billy sensed something was wrong in the wheelhouse of the Tugboat Samson. He was certain that an invisible and ever present force was out of control causing errors in his navigation as the tugboat ran up the coast from San Francisco to their new hom...

Read story

“It's Unlucky Not to Be Superstitious” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #180

It was Steak Night aboard the harbor Tugboat Samson moored at Pier 13 on the San Francisco waterfront. At the dinner meal , Deckhand Nicky, a flibbertigibbet in Captain Billy's well seasoned opinion, spilled the salt shaker onto the galley table and apparently didn't possess enough common sense to toss a pinch over his left shoulder smack dab into The Devil's eyes. The other two crew members, Mister Mate Mark and Chief the Engineer, were too occupied chowing down their supper and were oblivious to this transgression. After all, it was Steak ...

Read story

Author bio

I am a Tugboatman . From Sea Scout Apprentice to Tugboat Captain one way or another I've been knocking about the West Coast from the Panama Canal up to Point Barrow, out the Aleutian Chain and across to the Hawaiian Island for the past 45 years. I'm more of a reader than a writer however the deckhand actually spilled the salt at the start of this two week shift on a Harbor Tugboat here in Puget Sound and then I stumbled across this contest about luck and thought I'd give it shot. After typing out the first draft I had an actual headache. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this story and used my tugboat experiences as an inspiration. Sorry what happened to Deckhand Nicky but I followed the advice of Kurt Vonnegut who said to be a sadist to your characters.