Behind me, a Galveston County sheriffs cruiser pulled into the marina lot, and Uncle Ray dropped the line, because the deputy was there about my mothers settlement, the money paid in 2019 that Ray had kept for himself.
For years Uncle Ray told me school was for people who could afford it and used me on his shrimp boat. This time the truth came from my dive instructor, because Mr. Hebert knew how offshore settlements work.
My mother died in an offshore accident in 2018, and the company settled with every family, but Uncle Ray told me there was no settlement, when in fact a large settlement was paid in 2019 to Ray, as my guardian, for me, and he had been sitting on it for six years while telling me I was too poor for school.
The copy of the settlement agreement in my gear bag proved it. Mr. Hebert, a retired Navy diver, knew the company and knew they settled, and he put me in touch with the lawyer who handled it, and three days later I had the papers.
Uncle Ray threw my dive logbook into the Gulf and told me to dive for it, sure I would never make it without family. He did not know I had photocopied every page and the sheriff was already coming. He dropped his line when the cruiser pulled in.
Aunt Lupe asked what settlement. Ask him, I told her.
I drove to Houston, and I started commercial diving school on time, on my scholarship, because Uncle Ray could throw a logbook in the Gulf but not the copies I kept.
I am training to be a commercial diver now, my mothers son, working underwater the way she worked offshore. The settlement meant for me is being recovered through the lawyer and the sheriff, on paper, where youll never make it without family does not help Ray.
My mother died on a rig so that I could have a future, and the money meant to give me one is finally coming to me, six years late.
That company settled with every family, where is your mothers, Mr. Hebert asked. It was in Rays account. Now it is coming to mine. And Uncle Ray dropped the line before the cruiser finished parking, because a retired Navy diver knew the question nobody else thought to ask.