The match is lit, the fuse ignites, the sulfur in the fuse flashes like a sparkler across the black background and the familiar music 🎵 has begun. Before the first commercial break, Mr. Phelps (Peter Graves) will have retrieved the Dossier for the Mission —-package of black and white photos, and a tape recorder (small reel to reel , no I magic here), wrapped in plastic (pre ziplock bags)...Your Mission, Mr. Phelps/Pickle, should you choose to accept it, is to find the former CIA spy on board your sailing vessel. He and his wife are in a Suite (along with 200+ other couples). His current identity is that of a successful restaurateur from Savannah, Georgia, previously from Chicago. His second wife, Paulette, is a Jewish Southern Belle (kinda like a unicorn of sorts), with somewhat natural red hair, lots of jewelry and expensive shoes, a deep southern drawl also from Savannah.
Yup, Mr. Phelps (Eddie) and I (call me Cinnamon) have brushed arms with a former CIA spy from the Cold War era...a la the original Mission Impossible-long before Tom Cruise was out of diapers and jumping off buildings on to motorcycles. Eddie usually has a pretty good BS barometer...as he tends to give lots of his stories and history an Eddie upgrade. While the basic story is true, some of the facts may have been enhanced to make the story more interesting to people we will never see again. So, he can spot a fake pretty easily. So, when we met Michael and Paulette in the Lounge, we did not know until our 3 or 4 meeting (note-meeting not drink, as the BS increases exponentially when liquor is added to the equation) that Michael was a retired spook. A fact that he could not share with even his wife until he had been out for 15 years...so, while Ed was getting the story from Michael, Paulette was tell me a similar tale, a tale she has only know since 2012 (there is that Tao of 7 again). Her story was more of visiting people around the world (while on cruises) that Michael seemed to have a long history with and she was curious why he knew so many people. I immediately made the mental jump from Restauranteur to Chicago style mobster...but Paulette eventually revealed that he had worked in “the intelligence community”. Well, Eddie came back from our reveal meeting with better scoop. Michael had been a CIA Operative in Poland that helped pick Lech Walesa to lead the Polish government after Communist rule. Then assisted in getting him elected...one of those lesser of evils kind of this since big Lech worked with Soviets, too. I would never let the CIA pick my horse in a race. Since our resident Historian, Eddie, reads all sorts of intrigue books along with some based on fact, he has, been spook struck ever since. Me, I am so glad that there is Wikipedia, I got the Reader Digest version of Lech...not some much on Big Michael...my big burning question is if he is a restauranteur in Savannah, does he know Paula Dean and has he met her Michael?
When not spook hunting, we have enjoyed fairly mild temps and sunny weather on the crossing, each day we have managed to see dolphins and whales fairly close to the ship. However, never when we have a camera. If you don’t see it yourself, there are loads of folks hanging on to rails and pointing that is a sure tip off. As April and May are the high season for the nearly 28 species of whales and dolphins in the Azores (Monday’s stop), we have been fortunate to see them enroute. We will be whale chasing in the Azores. So, I have high hopes of some good pictures...stay turned. Outside of Alaska and Hawaii, I don’t ever remember as much active sea life.
Stay tuned for our next adventure of Nick at Night...or Animal Planet....
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