Tom took Denise to a lovely coffee shop overlooking the water, where they had pancakes, hot chocolate and the best raspberry jam she had ever tasted.
She could forget about time when she was talking to Tom. Any subject was so easy to talk to him about and they drifted smoothly from their families at home to the weather, the coolest places they had traveled to and of course, life onboard: the most unavoidable of all topics. He told her about the time when he had to do pirate watch and she grimaced.
“Don’t make that silly face. I’m not talking about pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Jack-Sparrow type of pirates.”
“That’s a pity. I find Jack Sparrow rather charming.”
“Women!” He growled.
“Now explain the pirate watch better. I’ve never heard that one before.”
“It’s something that only happens in very particular itineraries. I did it on a ship that was sailing between South Africa and India. It’s not a very common run precisely because it’s dangerous. There are many pirates in those waters always looking for a chance to invade a ship. Many cargo ships have been attacked there. These people have heavy weapons and don’t have any problems using them so we had watches on deck to survey the waters around the vessel. It was the most tedious thing I’ve ever done in my life. We would spend hours and hours just looking at the water.” He explained.
“That makes more sense. It must have been incredibly boring though. Did you ever get to see any pirates?”
“No, thank goodness I didn’t. We were able to do the run without that sort of problem.”
Denise sighed. “That must be a really amazing itinerary. India, Africa… Wow.”
“There were some very nice places. Apart from the pirate watches I had a great time. India was particularly prone to interesting situations. In one of the ports they used to greet the passengers with elephants. One morning we docked and while security was getting ready one of the elephants relieved his bowels right in front of the forward gangway. As you can imagine that means a lot of shit, literally.” Tom described with a chuckle. “We had to keep the gangway closed for a good time before they cleaned that crap. It was absolutely hilarious!”
Denise burst with laughter and he went on entertaining her with a few more stories.
Because of their long conversation Denise and Tom made it to Eli’s cabin a bit later than they had agreed initially. None of them regretted that.
Carla, Sofia and a blond girl that must have been Kelly were on the bed. Eli was sitting on the floor with a few bottles nearby and there was Phil from production on another chair, two dancers sharing a couch and Denise and Tom had to squeeze on the bed in the middle of everyone else. Before they could say a word each one of them was given a glass of vodka mixed with something that looked weird but tasted good.
“Jelly beans.” Eli clarified when she noted their puzzled faces.
“What?”
“I put jelly beans in the bottle of vodka for a few days. That’s what gives it the flavor.”
“Oh-h.” Denise stuttered. “Interesting. It tastes nice.”
Chris was not there yet so Eli paged him and got him out of bed with the threat that if he didn’t arrive in her cabin in the next five minutes she would go get him.
A moment later he joined them still half asleep.
“You people are unbelievable! Please tell me you didn’t get me out of bed to come drinking. I have an empty stomach.” He complained.
“You need to fill it then.” Eli said with a grin and gave him a big glass of something that coming from her could only be extremely alcoholic.
Chris went on protesting and drinking and by ten thirty in the morning everyone except Sofia was drunk. Kelly took some pictures and Eli had the absurd idea to make some shots with vodka and Baileys.
When most of them couldn’t even move anymore Eli rose from the floor, fixed her hair and cheerfully told everyone she was going to call Bingo and left in a hurry. At that point Sofia had left to open the medical center and the others were seriously drunk. It was only a good bit later that they stopped to think that Eli could consume a lot more alcohol than any of them. When everyone else was barely functioning, she was fit enough to go to work.
Denise and Tom helped Chris to go back to his room. Then they took the elevator to deck 4 with Carla and everyone went straight to their respective beds. Denise felt her head so heavy she could barely lift it.
By seven that evening, Chris was late to work and Leah had to page him. Lucky for him she fell for the universal excuse that the alarm clock didn’t ring. He had a shower, put on a clean uniform and some perfume and prayed that she wouldn’t notice that he was still drunk. Leah gave him the master keys and the instructions for the night and it was with great relieve that he saw her big bottom swaying out the door.
By eleven, when Denise came to work completely hangover they sat front to front by their desks, holding their heads with their hands and staring at each other.
“This is going to be a long night. How do you feel?” Denise asked her assistant.
“Scheiße!” He replied in German. “Who was it that had the brilliant idea to start drinking at half nine in the morning?” He asked with sarcasm.
“That would have been Eli. And you were the only one who started drinking at nine thirty. Everyone else was there before.”
“I was late to work, I came here still drunk and now I have to work another four hours feeling like crap!”
Denise laughed although it wasn’t funny and she was feeling as bad as him. Her head was spinning, her body was sore and her brain unresponsive. “Like I said, this is going to be a long night. Let’s just hope it will be quiet.”
But the night was everything except quiet and both Denise and Chris deeply regret their drinking session that morning. It was like all the dramas onboard were saved on purpose for the one night none of them was in good shape.
By eleven thirty they received a noise complaint from deck 6 forward: the corridor where the dancers lived. When they arrived there, a cabin with a door wide open had been converted into a bar and a big speaker played loud dance music in the corridor. A big group of people was outside chatting and dancing and Denise tried to get them to listen to her but the music was too loud and no one seemed to notice her presence.
Chris observed that even the cord for the speaker was secured to the floor with tape so whoever planned the party thought of the safety hazards. He grimaced and plugged it off. With the loud music gone Denise made her voice heard.
“You people can move to deck 8 forward. Crew bar. Now!” She shouted. “I’m coming back in ten minutes. If I see you or any leftovers of this party here, you’ll be in my report tomorrow morning.”
When she turned around to leave, she had a surprise.
“Ian! You trouble maker! Of all the people I didn’t expect to see here, your name would be on top of the list. You were night manager just last cruise. What in the world are you doing in this place?”
“Nice party, isn’t it?” He snickered.
“That’s not what I asked.” She tried to sound mad but she loved him too much and he knew there was no way she would ever be truly upset with him.
“Since I don’t have to finish the parties anymore, I’m participating.” He replied with a comic smile and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Chill out Denise. Its only music and some drinks.”
Denise looked at the huge speaker that two of the dancers were now using as a seat and the dozens of bottles all over the place. Most people were still there, looking at her but not exactly moving.
“Did I speak Chinese?” She shouted again. “I told you to clean up and get the hell out of here. Do it!”
Denise turned around and took the service stairs to deck 5. She dropped on her chair holding her head as soon as she reached her desk. Chris couldn’t help laughing.
“Any other night, I would have found it funny. Not today.”
“You have to admit the detail of securin
g the cord with tape was brilliant.” He pointed out.
“Tell me that again tomorrow and I’ll probably agree. Today the only thing I can admit is that I feel like crap and this night is taking too long.”
As soon as she finished the sentence Tom called on the radio reporting a fight in one of the passenger’s bars. One hour later there was a missing person who turned out to be drunk in a corner of the casino and like that wasn’t bad enough several crew members locked themselves out of their cabins and Denise had to run around to open their doors with the master keys.
Around one o’clock she received a call from one of the bars and the first thing she thought, considering the hour, was that they were asking permission to close but the bar supervisor advised her that there was a passenger requesting wheelchair assistance to return to her room.
“Explain that better.” The night manager requested, reminding herself that whatever was going on, it was not his fault.
“This woman’s been here drinking for a while. Now she’s asking me to get her someone with a wheelchair to push her to her room.”
Denise wanted to slap the passenger. “Does she have a wheelchair?”
“I don’t think so.”
“How did she get to the bar?”
“I’m not sure. But she’s been sitting on a normal chair all night.” The bar supervisor replied.
“Did you tell her that either she has her own wheelchair or she can request the chair from us but she’ll have to make her way to the room sitting on it? This is not a nursing home.”
“I told her, well, not the nursing home bit, but she said I was rude and said she wanted to talk to my supervisor.” He explained.
Across the desk Chris laughed out loud.
“Chris, when they decide to promote you, do yourself a favor and get a job ashore. Being the supervisor sucks!” She mumbled on the way to the bar on deck 7.
He giggled and went with her because he didn’t want to miss that one.
The lady was the only passenger left in the bar and by the look on the bartender’s face, she had been getting on his nerves for a while. Denise introduced herself and saw right away how drunk the woman was.
The passenger demanded wheelchair assistance again and Denise asked her how she had arrived in the bar.
“I walked.” She had the nerve to answer.
“If you walked here, you can walk back.” Denise replied sharply, making sure the woman understood who had the authority there.
“If you don’t get me the wheelchair, I’ll stay here all night.” The passenger answered in a challenging tone.
“No problem. You can stay. But be advised the bar is going to close now and there will be no more booze for you. On the other hand, there is a mini bar in your cabin.”
Denise left before the woman could think about an answer and Chris followed biting his tong to hold the laughter. “Is she going to take the bait?”
“Trust me, she will.” Denise guaranteed, knowing from her many previous experiences how the minds who crave alcohol work.
Much later that night, after Chris was gone, Denise received an email from Diego. Hi, you didn’t answer my email yesterday. Are you okay? Diego.
Denise was normally polite but the hangover mixed with the troubled night she was having took the best out of her.
No you moron. I’m not okay, I couldn’t possibly be okay and you already know that. Stop asking!
She pressed enter before her conscience spoke louder. She had to get that out of her chest. If she felt like it, tomorrow she would send an apology.