The Final Day

The Final Morning

The Final Splash

I woke up late today, My body had started to form it's comfortable position on this rock they called a bed. I rolled over and grabbed my watch, opened my eyes and saw that it was 9am. I sat up and said "Morning Luc" but there was no mumbled moaning as if to unite our lazy seafareing lives. there was silence.
I stood up and Luc's bed was empty. "huh" i muttered and wobbled over to the basin rubbing my apparently not ready to leave the bed back. I wonder what Luc was upto. while spitting out my toothpaste. I looked at Luc's toothbrush, it had been used, it lay there slightly unwashed. maybe he was in the bathroom upstairs.

Then the steward boy knocked and opened the door slightly.
'Aah' i shrieked and covered my breasts.
'Oh, mrs babin, I have been requested to come and retrieve you, Your husband is upstairs'.
'Ok, please...wait outside'
The boy embarissingly laughed and said 'not a problem madame i was told you would be asleep' and closed the door. I threw my toothbrush in the basin, threw my night gown on the bed and then threw on a blouse and skirt. I was begining to think luc had jumped ship, as i walked up the stairs, I could already hear Luc's raised voice.
'Where is he though uh?? you said 20 minutes it's been 40 now?!'
'What is it my dear? i walked over to Luc, my arm stretched ready to land on his shouler.
'Roger, the uh dodger'
'Roger? who is roger?'
'The man, The....uuh..thief, i've been meeting in the smoking room'
'oh yes'
He stole my car, it must of fallen out of my trousers when i was sat down, i realised when i put my slacks on this morning'.
'oh no?'
'Where is he damn you' Luc shouted at the bearded man behind the Reception desk.
'Mr Babin, Sir, There are a thousand people on this boat and you want us to find a man named Roger' he smirked respectively; his arms spread, palms open, looking at both of us, 'We are doing our best' he said to me.
'Well your best is not good enough!'. Luc snapped.
just as Luc said that, a slightly drunk looking man wrapped in a blanket being pulled along by two stewards blurted out 'Heeey Luc. Bonne Nuit mon frère!. Whats the cuffufle about old chap?, Germans back again?'.
'Your friend Roger i presume?' I joked.
'Yes, that's him' Luc said as the man was dragged before him like Jesus by the Romans.
'Where is it?' Luc said, arm stretched.
'Wheres what?' Roger said while trying to losen the two stewards off him.
'You know damn well, WHAT'
'Oh shit, the car!!' Rogers eyes went from a trying to wake up confused look, to a full blown realisation
'Yes i want it back. I don't abide stealing, you know' said Luc, while re extending his arm.
'Of course you want it back, it's yours!!, it fell out of your pocket, lucky i picked it up you know, most of the cleaners here are too busy to filter through the rubbish and it would be half way down inside the bins downstairs by now. i had a bit of a knees up last night you see, hence my current attire but i'll go and get freshened up and bring it up to you'.
'Thank you, Roger'. Luc said with praying hands.

Luc didn't normally lose things, he was a very stringent man.

Luc turned to the Beard and said 'Sorry about the temper sir, but i uh you know'
'It's important to you sir, i understand fully'
'It should be important to you, it's a delahaye'
'Hmmm nice' a smile peered out of the beard and they had a masculin moment.
'ROGER, I'LL BE IN' Luc raised his heels and voice while pointing to the breakfast hall
'ok old chap' as he walked down the stairs.
'Come on Daveen, let's get some breakfast', We had an English breakfast today, Lucs encounter with Roger had given him an English hunger. We had sausages, eggs, mushrooms and fried bread. A meal that was my fathers favourite. Roger came over to the table dressed in what i thought was suprsingly good clothes compared to how i had seen him earlier, wrapped in a blanket like some boarding school fire drill.
'so sorry old bean but i met some lovely ladies last night you see and was up until the early hours in the bar' as he sat down he acknoledged a waiter lent against the bar who was clearly giggling in reminisance of what Roger had done the night before.
'I planned to give it to you in the smoking room at lunch as we have met there nearly every day now'.
Roger pulled out the shining red beast of a keyring and dropped it into Luc's hand like Moses parting the seas.
'it's ok, it was early, i was worried, it's our last day, and thought i might not see you amongst the chaos at the harbour in New York, as i have to look after my wife, let's go have a cigarette and you can tell me about these lovely ladies shall we?' said Luc while facing me with a jealous smile, followed by 'excuse me darling'.
'Nice to meet you madame' roger said as he tipped his cap. i just smiled and finished my orange juice.

While the boys were off chatting. i used the time to go and see the rest of the ship. i left the dining salon admiring the marble pillars. walking past the tourist office and waving at the beard, i went upstairs to the theatre where a man was loading the projector with the first of the days hollywood pictures. I waved and said 'Bonjour' the man raised his elbow in acknoledgment and peered over his glasses. I pointed at my watch. he lifted one finger up. i thrust a fist and walked out the room. across the hall was the lounge which was full of mostly women; chatting and sewing, and lot's of bookcases, seeing the bookcases reminded me of the librarian and how she would re-organise my book order. Part of me wanted to walk over there and see what they had, The rest of me turned round and walked out.
I then walked across the hall to the childrens playroom, it was a small room with paintings of sinbad the sailor and birds. a red and blue room with a chair in the shape of an elephant and a large blackboard, i stood watching the children whilst stroking my belly. pretending that they were my children, each laugh similar to Luc's, each dance unlike mine. there was a girl playing on her own and a boy prancing around on the elephant chair as if to get the girls attention, The girl was pretty cute i thought and admired her clothes. Then the little boy fell over and was crying 'MOMMY! MOMMY!'. The young female steward rushed to me. 'Excuse me, is this your child?'. 'non, this is mine' as i looked down at my belly. 'oh of course, i know who it is, do you mind looking after the boy?, while i go find his mother' she said quickly.
'uh me?'
'Please madame, it will be fun for you' she said looking at my belly.
'ok, ok' i patted her shoulder as she trotted off.
I walked over to the crying boy singing

"Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong"

The boy kept on crying MOMMY MOMMY',
'You must be a member of the fan club upstairs' i said laughing at the boy, i started to bounce him on my knee but he was still crying. he was a chubby boy and it hurt to bounce his weight on my knee. i looked down and saw that the boy had grazed his elbow in his fall.
'Oh you'll be fine that's nothing don't be silly' i said to him holding it and smiling. but the boy wasnt going to stop, 'WAAAA, I WANT MY MOMMY!'.

I put him down and went to see the girl who now looked shocked, 'bonjour' i said, he...hewo, what happen to boy she said. I scratched my arm to display what the boy had done, her eyes grew bigger. then she turned right.
'it's ok, it's ok now, mommy is here thanks for looking after him' the steward had returned with the boys mum, it was the american woman from the promenade chairs, she just stared at me and fell to her crying boys requests. The silly boy then stopped crying and i was relieved of my duty. and stormed out of the room. i didn't know where i was in this floating maze.
I paced down the corridors constantly peering my head in doors saying 'Bonjour'. some were officers rooms. some were cabins. one was a gym with a guy on a punch ball and a fellow doing press ups, a steward walked upto me and said 'i'm sorry madame this is 1st class. you shouldnt be here'. All the men stopped what they were doing, I smiled and tried to keep walking, but the steward did not let me past, so i turned round in a sulk and walked back the way i had come.
I went up stairs, and stomped each step, i had, had enough of these stairs, again walking down corridors I heard cutting in one room, poked my head in the doorway, and there was a man beating his swivel chair with a cloth who stopped and said 'Yes Madame?, would you like a cut?' I looking at his partner, who was quickly nipping away at a man's grey head 'i laughed and carried on walking another steward speeded towards me, 'excuse me sir? where is the smoking room?' he laughed and said 'it's there' he pointed to my right and carried on quickly down the hallway.

I turned round and sure enough, there was Roger and Luc sat down at a table smoking, Luc acknowledged me with an inviting wave. i stomped into the room and sat down
'We saw you walk past twice daveen, where were you going?'
'I was trying to find you'
'You did look lost' smirked roger
'She always does' laughed luc
'Ahhh, what a day' i said wiping the sweat from my forehead and stroking my hair.
'Would you like a drink daveen?'
'Orange juice, please Roger'
'So uh what have you been doing my sweet'
'I thought i would use the time to see the boat'
'Yes uh good idea, you want to go now?'
'No no no no, i'm spent'
'What happened?'
'A baby boy happened'
'What!, what boy?'
'I was watching the children and thinking of our baby'
'What children daveen?'
'Thank you Roger' Roger sat down and leant forward.
I took a sip and said
'The children downstairs'
'oh yes, there is a playroom for children, while the mothers, you know, sit in the lounge or outside and discuss dresses' roger said to Luc.
'Yes, so i was watching these uh children there was one tubby american boy and one cute oriental looking girl and i was trying to decide which i wanted our child to be, and then as i was deciding one of them falls'
'oh no' they said
and the steward asked me 'if i was his mother' i said 'no' so she said 'could i look after him'
'why?'
'no idea, i mean really what cheek' so anwyay, i was lumbered with looking after someone else's crying baby.
'everything i did didn't stop his silly crying, he had only grazed his arm'
'you should of kissed it better'
'what?'
'his arm'

'OH......OH..........LUC' i held my belly.
'what'
'the baby ....it just kicked'
'what, let me feel' Luc jumped out of his chair and placed his hand on my belly.
'nothing?' he said
'I felt it Luc' i said joyously
'awww' said Roger
'that's 3 times now' Luc frowned and sat back down.
'poor boy, he was probably in pain' Roger said
'poor boy? poor me!' i said rubbing my belly
'i hope we have a girl Luc'
'there you go Luc old chap, your son is now a girl because of some tubby american boy' Roger laughed
'that'll be the day' Luc smirked

we laughed and chatted for a bit more about our mutual excitement for new york.

Luc seemed sad it was our last day on the ship, he demanded we go upto the sun deck to watch the sunset. i said yes but my legs were shouting no. We hadn't been up deck this late as we normally went to our cabin after dinner. Luc insisted we had to watch the sunset because he knew next time we saw it we wouldn't be in the middle of the ocean.
We stood there staring at the sunset arms round each other. i was stroking my baby, Luc looked down, smiled at me, kissed me and we carried on staring until we had no more shadows. we came down to our cabin, packed our bags, said 'this is it, America, Tomorrow'. and tried to sleep