Morning all. I’m running a bit behind this morning. I woke up to a thunderstorm and couldn’t help hitting the snooze for as long as possible. There is something just utterly delightful about snuggling under the blankets half asleep while listening to a morning storm. It’s better on the weekend of course where you can just amble out of bed when you decide you want to, but just a few extra minutes was nice. But now the day has started even though the storm continues. So I suppose we had best get going as well. Are you ready? Good, let’s set those timers then and 1, 2, 3…We’re off.
I would have expected the storm to enter the story. Kind of surprised it didn’t…
Tuesday, June 7th: The drone of an airplane motor broke the silence.
The drone of an airplane motor broke the silence. We all looked up. It had been the first mechanical sound we heard in a while and for a moment I saw confusion and puzzlement flash across the faces of those around me. Then it registered.
“A plane,” The words seemed to echo from everyone’s lips at once. No matter where we were on the ship, all raced to the upper decks to look. The relieved captain fired off signal flares and the crew broke out the semaphore flags.
Our radio had been lost when the rest of the cruise ship’s systems failed. We all watched as one of the staff waved the flags in what seemed like to me a coordinated movement. As this particular crew man had been in charge of group activities for children during the normal operations, we were all hoping he was competent enough to know semaphore and was actually signaling the correct message.
The air plane circled overhead and we all watched hoping messages were being relayed as to our position. Despite the lack of motor function we were in relatively good shape. There had been no capsizing or major damage. We were simply drifting. We should have been at our destination three days prior.
No doubt that was why the search was called out. While the refrigerated items had been used up or disposed of, there were plenty of yet unspoiled foodstuffs. If it hadn’t been for the dreadful uncertainty there would be little harm done during our unexpected trial.
Now it seemed we had been found. Help would no doubt be on the way. I looked around and saw relief on the faces of many. I saw tempers frayed by anxiety nearly mentl away before my eyes. It was a relief.
This trip hadn’t been one I wanted to go on in the first place. I had never had any intention of setting foot in a body of water that reached over my knees if I was honest, let alone going out on a cruise ship over deep water. I had been outvoted and the cruise had been booked. It was a surprising trip all in all. Our family didn’t gather. We weren’t that sort. We saw each other when occasions demanded our united attention, mostly weddings and funerals. We didn’t do holidays, each segment of the family flying off to different sections of the globe to celebrate and letting telephone calls unite the various factions. We didn’t have family reunions.
To be honest I was not entirely certain how this group trip came about. I was not part of the planning, I was merely along for the ride. Parental pressure had me agreeing and packing my bags. To be honest I felt I was there more as back up. United in solidarity with my small faction, namely my parents on the off chance their siblings and their families decided to attack. Not that I felt the groups were like rival gangs, it just had the feel of independent battalions uniting to elect a general.
We hadn’t had a unified commander I quite some time truth be told, and even then My grandfather and his twin brother shared an uneasy command.
Ten til Midnight 