Morning all I hope you are having a good week. Mine has been pretty interesting. A lot of sneezing as the pollen seems to have come back in force this week, but otherwise okay. Let’s see what this morning’s prompt brings us shall we? Timers at the ready and off we go.
I was about halfway through when I realized this is a story about a vampire. Or maybe about a vampire. Someone who has lived far more than one lifetime anyway. I kind of want to set the timer for another fifteen minutes to see what the actual story is about.
Thursday, August 29th: It is a beautiful night.
“It is a beautiful night he said. “I think I will take a turn around the deck and let dinner settle before heading off to bed.” John stood and inclined his head at the rest of the table. They were all in their twenties and all relative strangers to him. He was a part of the group only because of table assignments. They were polite but he expected that once he was gone they would discuss more energetic entertainments for the evening than his plans.
He smiled ass he left the dining room. He was one of the few to dress for dinner although he did see some suits among a few of the men. There were also shorts and flip flops which he chose to ignore. He could understand things were more casual these days and in general didn’t mind. He drew the line at flip flops though. He had no desire to see another’s feet while dining. Many of the ladies were dressed well which only put the more casual in sharper relief.
He let himself out through the doors. There were much more informal dining spaced scattered throughout the ship although he rarely took advantage of them. He either dined in the slightly upscale restaurants or in his cabin. The ship was like a floating city and as always he marveled at it. He even marveled at the people he saw booking passage on the vessel.
It was a strange thing when compared to the ships he knew as a child. He had, admittedly seen far stranger things during his life, but having spent a good portion of his long ago childhood on ships and in ports a ship like this always seemed to mark how long the passage of time was for him. ‘There are benefits,’ he thought.
And he enjoyed them. He was not usually nostalgic, even on ship board. Something brought it out in him this trip and he didn’t quite know what it was. Part of the reason he wanted to walk was because he wanted space to sort through his thoughts and possibly identify what triggered these changes.
Quiet was now one of the hardest commodities to find. The world felt like a much noisier place and the people around him seemed almost afraid of the silences between. There was little time to pause and reflect. He chuckled to himself as he began his stroll. There was that sheen of nostalgia again. Those from his childhood had little time to pause and reflect either. There was food to get, work to be done. He remembered many days where he woke up tired from the work of the day before and got his morning started still exhausted. He generally caught a breath around mid day when they paused to eat but then it was back to work until sundown, followed by a scant meal and a collapse into bed, knowing that the morning would bring more of the same.
Entire years had passed in a blur that way, but still he remembered there were quiet times, even if they were just moments or rest between tasks. Now it seemed louder with less space to rest even between tasks. Behind him there were lights and sound, but as he strolled across the deck he found space away from the main promenade. There were fewer people but those here seemed to be seeking the same quiet solitude he was, or at least a quiet spot with a partner of their choosing. Enjoying the moonlight was an exercise for singles as well as couples. He gazed out to see, watching the moonlight reflect on the water.
Ten til Midnight 