August 23
If the fog gets thick, the Malaspina’s fog horn blares a two second blast every one hundred and twenty seconds. Even if the fog comes at seven in the morning. I guess waking up to a fog horn beats awakening to the crunch of plowing into another ferry, but it’s a close call.
By the time I unzipped my sleeping bag at eight it was warm enough to sit comfortably without a shirt under the covered solarium. I sat for a few minutes at the foot of my lawn chair feeling the rhythm of the day. The cool wind outside of the solarium blew just hard enough to ruffle the tents a few feet away. The tentless deck rats, a population which included me, had slept under the open-sided solarium’s roof because of the slate-gray clouds that lithified in yesterday afternoon’s skies. But the sky this morning grew cumulus clouds, decorative clouds, joyful clouds that traversed the sky in self-contained merriment. I pulled on a tee shirt and padded out among the tents in bare feet, feeling the vibrations of the Malaspina’s diesels. I leaned over the rail and peered toward the bow. The wind breaking over my nose smelled of the sea. I stretched and walked back into the solarium.
Today has been a reading day, a day for napping, a day for bullshitting. Roger and Jed and I sat in the cafeteria over breakfast and discussed vestigial structures and taxonomy, real estate and financing. What distinguishes monkeys and apes? How are bears and pigs related? How reliable are the appraisals of foreclosed houses? Did you know you can flip a house without ever buying it? Roger, how did you end up teaching economics? We discussed etymology and nautical terms. Is a galley only a kitchen, or can it be any area associated with eating? What is a scullery? How do you spell voilá? Shouldn’t there be a nautical term for “cafeteria?” We discussed drugs and highs. Do all shrooms come from cow patties, or just the most desirable ones? Did I tell you about the brick of hash brought back from Amsterdam? Roger, how again did you become a schoolteacher? Ladies and gentlemen, the cafeteria is now closed. Please exit the cafeteria if you have finished your meal. Our plates were long gone and our coffee cups had been cold for an hour, so we left.
Outside, the tents were ruffling and the clouds were sailing across the sky. If they turned toward Bellingham and raced the Malaspina, who would win? I would have been content to lose. I climbed the stairs to the aft observation deck and lay down for a mid-morning nap.
By the time I unzipped my sleeping bag at eight it was warm enough to sit comfortably without a shirt under the covered solarium. I sat for a few minutes at the foot of my lawn chair feeling the rhythm of the day. The cool wind outside of the solarium blew just hard enough to ruffle the tents a few feet away. The tentless deck rats, a population which included me, had slept under the open-sided solarium’s roof because of the slate-gray clouds that lithified in yesterday afternoon’s skies. But the sky this morning grew cumulus clouds, decorative clouds, joyful clouds that traversed the sky in self-contained merriment. I pulled on a tee shirt and padded out among the tents in bare feet, feeling the vibrations of the Malaspina’s diesels. I leaned over the rail and peered toward the bow. The wind breaking over my nose smelled of the sea. I stretched and walked back into the solarium.
Today has been a reading day, a day for napping, a day for bullshitting. Roger and Jed and I sat in the cafeteria over breakfast and discussed vestigial structures and taxonomy, real estate and financing. What distinguishes monkeys and apes? How are bears and pigs related? How reliable are the appraisals of foreclosed houses? Did you know you can flip a house without ever buying it? Roger, how did you end up teaching economics? We discussed etymology and nautical terms. Is a galley only a kitchen, or can it be any area associated with eating? What is a scullery? How do you spell voilá? Shouldn’t there be a nautical term for “cafeteria?” We discussed drugs and highs. Do all shrooms come from cow patties, or just the most desirable ones? Did I tell you about the brick of hash brought back from Amsterdam? Roger, how again did you become a schoolteacher? Ladies and gentlemen, the cafeteria is now closed. Please exit the cafeteria if you have finished your meal. Our plates were long gone and our coffee cups had been cold for an hour, so we left.
Outside, the tents were ruffling and the clouds were sailing across the sky. If they turned toward Bellingham and raced the Malaspina, who would win? I would have been content to lose. I climbed the stairs to the aft observation deck and lay down for a mid-morning nap.
posted by Jeb Butler at 10:11 AM
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