Life on Berth

 

Johnny the bottlenose dolphin nudged his friend, Cider with his smooth snout, ‘Watch out now, the monster is starting up her engines.’

 

‘Oh no, already? That’s our bit of peace coming to an end. They turn it around so quickly, don’t they?’

 

Johnny flipped up so that the upper half of his body was above the water, had a quick look at the view and splashed down again. ‘Yes the queue has subsided. Folks are boarding. I suppose they’ve got to make as much money as possible.’

 

‘Pay for all that fuel,’ said Chardonnay, ‘polluting fuel at that.’

 

Cider brushed up against her and they rubbed heads. ‘Bunker fuel,’ he said, ‘just like those oil tankers, ghastly, the worst of the worst.’

 

Johnny was more than a little bit jealous of their relationship. Chardonnay being such a beautiful dolphin with an amazing voice, a siren of the sea. ‘They don’t care,’ he said, ‘as long as they get their trip on the famous Carver of the Seas.’

 

‘They can tell their friends about it,’ said Cider.

 

‘Put it on Facebook,’ Chardonnay laughed, all three of them laughed and they turned quickly and swam alongside the length of the boat, occasionally leaping out of the water, grinning at each other.

 

Then they swam around the stern to the other side of the ship were the rest of the pod who were also lamenting the return of the monster. ‘It’s too big,’ said one of the elders, ‘it takes up far too much space here. This is our space, it’s preposterous!’

 

‘Don’t get too close, keep away,’ Chardonnay shouted to some of the youngsters who were excitedly playing along the hull, ‘the passengers are likely all boarded now and the next thing, it will start turning to leave.’

 

Meanwhile on board, the Wilson family had just walked onto the Carver of the Seas. Mr Wilson was bursting with pride as his family were shown to their luxury berth, a two bedroomed suite with a balcony, costing sixteen thousand dollars. He only had two weeks leave a year and they were spending one week on board the biggest cruiseliner on earth.

 

Mrs Wilson had barely stepped aboard when she began taking photos and frantically loading them onto her social media accounts so that all their friends and family could see her and her family achieving their dreams. The children had new outfits to wear. Understandably they were wide eyed at the sights on board the ship, there was so much to explore, swimming pools, games, cinemas, restaurants, a garden and shops.

 

Their parents were concerned that the sheer size of the ship meant that there might not even be enough time to experience all it had to offer. As Mrs Wilson unpacked their things and showed the children where they would be sleeping, Mr Wilson was busy downloading the cruiseliner’s App so that he could book where they were going to have dinner.

 

‘Eurgh, this is quite stressful,’ he said, ‘the restaurant I wanted for our first night is already nearly booked up, we’ll have to eat late.’

 

‘The children will be hungry!’

 

‘I’m hungry now!’ said Gunner, their youngest.

 

‘Come on, let’s go explore. We need to get in first before the crowds.’ Mr Wilson unzipped his holdall, took out a red cap and pulled it down over his shiny forehead, deeply furrowed from the stress of the previous week at his work.

 

He’d been under enormous pressure to set everything up so that his department ran smoothly in his absence. Still there was a high chance that his vacation would be interrupted by phone calls. He would make a play of being annoyed to keep the peace with his wife but the truth was, being called up by colleagues during his time off made him feel very important, his voice would get deeper, louder, ensuring other holiday makers would hear him discussing professional stuff.

 

Mrs Wilson was keen to visit the Mac n’ Cheese counter where several different variations of this cheap traditional pasta dish were offered throughout the day in copious amounts to the high paying visitors of the largest cruise ship in the world.

 

Unfortunately Mac n’ Cheese wasn’t quite ready to open. The staff who earned below minimum wage but had a free berth to bed down in and just enough space to turn around, were rushing around getting everything ready for their guests.

 

The dolphins had quickly learnt the habits of the ship’s movement and they hung around at a safe enough distance, listening to the sounds and experiencing the vibrations of the vessel.

 

Johnny spotted Brandy, his second favourite girlfriend, gliding among the pod and he swam right up to her, circling her playfully. ‘Can you hear that?’ he clicked, ‘Bruce Springsteen, your favourite, Brandy.’

 

They danced around to the music which blared from the ship, encouraging other members of the pod to join in. 

 

‘We need to head further out to sea,’ shouted one of the elders, ‘they’ll be dredging again as soon as the monster leaves harbour and we won’t be able to see anything’. 

 

Another dolphin made a sad click, ‘I remember when our harbour was filled with beautiful coral and brimming with life.’

 

The ship was even heavier now with nine thousand people on board, it creaked as it turned and began carving up the surface of the sea causing huge waves which flashed in the yellow sun as the earth circled its orbital range. Gravity pulling everything in towards the planet’s centre, everything that is except the dolphins who all jumped now, in and out of the waves in a long line alongside it. 

 

They were hurrying to warn friends, the humpback whales, that the monster was approaching again and that bad stuff would be dumped, raw sewage, soapy grey water, food waste and whatever other garbage the ship needed to unload.

 

Meanwhile on board, Gunner’s sister Kristen was looking out to see from a huge viewing gallery and she just caught a glimpse of the last few dolphins as they disappeared into deeper water where they could swim more quickly. ‘Dad, I saw dolphins!’

 

‘Did you, Hun. Hey look at this,’ He pointed at a glass cabinet full of gold items that were for sale, ‘you can buy this gold drinking cup and have unlimited free drinks whenever you’re on this ship or the sister ship, Ocean Cleaver.’

 

Mrs Wilson’s eyes lit up, ‘Really? Imagine walking around with that and the staff fussing around you, constantly topping you up.’

 

‘Hey excuse me, how much is this gold cup?’

 

A young woman dressed in the ship’s uniform stopped in her tracks, ‘It’s eighty five thousand dollars Sir. It’s hand crafted, gold plated with eighteen carat gold and carved with the ship’s branding.’

 

‘Oh,’ said Mr Wilson, he glanced at his wife, ‘not this year. We’ll see if I get a raise next year. I’m sure there’s plenty of other merch we can get before the end of our trip.’

 

The young woman hung around after the conversation ended, looking at the Wilson’s expectantly. Mr Wilson handed her a ten dollar bill and she smiled and walked away. 

 

A balloon drop was arranged as the key entertainment for the first evening of the cruise and the passengers began gathering in the gallery area, keen to bag a good spot to observe the spectacle. Thousands of regular balloons had been blown up by the staff who filled them with regular air, nitrogen and oxygen, freely provided by the earth’s atmosphere.

 

The high paying guests were very excited at the prospect of watching the balloons drop down from the confines of a large nylon net which was holding them close to the ceiling of the ship. 

 

Meanwhile the dolphins had raced ahead into deeper water where they bumped into other sealife; green turtles, swordfish, stingrays and sharks. They tried to warn them but it was challenging for them to communicate with these creatures. Ahead they saw a small pod of whales and hurried to catch up with them. ‘Hey, it’s coming,’ Johnny clicked, ‘get out of the way, warn your youngsters.’

 

‘The monster!’ Chardonnay chimed in, her words sounding like a song but it was difficult to be heard above the vibrations of the approaching vessel which was at full speed now.

 

‘Move!’ shouted Cider and the largest of the whales acknowledged him and ushered the others out of the path of the approaching ship.

 

As the moon rose up over the sea, plastic balloons were released from their net and floated down onto the passengers below who were filming this monumental event on their phones. 

 

‘Send the video to all your friends, Gunner. Do it now so that they can share some of the fun. All your classmates now, don’t leave anybody out.’

 

‘Mum, can I get that turtle?’ Kristin picked up a furry toy in one of the many gift shops.

 

‘Maybe tomorrow Kristin. We gotta eat now.’

 

They headed to one of the restaurants, the one that Mr Wilson had managed to book on the App. The family sat down and perused the extensive menu.

 

‘I think I’ll order the swordfish,’ said Mrs Wilson.

 

The restaurant was packed and they had to wait some time for somebody to take their order. A man asked them for their suite number first and then the family ordered their food.

 

‘Hey, just to let you know, the swordfish isn’t included in the price of your room.’

 

‘Oh so what items are included?’

 

‘Mam, it’ll be the options with a yellow star next to them, hamburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets and soft drinks, the house wine.’

 

‘Oh…okay.’

 

‘Have what you want Honey, this is a holiday, I’ll pay the extra forty dollars if you really want the swordfish.’

 

 

‘It’s a local delicacy,’ said the waiter who then took the remainder of their order and waited for his tip. ‘Hey what are you guys planning to do tomorrow?’ he said as he tucked a ten dollar note into his waistcoat pocket.

 

‘Probably hang out by the pool,’ said Mr Wilson, ‘then go to Mac n Cheese.’

 

‘Just a little tip off, get to the pool super early. The sunbeds all get taken real quick so you’ll need to be there before ten if you want one.’

 

‘Looks like it’ll be an early night then,’ said Mrs Wilson, ‘the pool looks amazing, it’s so big, huge!’

 

‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep,’ said Gunner, ‘I’ll be too excited.’

 

Meanwhile Johnny, Cider and the rest of the pod had swum back and settled in a safe area just outside the harbour but away from the shipping route. They slept, one half of their brains at a time, safe in the knowledge that the biggest monster would be away for almost another week.