Overboard

By Meghan Jennings

September 2014

Jess watched as the orange blob sluggishly rose, pulling a long strand of orange oil

behind it. It then disconnected itself from the orange mother blob at the bottom of the container.

Why is a lava lamp even on this ship? Are they Chinese too? She watched the rippling orange

blob shudder and nestle at the top of the container.

Jess checked one last time that every drop of gin in the flask from Calvin’s room was

gone. She called out for her dad in the adjacent room. They were probably at the pool, or playing

pool. Hobbies for the rich, she thought with a sliver of contempt. Jess called out for her dad in

the adjacent room.

I’m not here, he didn’t say.

***

Maeve tiptoed to the piano’s melody, arms sweeping in delicate purposefulness as she

bent her back and knees, making a wide arch around her torso and legs. Bare feet made a soft

sticking sound whenever she lifted the ball of her foot, placing it precisely in the right spot to

perform the next swan-lake sashay on the polished maple-wood floor.

She imagined Bruno was in the room. Maeve had requested that he make a recording for

her. He had been upset. “I cannot just play while you are here?”

“Yes, you may. And I will enjoy it. But I want also to hear it while you are not here. This

is very important.” He grudgingly acquiesced. She had brought it with her, saying it would

remind her of him.

What she had not told him is that she used it for dancing. She had grown bored of

explaining to lovers that she was the owner and they were renting. Bruno was displeased but did

not ask any questions. He had been so rough.

“Do what I do,” she had said plainly, “but in your own way.”

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He had not understood. For this, she left. He, of course, didn’t know that yet. He was

back in their apartment, probably watching TV, or perhaps cooking dinner.

His CD was over the edge of the cruise ship as soon as the waving crowd on the dock

melted on the horizon.

****

Jess removed herself from the cushion corner after tucking the fox-fur flask back into the

secret compartment in her pillow from home. With her pointer finger she touched her bottom lip,

noticing its numbness and smiling. She looked around at the red and silver-lined walls in her

bedroom on the cruise ship, wondering what she would save first if an iceberg hit. She also

wondered how many people had fucked on the bed.

There was an archaic folded dressing screen at one end of her room. It showed two half-

naked oriental women idling by a small creek, a white egret trailing black lines as it rose from

the water. Jess walked over and traced the outline of one woman’s nipple.

Walking out of the room, she turned left down the interior hallway and paused to listen at

her father’s door before moving carefully down the lit passageway. It was 7 o’clock and the last

night of entertainment before docking had begun. They would be in Beijing within the next

twelve hours.

A young woman wearing a form-fitting turquoise dress passed on the other side of the

hall. Jess nodded at her amiably, hoping the woman would overlook the fact that her feet were

not moving in a straight line.

“Good day.” Aqua-lady said with a smile.

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Jess responded with another nod and an almost inaudible huff, striding purposefully

towards the stairs. She grabbed the railing and took a step.

****

Maeve didn’t look back immediately at the girl until she had reached the intersection of

the hallways. She concealed her body behind the corner, watching as the girl’s hand grasped at

the stair railing. Through the thumb-holes in her blue and black pullover, the girl tapped her

finger several times on the rail, bending her head down for a full 15 seconds before taking the

first step.

Drunk, Maeve thought, bemused.

The girl took several steps, disappearing up to the lower deck.

Maeve had been about to take a nap, to preserve her energy for when she needed it in

Beijing. Bruno wasn’t there to stop her. No one was there to stop her.

But Maeve couldn’t help her pull towards the young one, and it was not in her to resist

the pull of intuition. The fact that the girl seemed so intent on going somewhere intrigued Maeve.

She had been drunk when she was a teenager too, but the girl’s vain attempt to keep it to herself

was compelling. If anyone were going to call her out on it, Maeve would be the one who got

credit.

Eager for this game of cat and mouse, she picked up the hem of her dress and hurried

towards the stairs.

****

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Jess reached the last step and heaved herself up. The Chinese lanterns lining the deck of

the ship shimmered, rolling slightly with the pull of the massive carrier.

The sweet, drawn out wail of a violin could be heard over the roar of the sea-air.

Probably in one of the dining rooms, she thought, probably where dad is eating a fancy dinner

with Calvin.

Jess hated him.

Missing your flask yet, fuckface?

Jess wished her dad saw through the golden watches, the business calls at midnight, the

caviar, the fondue, the eager puppy bullshit he played. She wanted him to realize the atrocity of

signing them up for the cruise, simply because Calvin had wanted to “bond.” Two weeks gone

from school and Jess wasn’t complaining. But two weeks gone from school for the wrong

reasons and Jess had a problem. At least Beijing was close.

Jess was very drunk. She knew this and it made her happy. She walked a few steps then

stumbled exaggeratedly to the side of the ship. The rail hummed as the engine rumbled along.

Through the darkening sea-sky she saw a group of seagulls hovering above and beside

the churned up waves formed by the boat. She saw one dive down, and come back up with a

shimmery fish. The other seagulls dove cannibalistically at the gull, squawking relentlessly,

maneuvering among each other, and then finally falling back into place as the lucky gull

swallowed his hard-earned treasure.

Jess let out a loud “Whoop!” throwing her arms out like the seagulls. “Me too!”

A middle-aged couple in matching tropical swimwear craned their necks to look at her.

She wiggled her fingers at them audaciously, then jounced behind a corner of the ship giggling

hysterically.

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She peeked around the corner. They stood there looking at each other, then back to where

she had just been. She grinned. They were like zebras that had lost their stripes and couldn’t

imagine who they were looking at in the mirror. She laughed harder, because zebras couldn’t

recognize themselves in the mirror.

****

Maeve’s satin dress swished silently over the padded rug in the hallway, up the steps. Her

eyes found the girl at the side of the deck, her juvenile exuberance revealing its life in her

mimicry of the seagulls. Her eyes worked vigorously to unravel the girl in the pullover.

****

For five minutes Jess stood outside the dining room composing herself. She paced until

she could walk straight without using the handrail. Marching confidently into the dining room,

she looked around and saw Calvin, sporting a bright orange button up and an obnoxious straw

hat. Her dad sat across from him, leaned back, his hands clasped together over his stomach. At

least he looked peaceful.

That’s when she noticed the scotch. Two of them.

Son of a bitch.

The tablecloth was a fine onyx cloth, floral patterns and pictures of swans with

dramatically arching necks swimming beside their dinner plates. She wavered for a moment, feet

swaying with the boat and eyes swimming with the swans.

“Ah ha HA! Look who it is! Sweet Jess. Artie, congrats on producing one fine young

lady right here. Smart, beautiful… your dad was just telling me how much you love science.

Fantastic! A young woman in science, you must be brilliant.”

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“Yes, I particularly enjoy the theory of evolution.” Jess put on a tacky smile. “Because

everything useless, and weak, and dumb, and blind, will never make it.” She felt childish, as

though she were presenting at a first grade science fair. Testily, the corners of her mouth pulled

back, farther than the Cheshire cat’s.

Calvin leaned in closer to Arthur, holding his hand up in mock secrecy. “Got a forward

thinker here!”

“She’s something else.” Her dad muttered. “Just like her mother.”

Great. He just had to do it, didn’t he? Jess knew her mom was frowning upon them from

wherever she was. If Calvin was the reason her dad got back into drinking…

Well, he won’t be. Her eyes were still swimming.

She stood up straight and put on an innocent smile. “Daddy, I have a favor to ask…”

****

What is she doing?

Maeve had almost given up wondering about the girl after she had spent almost ten

minutes trying to walk in a straight line. But the girl had kept looking into the diner. She had

kept checking for someone, for something. Then she finally walked in.

Maeve strolled nonchalantly from behind the corner, and walked up to the host stand.

“May I please look over a menu?”

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the girl standing by the table talking to two older

gentlemen, one wearing an ostentatious button up and a straw hat, the other with a brown and

white plaid button up and fully grown beard.

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The man in orange reached across the table and slapped the other on the back. He then

reached into his pocket and handed something to the girl.

Without hesitation the girl swiveled on her heel and shouted “Thanks!” over her shoulder,

interrupting the peace of the oriental woman playing the violin.

She narrowed her eyes.

“Not ‘oriental’. No.” Bruno had said. “So general so… broad. You are talking of Chinese,

Indian, of Arabic: that word is so… American. We do not like it.”

“Yes, my love.” She had said. “I do not want to offend.”

The ship docked in eight hours, and she would be ready to be free. If things went well,

perhaps she would even have a companion. First thing, she would buy new clothes for the girl.

Maeve furiously scanned the items on the menu. Every kind of fish imaginable was

listed; every kind of meat was available. The most inexpensive entrée was 45 American dollars.

After today she wouldn’t need to spend so much. She wouldn’t want to. Maeve would be living

new. She thought of the fish swimming and dancing to Bruno’s piano recording under the sea.

This made her sad at her choice until she was so amused at the thought of an octopus turning on

a stereo that she laughed aloud.

The girl was gone. She ran out of the restaurant, menu still in hand.

****

Jess twisted the key in the lock until she heard an audible click. The heavy wooden door

served as a barrier between her father’s room and Calvin’s. She was just here to get a warmer

sweater from her father’s room.

As far as they knew.

8

Jess moved into Calvin’s spacious living quarters, picking up baseball caps, button

downs, a nice suede jacket, and tossing them all on the bed. She found his trousers, suspenders,

and another nice pair of shoes, which still carried the price tag.

She went into the bathroom next. His toothbrush, one of the electric ones, tossed on the

bed, an almost full bottle of cologne, and his shampoo: Jess picked them all up, anything and

everything she could find.

In five minutes, she was ready.

****

A small trickle of sweat fell on the back of Maeve’s neck. She was panicking. Whatever

reason for her attraction to the girl, ignoring it was out of the question.

She ran back down to the hallway and located the door the girl had walked out of, putting

her ear to it.

Nothing.

Thinking she had gotten the wrong room, Maeve hurried down the hall, resting her ear

upon each wooden door. After seven unsuccessful rooms, she tried the other direction.

She heard shuffling and jingling laughter within, muffled by solid wood.

Bingo.

****

Jess heaved the large suitcase up the steps, making a commotion but hoping no one heard

or would bother to investigate.

9

She reached the edge of the ship and peered over the side. It was completely dark at this

point, but the white foam of the cruise ship still roared and spattered on the boat.

Jess felt her forehead begin to ache as she lifted the heavy suitcase to the edge of the

railing. One hand rested on the bag as she looked once more at the churning waves below.

****

“Excuse me, miss?”

The girl froze. She had her hand on a large suitcase, poised on the edge of the cruise ship

railing. “Uh. Hello.”

“Do you need help with something?” Maeve asked inquisitively.

“Um, no I was just…”

“…Throwing away some unnecessary items?”

The girl said nothing, but turned and looked at the suitcase under her palm. She looked

back again at the woman in her smooth dress.

Maeve smiled. “Let me help you.”

She walked towards the girl, lifting the hand that held down the suitcase.

Maeve heard the splash. “Do you like wine, honey? I have a proposition for you…”

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