A Quiet Night
Violet and Celina wandered about the pale wooden deck together, holding hands. The endless ocean stretched out around them to seeming infinity. At night the vibrant blue was leeched out. This, coupled with the soaring sky above them, a velvet black punctured with hot white, made them feel like the only two people in the world. This suited them well — there was a romance to the whole thing, even if their murmured conversations were occasionally interrupted by other people passing, some alone, some together. This cruise was their treat. They’d found their ideal one: small ship, an itinerary that involved Italy, and with a lovely balcony cabin still available. They booked it immediately, before someone else could. And it was perfect. Eating Granita in Taormina, being marched around Herculaneum by an (extremely zealous) tour guide who later took them down to see skeletons in caves, frozen at the point of death (Celina really didn’t like that much), to seeing an amphitheatre. Days consisted of frantic moments interspersed with calm- and it was so hot. Tonight was their last night, and that caused both of them to feel melancholy. Of course, they weren’t the only ones disembarking tomorrow — though, of course, some people would be staying on the ship.
‘Do you remember what happened yesterday?’ Violet queried.
Celina grinned briefly. ‘Yeah. A couple of extras came on our tour. They claimed to want to improve their English — of course, this may actually be accurate. However, I doubt it. After all, they understood the guide just fine all day. Then…’
‘She got dead mad.’ Violet picked up. ‘Switched to Italian and started pointing her finger at them. She was so not impressed! I’m glad that I wasn’t in their shoes!’
‘Well, I don’t think you’re the only one.’
“Today was lovely, wasn’t it?’ Celina murmured. “A perfect end to the perfect holiday.’
‘Apart from the sunburn,’ Violet groused.
‘I did tell you to slather on the sun cream you know.’
‘I did.’
‘Well, obviously not enough. You burnt your nose! I’ll have to get some cream for that.’
‘You love me anyway,’ Violet sing-songed, playfully bumping her shoulder against Celina’s.
Celina smiled slightly. ‘Yeah. Love you anyway.’
‘Course you do. I’m amazing.’
‘And oh-so-modest.’
‘That’s me!’ Violet proclaimed, letting go of Celina’s hands to fling her arms out, unaware of the strange looks she attracted, before taking her partner’s hand again.
They fell silent again, and continued walking around the deck, Celina drawing closer to Violet for warmth as she hadn’t brought an outer layer — she was still clad in the dress she wore to dinner; a brightly-coloured floral circle-skirt number. It had been a lovely dinner — Florentina pizza with a juicy red, and they’d followed it up with tiramisu. They were both going to miss this — after a week the ship had become their home. They had sprawled on blue waterproof sun loungers, swum in the pool and eaten in every restaurant (even the ones you had to pay for). They were also going to miss the opulence of velvet, crystal chandeliers and marble. They were even going to miss the (somewhat strange) art.
‘Go to bed soon?’ Celina commented
‘Yeah,’ Violet returned. ‘We’ve got a flight tomorrow, after all.’
‘’What I thought — we do need our sleep — I’m going to pack tonight.’
‘Good idea. I was gonna do it tomorrow morning. Quickly.’
‘Of course you were’ Celina commented, smiling. ‘You do need to get more organised Vi.’
‘So people keep telling me.’
‘One more walk, yeah?’
‘I’d like that’ Violet affirmed.
They walked around to the other side of the ship, and placed their hands on the white railings.
‘Oh Celina, look!’
‘Where?’
‘There!’ Violet said, pointing ahead of them. ‘It’s a fucking volcano.’
‘Well, now that I see it I can see that it is, indeed, a volcano,’ Celina gently snarked.
‘Yeah, well, but it’s erupting!’ Violet said, practically jumping up and down in excitement.
Celina stared closer, suddenly transfixed. ‘I never saw that before. Good eye you’ve got there.’
‘Thanks. Maybe it’s because I don’t wear glasses.’
‘You know, I really don’t think glasses make a difference in my ability to see. Actually, they improve it.’
‘Alright, you know, you’re probably right.’
‘Probably? What about am right?’
‘Well, I concede to your brilliance then.’
‘Stop being so over-the-top.’ Celina said, gently knocking her body against Violet’s.
Finally falling silent they stood there for what seemed like an age, staring at the searing, glowing red scoring the sky. The ribbons emerged intermittently and had obviously transfixed others too. And no wonder. It was beautiful, a natural fireworks show. And not a sight that Violet and Celina were likely to see again. So they stood, savouring the moment, arms wrapped around each other. Packing could with ’til later.
Links and extra info.
Based on a cruise I went on with my family. Most of the things within this story are true.
