“No, I’m good. Goodbye,” I replied and shut my door.
I thought he looked like the steward I saw earlier near the restaurant but I wasn’t sure. Right now, I just wanted to crawl into bed and read my book.
Chapter 9
Shopping and Whales
The gentle rocking of the ship lulled me to sleep. After I woke up, I realized that I was still in my day clothes. I undressed, and after I finished with my bathroom routine, I slipped into one of my husband’s tshirts I use as a nightshirt. I always feel like he is close to me when I wear the silly old cotton shirt. I crawled under the light covers and drifted off to sleep again with the rhythm of the ship.
The sparkling red and green bobbles of the Christmas tree swayed back and forth to the motion of the sea. I saw Hobs up ahead with Condor, the raven. Tiko presented me with a small box in his hands. Curious, I opened the box and crystals came flying out.
“Why do I see you?” I asked the thin faced nisser.
“You’re gifted,” he said and then he vanished.
Confused, I saw the box was gift-wrapped once again. A man appeared in front of me, who said, “Where is my package?”
When I looked down at the box to show him, it was gone. Then someone began knocking louder and louder... Until I woke up.
I looked outside and could tell the sun hadn’t risen yet. “Who could be hammering on my door at this hour?” I asked myself, rising out of bed and grabbing the ship bathrobe from my closet.
“Coming,” I called.
I peeked through the in the door’s view hole, and who should be on the other side in the hallway, but the same steward I saw earlier.
“Yes?” I asked, holding the door open a short ways.
“Do you wish breakfast service this morning?” he asked.
“No, where’s Lynn? Isn’t she my deck steward?”
“I am on duty now.”
“Okay, what’s your name?”
“Ivan.”
“Thank you, Ivan, but I plan to go with my friends later.” I shut the door and hoped he would go away.
“For Pete’s sake, its four o’clock in the morning,” I moaned and crawled back into bed.
I woke up later when the sun streamed across my face. Rubbing my eyes, I turned over and looked at my travel clock.
“Holy Moly, it’s after seven!” I exclaimed, jumping out of bed.
I was to meet Trisha and Larry at seven-thirty for breakfast before we leave on our nine o’clock tour of Maui. Then I realized the ship was no longer rocking. The ship must have docked during the night.
I hurried to wash my face and get dressed when someone knocked on my door. I hopped out of the restroom to open the cabin door to my friends. Larry, dressed in a blue Hawaiian shirt Trisha picked up at the gift shop, and she wore a cute red blouse and khaki pants. Her sunglasses crowned her dark brown hair as one would wear a tiara.
“Sorry, I overslept,” I said, grabbing my sweater.
“No problem, we still have time,” she said.
Locking my door behind me, I added, “First I had this odd dream about a box and Tik...I mean Hobs was in it. And then about four o’clock, the steward woke me up to ask me if I wanted room service. Did he ask you too?”
“No, maybe you were chosen at random. You saw Hobs in the box?” she asked.
“No, he was just there in my dream,” I replied.
“Did you get the porter’s name? We can let housekeeping know not to disturb you so early,” she suggested.
“Aw, honey, it’s just another way the ship can get more money out of you,” Larry said to his wife.
“He said his name was Ivan. And yes, when we come back from our tour, I’ll check with housekeeping.”
We walked to the elevators and took the next one down to Deck Five. After breakfast, we headed to the off-ramp exiting on deck three. On our way out, we had to insert our card into their machine to register we had left the ship. The same routine would be repeated when we return this afternoon.
All the passengers taking tours walked down the ramp and congregated into different groups, waiting for their guides.
“Oh, I see the sign for tour 201,” Trisha said and made a beeline for the young man holding the sign.
I looked back at the ship, and where on the ship I could locate my cabin, I took a picture of the balcony rooms of the ship. Some of the passengers, who chose not to go on a tour, leaned on the metal rails looking down at us. That’s when I saw a male steward on my balcony. He must be cleaning my room. I thought I had taken another picture of him. However, when I looked at the camera screen to see if I could expand the picture of his face I was disappointed he wasn’t in the picture. Looking up at my small portico, I noticed he was gone. I must have just missed him.
“Come on, Susan, our guide is going to give a short talk,” Trisha said, pulling on my arm.
Our guide was a young Hawaiian girl in a Swedish Star uniform holding a clipboard. The crowd moved closer to her to hear her explain what we may see on our tour.
“Maui is home to sugar cane, pineapple, and lava. This was the island of the kings and queens of Hawaii. We are also well-known for our jewelry and fabric for quilting. About fifty percent of the humpback whales in the world come here to bear their young and mate. During the 1800’s when Hawaii’s was discovered, the city of Lahaina thrived on missionary work, whales, and sugar.”
She adjusted her baseball cap and continued to read her notes from the clipboard.
“There are sixty historic sites around the island but today we will stop at just two. This is a drier city than Honolulu. Be careful
