“Sorry, gals, they are booked up for two more days. We’ll be gone by then,” he explained.
“Well, it was worth a try,” I said.
Chapter 10
Day’s End
A boat handler helped us climb off the small craft. Larry pointed over to one of the ship tenders that had just arrived by the pier.
“You girls still want to shop in town? If you do, I’ll take your bags back to the ship and meet me at my room for dinner,” he suggested.
We looked at him and giggled–a man allowing us to shop some more. What a rare moment. We both accepted his offer and handed off most of our bags into his arms. I kept the jewelry sack because it was so small I could just stuff it into my pocket. We stood for a moment to watch Larry’s tall frame saunter toward the ship’s on-ramp with his load of our goodies.
“When a man says that, I don’t hesitate,” Trisha said, slinging her purse over her shoulder.
“Let’s go and find some Hawaiian shaved ice. I saw several young people with one and they look good,” I remarked.
“That’s a great idea. Lahaina looks like a cute village,” she said as we walked off the pier into town.
“Our guide said that only 11,000 people live in the city,” I added.
We walked and found a small business selling the shaved ice. First, they put the ice cream flavor we chose into the cone and next they added the shaved ice. Then the proprietor said we could add three kinds of syrup flavorings. I chose vanilla ice cream with raspberry, lemon, and blackberry syrups. We sat for a while consuming our treat. By the time we ate down to the ice cream in the cone, we stood up and strolled down the sidewalk looking in the windows finishing our treat.
“Too bad Larry didn’t want to join us,” I said.
“Yeah, too bad,” Trisha said, spooning another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
We laughed and laughed at our private joke until we spotted some handmade items and more jewelry. I pulled out the plastic bag from my pocket that contained my dolphin pin to use for our trash. I pocketed the pin and as soon as we finished our cones, I put the paper wipes into the trash bag.
I stood up to look for a place to deposit it when a gaunt man came from out of nowhere and ripped the refuse bag out of my hands. We watched as he ran off down the street. I stared, stunned, at the back of the scampering redheaded man. No one else on the street had glanced in my direction. I didn’t know what to say until Trisha’s laughter pulled me from my shock.
“That was kind of odd, wasn’t it?” I said.
“I guess they needed the trash more than the recycling company,” I said, laughing along with her. “I’m glad I took my dolphin pin out of the bag.”
I wondered if that was the thief’s intent seeing how the bag had the jewelry store logo on the side.
“Look, here’s a souvenir shop. Let’s check it out,” she said.
We entered the typical trinket shop and when I walked around one aisle, there was my friend from the airplane. She was a lot shorter than I thought when I had sat near her on the plane. Over her dark hair, she sported a white visor.
“Well, hello. Do you remember me?” I asked her.
“I sure do. Did you come on the Sweden Star?” she asked.
“Yes, we did, and you?”
“It’s our ship too. It’s funny how we don’t see each other on the ship amongst three thousand people but here we are,” she said.
“Well, you have a good day. I see my friend over there wanting to leave. Bye,” I said.
We didn’t see much in the store to buy so we headed back to our ship. By the time we walked to the ship’s on-ramp, we were bushed. We inserted our pass cards, loaded our recent purchases, and found an elevator in the lobby going up.
“Trisha, I don’t feel too hungry for dinner after that shaved ice cream cone. I’m going to rest a bit, take a shower, and maybe I’ll go down to the library to check out another book.”
“Okay. Maybe we can meet later in the card lounge and get a late night snack. Oh, did you bring a suit to swim in?” she asked.
“Not really. I just brought a tank top and shorts. Swimsuits don’t flatter me much Do you really want to go where there are a lot of people?” I asked.
“Not really, and I don’t want to be in the water if its crowded. I don’t want to catch something.”
“I’m sure they keep it treated with chlorine. Maybe during the dinner time when the crowd thins out.”
“Maybe. Call on the ship phone when you’re ready,” she said, unlocking her door. “Oh, wait, your bags.”
I held her door open while she handed me my purchases we had acquired earlier that day in town. I’m glad Larry took the bulk of them back to the ship.
With my armful, I searched around in my pocket for my key pass.
“Allow me, madam,” said a low voice to my right.
“Oh, I didn’t see you there,” I remarked to Ivan.
He inserted his passkey and held the door open until I could enter.
“Thank you, Ivan,” I said.
“Be wary of strangers, ma’am,” he said, backing away, allowing me to enter.
“I will. Thank you again. Bye.”
When I entered my cabin, the door closed behind me to lock. I laid my totes on the bed and used the restroom. Afterward, while I was packing my purchases away, I wondered why the porter would warn me about strangers. That seemed like a common thing to do.
I propped up the pillows on my remade bed and noticed the ship’s recent newsletter resting on top of the covers. I thought at first I would lie down, but then I decided to make some hot cocoa with the little coffee maker
