Chapter 27: Eileen (Part I)

After a quick nap. I showered and headed up to the galley for a bite to eat. Since it was just past 9:00pm, I had planned to head up to the fly bridge and check on Hiromi. But Walter and Eileen just happened to enter the salon at that moment.

“Hello, Daniel,” Walter said.

“Good evening, Mr. Hudson, Mrs. Hudson,” I replied.

“None of that, young man. My name is Walt, and this is Eileen,” Walt insisted. “After all, you saved our lives.”

“Okay, good evening, Walt and Eileen,” I said modifying my salutation to please them. “How are you enjoying our little catamaran?”

At the mention of the yacht, Walt was off on an excited discourse about the yacht and all its advantages over a mono hull. Eileen finally rolled her eyes and interrupted Walt.

“Honey, I’m sure Daniel knows all about the differences and I’m tired of talking about yachts. Why don’t we do what we talked about earlier?” she suggested.

“Well, okay ... I guess. But I need to find Alfred and find out if we can go ashore when we get to Funchal. You go ahead,” he said. Then kissing his wife on the cheek, he headed for the fly bridge.

On a 24m by 12m catamaran (80’ x 39’), there is not a lot of space for fifteen people to hide, so it’s not difficult to know where almost every person was at any given moment. All you had to do was stand in the middle of the galley and listen and observe for a minute. Then using a bit of intuitive logic, you should know where everyone was.

Eileen was sitting next to me at the dining table in the salon. Walt had just gone to the fly bridge to speak to Captain Alfred, also on the bridge, along with Hiromi who was still on watch. Henri and Phillipe were on the other side of the salon playing a video game.

Since it was too early for bed, Roland and Carina were probably on the fly bridge having a nightcap. And since the galley was clean, Archara was probably with them.

And since it was too cold to be outside on the bow or aft deck, that meant that Mischa, Maura, Anna, Charlotte, and Vivienne were either on the bridge or in their cabins. And since the cabins would be awfully cozy for five girls, my best guess was that Maura was on the bridge with her sister awaiting her watch. And the other four were paired up in their cabins.

See, not hard when you think it through. The next question was how to extract myself from the attention of one of the adults and where I should go. Probably the bridge as I didn’t want to think about what the girls might be doing in their cabins. I wasn’t into make-up or painting nails.

“Daniel, would you mind coming with me to our cabin for a moment,” she asked and then without waiting for an answer, she headed for the rear-port stairway.

Just like the rear-starboard stairs where I first had a room, the rear-port stairs only led to a single cabin. And due to the design of the hulls, this cabin, like mine, was smaller than the rest. But one difference was that it lacked the extra storage area in the hall. However, it did have a large queen-sized bed.

When I followed her in, she waved me towards the bed and quietly closed the door. We were now about as far and isolated from everyone else on the ship as it was possible to be. And with the door closed, most of the sounds would be muffled as well.

She reached over and pulled two pair of padded handcuffs from under her pillow and proceeded to fasten one on each wrist. Where they came from, I had no idea. I did know for sure that they came on board without a single piece of luggage. Not even a purse or bag between them. I decided that they must belong to Archara and certain erotic images immediately leapt to mind.

But back to Eileen. She was tall, coming to just under my chin and she was thin. Although the proper terminology might be ‘slender’. She had dark blond (I think they call it ‘dirty blond’) hair that didn’t quite reach her shoulders. Her face was thin as well, with brown eyes that had flecks of gold in them and ears that were so small they bordered on non-existent. But they were as cute as a button on her.

Her nose was not soft, but more angular, and combined with her thin lips gave her an almost witchy look when she frowned. But Eileen was one of the first women I had ever met that could smile with her eyes. Whenever her lips curved up in a smile, the muscles in her face lifted around her eyes as well, giving her one of the most dazzling smiles I’d ever seen.