Chapter 6: My Career Pt 16

If my first cruise had been all uppers then cruise number two had its equal share of downers. Right from the meet and greet moment I had trouble with couple of passengers. The first were two single guys, mid twenties but acting mid teens who started coming on to Julia the moment they saw her. When she handed them their room details they invited her along for some party action. Julia gave them a polite refusal, but they pushed the boundaries of respectful conversation and I stepped in to keep things moving and they turned on me like wild dogs. They gave me a mouthful of crude expletives and described what would happen if "Gay Boy" interferred with their holiday again.

Derek chose that moment to walk in on the scene and one look at him shut them up but by the looks they gave me as they headed to their cabin left me in no doubt that there was trouble brewing sometime this trip. Derek hung around for several more passenger arrivals and when he was happy calm had been restored he wandered off. Right near the end of our shift a middle aged couple, Frank and Jan, boarded. He had a sour look on his face but she was bright and bubbly. She did most of the talking while his only enquiry was to find out the bar hours. I was outlining the daily activities to Jan when Frank pushed me away and said they would check it out later. He took Jan by the arm and led her away.

It was twilight departure and the passengers enjoyed the sight of the city lighting up against the approaching darkness, it also meant a meal, a show then dancing and drinks before hitting the sack. I mingled with the guests at the first dinner sitting, making polite chit chat and describing all the activities that were available both on board as well as at some of our various ports of call. Nearly everyone was in a good mood but then I spied Frank and Jan eating with a group of passengers but I could see they were alone so I hit the table with all the enthusium I could muster after a full day and tried to make Frank happy.

While the other passengers at the table gleefully and giggly answered my questions Frank remained stone cold to my attempts at humour and as Jan laughed he just frowned more until he just up and left in the middle of the conversation. Jan stayed and was getting on fine with the others so I wandered off to another table to spread some more magic.

Later that night I caught up with Jan, who had hooked up with three other women about her age, in one of the bars. Jan was 35 and had been married to Frank for 10 years. She was attractive, if a little worn, and I joined them for a few laughs and made the effort to keep her spirits up while her husband was elsewhere. We were having a fine time when the two guys from earlier "bumped" my chair as they walked past making a joke about gay boys and thier mommies. The women around the table went straight into a huff about their bad behavior and rude talk. I waved it off and offered to get the next round of drinks.

After a few more drinks, non alcholic for me, the ladies wanted to dance so it was one guy and four ladies in the middle of the dance floor when Tony, the taller of the two jerks, tripped me as he walked past. Fortunately security was keeping an eye on them and hustled them out of the bar and told them to find someplace else to drink. By 10:00 PM the long day was catching up with us all so we called it a night and headed for our cabins. I walked Jan to hers and she gave me a peck on the cheek for being so nice.

Next morning I was ready for my exercise class and a good number of the available women on board had turned up to tone up. I took them through a series of stretches before starting in on the exercise part. There were giggles and laughs as people tried to stay co-ordinated with their neighbour. The music helped and I varied the length of time we did each position. Soon the class was over and it was applause all round as the ladies made their way back to their cabins to slip into various types of swimsuits or maybe it was bingo, shuffle board or the buffet.