Blue Autumn Cruise Read online

  “Anybody and everybody!” said Lauren, holding the camera in her lap. “It’s going to be, like, my oeuvre during the cruise. It will be my trademark. Everyone will know me as the video girl.”

  “Some people won’t want to be videotaped,” Diana said. “Like me. It makes me nervous.”

  Lauren picked up the camera and aimed it at her. “Really?” She gave her voice a reporter’s tone. “So … what about being videotaped bothers you?”

  “Lauren!” I said with a light laugh.

  “I was just kidding around,” Lauren said, putting down the camera.

  Diana didn’t say anything about Lauren’s joke. She just had a scowl on her face.

  “But seriously, you should get used to being videotaped because we have to document our trip,” Lauren said. “Right now we should go wander around the ship and find out where things are.”

  Just then there was a knock on our door, and when we said “Come in,” a dark-haired, handsome man in a short-sleeved, white uniform pushed the door open. He had broad cheekbones and coffee-colored skin. “Hello and welcome,” he said. “I am Manuel, your cabin steward. Is everything all right so far?” When he smiled at us, he had really even white teeth.

  “When do we get our luggage?” asked Lauren.

  “We are working on it,” said Manuel. “The young ladies need to be patient! In a few moments you will need to go to your muster station. It is important that everyone go.”

  “That’s like if we’re the Titanic,” said Lauren.

  “Don’t even say that!” I said. I noticed that Manuel was holding a key ring with a photo of children on it. “Are those your children?” I asked.

  Manuel held the photo up. “Oh, yes, they are! That’s my family. If there is anything you need, please don’t be afraid to ask,” he said, and then he ducked out the door.

  A minute later there was another knock on our door, and Aunt Carol, Uncle Ted, and Lauren’s brother, Luke poked their heads in.

  “Hey, there, Stephanie!” My aunt and uncle both came in, and I jumped up and gave them each a big hug. Aunt Carol smelled like perfume. Uncle Ted smelled like a cigar. Luke, who is ten, with reddish hair, and small for his age, acts like a miniature little old man. He is the most serious boy ever.

  “Hello,” he said, holding out his hand for us to shake.

  “And, hey, Diana, we just met your mom. We’re so glad to get to meet you finally. Welcome to the family!” said Aunt Carol.

  Diana sat up on her bunk, keeping her head low so she wouldn’t hit the ceiling, and swung her legs back and forth. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Has Lauren already interviewed you two on video?” said Uncle Ted. He was a big man with a cheerful, booming voice, and he was wearing a striped golf shirt and khaki shorts. “She’s obsessed with that camera. You have to try to get out of the way.”

  “Dad! I’m going to document our trip!”

  “You need to be careful you’re not documenting people who don’t want to be documented,” said Uncle Ted.

  “Dad, chill,” said Lauren.

  “I don’t want to be documented,” said Luke.

  “You never know about people,” said Aunt Carol. She had Daddy’s same brown eyes and wavy, dark hair. Like Mama, she wore lots of jewelry. She and Mama were still good friends, and sometimes they emailed each other. I wondered how Aunt Carol would get along with Lynn. I was always wondering about whether people were going to get along. Maybe I worried about that too much.

  An announcement boomed over the loudspeaker system: “Attention, the general emergency alarm is about to be sounded. Repeat, the general emergency alarm is about to be sounded. This is the alarm you would hear in case of a real emergency, and you would be required to report with your life jackets to the muster station.”

  Then the ship’s horn sounded seven short beeps and one long beep. The beeps were so loud and deep they kept reverberating inside my head.

  “Attention, you have just heard the general emergency alarm. Please proceed with your life jackets to your assigned muster station.”

  Aunt Carol held up her bulky, orange life jacket. “Okay, everybody, let’s go.”

  Diana slid down from her bunk, and the three of us girls reached into the top of the closet and pulled down our life jackets.

  “Are they going to tell us how to put these on?” Diana asked. “It’s pretty obvious.” She put her arms through the armholes, then started arranging the belt around her waist.

  Lauren put the back of the life jacket on top of her head and let the armholes hang down over her ears. “Like this, right?” She started laughing. “No, you dork,” I said, laughing too. “Come on, girls. Let’s not be silly,” said Aunt Carol. “Yeah. Straighten up,” said Luke. Just then Daddy and Lynn poked their heads in. “Let’s see who can figure out where the muster station is,” said Daddy.

  We studied the map on the back of our door, and in a minute or so, Lauren and I were racing down the long hall toward the elevator and stairway landings. Luke was right behind us.

  “We go down one floor!” Lauren yelled, and she skidded into a landing, ready to race down the steps. Luke pulled in front of me and started to race past us. “Hold it, hold it!” said a staff person standing guard at the landing. “We should be orderly and walk while going to the muster station, not race.”

  “Oops, sorry,” I said, trying to slow down.

  “Sorry!” said Lauren in a voice that didn’t sound sorry at all. And Luke kept on going.

  I checked behind to see if Diana was still there. She was plodding along with her hands resting on top of her life jacket belt and a mad look on her face.

  “Hurry up!” I said as I followed Lauren and Luke down the stairs.

  When we got to the muster station, more of the crew members were there, and people were standing around with their life jackets on. After waiting for everyone to get there, one of the crew demonstrated how to put on the life jackets. Lauren was giggling, and one of the crew members had to tell her to be quiet and listen. Then everyone put on their life jackets. Daddy and Lynn came over to make sure Diana and I had them on right, and then the crew members came around.

  While the crew members were counting us and going over the evacuation routes, Daddy put one arm over my shoulder and the other around Lynn. I don’t think he meant to leave Diana out; I guess he only had two arms! And probably she wouldn’t have wanted his arm around her, anyway.

  I watched Diana standing off by herself, and for some reason I felt guilty. I remembered a time my friend Colleen was over at the house and we asked Diana to play cards with us, and Diana was really rude when she said no. Then I told Colleen that Diana liked animals better than she liked people. Colleen had laughed. But then only a few days later, some kids started calling Diana “annn-i-mal” in the hall at school. When we switched to the high school this year, I hoped that people would forget all about it, but they were still calling her “annn-i-mal.” It really hurt her that people called her that, and I hadn’t been able to get up the courage to admit to her that it was because of something I said.

  I was brought back to the present by one of the crew members, who was announcing that the musterstation meeting was over. As soon as we put our life jackets back in the room, Lauren went next door and asked her dad if we could go to the pool area and get an ice-cream sundae.

  “We’re going to be leaving port shortly, and it’ll be fun to stand on one of the upper decks and watch,” said Uncle Ted, poking his head around the door to our cabin. “Let’s all go together. This is a big ship, and we wouldn’t want to get lost.”

  “They can’t make us stay with them the whole time,” Lauren whispered to me.

  “I don’t want to get lost,” I whispered back. Then I noticed that Diana was watching us whisper to each other with a jealous look on her face. As soon as Uncle Ted stepped out of our room, I caught her eye.

  “Lauren is just frustrated that our parents want us to stay with them the whole time. She want
s us to be on our own.”

  Diana looked thoughtful, as if she was considering whether I was really telling the truth, and then she nodded. She trusted me. That made me feel even worse when I thought about the “annn-i-mal” thing.

  Pretty soon all of us were on the elevator on our way to the upper deck to watch the ship take off. Exploring the ship was amazing. Once we got off the elevator on the top level, we walked out onto the pool deck. People were already sitting around the pool in their bathing suits, and four boys a little younger than us were in the pool playing.

  “Marco!” shouted one.

  “Polo!” shouted the other three.

  “It” lunged after the voice that was closest, and the others swam away, sending spirals of water soaring. We dodged away with little screams.

  “Look at that giant movie screen!” Lauren said, pointing up behind the pool. The movie screen was literally as tall as a two-story house. As we were climbing up onto a deck that looked down on the pool, the ship sounded its horn again.

  “Ooh, we must be leaving!” Lynn said. I suddenly noticed the deep vibration of the ship below my feet, which must have been caused by the ship’s engines, but I couldn’t remember when it had started. We ran and stood against the railing and looked down on the tiny people and vehicles below us as the ship slid out of its berth. People began to wave and yell “Bon voyage!” and we waved back. My heart was beating wildly, the sun sparkled over the water, and ship flags flapped in a stiff breeze. We began to slide by the other cruise ships that were docked in Port Everglades. Then we passed by the tall buildings of Fort Lauderdale lining the beach. A wave created by the wake from our ship rolled across the water and broke on the sand.

  Then just behind us, we heard Grammy Verra’s voice. “There you are!”

  We turned around, and there was Grammy Verra, in her white cruise wear, a bright purple shirt, and sunglasses. “I was afraid I’d never find you on this big ship!”

  “Grammy!” I threw myself into her solid arms, and she pulled me close.

  “Look at you, sweetie!”

  Next she hugged Lauren. “What kind of trouble have you been getting into lately, missy?” she said with a laugh.

  “No trouble, Grammy, I promise,” Lauren said, slanting her eyes at me and laughing.

  Then Grammy hugged everyone else. Diana hung back, but Grammy said, “Come over here now, I’m going to hug you too!” She kept exclaiming how wonderful everyone looked and how excited she was about the trip. “I am just so glad we were able to all get together for this,” she said. I had always thought that Grammy’s voice sounded like music.

  “This is going to be one heck of a birthday for you, Mom,” said Daddy.

  “You bet!” said Grammy, laughing. “Diana,” she added, “are you ready for this?”

  “I’m not sure,” Diana said, kind of looking at her feet.

  “It’s a lot of family members to meet all at once, isn’t it?” Grammy patted Diana’s arm. “You’ll be just fine, I know it. We’ll all have a great time. And I have the three most beautiful granddaughters on the ship, that’s for sure.”

  I always felt like beaming when Grammy complimented me. I liked the way she was including Diana. I hoped Diana was appreciative of how hard everyone was working to make her feel included.

  “You’ll have to come see my room,” Grammy said. “I have a balcony. If anyone wants to come sit on my balcony, you’re welcome to anytime.”

  “I want to!” I said. I had always liked talking with Grammy about my life. She always had good advice. I wanted to talk to her about how things were working out with me now that I was living with Daddy, Lynn, and Diana. I knew I would miss Mama, and I did … a lot. But I loved Lynn; she had been so nice to me. Diana and I fought a lot at first. I hated fighting with people, and sometimes Diana just picked fights for the fun of it. But I had to get away from Matt, my stepbrother who flunked out of college. He was so mean to me. And now Daddy, Lynn, Diana, and I were trying to feel like a family.

  A few days ago, on a Tuesday night, Daddy and Lynn called a family meeting after dinner. We hadn’t ever had a family meeting before, and I didn’t know what to expect. Diana and I finished up the dishes, and then we both came into the family room slowly. Daddy and Lynn were waiting on the couch, and Diana flopped onto the easy chair, propping her riding boots on the coffee table with a big annoyed sigh.

  “Diana, no feet on the coffee table, please,” Lynn said.

  Diana clomped them on the floor.

  “We wanted to have a talk with you girls, now that we’re all living together, about being a family,” Daddy said, taking Lynn’s hand. “I really want us to feel the love and loyalty for each other that a family feels. I know it’s hard to get used to a new family unit. I have something I’d like us to do together that might help, and that’s start going to church.”

  “No!” said Diana. “I’m not going.”

  “Wait a minute,” Daddy said. “Last spring Stephanie and I went to church at Eastertime, and it really brought home to me how much God means to me and how much I missed church. We hadn’t really gone since before the divorce. Well, now we’re making a new start, and Stephanie and I have gone a few more times, and now Lynn says she’s willing to go too. I’d like us all to go.”

  “Mom?” Diana said accusingly. “You said that?”

  Lynn nodded her head, putting her other hand on top of Daddy’s. “I did. I know you and I haven’t gone to church, Diana. But I want us to be a family, and I agree with Norm that one thing that might help us bond is going to church together. I’m willing to try it.”

  “I’m not going to make anyone go,” Daddy said. “You girls are old enough to make your own decisions. But Lynn and I are going to go, and we hope you’ll decide to go with us.”

  “I’ll go,” I said. I liked church. It was comforting to me to think that there was a God out there who loved me.

  “Not me,” said Diana. “Is this family meeting over?” She held up her fingers and did air quotes to frame “family meeting.”

  I had had a sinking feeling then. When we got back home, we’d be going to church and having to leave Diana behind. I wanted to talk to Grammy about what that would be like.

  “I’d love for you to come visit and see my balcony, Stephanie,” Grammy said now.

  “Great!” I said.

  “Look how small and faraway Fort Lauderdale looks already!” Aunt Carol said, leaning on the railing.

  And it was true. Lauren had her camera up to her eye now, first focusing on Fort Lauderdale receding into the distance, and then turning the camera on me. I love being on camera.

  “Grammy’s birthday cruise has officially started!” I said, throwing my hands above my head. And then I turned a cartwheel right there on deck.

  “Yippee!”

  3

  DIANA

  I wished Lauren would quit sticking that camera in everybody’s face. I felt like throwing it in the ocean. How was I going to get along with her for five whole days? And Stephanie obviously thought she hung the moon.

  The next thing Lauren did was make us all go over to the station where they were serving the ice-cream sundaes. None of the grown-ups wanted one, except Norm, but all of us kids got one. Some smiling crew members served them up, and Mom didn’t even say anything about saving room for dinner later. Stephanie loves posing for the camera, so Lauren shot video of her clowning around while she was eating her sundae. Lauren had this annoying habit of acting like a TV narrator when she was taking the video. Luke had a thing where every time Lauren pointed the camera at him, he’d freeze stock-still.

  “Luke!” she said the second time he froze with his spoon halfway to his mouth. He stayed frozen, with ice cream starting to drip. I thought it was a pretty good idea and thought maybe I’d try it. That would teach her to try and videotape me. So far she hadn’t.

  “Come on,” Norm said as soon as we finished. “Let’s find out where things are on this ship.”

&nb
sp; The tour was confusing. There were three elevators on the ship, and seven restaurants, nine bars, three swimming pools, a work-out facility, a casino, and a spa, where we were sending Grammy for her birthday spa day. A whole hall was dedicated to displaying pictures that were going to be taken on the trip. Trying to keep track of what was in the front of the boat (“Forward,” according to Uncle Ted) and what was in the middle (amidships) and what was in the rear (aft) wasn’t easy.

  After that, Grammy got tired of walking and said she was going back to her stateroom. Stephanie gave Grammy a hug, as she headed for the elevator. “I’ll meet you guys at dinner,” Grammy said.

  Norm still wanted to find the putt-putt golf course, so we walked to the back of the ship and then took the elevator up to the very top floor. We stepped out of the elevator into a small room where you could pick out any putter and any color ball you wanted for a round of free putt-putt. Opening the door to the outside, we stepped into high winds whistling around our ears. Surrounding us was the putt-putt golf course, covered with this green flannel material, and a basketball court enclosed in netting, with a running track encircling them. We decided not to play, but it was amazing to stand on the track and look back over the shining ocean and the boat’s wake at Fort Lauderdale, now a dot in the distance.

  “What a view,” said Norm. “Can you believe we just left there?” He pointed to the tiny skyscrapers of Fort Lauderdale on the edge of the horizon.

  Birds flew alongside us. Some were pelicans. Some were seagulls. I couldn’t believe I was going to be away from animals for five days. No barn. No horses. No Commanche. I felt a stab of homesickness. I thought about the way he stuck his head over the stall door when I came to the barn in the afternoons. He’d probably wonder where I was.

  Since I was on the cross-country team last year, I decided to run around the tiny track a few times. It was so small I’d probably get dizzy going around it! Still, running was something I liked to do when people were getting on my nerves—like Lauren with her video camera—and I thought I might come here again.