I'd finally gotten used to the sway of the floor under my feet. For the last few months, I lived as a stowaway in this lower level of a mechanic ship, the kind that exists solely to repair and maintain the UV lights placed one nautical mile apart from each other out in the ocean. I borrowed a blow-up mattress from the fella who assisted me in getting aboard, Charles, a handsome blond mechanic from the UK.
Currently, I was sitting on the blow-up mattress tucked behind heavy brown boxes of supplies that those onboard rarely used. Some round windows lined the wall. Standing, I peered through the one closest to me and saw black waves a few yards below the glass. Fog rose from the water, making it nearly impossible to observe the sky for the time of day. The only light I spotted outside came from a violet UV light some distance ahead. The purple color of the light turned green from plankton and algae growing around it.
On deck, I was sure UV light mechanics were getting ready to go on the line into the water. It was easy to get hypothermia out there.
The Cloud offset global warming's impact on the oceans, but it presented its own severe consequences by making everything cold everywhere.
I wished that I had chosen the mechanic route. Instead, I pursued and obtained a nursing degree while living in South Korea.
From what I heard about foreign exchange students like myself, many of us could not return to our homeland. Mine was New York, U.S.A. I had a brother, my parents were still married and alive, and when I left, there was a chance that I had a baby sister on the way.
But I had to assume that I wouldn't see them again. Not unless I stowed away on a ship heading to the US. Then again, I didn't want to go home. I liked the ocean, despite how hard it was to see.
"Hey, Zeke."
I saw Charles peering at me through a crack in the stacked boxes. He wore an orange vest over a thick blue turtle neck. I stepped around the cargo to greet him properly, with a kiss on the lips.
He looked down at me, his gray eyes twinkling in the light of the electric lantern hung from his arm. While the ship had electricity, we liked to keep this room dark when seeing each other since that would draw less attention.
"Want the daily update?" he asked me in his British accent. A while ago, he told me he came from London. I wasn't familiar with England's different dialects, so I had no clue what nuances were present or absent from his speech. As someone with interest in language, this frustrated me. But I hoped that I might eventually visit the UK with him. Then, I could get familiar with the regional sounds.
"I'll take the update and then some," I said with a wink.
Charles grinned. He casually pushed me back behind the boxes toward the air mattress as he told me the news. "Well, Zeke, last night we got a distress call from a yacht that ran out of the gas way out in the water. One person on the yacht was the captain's daughter Nadine."
"Weird coincidence," I said.
Gently, he made me lay down and set the lantern beside us. We kissed again.
"Anyway, the captain's furious at his daughter for getting lost on the water with frat boys. She's a college student. Twenty-one. You would think alcohol had to be involved, but she's like the captain and doesn't drink. But the yacht's cap' was hammered."
"Was he a frat boy too?"
"Oh, the worst kind."
We laughed.
Charles rested himself on top of me, his lean yet muscular arms folded on my chest.
"Anyway," he continued, taking on a more serious tone, "I can't take you on deck for a while. Everyone's more vigilant since we saved the frat boys and Ms. Gupta; she insists on exploring the ship. So, you musn't stealth around until the next time we dock."
"Oh, all right." Aside from pleasing a few people, including Charles, I loved smelling the salty air and watching the stars at night. Charles' news meant I wouldn't get to sneak up on deck. It also meant I would have trouble getting to and from the nearest bathroom a few doors to the left of the storage room's only entrance.
"Don't feel too upset, Zeke," Charles said soothingly, planting a kiss on my bristly chin. The affectionate gleam in his eyes brought a smile to my face. "You have the windows still, and you have me."
I hugged him. I wanted to ask him to be my boyfriend, but I doubted he would say yes. He knew I intended to leave the ship eventually, so we were both approaching our time together as a temporary pleasure.
And we weren't exclusive. I didn't want to get into a formal relationship with someone while I saw two other coworkers of his. Whether they were performing the same job didn't matter; Charles still had to be out at sea with those sailors whose duties revolved around working the ship and keeping it clean.
Charles and I made love. Before he left to get back to work, he informed me politely that the sailors Fred and Morice were coming to this room in an hour to meet me.
"Thanks for letting me know," I said, reaffirming in my mind that we couldn't be a couple.
I didn't look forward to seeing those two men. They weren't friendly, and they scarcely showed me affection. But after hitching an illegal ride on this ship, my way of keeping alive and "staying afloat" was to give a few laborers a reason to keep me around. Thus, I became a gigolo of sorts.
When Charles left with the lantern, I found myself lying in darkness, thinking about my unusual life choices.
Unfortunately, Charles had his duties to tend to later that day. He was to go out on the line and repair a damaged light a few nautical miles from here.
I felt safe when he was around, but he couldn't always protect me. Whenever he went away, I felt doubtful about the future.
To think I decided to skip town rather than work as a nurse in South Korea. Sometimes I wondered if this was a mistake, but whenever I remembered how I wanted to travel and that planes weren't the way to go about it these days, I felt better about my decisions.