Claire Gulliver #04 - Cruisin' for a Bruisin' Page 14

  She finished just in time to head for the cocktail lounge for the scheduled races. She wanted to make sure she had time to place a bet. She was hoping her good luck at the Slotto was still with her. She grinned, realizing she had forgotten to tell her mother about her good fortune. Her mother just wouldn’t believe it.

  Millie waved frantically to her. She, Ruth and Lucy were already seated in the second row of tables, with what looked like the special drink of the day in front of each of them, while they waited for the races to start. It was really a silly game, but judging by the attendance, a popular one. The emcee threw two dice into a box and cruise staff moved each of the stick horses, stuck in buckets of cement, numbered two through twelve, forward each time their number came up on the dice. The emcee was talented and managed to call the race, making it sound just as it did at the real race tracks. The crowd responded enthusiastically, cheering nosily, rising to their feet when their horse took the lead across the path of marked spaces on the cloth spread on the stage. When each race finished the winners crowded in to collect their winnings while the others pushed forward to place bets on their choice for the next race.

  It was fun. Claire managed a win in the third race, her mother won the first and fifth. Ruth didn’t win and complained loudly about it. Lucy won the third and fifth.

  “I quite like this. We should go to the races some day. It’s only over at Hillsdale.”

  Claire nodded. “It might be fun, but I wonder how real horses compare to these.”

  “Well, in the real races you have to know a little about horses to win,” Ruth said sourly, still smarting from her losses. “What are you going to do now?” she asked.

  Millie looked at her schedule. “I think I have time to see the movie. I didn’t get a chance to see it when it was in town. Do you want to go, Ruth?”

  “What is it?”

  “Tea with Mussolini, with Maggie Smith.”

  “Sure, sounds good. Claire, are you coming?”

  “No, you go on. I’m going to find a nice corner and read my book and maybe look for whales.”

  “Lucy, want to come?”

  “No, I saw it. Actually it was good. But I think I’m going down for a nap. I seem to be dragging a bit today. I need to be bright for tonight.”

  Claire had wondered how Lucy was going to keep up with all the late nights she was having. A nap sounded like a sensible plan to her.

  “I’ll see you down at the cabin in time to get dressed for dinner, Lucy. And Mom, shall we meet you both for cocktails before dinner as usual?” she asked her mother as she was moving off.

  “All right dear, see you then.”

  Claire made her way to the Starlight Lounge at the top front of the ship. There, almost deserted except for pockets of passengers here and there, she found a table with comfortable chairs where she settled to look at her book. A waiter stopped by and took her order for the drink of the day, which was her second, but she decided she wasn’t counting, and then buried her nose in the book again. A little later she noticed a small commotion and found several more people had settled in and one group two tables to her left were pointing excitedly to the ocean on that side.

  Pat, the Englishwoman she had met at breakfast one day, said with excitement, “See the fume. She’s coming up. Watch.” As if on cue, the whale breached, lifting right out of the water before settling back with a gigantic splash.

  There was a chorus of oohs and ahhs. Claire was already fishing in her tote bag for her camera. There were a series of splashes, some fins showing briefly and a few tantalizing glimpses of tail fins, but none of the others chose to show themselves so completely to the floating peanut gallery which was watching their every move.

  Finally, it was apparent the show for the day was over and people settled back with their drinks and their conversations. Pat came over and joined Claire for a minute. “Did you get a picture, Pat?” Claire wished she had been more alert and had had her camera ready.

  “No, that would almost be a miracle, wouldn’t it? They seldom cooperate and breach when we’re watching and they never give us enough time to get a picture. But it was exciting, wasn’t it?”

  Claire nodded. “I’m sorry my mother didn’t see this. We’re taking the Whale Watching Excursion tomorrow out of Sitka. Hopefully we’ll see whales then. Actually, they guarantee we’ll see them or our money back.”

  Pat nodded. “Sounds good. Where is your mum? Playing bingo?”

  “No, she and Ruth went to the movies. I decided I needed some quiet time, so it was reading my book or napping. Reading sounded more appealing. There are so many activities available I’m tempted to try to do them all. But I tell myself, I’m a working girl, this is my vacation, remember to sit and vegetate.”

  Pat laughed. “Right, having fun can be wearing. Well, I’d better go back to John or he’ll doze off. He combines the nap with his reading. But I try to keep him awake so he won’t snore and disturb the other passengers.”

  * * *

  “Here, stand behind Mrs. Bernbaum, Ian.”

  “Can you scoot your chair in closer, Claire?”

  “Everyone smile.” The flash was blinding, but before they could move away, the photographer called them to wait. “Just one more to make sure we got everyone smiling. Okay, smile.” The second flash went off totally blinding them once more.

  There was a great deal of shuffling and rearranging chairs as everyone found their place at the table once more and the photographer moved on to the next table.

  “Thank you so much for having us in to see the glacier, Mrs. Bernbaum. Harold and I went up to the top to see it from the other side, but it wasn’t nearly as nice a view,” Pearl told Mrs. Bernbaum with a smile.

  “And of course, the company wasn’t as congenial,” Harold added, winking.

  “And the rain started. It was really icy. We only stayed a few minutes before finding some shelter.”

  Just then Pedro started delivering their appetizers and the diners turned their attention to the food.

  Claire noticed how nice everyone looked. It seemed like a pain to dress for dinner, but now she realized it really made it seem like an occasion. The men wore the same clothes they had at the first formal dinner. However, Harold was wearing a red cummerbund and tie to match Pearl’s long, strapless red gown. Mrs. Bernbaum was wearing black tonight, which didn’t showcase her pin as well as her grey dress did. Millie was also wearing black, a short beaded dress which was very flattering. Claire assumed it was another one from the annual Richman Brothers Christmas party. Lucy was wearing dark blue crepe. The blouse was a deep neck surrounded by soft ruffles, with ruffles around the wrist, worn with wide legged crepe pants of the same color. And the necklace and earrings could have been rhinestones, but knowing Lucy, Claire assumed they were diamonds. Lucy liked nice things and didn’t shirk at treating herself. Ruth was also in pants tonight, black velvet with a vividly colored beaded top. It looked very festive. Claire felt a little subdued in her maize colored sleeveless long gown, but she knew the color was good on her.

  She hoped the picture was good as she’d like to display it on the bulletin board at the store. She smiled at her friends around the table before asking, “Did any of you see the whale show this afternoon?”

  They shook their heads.

  So she explained, “It was after the horse races. I was up in the Starlight Lounge reading when this pod put on a show.” She shook her head regretfully. “I didn’t get a picture. It was just too fast. But one of the whales breached. It was incredible. She came clear out of the water, right there in front of us.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t see it. I hope we see lots of them tomorrow.” Millie was wistful. That started a whole conversation about what was happening the next day. It turned out that Ruth, Lucy and Sean were all going deep sea fishing out of Sitka.

  “Oh, maybe we’ll have fresh salmon for dinner tomorrow,” Pearl said excitedly.

  “I’m afraid not, Pearl. I was told the chef
couldn’t allow any local food in the kitchen for fear it might contaminate the other food,” Sean explained. “If we catch something the charter company will arrange to have it packed, flash frozen and shipped to us.”

  Lucy nodded. “Antonio told me it was because of this sickness, that stomach virus, that has been happening on the ships. They’ve had to take extreme measures to make sure it doesn’t occur here.”

  Pearl shuddered. “Oh, can you imagine how awful that would be. There was an article in the paper about a ship out of Miami, and I guess it was seven days of hell.”

  “Let’s talk about something more pleasant,” Millie asked purposely changing the subject. “Ian, what are you going to do while Sean is fishing?”

  Ian was taking a kayaking trip, which Sean felt was too strenuous for him. Pearl and Harold were touring the city and visiting the Totem Pole Park.

  “And what are you doing, Mrs. Bernbaum? Any big plans?”

  “Oh, no, I’ll probably stay on board. The next day is going to be a big day for me and I’ll rest up for it. But Dickie’s taking an excursion, aren’t you, Dickie?”

  He nodded. “I’m taking a seaplane out to a fishing cabin on a lake for some fly fishing. It sounds fun and I’ll get to see the interior.”

  Sean and Lucy were very interested in Richard’s excursion, and they talked about fly fishing versus deep sea fishing for a while.

  Millie leaned forward and said to Mrs. Bernbaum, “So is Skagway it? Is that where your life quest is?”

  “Yes, dear. I decided that I was going to reunite Nate with his family. He wanted to be buried in Skagway, but I just couldn’t do it. All these years I have selfishly kept him with me. But, you know, it’s time for me to let him go. I want to make sure he’s settled before I pass.”

  “You have him with you?” Millie couldn’t help the surprise she felt.

  “Well, his ashes. I have a small box containing his ashes. I’ve spoken to the funeral home in Skagway and they will make arrangements to bury the box next to his father, mother and sister. I know he will like that.”

  “But what about you? Don’t you want to be next to him? Will you be buried in Skagway too?”

  Mrs. Bernbaum shook her head. “No dear. When I purchased a plot for Bernie, I purchased a double plot. I’ll rest beside him. He was such a dear man and he did so much for me. It’s only right that I be with him at the end.” She reached over and patted Millie’s hand. “Thank you so much for asking, Millie. You’re a very nice person.”

  A little later Millie asked Mrs. Bernbaum, “Would you like Claire and me to be with you when you lay Nate to rest? We would be happy to do that.”

  This time there were tears in the old lady’s eyes. “Oh, would you, my dear? It would mean a lot to me. I suspect it might be harder for me than Dickie thinks. I don’t think it will take long, but if you could come, and Claire, I would really appreciate it.”

  This time Millie patted her hand. “Don’t even think about how long it takes. We’ll be there. Plan on it.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Whoops, hang on dear.” Millie slung her arm across the front of Claire to protect her, as she had when Claire was a child sitting in the car beside her.

  The little boat climbed to the top of the swell and then slid quickly down the other side.

  “Three o’clock. Whale at three o’clock!”

  Claire swung her binoculars that way, but the next swell was already pointing the nose of the boat into the air so she saw nothing but sky.

  “Did you see it?” Millie asked trying to remain seated as the boat lurched down into the trough between the waves.

  “There, eleven o’clock. Watch, it’s going to... It breached. Eleven o’clock,” their guide called excitedly. “We’re having a great day today. There, again at twelve o’clock. Did everyone see it?”

  The passengers nodded, calling out they saw it, but Claire shook her head glumly at Millie.

  “I didn’t either, but next time he calls out I’m going to say I saw it. Otherwise he’s going to stay out here until we do, and I don’t know how much longer I can hold on,” Millie muttered out of the side of her mouth.

  Claire realized her mother was right. This excursion guaranteed, money back, they would see a whale and as much as they wanted to see one, the sea was so rough and the little boat was bouncing so precariously, Claire was willing to forego the guarantee if they could move closer to shore where the water would surely be calmer.

  “Whale at two o’clock.”

  “Look, there Mom.” She pointed in the two o’clock direction with one hand, holding the binoculars with the other and bracing her feet on the floor, hoping to stay in her seat. “I see it!” What she really saw was a wall of water rising in front of her eyes.

  “Oh, there it is. I see it. Oh, how exciting!” Millie was working on an Oscar nomination.

  Their guide looked around at the thirty passengers hanging on for dear life as the little boat heaved through the water. To him it was a little rough. They felt as if they were in hurricane waters.

  “Okay folks, everyone has seen a whale up close and personal. We’ve had a good day. Now we’ll head inland and look for other forms of Alaskan wildlife. Keep a sharp look out as we expect to see sea lions, sea otters, eagles, osprey and perhaps deer, moose or even bear. I’ll use the same system to direct your attention to the location whenever we sight something, but everyone should keep their eyes open. No telling what we’ll see.”

  And finally they did enter the calm waters of the inlet and soon they were heading for some rocks near the entrance, which were covered with barking sea lions. Claire and Millie weren’t much interested in the sea lions as they saw plenty in San Francisco, but they knew many of the other passengers were thrilled because they were standing up, contorting their bodies for balance while they snapped pictures.

  Then as they headed further inland, the ride was so smooth one of the other passengers even dared make their way back to the bathroom on board. The sun came out, bouncing off the water, casting deep shadows amongst the trees along the banks.

  The boat stopped moving, the pilot idled, using only enough power to keep the boat in place against the current, so they could see the dark blobs floating in front of them were really a colony of otters. The animals floated peacefully on their backs, their heads and feet sticking up out of the water.

  “Mom, look at that one with a baby on her stomach. Isn’t that sweet?”

  The otters were bigger than Claire expected. She thought they were bigger than the ones she had seen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but they had the same cute, wizened faces and sleek fur bodies.

  The guide explained they were required to keep the boat a certain distance from the animals. “But laws can’t control the animals’ curiosity,” he said, “so one might swim close enough to get a good picture.

  “Please notice how they keep their feet out of the water. Otters live mostly in the water, but they don’t like to get their feet wet. Actually, that’s because they don’t have insulation on their feet, so if they kept their feet in the water they would lose too much body heat through their feet and they could die. Otters spend most of their time eating and grooming their fur. The fur is what protects them from the icy water. The females and children stay together, camouflaged by rocks and seaweed for protection from predators.

  “This is a group of females with their young. Can you see how they carry their babies on their stomachs? They teach them to groom themselves and feed them bits of the shell fish they bring up from the bottom. Otters are intelligent enough to devise tools to help them survive. You might see one remove a stone they’re carrying from under their front arm to use in breaking open the shell fish. They only intermingle with the males for mating. I think we’ll see a colony of males a little further on. The males lead a more frivolous life. They don’t have to worry about feeding another mouth, so they like to cavort and play as well as eat and groom themselves. Not a bad life.

  “We
’re going to move on now to watch the males. I don’t like to spend too much time near the females as it upsets the mamas to have us so close to their babies.” Their guide turned his attention forward, looking for the male colony.

  “Did you get a picture of the mom and baby?” Millie asked Claire as she sat back down while the boat headed for their next encounter.

  “I think I got a good one, but I’ll know when I see it on the computer screen.” She craned her neck, trying to see the next group.

  The male otters were not far away. The pilot lingered there a while so they could enjoy the otters’ antics. Claire was able to zoom in close enough to get some pictures and the people with video cameras were ecstatic. But eventually they moved further inland. Here the lush forest lined the shore and there were no signs of humans. They saw several eagles’ nests built at the top of dead trees. These huge piles of twigs were built at the top, their guide explained, as the eagles liked to be at the highest point in order to survey the surrounding terrain. And they saw two eagles, one soaring over their heads and one sitting on a branch near its nest.

  And further yet, passing a stream which fed into the inlet or bay they were traversing, there was a bear. He was fishing in the water near the shore and was disturbed by the noise of the boat. With a disgusted expression on his face he turned his back to the intruders and ambled off into the woods. Only one of the passengers was quick enough to get him on camera, but they were all excited at the encounter and very pleased they were on the boat out of his reach.