During the evening, an alarm sounded, and an announcement on the ship's speakers said, “Brace for impact!”
I was in my cabin when I looked through the window and saw a wall of sea coming from the starboard side, probably a rogue wave. I held onto the window frame and spread my legs as the wave hit the ship. The entire ship shook violently and tilted to the port side; my window was underwater for a brief moment, and I could feel the ship fighting the wave as it shuddered and trembled. Everything in the cabin flew around, and the metal screamed as if the ship was about to crack open like a can of worms. The wave passed, the sea withdrew from the deck, and the ship rolled to the starboard side. I could hear all the doors on the starboard side banging around. I quickly made my way into the hallway and saw the outer seal door wide open. I ran to it uphill as the ship tilted to port and closed it with a struggle as the ship tilted from port to starboard.
An announcement on the ship's speakers said, “Starboard side, close all watertight doors.”
Bosun Lemmy ran down to assist me, but I was already done. He said, “Good job, Jack.”
I said, “I don’t understand. They were locked tight. Why did they open?”
Bosun Lemmy said, “The pressure on the door was so strong that it pushed the rubber more than the manufacturer predicted, and all the handles just dropped down. These are cheap types of doors. The other ones with a wheel or a lever that hold all these six handles connected are better. I’ll go check other doors to be sure.” Bosun Lemmy walked away.
The 3rd Officer appeared from thin air and said, “Good you are here.”
I said, “The door is secured for the second time.”
The 3rd Officer said, “I can tell you, this wave came out of nowhere, and it was big. It even reached the bridge, and all the doors popped open all the way down from the bridge.”
I said, “The weather is calm. I would never suspect anything like this would happen in calm weather.”
The 3rd Officer said, “Who knows how it got here, but these things do happen. Luckily, we are okay; no damage reports for now.”
The next few days were spent cleaning the entire ship's interior, as everything was out of place.
At the next port, Neanderthal AB made three attempts to throw a weight attached to a rope, which was tied to the heavy mooring rope.
I said, “Give it to me. People will get anxious.”
Neanderthal AB said, “What do you know? I’ve been a seaman for eight years, brother.”
Bosun Lemmy shouted, “Give him the bloody rope.”
I threw the rope without a problem and said to Neanderthal AB, “I’ve been a seaman for six months.”
Neanderthal AB said, “Who taught you how to throw like that, brother?”
I said, “My dad, he is a bosun.”
Neanderthal AB just nodded his head. After we moored and opened the hatches for the cargo to unload, we saw the first hold was spoiled. The cargo was full of corn grain, and it appeared that the first cargo hold leaked sea. Probably when the rogue wave hit us, the corn grain was moldy and greenish.
Chief Officer Jhon held his head and said, “What are we going to do?”
Bosun Lemmy asked, “When is discharging time?”
Chief Officer Jhon replied, “In four hours.”
Bosun Lemmy said, “We have enough time to cover this with good grain from the other hold.”
Chief Officer Jhon agreed, as the port near our ship was empty—no cameras, no workers. We formed a line across the two holds and transferred enough corn grain to camouflage the rotten grain. Later, during discharge, no one looked, no one cared.
Bosun Lemmy and I left the ship and ventured into town. We browsed around, and there was a familiar bar; it looked more like a pub. We entered, and the owner, an old man with a fedora hat, greeted us.
The owner said, “Please have a seat.”
Bosun Lemmy said, “You speak our language, and I love the bar. It reminds me of the '60s.”
The owner walked behind the bar and said, “Yes, I lived my youth abroad, and after coming here to retire, I wanted to open something that was a part of me. This new-age disco & clubs are at every step.”
Bosun Lemmy said, “Love it, it’s so special. Definitely going to tell the crew about this place. Do you tend to the bar alone?”
The owner replied, “Thank you, kind sir. Yes, I work alone. This is my hobby. I’m retired and have nothing else to do.”
Bosun took out his wallet full of money and placed it on the table. I could see some local people watching from outside. One of them came in.
The local man said, “Come to my place. Girls, music, fun, fun. Come, come.”
Bosun said, “No.”
I said, “No thanks.”
But the local man wouldn’t take no for an answer. He grabbed and pulled Bosun Lemmy's arm.
The local man insisted, “Come. Fun, girls. Come. Beautiful girls. Fun. Come.”
Bosun Lemmy pulled his hand from the local man's grasp and stood up. The owner of the bar argued with the local man in some foreign language. It looked like the local man threatened the owner, but the owner wasn’t scared and ran off the local man.
The owner said, “I’m sorry for that. These young people nowadays are just looking to take someone’s money. No one will touch you here.”
We had a few drinks, and I went to the toilet. In there, I was surprised to see flowers on top of the toilet. At first, it seemed strange, but the flowers were beautiful, highly detailed, and smelled good. I must say I felt relaxed and comforted in the toilet room. When I exited the toilet room, I saw a small, local, middle-aged woman leaning on Bosun Lemmy. She wore a cocktail dress, which seemed inappropriate for her weight. I motioned to Bosun Lemmy with my body, ‘Who is that?’
Bosun Lemy said, “From the disco next door. Probably the man from before sent her. They just don’t quit. I need to go to the bathroom.”
I looked over the wallet from Bosun Lemy as he was in the bathroom. This middle-aged local woman took my right hand and leaned on me. Her hands were small, maybe appropriate to her size, but they reminded me of kids and that pedophile on board the ship. She started to pet my forearm, which was not pleasant because, for some reason, her skin felt like plastic. I looked at her hands to see if she was wearing surgical gloves or something, but no, she wasn’t. This combination of plastic touch and her small hands felt like Chucky the doll from the movies was petting my hand in some perverted way.
The middle-aged woman said, “I like you. You like me. We go have fun.”
This perverse invasion of my hand by Chucky hands was just painful to endure, so I removed my hand from hers and said, “Aren’t you with Bosun?”
The middle-aged woman said, “Who? That? No, he old. I like young. You strong.”
She placed her hand on my knee and started to slide it to my private area. I gently picked up her hand with two fingers and placed it on the table.
The owner said, “She bothering you? I’ll send her away.”
Bosun came back and sat down, and the middle-aged woman cuddled with Bosun Lemmy.
I said, “No, we’re good. She is with him anyway.”
Bosun Lemmy said, “Look, I’m going to get some action with her. Will you be okay on your own?”
I said, “No worries. I’ll be fine, probably going to go back to the ship.”
Bosun Lemmy left with the middle-aged woman, and soon after that, I went back to the ship.
In the morning, I was on duty at the gangway, and Neanderthal AB walked up to me.
Neanderthal AB said, “Did you hear what happened to that bar you were in last night, brother?”
I said, “No.”
Neanderthal AB said, “The locals trashed the place completely after you left, and the old man is in the hospital, brother.”
I said, “Really? How do you know?”
Neanderthal AB said, “Bosun Lemmy told me. After you left, he went into that club for a few hours and figured out they would just rob him or something. When he left, there were police and ambulances in front of that bar.”
I said, “He didn’t hear anything?”
Neanderthal AB said, “No, the music was too loud, but he figured out something was happening when he saw police lights from outside. He took this chance to leave, because he knew nobody would touch him while the police were there.”
I said, “Isn’t this place something? I used to complain about home sometimes, but this... This is the Wild West.”
Neanderthal AB said, “That’s why we always travel in packs, brother. In some countries, even that doesn’t help. You need to hire a local man and pay him to be your guide. Then nobody will touch you.”
I said, “Yep. I heard stories from my dad. This world is a bad place.”
After we left the port, we were ordered to wash the cargo holds in calm weather. The holds were 16 meters deep. We washed all day and night in shifts with fire hoses.
During the night, light particles danced in the air as seawater splashed against the walls. The water reached up to our ankles, and you could walk among the sparkling plankton. For a few seconds, if you stared at them, you could almost forget you were on a ship. Sometimes, nature is beautiful and mesmerizing; it felt like walking among the stars. After a few days of washing the holds, we needed to clean the bilges and pumps inside the holds from corn and small creatures like crabs.
Bosun Lemmy said, “This is too narrow for us. Both of you deckhands are young and slim. You will go in there and clean it. Jack, you take the starboard side, and you, Eric, the port side.”
We just nodded; there was nothing much to say as we were the only two who were able to fit in. I crawled down into the narrow bilge and filled the bucket with corn and small crabs. Those crabs walked all over the place, even above me. They probably wondered, ‘Why am I disturbing their home?’ I didn’t understand how the crabs got in there. Were they forever in there, like a colony that ate corn or whatever? The more I advanced to the pump, the narrower it became. In the end, I felt like one of those cave explorers when they get stuck and eaten in horror movies. It was really uncomfortable. Crabs walked all over me, and I could barely move. That rotten smell of corn didn’t help. I was never claustrophobic, but this metal sandwich tested my nerves. All the time I was in there, I said over and over in my head, ‘You’re a grown male, keep your cool.’ I felt so relieved and alive after I left the bilge, but just to go into another hold and do it all over again. I walked down to hold number 4 and saw Bosun Lemmy urinating in the starboard bilge.
I walked up to him from behind and said, “What are you doing? Did you just piss down there!?”
Bosun Lemmy zipped up his overalls and said, “Why are you complaining? I pissed in all of those bilges before you cleaned them.”
Deckhand Eric’s head popped out of the portside bilge.
Bosun Lemmy pointed at him with his right hand and said, “You see, he is not complaining. You can look at it as an extra flavor, a blessing to ensure nothing bad happens to you.”
I threw down the bucket in front of Bosun Lemmy’s feet and said, “I’m not cleaning bilges anymore. Now you can go down and wallow in your own urine.”
Deckhand Eric said, “Urine? What urine?”
I said, “Bosun was pissing in the bilges before we cleaned them.”
Deckhand Eric climbed out of the bilge and said, “I’m also not cleaning bilges anymore. How could you piss and then tell us to go in there?”
Bosun Lemmy said, “Come on, guys, this is the way it was done forever. It’s a tradition. They pissed in my bilges when I was a kid.”
I said, “Tradition to piss and tell someone to roll in it? Never heard of it. I’m out of here.” I walked out.
Deckhand Eric followed me and said, “Me too.”
Bosun Lemmy said, “You can’t leave. Boys. Boys, listen to me. I’m the Bosun.”
We were halfway up, and you could still hear Bosun Lemmy as he screamed from below, “Come back here! Listen to me! Back here now!”
We climbed up on the deck, and there was Marlboro Man, who smoked a cigar.
Marlboro Man said, “What is Bosun shouting?”
I said, “He pissed in the bilges and then made us clean them. He can’t make me roll over in his urine.”
Marlboro Man took a deep smoke and nodded at me, then he turned off his cigar and went down.
Deckhand Eric asked, “What do we do now?”
I replied, “It’s time for the second coffee break, so we will go prepare the tea.”
Deckhand Eric said, “Lead the way.”
We filled out the bottles slowly, and when it was time for the second coffee, we proceeded to the coffee room.
As we arrived at the coffee room, Bosun Lemmy was seated at the end of the table. Marlboro Man walked in and placed his hands on the near end of the table, leaning his body toward Bosun Lemmy. Marlboro Man then stood up straight and, in a split second, jumped over the table at Bosun Lemmy. Quickly, Bosun Lemmy moved aside and ran out, leaving Marlboro Man crashing down onto the floor where Bosun Lemmy had been seated.
Marlboro Man shouted, “Bosun… I know where you live… I’ll give the local Pitch hooligans a crate of beer to rape and kill your wife and daughter.”
Bosun Lemmy ran out onto the deck. Marlboro Man stood up, angrily pushing and kicking the chairs around, then he chased after Bosun Lemmy. The name of the hooligans he mentioned, Pitch, was well known in our region—a notorious gang that used to beat people up for fun. One of them even smashed his hand through a wire mesh glass and rotated his fist inside, irreparably damaging his entire hand. Others used to bet 10 USD on who could cut their forearm the longest, resulting in long scars, some from the wrist to the elbow. Marlboro Man pursued Bosun Lemmy across the deck, and they vanished from our sight.
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