At Sea

            “Ahoy Matey’s, are ye ready to cast off to adventure and treasuuuure,” shouted the tour guide in to the microphone.

            The tour boat was crowded with middle-aged tourists of varying weight, mostly heavy, and unsupervised children hanging onto the edges of their seats as if the boat was really about to set sail on the high seas and start attacking French ships.  I was sitting with my girl friend, my friend who is a girl, trying to look like I was enjoying myself.

            “Are you having fun,” asked Karen, my friend who happened to be a girl.

            “Oh, yeah. This is great. I always wanted to learn about scurvy first hand,” I said.

            “Don’t be a poop,” said Karen.

           

            The boat lurched away from the dock and the lure of buried pirate treasure. I knew that there was no buried pirate booty to be found on the Florida beaches. I thought that if we were in the Carolinas we might have had a better chance. But it was all part of the tour. The tour that Karen wanted to take.

            I was in love with Karen and I wanted to be more than the friends we were. I just didn’t know how to tell her that my feelings had evolved from just friends to someone I wanted to kiss every single second of every single day. The boat rocked a bit on the water and the tourists gasped with the roughness of the sea. I think they thought that going on the ocean would be more like a small pond in the Dells. Karen had gasped as well but then burst out laughing. I smiled at her and wished for the moment when I could kiss her.

            “All hands on deck, this is your Captain speaking, arrrrgh,” said a gravelly voice over the loudspeaker, “today’s trip will take us past the deadly Cove of Drunken Sailors and the shallow Graves of the Keelhauled. The bar is also now open so feel free to have one of our rum cocktails made special by Mr. Smead.  Arrrgh”.

            “I need a drink. Do you want one,” I asked Karen.

            “I’d love one,” said Karen.

            My eyes drifted over the curves of her breasts hidden behind a bathing suit. A once piece but still very arousing. I tried not to get aroused by her. She was too pretty in the sunshine and the summer. Her golden hair and soft skin, lips that were made for kissing and eyes to get lost in; it was a classic cliché.  I had to get up from my seat and get to the bar before I blurted something out I’d regret and ruin the whole trip. Or maybe make it better, I just didn’t know. I’d never been so full of doubt in my whole life.

            I got up from my seat and worked my way past the large crowd that was no longer interested in high seas adventure and made it to the bar. An eye patch wearing, Jack Sparrow look a-like was behind the small bar. He was making drinks that appeared to be all rum with a little juice for color and hastily cut fruit slices. I ordered two drinks and looked back out toward Karen. The sun was hitting her just right and she was practically glowing. She was even brushing her hair back with one arm as she leaned back a little. The wind was blowing her hair around and I was amazed how sometimes life did actually imitate TV commercials. I was glowing with lust.

            “Yer drinks matey,” said Mr. Smead.

           

            He put two wacky rum concoctions in front of me and I paid him $14.00 for the two drinks. So much for being a cheap vacation. I wondered what the actual price would be of the whole trip, especially if I told Karen about my love for her.

            I took the drinks and walked back to my seat next to Karen. She was listening to the tour guide explain where the pirate vessels of old used to sail. She smiled at me as I passed her the rum drink and I felt a flutter in my chest. The boat rocked and I took it as a sign. I would tell her when we got back to dry land how much I wanted her, I would rock our boat, and see if we capsized or sail into the sunset. Yo, ho, ho.