EIGHT

SINCE IT IS A CARGO SHIP, it does not come with fancy beds and a full kitchen, even in the cabin. Just a few little bunk beds and a half-sink kitchenette. But it should be good enough for a small crew. The soldiers have enough to keep them alive for a while. They drink beer and talk a bunch of crap. Sam, one of the control room operators, is bragging about his story. “Hey, fellas, listen up. I got a good story to tell you guys. This one is a shocker. So be ready.”

The other guys are all listening. Sam continues.

“A few weeks ago, I went to Hawaii and I met a girl with big and innocent jugs hanging around. Those were so bouncy, I just could not keep my junior tight in my pants. So I just had to ask her out with my killer lines, and she bought it. So the next day, we went out and had some drinks. That bitch can drink. So I was thinking, ‘Hell, yeah! This bitch is going deep down into the swamp of Sam. You will never leave me.’ So we carried on with drinking a little more. Next thing you know? She was giving me an Academy Award-winning blow job.”

Everyone booed him loudly. Nathan says, “That is bullshit, man. I’ve never seen you with any girl. What are you talking about?”

Chris speaks up, “No no no no no. I’ve seen this guy with a woman. But she was your grandma, Nathan.”

Everyone laughs. Nathan interrupts, “She was so old, her tits were sagging down to the ground. They were sure big ones.”

Everyone laughs again. Sam says, “Shut up. Anyway . . . back to the story . . . Eeha! That bitch can suck. This time it was for real. It really happened.” Sam mimics the action as he speaks.

Nathan asks Sam, “What’s her name, then?”

Sam answers, “Ummm . . . Was it Nancy? or Debbie? . . .”

Everyone is looking at Sam. Nathan says, “See? That is just a load of bullshit. Next time, have a slightly realistic version. Then we will believe you, asshole.”

“What the hell?” Sam says. “None of you guys can even hitch one. I bet you will be very lucky to even get an ugly-ass old Hawaiian bitch with sagging tits and ass.”

Everyone is having a blast. It seems like usual guy bar talk, full of exaggeration and bragging.

Back to the cargo area. Since it is for freight only, it is very noisy, with immense engine blasting — constant thumping and clunking noises that the islanders have never heard before. It takes away their ears every second. They are quite scared by the sheer size and noise of this mean, big machine. Even their sweat pores contract with fear. Every ten minutes or so, the ship makes a gigantic steam-pressure release noise, which scares the hell out of all the islanders. It sounds like an approaching hungry grim reaper, the Azrael. Many kids get woken up by this abhorrent, dismal, and loathsome sound. And of course, there is no point complaining about this situation, so everyone keeps his mouth shut. Yes. A dictionary definition of “deep shit,” indeed.

After a while, some people start to whisper to distract themselves. They don’t feel comfortable talking yet. A woman is holding her baby and trying quietly to make conversation with some other women close to her.

“Do you know where we are going?”

“No idea. But I know we are going very far away.”

“I have not even heard from Khitan’s family. Khitan’s mom was supposed to send me a letter. But I got nothing. So I don’t know if we are going to the same place.”

“I was not even thinking about her. Maybe it will be the same place. I don’t think we can really count on anything when we get there.”

“That sounds true — I am starting to wonder if they will give us any food. I have to feed my baby, you know.”

“Oh, yeah . . . Next time they come down, show your baby to the soldiers. That might help.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks.”

“I will be hungry soon. I don’t know what I am going to do.”

“Don’t worry too much now. Anyway, I think the new place will be a lot better than our old island.”

“Well, I hope so. Our island really had nothing more than just a beach. There was not much for me to do there.”

“Maybe this is a time for us to move out of the old world and taste some of the new stuff out there.”

“But I don’t know where we will stay. Will the soldiers give us a place to stay? Like our own home?”

“Well . . . they should. Otherwise, where are we going to stay, anyway? And maybe it would be worse than our old island. But I don’t care too much at this point.”

“I just can’t wait to get off this ship and see what it would be like to be in a new place that I have never been.”

“Me, too . . .”

Some groups of guys also start to whisper about the new place.

“Hey, did you ask the chief what the new place is called?”

“No, I was too freaking busy to even look at him.”

“I asked him. But I can’t remember, now. I never heard about that place before. So it can be very far.”

“Shit . . . How come no one knows?”

“I don’t know. Don’t ask me!”

“Can it really be a conspiracy to kill us all? But for what?”

“Shhhh! Stop talking nonsense. That is too much. Do not let the kids hear that. Okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to hear the kids crying anyway. It will echo like crazy and it will not stop for a while.”

“Shit, I need to take a dump. What am I going to do?”

“Well . . . No bathroom anywhere?”

“I did not have any time to look around.”

“Why don’t you hold it for a while. You don’t want to wake everyone up.”

“Shit . . .”

“By the way, what is your plan for the new place?”

“Me? Well . . . I am too pissed off to think about it now.”

“No, I mean . . . have you thought about it at all?”

“Oh . . . well . . . I was thinking about it. But I was born on the island and lived there for my whole life. So I did not know what it would even be like to be in a different place. I never went outside. So I was quite afraid.”

“Really? Never been outside?”

“No. Not ever . . . I was scared. Since my dad left us when I was very young, I thought only bad people live on other islands — or that was what I wanted to believe. So here I am now, making a move involuntarily.”

“Well . . . just like you, I never went outside. But I think it will be better. I saw some people from outside once, and they looked a lot better. So I was thinking about moving out. But not like this.”

Calm sanity is starting to return. From just a few hours ago, it was a total pinball-bouncing time. But now it seems to be a lot better. Or maybe not.

Anij is leaning against a wall and listening to everyone’s words with his eyes closed. Lots of topics are brought up. Things that he knows already and some not. He is trying not to think about anything. But these conversations bring him down even more. He is hoping that someone will come up with a good idea. But people are talking in desperation. The swamp of desperation is just too deep to escape. There is hardly any other option but panic for a six-year-old boy.

“Squeak!”

A sudden noise alerts Anij. It could have been something else. And he closes his eyes again.

“Squeak!”

It is not like any noise he has heard so far on this ship. Something very sharp and different. Anij suddenly opens his eyes and starts to investigate where it is coming from. He looks around. But no one else seems to have heard it. Not even a person right next to him. It might be just something else. He closes his eyes again. There is no point putting any effort on this.

“Squeak!”

Another squeaky noise! It seems like it is coming from the other side of the wall that Anij is leaning against. He puts his ear to the wall. There it is . . . a few more squeaky noises. He is not sure whether he should ask anyone else. They might just ignore him. So he closes his eyes again.

Up in the cabin, the soldiers are sleeping comfortably in their own beds.