A Wink on the Ferry

A tale of temptation

On the ferry between Harwich and Hook of Holland you can chose between a proper bar and sitting in a corner between people that eat their meals from the “Food City”.

Sometimes I prefer to sit here, because there’s a bit more going on. I have been sitting on my own in the Riva-bar; not really a problem, but I’d prefer not be seen as a lonely drinker.

So here I sat behind a coffee, feeling a bit sad that I had to leave my lovely wife again. It would be a few weeks before we would be together again.

A girl came in, she was overweight but not in bad manner. I find it very hard to guess ages with types like this. This one could be between 16 and 26 and even then I wasn’t sure .

She took a table in the next row, looked at me and bent over to read what was on a beer mat on the other side of the table. In doing this she gave me a more than generous view in her cleavage. And I knew there was not much to read on the mat, because I had the same. But she seemed to be a slow reader. (My friend Jo would say that she wanted to show her pierced belly button.)

She finally leaned back. There came some more people who joined her at her table and the adjoining one. In fact it was quite a group. There were two men in their forties with big bellies and moustaches. They were almost lookalikes and the fattest one was wearing a T-shirt that came from Dublin. There was another man of about the same age who had no moustache, almost no beer belly and almost no hair. I thought that he should be the brother-in-law because there were also three women and one resembled the men with the moustaches.

Also grandma and grandpa joined. What probably was their son-in-law got them both a cup of tea. Last came four girls running towards them and fighting over chairs. Three looked like younger sisters of the first one I saw and the last one was a duplicate of the British singer Amy Winehouse: but without tattoos.

The moustached men came with pints of beer for them and the wives, the brother in law was drinking a special Belgian brand. The girls all got a coke. Pretty soon they all went to the restaurant part and returned with big plates filled with hamburgers and loads of chips and mayonnaise. The Amy Winehouse-type had a plate with lettuce. And they all had a good time, more beer was brought in. The girls ran off after cleaning their plates in a sort of game.

I didn’t get a second look from the cleavage girl.

The adults followed in the same direction after finishing their drinks.

The next morning when it was almost time to get off the ship they all came in again. I was drinking coffee again and they were having nothing. Their tables were completely full with luggage. When the announcement came that you could leave the ferry they immediately got up and started to leave. The girl I saw first, was the last to pick up her luggage, she looked at me and gave me a wink.