Dark Passage Read Online Free PDF

1999.’
    Julie’s thumbs paused mid-text. ‘I
love
Stephen King! He’s so twisted. In a good way.’
    Like well-behaved cattle, we’d reached a divide in the rope barrier where a uniformed security guard sent the Rowes in one direction and our party in another. ‘Have a great voyage!’ I called as Liz hoisted her carry-on – still missing its strap – onto the conveyor belt.
    Liz waved. ‘Maybe we’ll run into each other again!’
    â€˜I hope so,’ I said, meaning it. ‘Are you early seating or late?’
    â€˜Early!’
    Cliff had already disappeared behind the X-ray machine, heading toward the metal detector. Before Liz disappeared, too, I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled, ‘We are, too!’
    Soon we were standing at a long counter in a much shorter line, checking in. We presented our boarding passes along with our passports, had our credit card number verified, then posed, smiling, staring at a little dot above the camera like you do at the Department of Motor Vehicles while our mugshots were being taken. ‘Here’s your sea pass,’ the clerk said a few minutes later, handing me the plastic identification card that would serve as both my room key and a credit card while on board.
    â€˜Let me see your picture,’ Georgina said, snatching the card playfully from between my fingers. Her eyes narrowed. ‘This is supposed to be a vacation, Hannah. You look like you’re going to jail!’
    â€˜If you think that’s bad, you should see my driver’s license,’ I said as I watched our bags being spirited away. The next time we’d see them, they’d be in our staterooms.
    Before heading up the gangway, we were accosted by the first of a well-organized team of photographers who would pop up everywhere during the week, like paparazzi, to create lasting (but expensive) memories of our cruise.
    â€˜Why do we always have to pose in birth order?’ I complained as Ruth arranged us in front of a backdrop of the Parthenon: Julie on the end, next to her mother, then manhandled me into the spot between Georgina and herself.
    â€˜Shut up and turn sideways,’ she ordered. ‘It’ll make us look thinner.’
    â€˜Don’t be such a bossyboots,’ I muttered through teeth clenched in the say-cheese position.
    Still blinking away the flash, I followed my family as they trooped up the gangway to the entrance on deck two where a crew member ran our sea passes through a scanner. ‘Welcome aboard the
Phoenix Islander
,’ she chirped. ‘Your staterooms are not quite ready, but you are welcome to tour the vessel, and the Firebird café is open if you’d like something to eat.’
    â€˜When
will
the cabins be ready?’ Ruth asked.
    â€˜There’ll be an announcement on the public address system,’ the woman said pleasantly. ‘The Firebird is all the way forward, on deck nine.’
    â€˜Well, I could use a cup of coffee,’ I said. ‘You guys coming?’
    â€˜Julie and I will catch up with you.’ Georgina consulted a printout of the
Islander
’s deck plan. ‘We want to check out the teen center first.’
    â€˜Tidal Wave,’ Julie added. ‘From the brochure, it looks cool, but everything in the brochure looks cool.’
    â€˜It’s on deck ten, just above the café,’ Georgina called over her shoulder as she herded Julie toward the elevators. ‘We won’t be long! Save us a table!’
    After they’d disappeared, Ruth muttered, ‘The pictures in that brochure were taken with a wide-angle lens. The real thing is bound to disappoint.’
    â€˜Don’t be such a sourpuss, Ruth! Come along with me.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
’

FOUR
    â€˜As with any vessel, adequate provisioning is crucial, especially on a cruise ship serving several thousand meals at each seating. For example, passengers and