Separate Cabins Read Online Free PDF Page A

others merely wanted to watch the procedures of the ship leaving port.
    A few colored paper streamers were prematurely unfurled and tossed to those ashore. The curling ribbons of paper drifted downward. Rachel had a half dozen of the coiled streamers in her hand, presented to her by Fan Kemper for the occasion.
    “They’re hauling in the lines,” someone down the line remarked.
    Within minutes the ship began to maneuver away from the pier. The water churned below as the midship engines pushed it away. There was a cheering of voices, and Rachel threw her streamers intothe air to join the cascade of bright paper ribbons onto the crowd waving a last good-bye.
    As the ship sailed stately away from its port, Rachel lingered with the other passengers. The growing distance between the ship and the pier blurred the faces of the people ashore until Rachel could no longer distinguish her friends from the crowd. On either side of her people began to drift away from the railing. The sun was on the verge of setting, a gloaming settling over the sky.
    An evening breeze swept off the water and whipped at her hair before racing on. Rachel lifted her hand and pushed the disturbed strands back into place. A faint sigh slipped from her as she turned from the railing to go back inside.
    Her sliding gaze encountered a familiar figure standing at a distance. It was that man again, talking with one of the ship’s officers. Irritation thinned the line of her mouth as her glance lingered an instant on the burnished gold lights the sun trapped in his chestnut-dark hair. Of the six hundred plus passengers on the ship it seemed incredible that she should be constantly running into this one person.
    Before he had the opportunity to notice her, Rachel walked briskly to the double doors leading inside. Instead of going to her cabin, she descended the stairs to the Purser’s Lobby on Fiesta Deck. There were some inquiries she wanted to make about the ship’s services, including the procedure for making radio-telephone calls.
    Judging by the line at the purser’s desk, it seemed there were a lot of other passengers seeking informationabout one thing or another. There was another line on the mezzanine above her, passengers seeking table assignments or wishing to change the one they had been given. A small group of people were clustered around the board set up in the lobby with a list of all the passengers on board and their cabin numbers.
    The congestion was further increased by passengers taking pictures of each other posing on the winding staircase that curved to the mezzanine on the deck above. Rachel decided against joining the line at the purser’s counter and entered the dutyfree gift shop to browse until some of the crowd cleared.
    Half an hour later she realized there was little hope of that. There seemed to be just as many people now as before. Giving up until tomorrow, Rachel started for her stateroom by way of the aft staircase.
    The Promenade Deck was three flights up. By the time she reached it, she felt slightly winded. Another couple were on their way down as she took the last step and released a tired breath. The pair looked at her and smiled in sympathetic understanding.
    “I’m out of condition,” Rachel admitted; she wasn’t used to climbing stairs.
    “You can always use the elevators,” the man reminded her.
    “I could, but I need the exercise,” she replied.
    “Don’t we all.” His wife laughed.
    It was a friendly moment between strangers. When it was over and Rachel was walking down thepassageway to her stateroom, there was a hint of a smile on her face. Being on the cruise gave everyone something they had in common and provided a meeting ground to exchange impressions and discoveries.
    In this quiet and contemplative mood Rachel entered her stateroom and shut the door. She deposited her purse on the seat cushion of a chair near the door and slipped out of the white jacket, absently draping it over the same chair.
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