Box 666

By Jane Goodhew

The trees were rapidly changing colour, the verdant greens of spring and summer had been turned into burnished gold and lost their leaves completely autumn had come with a rush.  The warm winds that had crossed the Atlantic had fooled people into thinking it was still summer but they only had to look out of their windows to see winter was fast approaching and the next strong winds would remove the remaining leaves and all colour would be gone.  Winter can be such a gloomy time; nature might be busy beneath the ground but up above all appears worn and dreary.  In the early hours of the morning the bare trees look like a silhouette against the sky, filigree lace sketched in charcoal.  The birds still fly overhead and then swoop if they see something move in the fields but there is little around at this time of year and most have found somewhere warm and safe to live out the winter.

 

She had hoped to have gone away, overseas, anywhere it did not matter just as long as she did not spend another winter of doom and gloom here looking at him across the table and wishing upon wish that she had the courage to leave him but he had been clever and tied the business up so she could not easily sell her share.  No money, no travel, no escape. Then she had an idea, how about if she took a job out of the Lady, someone was always advertising for a companion for an elderly aunt of lonely widower.  He would wonder what she was up to if she went to the shops at this time of day so she looked it up on her computer.  Classified adds and there it was just what she was looking for.

 

Elderly lady requires travel companion for 3 months.  All expenses paid.  Up to date passport required and cheerful personality.  Box666

Well she was not too keen on the box number as it had a ring of the devil about it but the rest was just the answer to her problems so she composed a well thought out but witty reply and pressed send. 

 

A few days later came the response she had hoped for but had not dared to dream of.  You sound just the person I am looking for so meet me at Southampton Departures at 10am Saturday 22^nd November.  The tickets are booked and you will have your own adjoining cabin.  Send me your dress and shoe size and I will arrange for your clothes to be there so no need to pack, just bring yourself and your passport.

 

This all sounded too good to be true but she had to get away from her life here before she did something she would live to regret.  She had got to the stage where she could not bear to be in the same room as him, even eating was, what, exactly what, there are no words that can adequately describe how she resented every little move he made, every scratch of the plate, every time he lifted his fork to his mouth she cringed just waiting for the noise of his chomping.  No, whatever was ahead of her had got to be better than this; she would tell no-one not even her best friend.  She would send a letter after the ship had sailed.

 

The days seemed to drag, she could barely contain the excitement that was welling up inside of her and she could not believe that this was really happening nothing like this ever happened to someone like her.  She almost had to pinch herself to see if she were awake and not dreaming but no, she was awake and she re-read the new email to make sure there was no mistaking what she had read. It still said for her to get herself ready as the day of departure was this weekend and a car would pick her up at 7am outside St Marys Church Hall.  A car was coming to get her, clothes were being provided and oh how she had believed in fairies at the bottom of the garden, Santa at Christmas, if there was something to believe in then she would.  She longed to talk to her friend about it but she thought if she did she would somehow jinx it, break the spell after all it did appear that magic had played a part in this, she had made a wish and hey presto it was coming true.

 

The day of departure had finally arrive, her husband had gone out early that morning and he would not be back until late by which time she would be miles out to sea and for the first time in decades he would have to cook his own tea!  Her cooking was about all he would miss about her as they no longer had anything pleasant to say to one another.  She wondered how people could end up like this but many do.  Thankfully she had an escape route and she was going to take it.  The sky was brilliant blue but the air was crisp with low temperatures that were only to be expected at this time of year.  She pulled her hat down low over her ears and her scarf up until the ends joined, and she felt snug as a bug in a rug.  Her passport was in her handbag and a packet of paper tissues and wipes and a tooth brush and that was it, she turned and shut the front door and not once did she look back as she walked out of the life she had known and grown to detest. With a determined step she went forth to an unknown adventure that was about to begin.

 

The car was already waiting for her as she got to the church hall, the driver was smartly dressed, suit, tie, and yes he even had a cap, she thought she was about to faint, this was all too much for her to comprehend.  Life was looking good, what was she thinking, good, it was brilliant and she was intent on making the most of every minute.  She climbed into the back as he placed a blanket over her legs even though the car was warm, he said it was going to be a few hours before they got there and she may as well take a nap so that she would be fresh for the voyage.  This suited her as she was not up to making small talk and had had very little sleep for some time. She was too excited to thinking about what lay ahead of her and surprisingly enough she felt guilty.  She had not expected that, after all their relationship had not been loving for many years. Although he knew she was not happy remaining in the wilderness for the rest of her life he made no plans to move.  His life continued and she knew it would without her there, he would barely notice her missing apart from when it came to the evening and there was no meal on the table but he would survive and soon find someone to replace her, if it were only to employ a housekeeper.

 

She saw the sign for Departures or was it Embarkation after all it was a cruise ship and not a plane that she was about to spend the next three months on.  She suddenly began to feel a bit nervous and why not for she had no idea who she was meeting, where she was going, would it be 3 months at sea or would some of the time be spent on land and if so which country?  Too late now she had gone too far to change her mind or to let the old lady down, she just hoped it would all turn out okay and they would get along with each other.  The car had stopped and the driver opened the door and smiled as he could see the mixture of fear and excitement in her eyes and he wished she could tell her that it was going to be fine, that she had nothing to worry about, life was about to become everything she would ever have dreamed and more.

 

She stepped through the door and someone with a board with her name on it was standing just inside so she walked over to him and he took her into another area which was obviously for those who were travelling deluxe class.  There on a sofa which was far to large for her was a petite lady, elegantly dressed in a lilac silk trouser suit and a smile that lit up the room.  She introduced herself and at once she was able to relax as she just knew that everything would be fine, that she could get on with Eleanor and wherever they ended up would be more than acceptable for her.  They chatted as if they had known each other their whole lifes, they could so easily have been sisters or perhaps because of their age difference Aunt and niece.  It did not matter they were going to be friends of this she was sure.  After all the procedures had been followed, passport checks and tickets being given with cards that had your photo included on them, this would open your cabin and also allow you to have as much food and drink as you wished to indulge in throughout the voyage as well as other extras too many to mention.  It was not a large ship of which she was glad as she did not like to think of some of the cruise ships that sailed the seas these days. They were as big as a small town if not bigger as some could hold over 5,000 passengers, far more people than lived in her village and even those for miles around.  This could take only 500 and that was more than enough for her especially as this was her first cruise and what a first it would be.

 

They entered on level 3 but they were shown to a lift and taken to Deck 5 which was often referred to as the pay and sway as the higher you went the more it would move if the sea was rough or the winds strong.  She did not care, she did not get travel sick and the higher she was the further she would be able to see in the distance as they crossed the Atlantic and made their way up the might Amazon and then onto the Caribbean.  Finally she knew where they were going and she could not believe it, the Amazon then Barbados, Grenada, and St Lucia the names went on until she could not take in more names.  Her cabin was 6b and Eleanors 6a, there was only one other and that was 6c.  It seemed quite spooky that the Box number was 666 and not the cabin numbers read 666 if you missed out a, b and c.  She wondered if the Captain would be called De’vile.  She laughed out loud as she thought of someone having that name and then she saw the photo on the wall and it was of the Captain and his crew and his name was none other than D’Eville.   This was just too coincidental for words and she began to feel very uneasy about the whole situation she found herself in.  She gave herself a long and hard talking to, when she realised how ridiculous her thinking was becoming. The Devil? Was she going to find that the ship was call Hell?  No, it was in fact called D’Angelo.  That was just as bad; since now she was on an Angel with the Devil at the Helm…

 

Copyright Jane Goodhew