...excerpt from novella "All At Sea" (C) 2016 by S. L. Pritchard

Chapter 1.

     There was a quietness about being at sea. Although there always seemed to be the sound of wind and waves and the engines throbbing, all the time, all night and all day, those seemed to be natural noises. They had their place on the waves. They were things that belonged, when at at sea. The things that did not belong and that were repugnant to hear were angry voices of the workers, or an angry dog barking, or the ghastly sound of breaking glass. Sometimes that would happen in a gale. A window would just finally give way after a terrible pounding. It was expected in the course of a day or evening of gales and waves that some window glass somewhere would get busted. Often a fish or sea bird would be found very nearby the site of the breakage and that made it easy to figure out how it got broken.

   Some critter was caught in the maelstrom and got hurled into a window. If it had hit a human, it would have done damage to him. In fact that did actually happen once. The purser was walking from his cabin to the office for his morning duties and a wave came crashing over the stern, totally soaking him and at the same time hurtling an albatross right at him. He was knocked unconscious and was swirling around the deck getting nearer and nearer the edge with each rock of the ship. Two workers were coming down the ladder over the kitchen when they saw the purser swilling around the deck, about to go overboard. They slid down the ladder quickly, calling for help, sounding the shouted alarm for man overboard. I had three workers in my kitchen eating their afternoon meals. They put down their forks and dove straight for the door. It was terrible weather out there, but the purser was in danger. All five of those men drug him back up the sloping deck and over the thresh hold of the galley aft door and into my warm kitchen. They all three sat on the floor for a while, soaked to the skin, cold, terrified and gasping for air. As soon as they'd gone outside, they'd realized it was very cold and really dangerous and it actually was quite perilous out there. I put the the kettle on to heat some water. It only took a few moments before it started to whistle. I always kept a large kettle full of hot water ready to boil up for making tea or whatever was needed.

     The men heaved themselves up and sat in chairs, to catch their breaths. The purser awoke from his stupor but had no idea how he got there. I brought him a chair and helped him to sit down. I went back to my stove top and started pouring hot water into cups. I spooned in a bit of instant coffee, chocolate powder and a sugar cube per cup, then the hot water then I poured a capful of brandy in each one. Then a sprinkle of cinnamon on top of the mixture and brought a cup to each man. They wrapped their fingers around each thick, white cup and breathed in the aroma. They all made a noise very similar to a good sexual release. After those hot toddies were consumed, they each smiled at the next person and then at me and then got up to leave. They went into the hall way to go back to their rooms, change their clothes then return to their stations. I watched them all go. The purser came back in briefly and handed me his cup. He smiled and told me he was right glad I was on board. That was a helluva moment. That was quite a triumph.