As we gathered outside in the afternoon light, now the sky all clear of threat, sunshine rosy on our sodden clothes, a man with a loudspeaker spoke to us. “The captain appreciates your cooperation and has taken the liberty of having antiseptic soap and a bottle of champagne sent to each of your cabins. He asked that all of you order dinner in your staterooms and not leave the cabins until the doctor and his staff have checked you out. We take this…blah blah and blah.” Steve whispered, “I’ll call your cabin after a while and we’ll see if one of us can sneak down the hallway to the other.” Sounded good to me. He started up the Jingle Bells parody again and we all trooped aboard, singling enthusiastically, with no one holding back on the dirty words, now.
Stewards escorted us to our rooms an
