Belinda gave a tinkling laugh and patted the back of her hair.
‘Give them a chance, Don.’
Don looked unabashed.
‘Just putting it out there. Planting my flag. Putting my ducks in a row. What about you, ladies,’ he said, turning to Evelyn and rubbing his hands together. ‘You look like bridge players.’
Evelyn smiled up at him very charmingly.
‘I’ll be honest, Mr Marshall, I haven’t got a flag, none of my ducks is in a row and they haven’t been for years. In fact, I’m not sure where some of them are, and I think one of my ducks might be a seagull, but I’ll let you know.’
‘Excellent, excellent,’ Don said, ‘but call me Don. We’re going to be great friends, I can tell. Come on, Belinda, we’ve got a table over there by the window, let’s get settled and get another drink.’
The crew member, Mario, who had helped us with our bags earlier, came in. He was holding a notepad and a pen, so we assumed he was going to take our orders.
Dawn piped up first.
‘Is the chicken organic and ethically sourced?’
Mario looked regretful. ‘A thousand pardons, ladies and gentlemen. The chickens is – how do you say it –è scomparso– gone.’
‘Gone? Gone where?’ Dawn said, confused.
Don roared with laughter. ‘There you are, I told you. They’ve all gone to the cinema to seeDeath in Venice.’
It transpired that everything on the menu had ‘gone’ except for the turkey risotto or the couscous, by which we guessed they were unavailable. Perhaps the rumour was true and the chef hadn’t turned up after all.
Just as Don was starting to bluster and talking about making a formal complaint, the maître d’, Bernardo, came into the dining room to calm everyone down.
‘Welcome, everyone, welcome. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I fear we have had to sail without two crew members. We will be picking up two replacements when we reach our first port tomorrow. Until then please accept my apologies.’
‘But there is an actual chef on board?’ Roy asked. ‘That’s the most important thing.’
‘Of course. What an idea,’ Bernardo said, with a reassuring chuckle, ‘there is a very fine chef on board. We will provide you with a delicious meal momentarily.’
‘As long as it’s turkey risotto,’ Roy said, topping up his wine glass, ‘or couscous, so good they named it twice.’
‘It is delightful, one of our specialities,’ Bernardo said reassuringly.
‘Is the cheese board – um – free range?’ Dawn asked.
‘Of course it is.’ Craig laughed. ‘Don’t you remember? On the way here we flew over mozzarella herds, scampering about in the hills, didn’t we?’
‘I meant organic,’ Dawn said crossly.
‘I will check to reassure you,’ Bernardo said smoothly. ‘Be of good cheer,signora. I will return momentarily.’
Having disappointed most of the diners, Mario hurried off, while Gina went around the tables with wine and bottles of chilled mineral water. Peace was restored.
‘Now then, where is that man who is here on his own? Jack? I don’t see him here,’ Evelyn said.
‘No, I haven’t seen him for a bit,’ I said, trying to sound casual, although secretly I was wondering the same thing.
‘Perhaps he’s changed his mind,’ Anna said, ‘and gone off somewhere else?’
Marjorie shook her head. ‘No, we know he must still be around, unless he’s thrown himself overboard already. I definitely saw him on the top deck earlier on. I expect he is inspecting something. Ah, no, there he is.’
Jack came into the dining room and waved at us in greeting before he went to sit by himself at one of the empty tables on the other side of the room.
