I woke around 12:30 and grabbed a quick shower before zipping up a shipsuit. There was still time for lunch and I hustled up to the mess deck. Pip was on duty and I waved to him. In typical in-port fashion, only a few bedraggled watch standers, like me, were eating. Lunch was soup, salad, and sandwiches. It was a chicken soup and very spicy. We must have gotten the new stores shipments in. I took my bowl of soup and some of Sarah’s biscuits to a table and sat down.
Pip joined me, teasing, “You don’t speak to your old friends now?”
“Hey!” I smiled. “How goes it?” I tried the soup and it was absolutely wonderful.
“You had quite a night, I hear.”
“Oh, you know, a few drinks, a little dancing,” I told him with a grin. “I ran into your old shipmate, Alvarez,” I said nonchalantly.
“So I heard. You just getting back?”
“Naw, I been back awhile. Grabbed a nap. I’ve got the watch tonight.”
“Good thing, from what I hear.”
“Why? What’d you hear?”
“Some guy at Jump! took offense at you walking out with his girl.”
“What? That’s crazy.”
“Well, he was drunk. Maybe he won’t remember.”
“What happened?”
“The story going around is that he started to get hot and was about to head out after you.”
“I never saw him,” I said.
“Not surprising. Al decked him. Kicked him under a table and left him there to sleep it off.”
“Al decked him?”
“You cut a pretty wide swath, my friend.”
“Hey, Al is a very cool woman.”
“Oh, I’ve met Al. A few months back in a bar on Gugara actually.”
“And?” I asked. If I had been even half thinking, I never would have asked. As soon as I said it, I knew I was going to regret it.
“Well,” he said with a good-natured grin, “she didn’t offer to take me home.”
“You’re loving this, aren’t ya?”
“Yup. You can say that again.”
I chuckled and ate my soup.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, but thanks for asking.”
He wrinkled his nose in a no problem kind of gesture. “You’re welcome. There hasn’t been this much fun on the ship in forever, so I should be thanking you.”
“It’s going to be an interesting trip to Betrus, isn’t it?”
“A week after pullout, almost everybody will have forgotten.”
“Almost?” I asked.
“Yeah. Almost,” he said quietly. “Well, I gotta get back to work. You heading up to the flea this afternoon?”
“If I can find somebody to go with.”
“Good hunting. Find us something good!” He stood and headed back into the galley to start the after lunch cleanup. It was 13:00.