angst

Angst on the High Seas.

I used to wake up at four, just to savour the two hours before
I had to open the cabin door and go down to the galley and
speak to people I didn’t like, make coffee and prepare breakfast.
Then a ten minutes break resting in my cabin, back down and
hearing the crews, inanities while making dinner, knowing that
between 13-15 hours, I would be safe from them in my cabin.

Two days more and the ship would dock in New York, I knew
of a club, uptown, where sailors didn’t dare to go; there I could
spend all night listening to Ella, dream and not have to speak
anyone and gathered strength to endure weeks in company of
gossiping small town Norwegian seamen, as my ship sailed
through the Panama Canal and to the beautiful Pacific Ocean.