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‘Best waiter is next. And it comes as no surprise to me that it’s Carlos. He can hold thirty-one wine glasses in one hand. Hands like shovels. Come on Carlos, take a bow!’
There were then several more presentations after that, with crew members being presented with certificates and apparently gift cards.
‘They get some free Wi-Fi time too, I’m told, which is very popular,’ Evelyn said across the table. ‘Some of them don’t see their families for months at a time.’
‘Now a special award. Captain Lebrun celebrates his tenth year with BVP this year. He tried the rest but stuck with the best. Now then, here is a framed photograph of him, standing on the bridge in his tropical whites when we were in Jamaica. Looking like something out of Top Gun, I think you’ll agree. What an achievement.’
The captain came on and was presented with a picture of himself which he looked at with some amusement and then he excused himself, saying he had to get back to the bridge.
‘I bet he doesn’t,’ Diana said, ‘I bet he’s going back to his cabin for a bit of peace and quiet.’
‘And lastly, a special award, which I always like to present. It’s for the most interesting talk of the week. We have so many to choose from, the BVP cruise line prides itself on giving informative and educational talks. You’re not just here to enjoy yourself, folks. But this time I’m not surprised by this and absolutely delighted to announce it. It goes by a wide margin to someone who stepped in at the last minute and did a fantastic job… Diana Wedderburn for her talk on the Bermuda Triangle. Yes, that’s right, come on Diana, come up here.’
Across the table, Diana looked at me, her eyes wide with horror, but I just laughed and joined in with the loud applause that filled the restaurant. After a moment’s hesitation, she stood up and went to collect her award.
‘Perhaps you’d like to say a few words, Diana,’ Dick said encouragingly, holding out his microphone towards her, and he started to applaud too, backing away slightly, and cannoning into Carlos who was still standing there, both his hands filled with wine glasses, waiting for an official photograph. And talking of photographs, where was the man in question?
Of course, Raphaël was already there, at the foot of the staircase, his camera ready.
Diana gulped a bit and looked at the framed photograph a few times while the applause died down.
‘I wasn’t expecting this,’ she said, ‘thank you so much. I don’t know what to say.’
‘This, this is brilliant,’ Evelyn said, leaning towards me. ‘Did you know about it?’
‘I had no idea,’ I said. ‘Isn’t she marvellous?’
I looked at my sister, standing, smiling at the head of the staircase, holding her award and I could have burst with happiness and pride. But as I had just enjoyed a very filling seven-course dinner, perhaps it was just as well that I didn’t.
It might have taken Diana a couple of minutes to get up to accept her award, but it took her about twenty minutes to return to our table. Everyone she passed wanted a selfie or a quick word of congratulations. Her face was absolutely glowing with joy, and I think I was feeling much the same on her behalf. She wasn’t just pigeonholed as Casper’s widow any longer, she was a person in her own right.
Then just as she was almost at our table, a man stood up and stood in her way, he looked vaguely familiar, very determined and by his body language he was ready for a fight. The expression on his face was like a bulldog chewing a pickled onion.
‘Hello, what’s all this?’ Evelyn said, and I pushed my chair out, ready to go to Diana’s defence.
It was for a moment, just like it had been in primary school, when my shy little sister had been picked on by the class bully. I could even feel my fists clenching, although I don’t believe I would have engaged in a full-blown fight. What an undignified end to the holiday that would have been. For a split second I imagined myself being hauled off, to… where was it? Ah yes, the brig. Ready to be handed over to the authorities in Athens. And would Raphaël take a picture of that for Radio Wonderful?
Elderly cruise goer has a go.
Fists fly at the gala dinner.
I could see Raphaël out of the corner of my eye. Moving through the crowded tables towards Diana, evidently he was in full-on protective mode too, which rather made me like him.
Then suddenly I saw things between my sister and the stranger change. She laughed, even put a reassuring hand on his sleeve, and just like that the situation was defused. He went back to his seat and sat down again.
‘What the heck was all that about?’ I asked.
Diana laughed. ‘Oh, nothing.’
‘Who was that anyway?’
‘Remember the chap at my talk, that you promised wouldn’t be there? The wreck hunter and oceanographer with decades of experience who asked me about Dean’s Blue Hole? It was him. His name is Sidney Ferris. He was still banging on about the mythical Lusca which drags ships down to their doom. And still nursing a grievance that I hadn’t talked about the aliens and the legends in the Bermuda Triangle and was on the point of having a bit of a go at me.’
‘Him!’ I turned in my seat and sent Sidney one of my best hard looks, but he was busy swigging back a large brandy and looking very pleased with himself and therefore was not blasted into a thousand pieces, ‘What did you say?’
Diana gave a sort of laughing sigh. ‘I told him the truth, I said I didn’t have the sort of in-depth knowledge that he had of that side of things and perhaps I would mention him to the captain, because they are always looking for new topics, what with the shingles having taken out what’s-his-name for the foreseeable future, they might like him. And I said I was sure he would do awfully well with the passengers, and what a shame it would be not to hear him.’
‘Brilliant!’ Evelyn said. ‘It looked like you defused the situation very neatly.’
