✔THE STING (onc-19)

2. 'Thousand colours'

Kai craned his neck over to make sure that Chip didn't slip out of his sight. Chip and the two boys were pretty little rascals, who broke rules and messed around. Last thing he needed was to lose yet another day's meal, just for its tally.

Glancing over her shoulder, Chip beamed a smile towards Kai, which was as captivating as any lighthouse. Kai chuckled, snapping fingers to his thumb indicating Zaren's big mouth and lip-synced shaking his head sideways, "Blah...blah."

Chip half snorted and half laughed, sniffing her runny nose. She got back to her work of cleaning a big crab's shell. Kai resumed back to his own work of sorting out fishes.

A high pitched muffled tone spoke from the other side of the work bay. But for Kai, the distinct sound went unnoticed under all the death wishes he kept hearing from the wiggling fishes on death bed.

"Incoming..!"
Yelled a worker on the other side. And the word of alert spread like a wildfire.

"Such an irresponsible little twat!"

Kai rolled his eyes as soon as he heard her high pitched bleat, now, unambiguous and as annoying as ever.

The buzzing gossips about Busty Gabby overshadowed, eclipsing the roar of crashing waves.

"How many times have I told him? God, I can't get a hold of this boy!"

Gabby was a loquacious woman, and for that matter, all the 'elite-slaves' of the RMZ ship were. Although her apron was flour coated and dirty, her skirt was as clean as a clock. She clattered away some of workers with her plump body as she made her way through.

"Tibby! Tibby!"

She hopscotched around the puddles of water, so that tidy hem of her skirt didn't touch the blood tinged smelly water on the floor. Once when she finally reached to the corner where Chip and boys were kneeling in a giant puddle of filth, she gasped holding her stubby fingers on to her chest. "Oh my! I have to wash you all over again."

Tibby boy stiffened, a squeamish look was plastered on his face instead of his regular grumpy one.

"Tibbie...I have told you thousand times, not to play with these----!" She stopped, looking down on Chip and Bo. She pinched Tibby's ear and pulled him along with her, still hopscotching over the puddles on her path. The boy whined and dragged his feet, "mom! That hurts. Ow..".

"It's not like you'll catch some kind of plague from us, Gabby. They are kids. So let them be..." A familiar wise and croaky voice spoke to her.

Kai turned around leaving the fishnet aside, to join the crowd that had formed around the Chatty Gabby and the wise old man. Nobody ever missed a chance to giggle and gossip about a show that happened every once in a while, as rare as an oasis in a desert-land. He pried his head above tall men to take a note of Chip's safety, and she was safe indeed.

"Oh stop it, Uncle Jay. You know nothing..." Gabby raged, but her black eyes didn't dare to meet Jay's old and grey ones. Perhaps, he was right after all.

"I know everything. I have been on this ship long before you came in. This 'drift', this 'big divide' - you have created between us and you, it's only gonna end up in a disaster, Gabby." The wise one said.

"Whatever old man. And don't you dare call me by my name, I prefer being called 'matron'!" She retorted and stormed away hauling Tibby along with her.

Workers' remarks tattled across the bay and then there was a honking siren which made it worse. Everyone rushed to the other side of the deck jostling and pushing each other. The Siren meant food and none preferred sleeping with a wet rag tied around their empty belly, especially when it was served on first come first basis.