The perfume of love (rain-bi)

chapter 8

when she woke up for the second time, bright sun was flooding through the ports and the digital clock showed 11:03.

tidying the cabin, after she had showered and dressed, reminded her of Captain jung's unwarranted injunction to her not to make unnecessary work for Mrs lee. the recollection made her frown. then catching sight in the mirror of her annoyed expression, she made up her mind not to allow that man or anyone else to take the edge off her pleasure in this once in a lifetime trip to romantic places.

all her life she had longed to travel, and now here she was, on the far side of the world, and nothing and no one was going to mar her enjoyment.

in this determinedly buoyant frame of mind she sun creamed her face, arms and legs and, in the T-shirt and shorts she had worn last summer for gardening, went on deck in search of hana and the man she was engaged to.

the first person she met was yeoung jo, who gave her his big happy smile.

"good morning, yeoung jo. do you know where I'll find my sister?"

"she's gone ashore, miss. she left a message for you that she would be back for lunch"

"is Mr Dennison on board?"

"he's playing golf, miss. can i bring you some breakfast?"

"i don't think so, thank you. I'll wait until lunch"

"you should have something to eat. we usually serve coffee or tea at eleven. some fruit won't spoil your lunch"

jenna agreed to have some, and presently yeoung jo came up to the sun-deck with half of a fruit she had never seen before. it looked like a giant pear with a  thick golden-green skin and pale orange flesh. the centre had been hollowed out and filled with yoghurt, and some slices of what she recognised as lime were arranged at the edge of the dish.

"it looks delicious. what is it?" she asked, as the steward placed it at her elbow.

"it has two names... papaya and pawpaw. lime juice improves the taste" he explained, starting to pour out coffee for her.

she tried a spoonful. the juicy flesh combined the flavours of peach and melon. it was as delicious as it looked.

"Mmm... very good" she murmured. and then, as he seemed disposed to linger.

"which part of the pacific are you from, yeoung jo?"

"I'm originally from korea but i lived all my life here in Hawaii and Fiji" he said proudly. he waved in the direction of Maui. "these islands are okay, but not as good as korea"

"have you been on this ship a long time?"

"as long as the Captain... four years. my father was greaser for his father, but now I am Chief steward" he told her, in the same tone of pride with which he had spoken of his homeland.

"what kind of ship were you on before this one?" she asked

"we have been on many kinds of ships, even a big cruise liner such as Royal Viking star which carries seven hundred passengers. when the Captain leaves, i shall go with him. we have always been togother... like brothers. but he is clever and i'm not" he added with a laugh.

"is the Captain leaving Ocean Wanderer?"

"no but maybe some time. one day he will have his own ship. not like this. with sails"

at this point another man appeared. he was wearing an officer's uniform but was not much older than jenna, with a blunt-featured pleasant face and alert hazel eyes.

"good morning, miss kim. I'm park dong won fourth officer. when you've finished your elevenses, would you like me to take you along the coast for your first swim? there's a nice bathing beach not too far from here"

"that's very kind of you. I'd love it. can you give me fifteen minutes?"

"half an hour if you like. there's no hurry as long as we're back in time for lunch. have you got a beach wrap with you? you shouldn't have your shoulders uncovered for more than about fifteen minutes the first day"

"i know, and I'm not going to risk getting burnt. all my exposed parts are smothered with sun-cream" she told him

"good because it's really strong and you've plenty of time to work up a nice tan slowly. people with two weeks vacation are inclined to rush it... usually with painful results. see you in about twenty minutes"

yeoung ji had already gone. while she finished eating the papaya, jenna wondered if the fourth officer had offered to take her swimming off his own bat or had been ordered to do so. as he had been in uniform, the latter seemed the more likely. would her emergance from her cabin have reached the bridge, or wherever the Captain spent his time when the yacht was at anchor, as quickly as that? perhaps after speaking to her, yeoung ji had served the Captain's mid-morning coffee and mintioned that she was up and about.

the apparently close relationship between the two men unusual and interesting. she could understand them being friends as children. the interests and pleasures of small boys were much the same the world over. but differences of race and education tended to become more divisive as people grow up. it wouldn't have been surprising if they had found themselves having less and less in common as the years passed. perhaps the fraternal feeling between them had survived because they were both men of the sea to whom the motion of the ship,whether violent or almost imperceptible, was more natural than the feeling of the land under their feet.

her beach wrap was actually a white voile dress shirt of her father's with fine hand-stitched pin-tucks down the front. she was wearing it over her swimsuit when the fourth officer handed her into a large rubber dinghy with an outboard.