Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 8

"A pig's ear."
[KIRK ATTWOOD]

I stepped out of the taxi.

I couldn't think.

The ship in front of me was nothing like the one I should have joined, from a distance maybe but up front they were like chalk and cheese.

I scanned the hull. I was desperate for answers. I wanted to find that one shred of evidence that was going to prove me wrong, that in fact I had arrived at the wrong ship, that all I needed to do now was take a ride back to the airport and report my findings to London; but then my heart sank because there in front of  me written in vague lettering across the bow was the one word I didn't want to see.

'Jupiter.'

You could hardly see it amongst the filth and rust.

My new friend, completely oblivious to the bemused look on my face, started to wave me towards him.

I hesitated.

I paid my fare.

What choice did I have?

I took my bags out of the cab and started to walk towards the ship's gangway.

'Please come. Follow me. You meet the boys. Everyone is so happy.'

I had assumed my crew would be English. Why, I had no idea. Probably because most of the crew I had sailed with during my time at sea had all been from my own country but the man ushering me forwards was not English at all.

He was in fact Chinese.

I placed him in his mid seventies and the way he walked indicated a frail man who had probably suffered a fall at one point in his life. But I couldn't fault his enthusiasm, nor his determination to follow him inside.

I walked hesitantly up the outer stairs towards the accommodation with the sun on my back and aware that no one else was around.

Inside a strong smell of Asian cooking hit me. It filled my nostrils along with the smell of stale air. Two ceiling lights illuminated a narrow alleyway built primarily of dark wood and as I walked I could see stains of oil engrained in the carpet.

I felt as if I had stepped into the twilight zone.

We passed the mess hall and continued up another flight of stairs where we came to a stop outside a door marked 'Captain.'

He waved me inside.

'You like?' he asked enthusiastically.

I didn't.

A desk a few feet away was littered with paper, to my left a sofa sagged in the middle and through a side door I saw an unmade bed.

I let out a sigh.

'So where is the other Captain?' I asked.

My guide lifted his flat nose and shook his head.

'He left,' he scowled. 'He no good.'

I stared back into my cabin without feeling, I stared without any sense of purpose totally unable to comprehend what was happening to me.

Where was my nice new ship?

Where was the promise of a bright new future?

Where was the financial security I had promised my family?

I had heard of stories such as this; crew working for unscrupulous owners with no food or water; no money; living in conditions no decent person would want to live in; I just never thought I would be part of it.