Issue #20 (2011) PDF - myweb - Long Island University

Jon L. Peacock
Ferry to the Mainland
―…We would like to once again welcome you to DFDS Seaways; the casino and duty-free store are
now open; DFDS Seaways is part of the DFDS Group of Companies…‖
―Cheers, my friends,‖ Jim says with a raise of his Newcastle beer, ―to the land we come
from, and to the land we go to!‖
―And cheers to Katherine!‖ adds Lissa, to the counter-clerk who helped us buy our tickets,
and we drink again.
―And cheers to DFDS!‖ L adds, hearing the loudspeaker repeat the name again and again,
and they drink to the ferryboat taking them to the mainland. L will later regret making this praise.
―Okay,‖ L says, ―we hit the duty-free for a flat of beer, and roam this ferry toward sin until
the wee hours, then hit up a movie and a sauna.‖ He looks around, walking backwards, and the
other three nod attentively. ―Anything else‖
―Quick,‖ Jim points at L, saying, ―What‘s life‖
L stumbles, turning around in a full circle before continuing. ―Life is experiencing things
until you die an‘ go to Hell.‖
―Ah-hah!‖ Jim exclaims, ―but you don‘t believe in Hell.‖
They buy a flat of beer, warm, and look in vain for ice. Restless, they walk around, not really
stopping as they pass the casinos that imitate Vegas with a lack of windows and lots of lights from
the flashing slot machines. All throughout the walk L thinks of Gelka, the girl they‘re going to see in
her hometown of Bonn, Germany. Gelka is the exchange student that L‘s friend Boy dated last year,
the only person anyone in the group knows living in Europe.
On the outer deck they watch the North Sea wage war with the wind, large waves lapping
the horizon and along their ship. Lissa and L return inside, wary of the wind, and wander through
the ship.
―Lissa, what is life‖
―Friendships,‖ she answers.
L stops and turns to a model of the ferryboat they‘re on, large and ominous in its glass case,
etching the ship‘s modelwork in his mind, then leads Lissa through the leviathan. Their first stop is
the discothèque, but inside the dark cave are teenagers dancing to songs usually played at junior high
winter dances. The purple-dressed girl, wearing two ponytails, draws the most attention, and she
does a dance-walk with two spins and a sideways shimmy down the middle of the room with finger
guns shooting high, allowing the others to part for her as she goes. She‘s fifteen or thereabouts,
taller than most the boys in the room. The lights flash like a poorly prepared rave, and the DJ
decides to speed things up with the song, ―Time Warp.‖
L and Lissa‘s next stop is just as twisted as the last. Near an overpriced bar is a mock lounge,
with plush velvet and deep red tones offset by stage lights and bright costumes of a band playing
―Sweet Home Alabama.‖ They don‘t know the verses, and keep returning to the part that digs at
Neil Young, and the song drags on. As they repeat the chorus for the sixth time Lissa and L leave.
They arrive at the only full-service restaurant just as a man is pulling out the floor-pole
‗closed‘ sign. Lissa begs the man for a quick, take-away order of fries. He responds that they
wouldn‘t serve chips without fish, anyway, but no possibility on anything regardless, because it‘s ten
o‘clock, they must realize, and ten is when restaurants close out here, even on ships such as these.
The overnight ferry left in the late afternoon, and even though it set sail only four hours ago,
everything is already closing down. The man says that, possibly, for the next hour, the deli on the
bottom deck will have some food left. Lissa and L get there as two employees start closing the deli,
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