Hot and confused, I cracked an eye open to find Ellen staring at me with a dopey grin. Who knew something so small could knock someone out for so long. It led me to a long think about life and roofies.
Our last day at sea was a groggy one for me and I mostly remained in bed until dinner time. I did emerge from the covers in the late afternoon to pack my things and wash the warm Caribbean salt from my hair. I could feel an occasional lurch from the ship as we crashed over the few remaining swells on the way back to Ft. Lauderdale. It was in the tiny shower stall that I was almost hurled from behind the curtain into the bathroom door and no doubt then spilling out into the stateroom, sudsy from head to toe. I caught myself on a handrail, chuckled quietly, and then repositioned myself underneath the water. While I'd been bathing here all week, it was just then that I noticed how close my head was to the ceiling, just 6 inches or so, and it occurred to me that no male member of the Honbarrier family could stand up in this shower.
"Where do the behmeoth men bathe?" I wondered aloud, rinsing soap from my ears.
"What?" Ellen shouted from her bed, no doubt her eyes fixed on the T.V.
"I said, 'Where would the Honbarriers bathe?" and Ellen ignored this question.
There were a few occasions that day when my drowsiness overpowered my brain and I would mumble in German or ask for help internally, with no noise actually coming out. I remember saying "Morgan" to Ellen several times when I was trying to ask for water.
I was operating on the intellect level of a toddler and Ellen handled me accordingly.
"I have spoons." I told her once as I was packing.
As for those other gals, well I just don't know. They brought me a late lunch and I felt much better after I ate. We sat out on the balcony for a while and decided to forgo dinner in favor of one last bowl of gelato. Ellen scampered off to the room after our ice cream date and we didn't see much of her again. They did all reluctantly sit for pictures for a moment and Ellen gave my lens nothing but sass.
We took our final roam around the boat before bed and watched a show about all the different dances of each country. I found it difficult to not hop up and shimmy with the salsa dancers and Mom got such dance fever that she partook in a class that taught her to "Wobble."
We hopped off the boat bright and early the next morning, missing the crowds and getting our own personal shuttle back to the car. Mom drove us out of the congested, 9 o'clock traffic and made good time driving all the way up Florida's coast. Ellen drove for approximately 15 minutes of the 10 hour drive before we booed her out from behind the wheel and into the back seat. Giggly and delirious, I drove just the final two hours, insisting it was my part of the highway as it was my old SCAD route. We showed up in Charleston around dinner time and dumped Carolyn out in her driveway.
Good ole Pops had dinner ready for us when we got home. We told him just a few stories before Ellen left and Mom and I went up to bed.
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