Amid the Waves (2013)

“There is nothing I hate more than going on a cruise”, he said to his wife after entering the cabin. He looked out of the window – nothing but water. Maybe he would just jump overboard and drown himself. The thought of it made him chuckle.

“I really don’t understand why you take me on cruises. You know I hate them.” He walked over to the mini-bar and glanced at the collection of miniature bottles. “Amy, are you listening?”

Amy stopped unpacking her bag for a moment. Her eyes met with Harry’s across the room. “They are serving dinner at 8. You might want to freshen up before that.”

Harry looked at himself in the mirror. There was no need for him to freshen up. He was handsome. Old, but handsome for his age anyway. “I think I’d rather go for a little walk.” He put on his hat and sunglasses and made his way up to the ship’s rail.

The wind was cold and the sun was hiding behind clouds. Harry thought to himself that there was really no point in taking sunglasses on a cruise. There was never any sun in the middle of the ocean. Only water, just water everywhere. He walked around for a few minutes until he found an empty bench. He sat down and stared out at the horizon. ‘Travel broadens the mind’, they say. It certainly did not broaden his when all there was to see was nothingness – besides the water of course. God damn water!

He could feel the discomfort growing inside him with every wave that hit the ship. Amy liked water. She always did. She would swim and go boating, and she would always take a bath, never a shower. He had told her many times that it would use up less water if she would take a shower instead of filling up an entire bathtub with water every second day. She did not care. She was probably taking a bath right now while he was out here, in the cold.

Tomorrow he was going to write a postcard to his daughter and tell her how awful the ocean was and that there was absolutely nothing to see. That it was just empty and that all he did was to wait for the ship to reach the next harbour. He would write the card secretly. He didn’t want to upset Amy. He lit himself a cigarette.

After a while he slowly made his way back to the cabin. Amy was sitting in front of the mirror and prettied herself up for dinner. “Anything special up there?” – “No, just water. Nothing but water.” He kissed her on the forehead and took a miniature whisky from the minibar. “She was a pretty girl once”, he thought to himself and looked out over the ocean.