A/N: Sorry for the long interval between updates. Went away camping and came down with a bad cold! Been sick for over a week now.
Chapter 8
"So what do you think so far, Buster?" Duck popped the top of a soda can and hauled off of it while he eyed the teenager. They were all sitting outside at several circular tables with stone benches as a gentle breeze blew through. It was sunny and humidity was nonexistent which made them all happier. The teenager gave Duck a grin and turned to face him.
"I think it'll be an amazing midwinter break," he said enthusiastically. "not many kids get to say they came out here!"
"Especially now! You know how many kids are jealous of you?"
"They can just suck it!" the teen proclaimed as he took a drink, making Duck laugh.
Elwood looked over at Buster from the next table, smirking as he chatted up the bass player effortlessly. Murph nudged his friend as a breeze nearly blew his wrapper off the table.
"Yeah, Murph?"
"So what's the game plan, El? Sline give you the details yet?"
"He said he'd email them to me. I have no idea how to get it here... Mel?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you get Sline's directions? He emailed them to me."
Melody flipped her braid off of her shoulder, bent down, and brought out a Google Nexus 7 tablet from her shoulder bag. "I can indeed if we get free WiFi here."
"Do we?" Elwood wasn't technology savvy like she was, hardly any of the band could match her skills apart from Buster. Tom was good with technology but not in their range of skills.
"Yeah. Most places do," she answered as she flicked through the screen, accessing a Gmail account. "let me check to make sure your password is the same... Gotcha! Let me download this and check it..."
Willie nudged Alan. "How do you keep up with her, even after all this time?"
Alan just shrugged. "I think we offset each other's weaknesses that's all." it was the best answer he could come up with, prompting the drummer to laugh and shake his head. It was the mystery of a relationship, what kept two people glued together if not for life, then for a long time at least. Melody continued on, oblivious to her boyfriend and the drummer as she paged through the text document.
"We arrive in the late afternoon and board the ship at sundown," she announced. "Sline's given us a list of places to go for tourism if we want to shop around Long Beach before we board the ship. We have to board before 9 PM so we can meet up with the representatives of this tourism promotion and kickoff event."
"Great!" Buster clapped his hands together in excitement, already thinking about the ghost stories he was going to tell his friends when he got back. He'd had a supper date with the girl he liked in Vegas the night after he'd been attacked, and was already texting his friends to brag about it. "Mel, isn't that place haunted?"
"Yes it is." she announced gleefully as she saved the document and powered off the tablet computer. "I saved this to my smart phone so I can view it at any time."
"What sort of hauntings are we talking about this time?"
"Well Steve, nothing as gruesome as the LaLaurie house, nobody was tortured on this ship, I think. The Queen Mary was used as a troop ship during the second world war and she was a cruise liner in the pre and post war times. There's a reputed ghost in the first class swimming pool, a young man who got crushed to death down in the engine room somewhere, numerous staterooms are haunted, some theorize that the ship itself is one of the 7 portals to the other side."
"Weird," Matt muttered. "as long as they leave me alone, I won't mind!"
"Who knows what might happen?" Melody slung her bag over her shoulder as they stood up to go and clean up. "I'm up for it!"
"You're always up for it!" Lou teased, nudging her with one elbow. "You're so easygoing!"
"Oh no she's not!" Alan guffawed. "When you've seen the things I have when I'm with her, you'll understand what I mean!"
Melody turned red in the face and quickly turned her face to look at the cars, trying to prevent a sly grin from seeping onto her visage. What Alan meant in polite terms was that she generally did not like to experiment with him behind closed doors.
"Um, let's get into the cars and drive, shall we?" Elwood held open the door to the driver's side, pausing as he saw everyone pile into the cars.
Everyone boarded the Queen Mary in a sense of awe at how big the ship was. Buster and Melody were not inclined to hunt out their rooms right away, but wanted to explore the ship in more detail. The rest of the band shrugged off their curiosity, going down to their rooms to deposit their luggage.
"Wow!" Buster grabbed a brochure and turned to Melody as Alan took her suitcase with a resigned sigh, rolling his eyes playfully as she looked over the edge of the railing to see the water underneath.
"Check this out," Buster and Melody took their own self-guided tour and went from the former captain's cabin, the restaurants, the spa, everywhere. Melody was quite pleased to see the Rostron suite was kept up with, as she greatly admired the Cunard captain.
"Wow! Buster, get a picture of me in here!" she was permitted to get on the bed, so she sprawled out on her belly, propped up her head with her hands under her chin, grinning coyly as Buster took the picture, giggling. Melody had dressed in a nautical themed outfit, wearing a black and white striped polo shirt and red shorts. She wore a pair of flip flops that had red stitching under white monogrammed anchors.
"So do you like Captain Rostron?" they got up as the steward took a picture of them both on either side of Rostron's portrait.
"Very much. I have the book he wrote. He told some good stories and I try to be like him, very uncomplicated and devoted to duty."
"Great." Buster and Melody went out on the bow, where neither one of them cared to admit that it was a shame the great ship was drydocked instead of making the transatlantic runs anymore. It would have cost more since the ship was so old, but both were happy that the ship was not sold for scrap and taken to the boneyard like so many others. Buster owned a big coffee table book called Lost Liners by Bob Ballard, whom Melody had met once long ago, which told the entire story of many ships including the Queen Mary.
"You know, Rostron was offered the chance to be this ship's first captain," Buster mentioned as they leaned against the taffrail. Melody sat down on a bronze capstan after a moment. "he refused. I think it was his second officer James Bisset on the Carpathia with him captained her first. Can't remember exactly."
"I believe you anyway. I did some research on James Bisset, or Sir James Bisset as he did get knighted like Rostron. There is a Bisset suite here, he did write some books."
Before Buster could reply, Elwood's voice permeated the deck. "Are you two done exploring so we can get some supper now?"
"Oh, fine." Buster mocked, moving away from the taffrail as Alan joined them, along with Willie and Steve.
"What is this thing?" the trumpet player sat next to Melody.
"It's called a capstan, Alan. It was used for winding ropes back when ships of merchant mariners had sails. These ones are just ornamental." she rapped on the capstan, which produced a tinny thud. "Back when things were made to last." Alan guffawed, stood up, offered his hand to his fiancee, helping her up.
Making their way to the first class dining area, everyone was attended to promptly. Everyone marveled at how wonderfully the ocean liner had been preserved, restored to her prewar furnishings by generous donors. Melody and Buster felt like they had stepped back in time, and Buster half expected Sir Rostron or Sir Bisset to come in through the doors and dine with them. He felt it was a great shame that he had been born too late to meet those extraordinary men, but the records of their deeds remained.
"Oh, Melody," Alan casually said as the supper was ending. "I got a present for you. I bought it last night when you were sleeping."
"I'm almost ready to zonk out now," she answered him, stifling a yawn. "what is it?"
"This," Alan pulled out a small jewelry box and presented to Melody a sapphire in a trillion style cut with two small diamonds on either side of the sapphire. He remembered well Melody's fondness for the color blue, and her love of silver jewelry, as the ring itself was silver. "do I need to ask you again?"
"Wow!" Elwood and Mack trumpeted. The rest of the band gazed at Melody to see what her answer would be. She picked up the box and put it down on the table, then threw her arms around Alan, giving him a big smooch. Everyone wanted to applaud, but Matt took the liberty of calling for champagne.
"Oh Alan, do you think I could ever say no to you?" Melody beamed as he pulled away from her to get his breath. "Can we get hitched on this ship?"
"Are we allowed to?"
"Yeah. The captain is an ordained minister."
"How about we do it after the concert series is over? It'll be a great way to cap off our stay."
"Great, then I can get a decent outfit."
"Don't go nuts," he warned her. "I like you when you keep it simple most of all."
"I wanna get glammed up at least a bit." she batted her eyes at him. Alan pulled the ring out of the box and put it on her left ring finger. "It's beautiful."
"I remembered how much you love the color blue, like the ocean."
"Indeed I do." the waiter brought the champagne, Mack said Buster could try it for this occasion only, and they all drank to Alan and Melody's future, bestowing their wishes upon the couple. The ring felt heavy on Melody's finger, as she was unused to wearing jewelry apart from her Celtic knot thumb ring that she had inherited.
"Come on guys, I hear my bed calling me." Duck and Lou stood up, followed by Willie and Matt. The four of them made their way for the former first class cabins, tired out by the long day.
Upon doing his bedtime routine, Matt changed into his pajamas and drew back the covers, preparing to slide in when he heard a small crash from the closet. "The hell?" the guitar player opened up the closet, finding a hanger had fallen down. "How the hell could this fall down when the door was closed?" he questioned the space around him. When no answer was forthcoming, Matt wanted to ask Melody or Buster, but the two of them were somewhere around the ship and he didn't feel up to tracking them down. Shrugging it off, he got into bed and soon fell asleep.
Duck had been asleep for two hours when he came awake abruptly for no reason. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he got up and walked to the porthole, trying to find out whether someone was being rowdy and woke him up. Not finding an answer in the vacant deck, he went back to sleep.
Willie and Lou had similar experiences and each one remembered that Melody was a big fan of the paranormal, researching it when she had the time. Each resolved to ask her about it, or Buster, since he was steadily getting into the paranormal as well. Melody influenced him to learn more about it.
Melody and Alan sat out on the deck for a little while, curled up on a chair and chatting about their upcoming wedding ceremony. Neither one liked the idea of a big church wedding, with all the headaches and money that had to be put into it. A civil service ceremony with their friends and the captain was very low key, just what they had in mind.
"Do you want us to see each other before the ceremony?" Alan queried, fondling her right hand.
"Yes. Screw traditions and superstitions. I want simple, I will wear a nice skirt and top, as I don't like dresses much at all. I'll look nice, you'll look nice as well," she warned him. Alan smirked.
"I won't insult you." he assured her, thinking he'd wear the only pair of nice chino pants he'd brought with him.
"You damn well better not!" his fiancee teased with a laugh. "We'll have an informal reception in the dining room, we can all sing karaoke and have a good time. I don't want anyone going to extravagant lengths for us. It's the KISS principle."
"Keep It Simple, Stupid." Alan chuckled. "So, no throwing of flowers and no garters?"
"The only ones on the ship would be us. Who would we throw them to?"
"Good point."
"In the meantime, let's hit the sack," Alan yawned. "been a long day."
"Yes indeed. Buster and I are going on a spook tour while you guys set up in the ballroom." Alan got up first, extending a hand to Melody and helping her up.
"Always with the spooks, eh?"
"Comes with the full package," she wiggled her eyebrows comically. "we're going down to the door where one of the seamen was crushed to death with the door coming down on him. It'll be interesting."
"You won't contact any of these ghosts now, will you?"
"No. We want to document only. Buster got in touch with a paranormal group out here and they lent us their electromagnetic field meter or EMF, and their temperature camera so we can see if there's any ghostly activity." Melody said eagerly.
Alan shook his head, though Melody was used to his skepticism by now. The couple went to their room, changed and got ready for bed. As they were about to drift off, Melody felt a pressure settling right on her chest, her eyes opened, and a strange mist was descending upon her. Trying to breathe, she attempted to move, but couldn't. After a moment, the feeling of pressure decreased and she was able to sit up.
The engineer gasped sharply, startling Alan, who sat up as well, putting an arm around Melody, who hacked loudly as she tried to get her breath back. "Mel? What is it?"
"Sleep... paralysis," she rasped. "never had it... before..."
"Come on. Do you need your inhaler?"
"No..." she forced herself to breathe normally after a moment and faced Alan. "I think I was just attacked by a ghost."
"Really, Mel?" he asked her, skepticism clearly evident in his features. Melody rolled her eyes. She sometimes was frustrated by his firm belief there was no such things as ghosts, yet she hoped he would change his mind someday. Sleep paralysis was uncommon but reported to happen to people when they were under stress.
"I was attacked by a ghost in New Orleans," she grew indignant. "I know you don't believe, but if I say stuff like this, just smile and nod, OK?"
"Fine." he did so comically, making Melody laugh. "Can we get some sleep now?"
"Yes. I won't let the ghosts keep me or you up."
"Good girl." he shifted as Melody lay back down and spooned her, one arm across her hip. Melody inwardly noticed the odd mist had disappeared and wondered what would await them the next day.