4. Exploration

The next morning, everyone was awake by about 8, except Jake. Ben decided to step on his brother's stomach to wake him. Jake awoke with a start and coughed and spluttered from the shock of the stamp – Pete was momentarily afraid of having to do his third clean-up operation in twelve hours, but nothing more came from Jake (apart from a deathly glare towards his younger brother). Karen had put on BBC News and luckily for her came across the previous night's debates. She giggled as the cameras replayed a fight between the Green Party candidate and a burly man from the audience.

A few minutes later Ben asked the inevitable question of curiosity "Mum, Dad, what are the stops on this cruise?"

Pete and Sue gathered the kids and explained that stops would include France, Spain, The Canary Islands, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and North African countries for the first 14 or so days, then after that the ship would take a few days on the Atlantic before spending another 14 days exploring the East Coast of America. They knew it was expensive (not revealing what they had paid), but Pete had just won £750,000 in the lottery and they deserved a family treat – even if it did mean 30-odd days together on a ship! Luckily they'd been able to secure one of the larger cabins so they weren't completely on top of each other. "And anyway, this is a bit like a mini version of one of daddy's previous ideas of taking a year out to explore the world." Sue finished.

By about 8.30 they were all hungry so they decided to go to one of the ship's many restaurants for breakfast. Despite them both being sick the previous evening Ben and Karen chose to have cereals high in sugar content, whilst the others went for warm croissants and butter, followed by Eggs Benedict for Sue and Jake.

When breakfast was over, they decided to explore the ship, Jake trailing behind listening to his iPod, Karen asking strangers what they thought of the electoral debates of the previous night and Ben running around in his own world up until the point he was so distracted that he didn't notice he'd run into one of the shops. Before anyone could stop him, he collided with a shelf, knocking off and breaking three glass jugs. He snapped out of the distraction immediately.

"BEN!" screamed Sue, "What were you doing?"

"Oops." He said, looking down at the shards of glass covering the floor

"I'm so sorry," Sue said to the shop assistant, "I don't know what came over him. How much do I owe you?"

"Never mind about it, it's only a few jugs" replied the assistant. "Boys will be boys"

"But... I insist. It's my fault really. I wasn't looking at what he was doing"

"No. Really, it's fine. No need to pay anything, go on and enjoy the cruise!"

"Well, if you're sure then. Thank you!" Sue picked Ben up from the floor and they walked out, both feeling a sense of relief. That feeling wasn't to last long though. Jake was missing.

"He was here a minute ago" said Karen, "then Ben fell over and broke the jugs and daddy and I were looking at the mess then daddy turned around and couldn't see Jake"

"Pete! You should have told me!" Sue said, almost angrily, "Well, we'll have to put an announcement over the PA. This ship is too large for us to explore without help. Let's find the helpdesk and wait there." Pete was obviously beginning to panic at the disappearance of his son and Sue wanted to try and keep things calm because otherwise Ben would go mad and Karen would probably go off on her own to look for Jake and get lost herself.

They got to the Helpdesk and over the PA requested the following announcement: "Could Jake Brockman please come to the Helpdesk on the fifth floor next to Red Sea Swimming Pool. That's Jake Brockman to the Helpdesk"

A few minutes passed before Jake returned. The family looked relieved to see him and it was Pete who spoke first.

"Hey Jake, where were you?"

"Oh, I just went to the toilet. I know I should have told you but I got desperate. I really had to pee"

"OK, but at least warn me next time, yeah?"

"Sure"

"Right kids, as we're just by the swimming pool, how's about we go in? I'll just pop back to the cabin to get the swimming bags"

"Well, actually Mummy, I don't think we should," Karen began, "I've heard on the news that sometimes swimming pools are dirty and that people pee in the water. I don't want to accidentally swallow any water with wee in it"

"Karen," Pete replied, "it's OK, that's just a rumour and in any case most pools now have something in them that detects the wee and turns the water a different colour so that you know where the urine is" he finished, perhaps fabricating the story a little – if only to make Karen co-operate. "And anyway, today is our first stop – later on this afternoon, the ship is pulling up in a French town called La Rochelle. We can get out and explore the castle and get some crepes and maybe some dinner. All we need to do is remember to be back on the ship by 8.30 so that it can set off again overnight to Spain. Okay?"

"Yes dad." The three children replied. The pool experience turned out to be quite fun, even if Karen was constantly scanning the pool for people peeing and after a quick sandwich for lunch, the family stepped off the boat and began to explore the town of La Rochelle.