Chapter Eight: The Horn
The ship had arrived in Rio de Janeiro Brazil about a week after leaving the Bahamas and the students had taken a "field trip" to all the major sights in the city as well as more R&R on Rio's famous beaches, Copacabana and Ipanema. Zack had particularly enjoyed visiting the Maracana, a soccer stadium which was once the largest in the world. Cody, meanwhile, had been strangely moved by the gigantic statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado Mountain. The group had taken a tram up to the summit. It reminded them of enclosed ski lifts, suspending them high above the ground by thick cables. The tram ride and subsequent landing at the summit had treated all of them with spectacular views of the city, beaches, and ocean below. They had listened to Samba music at one of Rio's famous carnivals and dined on feijoada, a black bean stew with chunks of sausage, pork, and beef. Chef Paulo, who had come ashore with the Martins and their friends, had tried it and swore to learn how to prepare in back on board. Tracking down the recipe, however, proved more difficult than the chef had bargained for with his thick Italian accent clashing with the Brazilian tongue.
In Buenos Aires Argentina, the "field trip" had taken the students to sights such as Caminito Pedestrian Street in La Boca, a tourism hot spot chocked full of arts and crafts. Max, Barbara, and Carey (who volunteered as a chaperone for the students during their shore time) had a field day wandering up and down the street looking at all the items. The guys had yet another stadium, the La Bombonera, to tour. The students had been required to take Tango lessons as part of their Argentina unit and the last night of their stopover in Buenos Aires had included a dance to showcase what they had learned. Fortunately, Mark and Bob had found some girls to partner with for the dance and, unlike Zack and Cody once upon a time, did not have to dance with each other. They had all had a blast dancing late into the night.
The following day found the Poseidon sailing at full speed southwest along the southern Argentine coast. This part of the world was coming into their summer months and everyone on deck noticed the building heat and humidity.
Down on Deck 5, classes were going on normally. It hadn't taken the students long to get used to their schedules and routines. It seemed just like school on land except that when it was over, instead of having to take a bus or a car to get home or go to the mall, all you had to do was go through a set of doors or go to another deck.
Cody and Barbara strolled along through Deck 4, or the "mall deck" as it was known, hand in hand. Cody, like most guys, didn't like shopping. He did it anyway to please Barbara who suddenly squealed and hauled him into yet another clothing store.
"Didn't you see enough clothes in Buenos Aires?" Cody asked her.
"A woman never sees enough clothes" Barbara replied.
Cody sighed and attempted to look interested in the articles surrounding him on racks. This became an instant failure as he noticed they were all female clothes. Barbara picked out this thing and the next, holding it up so that Cody could say if he liked it or not…which he never said he didn't like something because he knew better than that.
Next they headed for the mall's food court which was by far fancier than any food court in any other mall he'd ever been in. It had every type of restaurant you could want. Even the fast food chains had put restaurants aboard at Mr. Tipton's request. He had wanted every passenger's (or student's) possible needs away from land met and so it was done. Cody and Barbara settled on an Asian food vendor and sat down to eat. It seemed that Cody couldn't get enough Asian cuisine which was fine for Barbara, who, being Asian herself ate it a lot.
"You never get tired of Asian food do you?" Barbara asked him.
"Nope, I guess my taste in food is the same as my taste in women" he said winking at her.
Barbara blushed.
"I wonder where the others are." Barbara said.
"Well, I don't know where Bob and Mark are but Zack and Max are on Deck 11. You know they formed that basketball team with some other students and practice is going on now" Cody replied.
"You didn't want to be on the team?" she asked.
A very brief look of sadness flashed in Cody's eyes, barely long enough to be detected before Cody smiled and shook his head.
"No, I wasn't asked to, it's no big deal though…you know I stink at sports" Cody replied taking another bite of food.
"Hey, you're not that bad at basketball" Barbara protested, secretly calling Zack a bad name in her head for blowing off his twin.
"Yeah right, last time I played, I went to make a basket and threw the ball straight up in the air which then came down and smacked me in the head" Cody replied.
"Oh yeah I remember that…laid you right out too…" Barbara said.
The two were silent as they remembered the debacle.
"Still, Zack should have at least asked you if you wanted to be on the team" she said.
Cody didn't say anything. He just kind of looked down and took a bite of more food.
"You two okay?" Barbara asked.
Cody looked up.
"Yeah…sure, I guess so…I mean, I think so anyway…" he said looking uncomfortable.
Barbara had known Cody long enough to read him pretty well and since bringing up Zack, Cody's mood had shifted considerably. Something was troubling him and she wanted to know what it was.
The look she was giving Cody told him exactly that and Cody, who could also read Barbara pretty well, decided to cave and open up.
"It's only been about a month and I can already see him doing exactly what I was afraid he was going to do" Cody began.
"Which is?" Barbara asked, prodding him.
"He's made all kinds of new friends and I'm becoming just an afterthought…I mean, I didn't think the basketball thing bothered me until we started talking about it" Cody replied.
"You've made friends too" Barbara said.
"Yeah I know…it's just…I don't know, maybe I'm getting a head start on all that separation anxiety stuff I've read about twins having as they grow up. Zack and I have always done things together. Sure, we've had other friends and done our own things, but the majority of our time is spent doing things together and whenever I feel like he's blowing me off or ignoring me…it just makes me…" Cody said.
"Afraid" Barbara said.
This word surprised Cody; he hadn't thought to say that.
"Afraid?" he asked.
"Yes, I think you're afraid that the more people in each of your lives and the more time you spend with them will weaken the bond you have until…until suddenly it vanishes and is no more" she replied.
Cody was silent, pondering this.
"Cody, you need to realize that, no matter how many friends either of you gain or how much time your apart…the two of you will always be twins and nothing can ever change that" Barbara added.
Cody nodded and then smiled a huge smile at her.
"What?" she asked smiling back.
"I think you are going to make a great psychologist" he said.
She laughed at that.
"Maybe so, thank you" she said.
He took her hand across the table.
"No, thank you" Cody replied.
"Besides, how can it be separation anxiety? It's not like Zack is back in Boston or on another ship" Barbara said.
"Maybe not today…but someday…" Cody replied looking wistful and distant again.
Flashback…
Cody was sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of his math camp cabin with Tapeworm and Warren. The three were laughing and joking about math equations when out of nowhere Zack comes up to the cabin followed by London, Maddie, and Muriel.
"Hey Cody" Zack said.
"Zack! How'd you guys get up here?" Cody asked coming down off the porch.
"I was abducted" Maddie said.
"And I drove!" London added.
"Oh please, if I hadn't taken the wheel we'd still be in the hotel parking lot" Muriel said.
Tapeworm and Warren got up and approached the group, excited that females had shown up at the camp. Warren even hit on Maddie who promptly shot him down.
"Well, what's up?" Cody asked Zack.
"We're here to break you out, pack your stuff" Zack replied.
"Why?" Cody asked
"I knew you were having a lousy time, I got your twin telepathy call" Zack said.
"Well it must have been your other twin because I'm having a great time and I'm really learning a lot" Cody said.
"Uh oh, it's worse than I thought" Zack said to himself.
"Uh, guys, would you mind if I talked to Zack in private for a minute" Cody asked the others who then moved away.
Cody led Zack up the steps and onto the porch of the cabin. Zack sat down on a box and Cody stood next to him.
"You know what my twin telepathy is telling me? You missed me" Cody said.
Cody paused before doing a little dance and saying "you missed me" a few times.
"Did not!" Zack retorted standing up quickly to face Cody.
"Did so!" Cody shot back.
"Did not…it was mom that missed you, she just sits on the sofa looking at your baby picture crying and eating ice cream with a shovel" Zack said.
"Oh, that's funny, because she called me tonight after dinner, and she bragged about how well she was doing on her diet" Cody said
"Well she lied" Zack replied.
"No, you lied" Cody said before launching back into his dance and singing "you missed me" again a few more times.
Zack scratched his head turning around.
Cody suddenly stopped dancing, noticing something sticking out of Zack's backpack. It was blankie, his equivalent of a stuffed animal.
"Is that blankie!" Cody exclaimed pulling it out of the backpack.
"Yeah, I thought you might miss it" Zack said turning back around to face his brother.
"I did, thanks!" Cody said.
Zack got slightly angry.
"So you miss a lousy blanket but not your twin brother! Zack said.
Cody frowned a little sitting down in the rocking chair. Zack sat down in the chair next to him.
"Okay, maybe I missed you a little, but not enough to come home early" Cody said.
Zack looked down.
"Oh, okay, I understand" he said.
"You know, some day we actually will be apart" Cody said.
"Well, sure, when you're a math professor and I'm a race car driver slash secret agent" Zack replied.
"I'll be home in six days, think you can make it?" Cody said seriously.
"Sure…heck, if London's driving we won't even be home for six days…and if Muriel's driving…I'm gonna need blankie" Zack said playfully swiping the blanket back from Cody.
Cody snapped out of his memory of Zack coming to "rescue" him from math camp three years before and returned his attention back to Barbara who, fortunately, had been silently eating while he'd been remembering.
"You're right, maybe someday you will be apart…so you need to make this time count…you know what you two need…you need to sign up for something together, something you both like to do" Barbara suggested.
"Like what?" Cody asked.
"I don't know, he's your twin" Barbara replied.
Cody thought for a minute and then suddenly snapped his fingers.
"I got it! Fencing!" he said.
"Fencing?" Barbara asked.
"Yeah, remember up on deck our first day out…Zack and I went on about how we used to love to play sword fighting?" Cody asked.
"Oh yeah…but if I recall, it wasn't 'we used to like' it was 'we still' like" Barbara said laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I think he'll go for it" Cody said.
"Well, let's finish eating and then you can go ask him" Barbara said.
"What about shopping together?" Cody asked even though every fiber of his being hated himself for doing it.
"I think I can manage on my own for a while" Barbara said.
Cody smiled; they finished eating and parted ways.
Cody headed towards the elevators that would take him down to Deck 11 when he noticed the ship shudder slightly under his feet. He changed direction and went to the nearest window. The weather had changed drastically in a short period of time. Cody estimated the waves to be about 30 feet high.
Suddenly a tone emitted from the ship wide PA system…
"Ladies and Gentlemen may I have your attention please, this is Captain Bradford…you may have noticed the weather has worsened outside…there is no need to be alarmed…this type of weather is expected as we near Cape Horn. However, I would like to ask that all passengers remain inside the ship while we round the Cape…my officers will inform you as soon as it's safe to venture back on deck. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you"
The ship bucked again, harder than she had at any time during their first night out when sea sickness had spread like wildfire. By now, Cody was used to the occasional tossing of the ship and it didn't bother him. He wanted to talk to Zack, but his curiosity to watch as they rounded what sailors ominously referred to as "the Horn" became overpowering. Cape Horn was notorious for having bad weather which had been known to sink ships in the past. Cody knew that, if Poseidon had been smaller, they would have opted for the safer Straits of Magellan, but her sheer size that had prevented her from using the Panama Canal also prevented her from using that short cut as well.
He decided to head to the forward restaurant on deck 2 (where Zack's phone had ended up on the day of their departure). He knew that from the restaurant's enormous bow facing, floor-to-ceiling windows that he would have a great view of the ship's progress around the Cape. He updated the student location system, including a message for Zack saying he should come up and see it too (although he doubted Zack would care, especially if practice was not yet over) and headed off.
When he arrived he noticed many other passengers had had the same idea. Everyone watched from the windows as heavy rain began to pelt the ship and the southernmost tip of South America slid by off to their right. Posiedon moved slowly, the waves increased in size. They were now as close as they were going to get to Antarctica.
As the waves grew to around 40 feet and Poseidon continued her turn, the ship began to heel over towards her left side, slightly at first, and then a little more. Cody had to grab a table to steady himself. It seemed as if the ship was just going to continue rolling over and he felt a brief rush of adrenaline and fear. Still more the great ship rolled, to 10, 15, and then 20 degrees. Cody suddenly wondered if this moment was the reason he had been having such foreboding feelings about the voyage. What if she rolled over completely? He pushed that thought out of his head and finally the ship began to right itself.
The rain continued to pour and the waves stayed high but the captain came on the PA to let everyone know that they had successfully made the turn around the Cape and were now headed into the waves. There would be no more rolling. Cody was relieved but found he had to sit down in order to let himself calm down. He sat for what seemed to him like only a few minutes but in reality was much longer, lost in his thoughts of what if…
What if we had gone over? He thought with a shudder.
Suddenly someone walked up behind him and put their hands on his shoulders making him jump.
"Whoa, easy bro" Zack said.
"Zack, you scared me" Cody said.
"You okay, you look pale as a sheet" Zack replied.
"That turn, just kind of freaked me out a little" Cody said
"Oh you mean how we tipped like that? I thought it was wild! Max and I were tossed to the side of the hallway, which I don't mind saying I enjoyed because I fell into her right, and…" Zack began babbling.
"I get the picture" Cody said.
The ship was rattled by yet another oncoming wave, Zack sat down across from his brother.
"Where is Max anyway?" Cody asked.
"She went to find Barbara on Deck 4" Zack replied.
"I'm glad you're here alone anyway…I've been wanting to talk to you about something that's been bugging me" Cody said.
"What's up?" Zack asked giving Cody his complete attention.
Cody was about to open up and tell Zack how he felt…like he had with Barbara…but after a few seconds of silence, he lost his nerve. He was afraid Zack would just tease him for being overly sensitive.
Cody sighed.
"Never mind…it's nothing…" he said.
Zack just stared at his twin. He knew it wasn't "nothing."
"You sure?" Zack asked.
"Yeah…it's nothing really, but I do have an idea…something we could maybe do" Cody said hoping to change the subject.
"Ok" Zack said deciding, for the moment, not to push his brother to tell him what was bothering him and waiting for him to continue.
"I was thinking, maybe we could do something together…like an elective we could both take at the same time…" Cody said hoping Zack would be game.
"Sure, that'd be cool, I need another elective. What did you have in mind?" Zack asked.
"Remember our first day out I mentioned one of the electives was fencing?" Cody asked with a grin.
Zack grinned back.
"Yeah, I remember" he said.
"Well, what do you think?" Cody asked.
"I think I'm gonna kick your sorry little butt at it!" he said.
"You're on!" Cody said and they hurried off to sign up and Cody soon forgot all about the turn and the roll that had made him so ill at ease.