A/N: Many thanks to Phish Tacko for her help with this!
Ch. 27
With a new baby coming, Anthony and Johanna both knew that they would need more money than what they had. They had been just getting by on what little savings they had, but they would need more for the baby. They had essentially nothing.
Johanna had been the first to get a job. She was hired as a waitress at the local Cheesecake Factory. Anthony had gotten hired about a week later, to work on a ship for a few months. It was transporting cargo to the East and back, and his contract had said that he'd be out at sea for four months.
Johanna really did not want him to go, especially because he was pregnant, but she knew that they really needed the money and that most places would not hire Anthony because of his condition. In addition, he was told that the work on the ship would not be that heavy, mainly just cleaning and cooking for the crew, so he could probably handle it.
So, with the promise that they'd see each other soon and that he would call or email whenever possible, Anthony set off on the boat.
The first day that he was on board, he began regretting it. He'd spent a lot of time on the ocean before, but being pregnant made him feel a lot more sick than he had in the past, and he spent an hour the first morning throwing up over the side.
The crew had stared at him a bit, probably thinking that he was new at sailing. A few of them smirked when he walked by. Anthony tried not to let it get to him. There wasn't much he could do about being so sick, he'd have to just try to cope with it. Maybe it would let up.
Of course, it didn't. Anthony was just as sick on the second day as he was on the first. This time the other crew members actually laughed at him. One offered him some over-the-counter medication for sea sickness. Another suggested that the stare at a fixed point for a few moments. At least those two had been trying to be helpful.
After another hour of sickness, Anthony went to his small cabin to get ready to work that day. He was told to clean up the deck. Seeing how sick he had been, the captain had told him not to touch any of the food. He didn't want Anthony getting the other crew sick, in case he actually had a virus. He'd also tried to assure Anthony that whatever he had, it would probably go away in a few days. Anthony quietly went about his business that day, trying to decide whether it was best to tell the captain the truth, that he would not be "getting better" any time soon, or whether to keep it to himself and hope for the best.