“OK, then. You make a little schedule for tomorrow, and I’m going to have a snooze.”
“I’ll wake you a bit later,” says Eddie. He gets out his city map, and starts planning his activities for tomorrow. He can’t wait to see the sights.
St Thomas
I placed the final shuffling machine carefully on the green felt, and cast a glance around the empty casino: seventeen tables and over three hundred slot machines for your gaming pleasure.
It was a silent hall at the moment, but we’d open just after sailing and then it would get very noisy.
I was in a foul mood, sacrificing a day at the beach so I could come here and service these damn machines. Each supervisor had a list of duties assigned to them by the casino manager, and I thought that mine were the worst of all.
My mind drifted as I wiped dust from the machine’s interior, and I amused myself by thinking of what I’d do to certain individuals if I was in charge.
My thoughts were interrupted by the Captain’s voice, making an announcement on the Public Address system.
“Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.”
I checked my watch. Five forty. We were only twenty minutes away from departure, so why would they be doing a bomb drill now? The few I’d done before had concluded long before noon.
Though it seemed odd, I put it out of my mind. Realising that the opening shift would be in shortly, I tidied up and returned the machines to their designated tables.
The casino manager, Jack Wyatt, bustled in less than ten minutes later, waving a brown manila envelope and saying to me, “Right, Simon. We’ve got work to do.”
We took a seat at an empty Blackjack table alongside Dawn and Lena, the assistant manager and other supervisor.
Wyatt emptied the envelope, handing a printed paper to each of us.
“We have a bomb search. It’s not a drill.”
“My God!” said Lena.
“How do they know?” asked Dawn.
“Somebody phoned the Port Authority with a bomb threat,” explained Wyatt. “Then the Port Authority called us.”
I looked at Wyatt, thinking he looked a little haggard. He definitely hadn’t shaved. I asked him, “How do they know it’s for real?”
“They used some kind of password that means it’s for real.”
“Shit!” said Lena.
“Yeah. You might be right. But we have to get cracking. Those are the search plans you’re holding, and which casino staff are assigned to you. You need to call your team, and get them all up here pronto. We need to be searching now. Let’s go!”
So I called my team and we searched our area, which was a large bank of slot machines by the starboard aft entrance.
“Top to bottom, left to right,” I told them. “Check thoroughly, and if you find anything suspicious don’t touch it. Just call me.”
In fifteen minutes we found nothing suspicious, and re-assembled with the other search teams by the Craps table.
I noticed one of the shipboard security guards stood by the cash desk, watching proceedings and talking furtively on his phone. I wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, but I figured it was standard practice to have a security presence in all muster stations.
“OK, guys,” Wyatt said to everyone. “Nothing has been found on Stage One, so shortly we’ll be going to Stage Two. You’ll all need to go and search your own cabins. Check them thoroughly, and if it’s all clear let your team leader know and they’ll report to me.”
At which point the Stage Two announcement was made, and we all departed to search our cabins.
I checked my cabin thoroughly, trying to stay focussed on the search and not dwelling on what could potentially unfold.
Satisfied that my cabin was clear, I went to check on the rest of my team; they had nothing to report. We all headed back to the casino, where we congregated with the rest of the staff and management.
Dawn and Lena informed Wyatt that their section of cabins was clear and I did the same. He rushed off to his office to call the bridge, and then rejoined us a few minutes later.
“What happens now, boss?” I asked him.
The reply was a little snappy, but I didn’t mind – I was having fun watching him stress out, working for a change.
Wyatt told us to make ourselves comfortable while we awaited further instructions. After five minutes listening to the casino dealers gossiping I was quite restless, so I went out to the open deck with Lena to get some air.
We were on Promenade Deck, four storeys above the water line. Looking down into the terminal area, we could see a crowd of thousands of people. There were a number of blue lights flashing, from several police cars parked at the edges of the crowd.
“What the…” I said.
“It’s all the passengers.”
“What? They’re letting them off?”
“Yeah,” Lena said. “Looks like most of them are off already.”
“What! I didn’t hear an announcement.”
“I don’t think there was one.”
“Sneaky bastards! What about us?”
“Ha!” she said. “Since when did the company care about crew members?”
“Unbelievable. They must let us off shortly, if they don’t find anything.”
“You would think so. Come on, let’s head back inside and see what’s going on.”
As we headed inside, there was another Public Address announcement:
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your Captain speaking from the navigational bridge. I would like to inform you that that our shipboard search has concluded, and the ship has been cleared to sail by the Port Authority. I would like to thank-”
The rest of the announcement was drowned out by a huge cheer from the casino staff, and I guessed a collective sigh of relief from crewmembers around the ship. I was very relieved myself, as I exchanged small talk and high-fives with anyone close to me.
But there was more drama to come.
I sat in the Staff Mess with Dawn, trying to eat a bowl of lukewarm pasta. An hour had passed since the all clear, which allowed me time to freshen up and put on my suit for work.
“What time are you in?” Dawn asked.
“Eight thirty.” I put down my fork. “I can’t eat this. I’m going for a quick smoke. I’ll see you up there.”
“OK.”
Heading to the Smoking Room, the ship began to list. I thought it could just be choppy waters, but how rough could it be when we’d left port barely twenty minutes previously?
Before I had chance to light up, there was another announcement:
“Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.”
I could not believe it; we had just spent over two hours searching for a bomb, and it had been stressful.
Now somebody had jumped overboard.
I took the three flights of stairs to Deck Four, passing through the casino to the open deck.
It was after eight and the sky was dark, with the lights of St Thomas visible in the near distance. The ship had come to a stop about three hundred metres from shore, using its spotlights to scan the black waters and provide illumination for the rescue boat that was out there.
There were about twenty people stood by the railings, passengers and crew, watching events unfold below. I joined them for five minutes, then left to start my shift.
The casino could only open once we had sailed a certain distance from land, so I hung around the gaming tables and chatted with passengers.
“What time do you open?” I was asked.
“It’ll be just after we sail, sir.”
“And when will that be?”
“Hopefully not much longer, sir.”
I marvelled at the mentality of gamblers, more concerned about having a bet than a fellow passenger out there floating around in the sea.
Another gentleman asked me if the bomb was planted by the same guy who jumped overboard. I told him there was probably no connection, but that we’d find out soon enough.
And that’s w
hat happened, when a thirty-nine-year-old man was pulled safely into the rescue boat, after what the search team calculated as fifteen minutes in the water.
The Captain announced that the man had fallen overboard, but he had suffered no injuries and was now being looked after in the ship’s medical facility.
We set sail shortly after, and I was relieved not to have any more questions to answer about the casino’s opening times.
At 1 a.m. the casino was very quiet, with only an elderly couple playing and a handful of players scattered around the slot machines.
Lena and I stood about five metres from the Blackjack couple, looking at the table but not really paying attention – we were gossiping about the day’s events.
“Have you seen Wyatt at all tonight?”
“No,” she replied.
“What’s he like? I mentioned it to Dawn earlier, but she wasn’t sure. She thought he might be taking a night off.”
“He’s a lazy git. I don’t think I even saw him for the Oscar.”
I thought about it. “I think you’re right.”
“And why would he even need a night off? He doesn’t do anything.”
“Tell me about it. He must be tired after doing the Charlie search. Poor guy, he deserves a rest.”
“Yeah, right. Did you see how stressed he was?” she asked.
“Yeah, I loved it. It’s the first work he’s done the whole contract.”
She laughed. “That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.”
“Oh, don’t get me started,” I said.
She laughed again as she walked away, leaving me to my thoughts.
The following day Dawn rang my cabin just before noon, asking me to meet her in the Manager’s office.
Half an hour later I was seated opposite her, as she informed me of the morning’s events.
“Seriously?” I asked. “When did this happen?”
“I left the Master’s Hearing about an hour ago.”
“And when’s he going?”
“Today. He’s gotta be off the ship by one.”
“Wow.”
“You don’t seem too upset about it.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “He was a bit of a dick with me.”
“Yeah,” she said, chuckling. “You weren’t one of his favourites.”
“When was he breathalysed?”
“Straight after the Captain announced all-clear on the Charlie search.”
“But, why? Somebody told them he was drunk?”
“Somebody smelt alcohol on him, when all the department heads were on the bridge before the search started. But they couldn’t test him then, as they needed him as leader of Muster Station C. That’s why that security guard was hanging around.”
“To keep an eye on him.”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “Then they picked him up from his cabin after the search, and took him to the medical facility.”
“Who was there?”
“Everyone. Staff Captain, Chief Security, all the medical staff.”
“Were you there?”
“Yeah. They called me to witness it all.”
“Why didn’t you say anything last night?”
“I couldn’t. Not until after they’d decided what to do with him.”
“And there was me whining about him not being there.”
“Yeah. But I knew they’d told him to stay out of all guest areas.”
“And did you know he was gonna be fired?”
“Well, I suspected, yeah. You know what they’re like with booze – zero tolerance.”
“I can’t believe it,” I said, shaking my head. “How come he was drunk at that time of the day?”
“He told them that he’d had a couple of daiquiris at the beach yesterday, but who knows? Maybe he had a few in his cabin as well. Either way, he failed the breathalyser.”
“And now he’s going. Oh, well.”
“Yeah. Anyway. I’ve been chatting with the office, and they’ve asked me to fill in until they send a replacement for Jack.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” she said. “They’ve also suggested that you fill in as assistant while I’m acting manager.”
I smiled, thinking that St Thomas had turned out to be a very good day for me.
Thanks for reading!
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Until next time.
Glenn McGoldrick.
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