12.2 Maldive Courage

Muja came with six visitors who arrived from the shore. Necessary introductions made and they sat for tea at the officers’ mess. Muja whispered, “I will see you after tea to have a chat.”

Shortly after tea, Muja tapped the door and came in, “I brought you these, cannabis and a small packet of cocaine. I don’t use this stuff,” he pushed a small pack of white powder, “You snort it up your nose. I thought you might like it.”

“I never tried,” uttered Mannan.

“Pour a drink! Here! A couple of joints. Let’s go out on the deck!”

First, they appeared on the promenade on Level 3 holding their glasses. A setting sun hurting their eyes, dark clouds and a red sky, booms of the cranes and lines of shrouds. Mannan saw the ocean below and around but obscured in haze. He noted a forecastle in the foredeck as well. He could not feel a slightest bump while on board the ship.

“How long have you been a seaman?” he asked.

“Twelve years on the sea,” Muja said, “travelled around the world. Brazil, Panama, West Africa, Europe. I was lucky that I changed my date of birth because I didn’t have a Birth Certificate. I left at my age of sixteen. Now I am a Chief Officer.”

“You have two kids.”

“Yes, that too, I am very blessed. I have been on this ship since 1972 and three captains. Now they made me Chief. This company is thinking about sending me to Singapore to do a Master.”

“What do you think about that?” asked Mannan.

“I want to captain a ship. Yes, I will take it.”

“Who is the captain?”

“He is a difficult guy. We call him Captain Roshi. His name is Hiroshi, a Japanese. He has taken Farida and Salt to the Captain’s Bridge.”

“Is he a bad guy?”

“He’s a fine captain. Good guy,” said Muja, “Let’s go up!”

Up on the deck, Mannan glanced at the funnel that towered like a minaret. Wheelhouse and map room on Level 5 – the navigating bridge which he did not enter to explore. On Level 4, the boat deck and Captain’s Bridge sheltered radio room, captain’s quarters and a separate smoke room at the rear. They climbed the monkey island or the flybridge on the top – a sixth level. A breath-taking view and the sun setting down in their eyes as the lights came on up on the deck.

Sawsan gave birth to a child to island middle in 1976. She was twenty-three then and married once before that. She wore a tight white top and an ankle length skirt fastened up on the midriff. She was to supervise the girls accommodated on the upper deck on the port side aft. 22 girls shown to four cabins, each with bunk beds for eight sleepers. These cabins were designed for the steerage or sometimes referred as third-class passengers who might happen to be emigrants in the 19^th and early 20^th century. Their toilets on the other side of the ship. A long corridor and crew quarters at the rear.

Sawsan steered a bunch of dancers through the corridor to the toilet and came across a half-naked boy in the men’s toilet who told her their toilet was on the other side. She crossed to the other side taking a narrow alley and here the girls quickly refreshed. Sawsan saw a large hall with dining tables next to the women’s toilet and few of the crews sitting there staring at the girls. She smiled and they did not smile back. Sawsan lifted her tight top over the boobs and shook at them. Then the crew turned with their faces lit with rows of stained teeth. Meanwhile, some discovered the seamen quarters, the bosun cabin, running up and down the narrow corridors. In the crew mess, they shared smokes and someone even opened the tiny bar attached to the mess room.

Then a steward called them for tea but first they climbed the Casino Deck for a briefing. Three musicians arranged the dancers’ kits on the floor. Farida concluded that nine girls would stand in a row, thus eighteen girls would perform, according to space available. Then they climbed down to the Crew Deck for afternoon tea at the steward mess. Huda had tea with Mannan in the officers’ mess.

After tea, the girls scattered on the weather deck and blaring down the corridors on the upper deck. They ran into the crew quarters. Nasha, a tall brown girl, was locked in a cabin with the bosun. Sawsan stepped into a corridor behind these quarters running after a Pinoy boy. Another crew grabbed her long skirt and lifted it over her shoulders from behind.

In the meantime, the dancers flooded the narrow corridors and the tiny bar served free beer. They were up on the main deck when the sun went down and posed for photographs with the crew. Then Sawsan called the girls to take shower.

The girls appeared naked or wrapped or topless, wearing those golden necklaces, ornaments and girdles. Some bathed in the men’s toilet. There were a good crowd of crew among the girls, pushing and pulling, groping or just thrusting a girl into another crew. Those Pinoys were excited and some even naked. They got drunk. The whole place was wet, throwing water, beer, cigarette butts, nuts and stuff, shaving foam, empty cans…all over the place. This party went on until dinner time when the girls were called to get ready and climb to the steward mess. Some came late, some lost an item or two.