Page 1 of Tiki Hut Tragedy
Chapter 1
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.1 Timothy 6:12 NIV.
*****
“Chin up.” Millie nudged a reluctant Amit toward the galley door. “Annette isn’t firing you for the minor incident that happened earlier. It was an accident.”
“Miss Millie, you were not there. You did not see the chaos I created. There was flour everywhere. Not the ordinary run-of-the-mill flour, but Caputo Fioreglut, the most expensive flour on board the ship.” A look of pure misery was etched on Amit’s face, and although Millie understood his distress,she clearly didn’t understand the depth of it. “I’m sure you cleaned it up, and no one will ever know disaster struck.”
“But this!” He plucked his cell phone from his pocket, tapped the screen and handed it to her. “Even Bakun did not escape the destruction.”
Millie tried not to laugh, truly she did, but the snapshot of the watch captain, the person who oversaw the galley operations, covered in the fine powder, his brown eyes a sharp contrast to the bright white, was a sight to behold. She burst out laughing. “I’m-I’m sorry, Amit, but the look on his face is priceless.”
Amit gloomily shoved the phone back in his pocket. “It took hours to clean up the mess. Flour on the floor. Flour on the ceiling and walls. The fans blew it everywhere. Poof.”
She gave him a quick hug. “Remember when I set the smoke alarms off during the cooking demonstration? Everyone makes mistakes, even Annette.”
“Then why would she call me to the galley to meet with Captain Armati?”
“I don’t know,” Millie fibbed. She knew exactly why they were on their way to the galley, and it had nothing to do with him being punished. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. Boy, was her friend in for a surprise!
Reaching the crewmembers’ entrance, she hurried ahead and peeked inside the darkened room.
“What do you see?” Amit anxiously peered over her shoulder.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“It’s dark. It looks like the lights are off.”
Amit clutched his chest, the color draining from his face. “It is worse than I thought,” he whispered. “The flour got into the wiring and caused a major electrical malfunction.”
Instead of answering, Millie called out Annette’s name while simultaneously grabbing Amit’s hand and dragging him inside. “We’re here.”
With the flick of a switch, bright lights flooded the galley. Millie’s husband, Captain Armati; the ship’s purser, Donovan Sweeney; Dave Patterson, the head of security; Bakun, the watch captain and others…crewmembers who worked in the galley alongside Amit stood just inside the door. A beaming Annette Delacroix, the director of food and beverage, was front and center.
Amit’s jaw dropped as he gazed around the room. “You are all here to say goodbye?”
“Say goodbye for what?” she asked.
“For blowing flour all over the galley and making a big mess.”
“That?” Annette waved dismissively. “We cleaned it up hours ago.”
“Then why am I here?”
The crowd parted. Captain Armati and Donovan Sweeney, both grabbing the side of a large metal cart, wheeled a towering, tiered cake across the room. “We’re here to announce your promotion.”
“And to celebrate it,” Annette added.
“Promotion?”
“To the bakery chef.”
Amit’s eyes grew round as saucers. “You are putting me in charge of the bakery?”
Nic placed a light hand on his shoulder. “Congratulations. When Annette recommended your promotion, Donovan and I both unanimously and wholeheartedly agreed.”
