Page 6 of A Ferry Merry Christmas
“The engine is slowing,” Kyle said.
“You’re imagining things,” Dan said dismissively.
Harrison wasn’t about to quibble with the guy who had the hearing of a bat. “I can’t tell that there’s a difference, but I wouldn’t dismiss anything Kyle says.”
One of the crew members walked past, and Kyle tried to grab his attention. The crewman wore a thick coat and knit cap that identified him as such. The name embroidered on his front was Earl Jones.
“Excuse me,” Kyle called out.
Earl Jones paused alongside them, looking mildly irritated at the interruption.
“Can I ask you a question?” Kyle said.
“Sure thing. What can I do for you?” Earl asked, looking down at the cup of coffee he’d apparently recently purchased. Harrison knew if the guy manned the car deck that the winds must be bitter cold. His lips looked chapped, and he didn’t seem elated to be working during the holidays, when the ferry traffic was at its peak.
“Are we experiencing engine troubles?” Kyle asked.
The crewman snickered as though he found the question amusing. “What makes you think that?”
“The engine sound is different from when we left Bremerton.”
Earl Jones all but rolled his eyes. “What are you, some kind of mechanical engineer?”
Harrison took offense to his attitude. “No, Kyle is a sonar expert; he knows his business. You might want to let someone know.”
“I’ll get right on that,” the other man returned flippantly and walked away.
Harrison looked out the window. Kyle wasn’t making this up. While Harrison hadn’t heard anything, he did notice that the ferry had slowed. He glanced at the time and was surprised to see they were already a half-hour into the sailing. “Shouldn’t we be closer to Seattle by now?” he asked. From this vantage point, the city should clearly be in view, and it was still much farther in the distance than it should be.
“What did you say?” A businessman sitting across from them leaped to his feet. He stared at Harrison, looking for an answer. “Should we be closer to docking than we are?” He nervously rubbed his hands together.
“According to the schedule, we should be docking at one-thirty and it’s nearly one now. I don’t usually take this ferry, so I’m unsure of exactly where we should be in Puget Sound at this point, but it seems we’re still a good distance away.”
The businessman left his briefcase behind as he hurriedly walked to the back of the passenger deck to the doors that led outside. A few brave souls lined the railing, letting the wind whip around them. Seagulls circled overhead. A light snow-rain combination swirled about, carried by the breeze.
Within a couple minutes the businessman returned, his nose red from the cold. He rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them. “I talked to someone who takes this ferry several times a week and he said we should be way closer to Seattle by now. What’s going on?” he demanded.
“I haven’t got a clue,” Harrison told him, although he wasn’t sure the other man was looking for a response.
All at once there was a jolt and the ferry went completely dead in the water.
“We’ve stopped moving,” Dan said, as if he were the only one who’d noticed.
Nearly everyone on the passenger deck was on their feet and looking out the window, wondering what the problem could be.
The same crewman who’d been sarcastic earlier returned and was immediately hit with a barrage of questions. A cacophony of noise filled the room as the passengers demanded answers.
Raising his arms to quiet the crowd, Earl Jones spoke. “No worries, folks. These things happen from time to time. We’ll be on our way shortly.”
“Are you sure about that?” someone from the back shouted.
“Of course,” the crewman claimed dismissively. “These ferries run like clockwork.”
“Then what’s the holdup?” someone else asked.
He sighed, as if having to explain these matters was a drain on his energy. “It could be any number of things. The captain might have spotted a pod of orcas.”
The older woman who sat close to the little girl in pigtails dismissed that idea: “Not this time of year.”
