Page 60 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
“Sure. Sleep while we can. If you cannot sleep, just rest.”
We moved down to our cabin, stripped off our clothes, and climbed into bed. I fell asleep instantly.
Twenty-Seven
Eivind shook me awake. The cabin was lit with a golden light coming in from the edges of the swinging curtain.
“Dinner is ready.”
Elayna ate up in the cockpit since she was on watch, but Eivind and I joined the rest of the crew in the main salon. Marcella served a cold rice salad. We ate quietly, everyone still waking up from their naps.
“Sunset time!” Elayna called down.
Eivind had explained that it was a ritual they kept on passage: dinner was served thirty minutes before sunset and then everyone sat out on deck to see the sun go down. It was one of the rare times the crew was all up and together while out at sea.
The sun slipped below the horizon, and I surveyed the ocean around us. We could no longer see land. There was nothing but the sea and the sky, three hundred and sixty degrees around us.
We stayed out on deck, watching the clouds bloom. When the colors peaked and started to darken, we trooped back downstairs. Eivind peeled off to go to sleep—his watch started at ten, so he hoped to sleep a few hours before then. Jonas was due to go on watch soon, and he spent some time downloading the weather. Marcella and I washed the small number of dishes from dinner.
I got the bowls clean, but my mind somersaulted—or was it my eyes? I stopped and bent over, leaning my head against the counter.
“Lila?”
“I’m okay. Just a little woozy.”
Marcella patted my back. “You should go up top and look out at the horizon. That will help.”
I stumbled toward the companionway and crawled up the stairs and onto the nearest cushion. I turned to look out over the water, and the fresh breeze on my face instantly brought my mind and stomach back into alignment. There was only a bare hint of sunset left. The moon was up and mostly full, casting enough light to illuminate everything around us. I laid my head down on my arm and looked at the moon sideways.
The fiberglass around me glowed red for a moment: Elayna’s headlamp.
“Lila.” She stroked my hair tenderly. “You aren’t feeling well?”
I shrugged. Marcella came up the stairs behind me and the two women murmured together.
“Here,” Elayna said. “Drink some water and eat some of these cookies.”
I sat up a little and she handed me a cup of chilled water. I nibbled the cookies, and the ginger was sharp on my tongue.
“Tank oo,” I said around a cookie.
“It’s nothing.”
I fell asleep while she stroked my hair.
* * *
I woke up to more murmuring behind me. This time the two voices were male: Eivind and Jonas quietly doing the shift handover.
“Eivind?”
“Hey, darling. How are you feeling?”
I shoved some hair out of my face and turned over. He had his headlamp on and in his hand, the red light pointing down at the floor.
“Better.”
“Ja? You ate some ginger cookies?”
