Page 7 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
Eivind shrugged and set the plate down on the table. He disappeared back into the boat to return a few moments later with a jar of jam and a knife.
“Hey!” a lightly accented voice called out from below. “Thief! That’s my jam.”
“My boat, my jam,” said Eivind. He sat across from me and tucked into his brekkie.
A woman walked up the stairs holding another plate with a piece of toast and some cut-up fruit. She put her free hand on her hip. “It is not your boat.”
Eivind smirked at her. “Then it is not my jam.”
The woman huffed at Eivind and used her free hand to ruffle what little hair Eivind had. She sat down next to him cross-legged and put her plate in her lap. “Who is this?”
“Lila, Marcella. Marcella, Lila.”
Marcella was leggy and older than the rest of us. Her tanned skin and light accent led me to guess she came from Italy or Spain.
As Marcella dug into her breakfast, Jonas set aside his plate and turned to face me.
“So, the canal.”
I clasped my hands together in front of me. “Yes.”
“As you know, we need five people total; the captain, which is me, and four linehandlers,ja?”
I nodded. I’d read what to expect online in blog posts, so this information was not new.
“We will discuss the configurations today with the officials,” he went on, “and we will be assigned a date soon. It is a two-day trip, and you would be departing from our boat in La Playita Marina on the other side of the canal. This is good?”
“Yes, so far so good. Will you want me to chip in for food?”
Jonas waved the question away. “For one night, it is fine.”
“I can cook? I know you have to feed the canal officer dinner.”
Jonas gestured his mug toward Marcella before taking a sip. “Marcella is our chef—and a professional—so she cooks all our meals.”
Around a mouthful of brekkie, Marcella interjected, “You can clean, though.”
“Of course. Where will I sleep?” I eyed the cushions around the cockpit. Sometimes the linehandlers—even the professional ones—slept out in the cockpit at night.
“Yes, where is she going to sleep?” Eivind cocked his head at his brother.
Jonas cleared his throat. “She will sleep in the crew cabin with Marcella.”
Eivind and Marcella exchanged looks I couldn’t read. “Then where will Elayna sleep?”
“She’ll stay in my cabin.” Jonas avoided meeting his brother’s gaze, and Marcella watched the two carefully. When neither took the conversation further, Marcella ignored them and smiled at me. “We have bunk beds, like a slumber party.”
I set my mug down. “Okay, hold on. Jonas and Elayna are . . .” There was a lot of avoiding eye contact and squirming, while Eivind smirked at Marcella. “Complicated?”
“Ah . . . yes,” Jonas confirmed.
I turned to Eivind and Marcella. “What about you two?”
The smug smile on Eivind’s face slipped to mock horror. “Ew.”
Marcella gasped as Jonas rolled his eyes. “Ew? You would be lucky to have me, youidiota!” She pinched his side.
“You’re old enough to be my mother,heks!”
