Halloween in the Mess

We are heading south now, down the coast of Mexico, towards Panama. And it is Halloween.

I had not expected Halloween at sea to be a thing. I was wrong. Elena had pumpkins sent aboard in Long Beach with the stores, along with what Marco described as "decorations" and what Tiny described as "trouble".

The pumpkin

Tiny carved the pumpkin. Of course he did. He did it in the galley with a very sharp knife and great concentration, and when he had finished, there on the side of it, lit by a candle, was our ship. Bridge, containers, waves and all. It is the most accurate pumpkin I have ever seen. Yuki checked the number of container bays and said it was "close enough", which from Yuki is a standing ovation.

It sat on the galley counter all evening, glowing. At one point Container sat behind it, and her shadow rose up on the wall behind, enormous, ears and all, and Marco screamed. Genuinely screamed. We have it on film, because he was filming himself at the time.

Costumes

There was a party in the mess after dinner, with costumes, which were not compulsory but which everyone had clearly been planning for days.

Marco came as a ghost, in a bedsheet. It was very well ironed.

Yuki came as a cat, with paper ears and drawn on whiskers, and spent the evening sitting very still in places he was not wanted, which was an extremely accurate performance.

Big Kev came as himself, in his loud Hawaiian shirt. When asked what he was, he said, "The most frightening thing on this ship." Nobody argued.

Tiny came as a pirate, with an eyepatch and a cardboard cutlass, and was so convincing that Daniel the cadet would not stand near him.

Elena did not wear a costume. She said she was dressed as the cook. This was received with total respect.

I came as a passenger. Hard hat, high visibility vest, binoculars around my neck, and an expression of polite bewilderment. Several people said it was the most realistic costume in the room.

The coincidence

Priya came in last. She was wearing a simple dark dress, her hair pinned up, a small ribbon at her throat, and she was carrying a single red rose.

It took me a moment. Then it took me another moment.

"Tatiana Romanova," I said. "From Russia with Love."

"I have no idea what you mean," she said, perfectly calmly. "It is just a dress."

"You are dressed as a Bond girl."

"It is a coincidence," she said. And then she handed me the rose, and said, "You may hold this. You are dressed as a passenger, and passengers do not get roses, so do not lose it," and walked off to get a drink.

Tiny, standing near me in his eyepatch, said quietly, "That was not a coincidence." I said I knew. He said he knew I knew. Then he went to frighten Daniel.

The pie

At around ten, Elena called for quiet, and Marco brought out a small covered plate and placed it in front of me with a bow.

I knew. The whole room knew. Elena lifted the cover. On the plate was a key lime pie. A single portion. One person, one pie. The exact twin of my birthday pie.

"Trick or treat," said Elena.

"Is it a trick or a treat?"

"That depends," she said, "on whether you share it."

There was a long, heavy silence in the mess. Every face turned towards me. Even Container, sitting under the table, seemed to be waiting.

I looked at the pie. I looked at Priya, across the room, holding a drink and watching me over the top of it.

And I ate the pie. All of it. Slowly. Alone.

The room erupted. Big Kev banged the table. Tiny laughed his foredeck laugh. Priya shook her head at me with an expression of deep, fond disappointment, which I am learning to recognise as one of her nicest faces.

Some things, I explained afterwards, do not change, whatever the costume.

Late

Priya found me on the deck later, still holding the rose. We are off Baja California, and the night is warm again, warm enough to stand outside without a jacket for the first time since Asia.

"You did not lose it," she said.

"I was told not to."

"Good," she said. And then she took the rose back, tucked it into the front of my high visibility vest, patted it once, and went to her cabin.

I am writing this with the rose in a mug of water on my desk. Container is asleep beside it, with her face, inevitably, about four inches from where mine will be.