WOODY PAUL GREY
CHAPTER ONE
DEPARTURE
George McLain was undoubtedly the most handsome guy youve ever met middle aged, fairly tall, in good shape for a man of his age, blue eyed, bald headed, clean shaven, casually dressed in a faded pair of blue jeans, red velvet shirt with a button down collar, wearing dark sumptuous glasses, brown leather cowboy boots and a light grey, wooly, widebrimmed hat. At first sight he was instantly recognizable as a playboy, or, at least, a ladys man.
He energetically got out of the burning hot yellow taxi, took a deep breath, keen to stretch his slightly swollen legs, grasped and lifted easily his humble luggage, consisting of one middle-size suitcase respectfully handed him by the courteous driver, left the latter a generous tip and walked away with a light quick step towards the luxury cruise liner Avalon, brightly glittering in the light of the blazing hot sun, firmly moored to the tremendous jetty, overshadowing big and small, old and new boats, ships and yachts floating around.
A huge black chimney on the top of the giant voyager was hardly smoking - a true sign that the enormous ocean going vessel was getting ready for the start of an around the world journey.
In a little while, dragging on the wheels his only suitcase the newcomer hastily climbed the broad, steep staircase to the upper deck, disregarding the up-to-date elevator, quickly found his state room next to the open-air swimming pool and a shortened running track.
George hadnt the slightest desire to wait until the crew of this fabulous ship would slowly weigh out the immense anchor with the help of the powerful engine and then sluggishly pull away from the friendly shore, before eagerly stepping down into the snug transparent bathroom to take a life-giving, relaxing, hot shower first he went to bed.
Soon after he fell into a deep sweet dream the ocean liner noisily beeped three times, gracefully left the welcoming sea-port and sometime later absolutely vanished out of sight beyond the faraway horizon.
His naked body was slowly sinking down into the ocean depth easily overcoming the natural gravity that should push him out as his lungs were completely filled with the air and his mouth closed.
His eyes were wide opened and grasped every single object passing by: small, microscopic species, fishes-colorful, various, sharks, dolphins, even enormous whales. The water here was so clean that he could see every detail so distinctly as if he were outside, on the Earth. His skin was feeling quite comfortable and strangely he didn`t experience the desire to breath. The water was rather warm. He tried to stop the sinking. All in vain. Some unknown power was pushing him down and down. It was rather deep and his ears didn`t ache at all. Soon the fishes disappeared, leaving behind hardly visible species and the light actually went off. But still he could see a little bit, quite enough to feel safe. It looked like hours have passed since the sinking began. And suddenly came the bottom of the ocean, he guessed, that felt like the softest bed. So he eventually fell asleep, so deep, sweet and relaxing.
Next morning George woke up very early, so early that undoubtedly he was the only person on the ship staying awake. He felt absolutely relaxed, full of energy, in a great mood and extremely starving. The man instinctively glanced leftwards and there he saw a basket of fruits. Awesome! He grasped it to put right beside him, took an apple and next moment his teeth bit into a ripe juicy piece of fruit. After having satisfied his first hunger George looked rightwards through the porthole and saw the boundless ocean.
He took the hot shower, put on his T-shirt, shorts and a pair of sneakers and went out to start his jogging exercises. It was so early that he was the only one doing sport. The ocean air was so fresh, clean and cool. He started jogging and it was such a fun. So easy, so light, so fast. He never exercised the feeling of that kind earlier. He didn`t count the circles this time, but definitely it was quite a lot. After he put off the shirt, shorts and sneakers and jumped into the pool. He expected the water would be cooler, but at least it was salty. He swam for an hour or so, before he got absolutely exhausted. Then the man went out. He took a shower in his stateroom and went to bed again.
He woke up right before the breakfast time. George put on his white suit, a shirt and a tie, not to mention, the loafers and the socks of the same color, of course, and went to the restaurant right downstairs. The hall was really huge and quite overcrowded. He found his table with the help of a young, beautiful waitress. As soon as he comfortably sat down he noticed from the opposite side of the restaurant a stunning lady half dressed, meaning that there were so little cloths on her that she looked half naked, walking hastily in his direction. George actually liked her from the first sight. On the other hand, he noticed that half of the women present here hated her from the first moment. And there she was breathing heavily as though being afraid that some other woman would come up earlier.
- Would you mind, if I sit down at your table? she was really beautiful tall, slender, with long blond hair dressed in white. The woman now calmed down. She was waiting
- Not at all. - George jumped out to his feet, rushed to her side, took away her chair, and helped her to sit comfortably in front of him.
- Hi! My name`s Sophia, Sophia Langley. You may call me Sophie. And what is your name? sweetly smiling the lady definitely was flirting with him from the very first minute.
- It`s George McLain. You may call me George. strange as it may seem, he felt a little embarrassed and his face might get flashy that was totally not the way he usually behaved.
- Nice to meet you, George! By the way, did you notice how I was running across the hall to capture you in time. You are such a catch among all those old, fat pigs. now the women, as much excited as he, got flashy as well, but on the contrary didn`t hide it at all to demonstrate how she adores him.
- Oh, yeah! It was quite a race. You made it. Did you notice that nobody except you pay attention to my humble personality? he now felt more confident, nearly the way he usually does.
- Never mind. I`m the winner. Tell me everything about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do? What are you doing up here? What are you up to? her eyes were burning of curiosity.
- Wow. Hold on lady. Not so fast. I guess, you aren`t a bloody journalist. I hate them so much. for a moment he really thought that she might be some sort of news lady.
- Nothing of the kind. Don`t worry. Do I look like the one?- asked she curiously.
- No, you don`t. And that`s good. You know I`m here to do my job and interested to preserve my confidentiality. Got it?
- Oh, yeah. I see. I don`t mind. But I guess, we can?
- Oh, yes. We can, of course. But first let`s have some breakfast. I`m starving.
- Not me. But I can have a salad, at least. What about you?-
- Well, today I need some substantial meal - meat, white meat, of course and fish.
Actually while on the board I plan to switch exclusively to ocean food.
- Go ahead. I guess, you`ll need a lot of calories soon. she assumed thoughtfully.
The food was excellent and it was worth every penny he has paid for this cruise. The restaurant, furniture, design, the liner itself everything was superb, as he expected. Now, after the man satisfied his appetite a little bit he looked around to see who was on the board. As the man thought there were mainly the elderly, disabled couples, who saved cash for such a journey for the half of their life. Of course there were others, some very young - 18-20 years old students, he guessed. Then there were middle-aged people of both sex, some couples, singles, a few ladies like Sophie, looking for the partners for quick sex, though not so catchy as she was.
The breakfast was over.
- So, George. What shall we do now?- asked the woman meaningfully.
- We both know, Sophie, that now we`ll go to my cabin and do some sport, shall we? - the man felt himself in his shoes now, as always.
- I prefer to call it love. Do you mind? it was her trivial game, I presume, which she used to attract the attention of her potential sex partner.
- Not at all. As you like it.- he preferred to agree in the situation like this one.
They got out to their feet, she grabbed his hand, as though being afraid that some lady can steel him from her, and they left the crowded place.
In a minute they were both in his bed. Sophie was really hot, sweet, loving and gentle and most importantly not annoying of what he was so much afraid of from the very beginning of their meeting. Always tried to avoid women of that kind. Though it`s sort of difficult from the very beginning to distinguish women of the kind.
When they were done Sophie left his room quietly. He liked it. No attachments whatsoever. Just sex. Now it was time for work. He came here actually to study the ocean, it`s inhabitants, the life beneath the surface of the ocean.
He reminded the night dream. It felt so good to get down. But he knew exactly that only when the person dies and the lungs are filled with water the dead body is sinking down swiftly. But when you`re alive it`s not so easy to get down. And the deeper the ocean the higher the blood pressure. On the bottom your body could just explode. Even the diving suit doesn`t protect you from the pressure. Only expensive, usually military submarines, can survive on such depths. That`s the idea a submarine, some scientific one, for instance, as he decided to research the ocean.
He doesn`t know yet whether there`s a library here. There must be, as there`s no internet on the ship whatsoever.
The passenger liner was currently in the North Atlantics heading towards Great Britain. So, it all starts right here.
Of course there was a library and it was really an extraordinary one. It reminded him his first visit with his dad, when he was a kid, to the Congress State Library in Washington D.C.
Huge ancient halls with high ceilings the walls colorfully painted by famous artists of different ages. And then rows of metal, solid racks with shelves full of books: ancient, modern, new and very old, thick and thin with hardback and paper cover, big and small.
TO BE CONTINUED...
