Chapter Twelve — Thereafter
Frankie and Finn stared in confusion at one another as they stood alone in the trash vault.
“What just happened?” Finn asked.
“And why am I holding a spoon?”
“Where are the kids? Did we somehow lose them when we jettisoned? … You don’t think they disintegrated, do you?”
“Noooooo, but I do think something happened … something good actually, but I can’t quite make out what. And I feel like I’ve been teleported by an Aetherean!”
“Same here! So what do we do now?”
“Push the exit button I guess?”
Finn shrugged. “We’re going to have to sooner or later.”
Frankie took tentative steps toward the green button labeled Emergency Open. He held his hand over the button for several seconds, then pushed. Both the metal and Aetherean crystal doors whooshed open to reveal the constable and his deputies who were just walking away.
Upon hearing the whoosh, the men turned back toward the vault.
“Arrest those men!” the constable shouted.
“On what charge?” Frankie called back from inside the vault.
“For kidnapping, among other things!”
“Kidnapping of whom?” Finn asked.
“Why, those three stowaways of course!”
Frankie took a step out of the vault, gesturing for the men to enter. “What stowaways? There are no stowaways here. See for yourself.”
“Don’t let those men out of your sight!” The constable marched into the vault and began tossing boxes and large pieces of trash around in search of the Robinsons. “Where are the children?!”
“Children?” said Finn. “It’s our understanding this is an adults-only cruise. No children allowed.”
“But I … where …” the constable stammered.
“Anything else, constable?” Frankie asked.
“You … how …”
“I thought not. Good day, gentlemen.” Frankie made a motion as if tipping his hat and ambled away with Finn.
“I want you off this ship!” The constable shouted. “I’ll see to it this is the last Alcoa cruise you ever take!”
“Fine by me,” Finn called back.
* * *
The constable’s threats were just that—threats. There was no way he could prove Frankie and Finn had done anything more than enter a trash vault—an area of the ship that was off-limits to passengers.
That evening, Frankie and Finn sat at the captain’s table once again, both pensive and reserved as they toyed with their food and wondered what had become of the children. The night was a festive one, as passengers learned the Korean ship concerns had been for naught. The vessel’s flag had been misidentified and was actually from Costa Rica. For their inconvenience, all guests were offered fifty percent off the cost of their next Alcoa cruise. And while the first-class diners followed dessert by dancing in a conga line, Frankie and Finn followed it by slogging back to their cabin, neither in the mood to celebrate.
“Don’t you think it’s odd that neither of us can remember?” Finn said the next morning as they moseyed to the gangway to disembark.
“Yes and no. I feel in my gut things worked out all right. And you know how big my gut is,” Frankie said with a chuckle. “It’s never wrong.”
“I feel it too … like we somehow saved them and delivered them somewhere they’ll be safe and happy. But … do you think we’ll ever see them again?”
“I have no idea. If we do though, I hope it’s on dry land!”
“May I get your autograph, Mr. Hudson?” asked a shy girl around nineteen years old.
“Sure. Got a pen?”
The girl instantly produced a cocktail napkin and a pen with the ship’s logo. Finn quickly signed, and the girl gamboled away.
“That pen reminds me of …” Finn trailed off.
“Of what?”
“I’m not sure actually … Say, you owe me twenty bucks by the way.”
“Oh?”
“I bet you when we first boarded we’d get kicked off the ship.”
Frankie clapped his friend on the shoulder. “How about since we don’t know what actually happened, we split the difference.”
“Fair enough. When we get back to campus you can pay me in ice cream … or pineapple.”
“You know, you owe me something too.”
Finn cocked his head. “I do?”
“Mmm hmmmm. You owe me a ‘you were right, Frankie.’”
“I’m sure I’ll regret asking, but right about anything in particular?”
“Pierina’s predictions. They all came true.”
“All two thousand or whatever of them?”
Frankie chuckled. “Most likely, yes. But I was talking about the ones I mentioned during our trip – fifteen, four-eighty-four, and five-o-seven. All three of them came to pass, just as she said, starting with the one about you.”
“Me?”
“Carta 507: A man of whiskers is not as he seems. On a voyage he will embark for many days, to nowhere and beyond. Think about it. That really is you! You were not as you seemed, on account of you’re an annoying teenager and not a movie star. And you went on a voyage to nowhere and beyond. The ship stayed put instead of going to its destination. It basically went nowhere. And as for the beyond … well that’s gotta mean whatever happened in the vault.”
“Whoaaaaaa,” Finn whispered as he smoothed down his faux moustache.
“Exactly! I’ll show you the other predictions in the book when we get back to campus.”
“I hope none of them spell doom and gloom for the kids.”
“They’ll be fine. Better than ever. I just know it.”
As they continued down the steep gangway, the strap of Frankie’s satchel slipped off his shoulder, and part of his showgirl costume fell out of the bag.
Finn guffawed. “You kept that?”
“Souvenir. Finn, ol’ mate, our memories may be missing a chunk or two, but you gotta admit, this is one holiday we’ll never forget.”
THE END