THE BOAT TRIP: Stampy And Squid

There and Back Again

TEN YEARS LATER

--SQUIDS POV--
I was on a plane to Adelaide.
Nicole, our three children and I were on the middle row of the jet. It was an 8 hour flight from Singapore to Adelaide.
Ollie, our eldest child, was ten years old now. He was watching some marvel movies on the TV, while my eight year old daughter Katie was watching some weird Disney animation. Meanwhile Cooper, who was three, was reading a book. Cooper was a unique kid, like all my kids, he learned to read before he was two- he had memorised every book written by Dr Zeus and right now he was reading 'George's Marvellous Medicine' by Roald Dahl. I hadn't a clue how my three year old son was almost as grammatically aware as me, a 39 year-old.

The reason that we were going to Adelaide was that I had to go to a funeral. After the boat trip Courtney Holt, our old boss, moved back to Adelaide because she loved it so much. Courtney died last week, it was expected, she had cancer, but all the same it was sad.
We arrived a day before the funeral so that we could settle in and adjust to the new time zone. I had rented a villa with a pool for three weeks, it was over the Christmas holidays so I didn't have to take the kids out of school.
Once we landed I rented a car, a five-seater ford pick-up truck, and I drove all the way to our house near the sea.
The kids fell asleep in the car, I took to the task of lifting Ollie and Katie through the door into the nearest bedroom I could find. Ollie slept on a single bed beside Katie. Once I was satisfied that they were asleep and safe I kissed their foreheads and walked into Nicole and my bedroom.
I lay down on the bed, pulling the covers over me.
"You alright?" Nicole asked me, slipping her hand into mine.
I nodded, remembering what happened to me ten years ago in Adelaide.
Cooper was tucked up between us, fast asleep. I petted his soft blonde hair.
"Do you think Joe will be here?" Nicole asked,
"Joe as in.. Stamps?" I asked, "God I haven't seen him since Katie was born."
"Do him and Beth have any kids?" Nicole wondered,
"No Beth took ill and can't have any." I said, "God stamps would be 40 now.."
"Sad about Beth- they don't still do YouTube do they?"
"Nah, Stamps quit shortly after he got married, he moved to LA and I think he works as a producer now for Disney."
"Wow he's done well for himself!" Nicole said, impressed,
"Well he always loved that sort of thing." I replied, remembering my old friend. "I'm sure he'll be here, Courtney had Joe's miscarriage. Remember that?"
"What- no?" Nicole said in shock, "when was this?!"
"That time when Joe and I were doing the Boat Trip- he was in Madagascar and I wasn't there... Yeah.. Apparently Courtney was there!" I sighed, rolling my eyes.
"She was so pretty, and so independent." Nicole sighed, "died too young.."
I nodded, we had some pretty fun times with Mrs Holt. It was hard to believe that.. She was actually gone.
"She pretended to be dead that one time." I reminisced, "me and Joe were on our way past Somalia and we completely freaked out. Some guy told us that she had died."
I shook my head, resting down on the pillow, my arms around Cooper, our little baby. I closed my eyes, a tear leaked down onto the pillow. I felt Nicole's nose brush against mine, I opened my mouth to meet her gentle lips, once we stopped kissing she wiped the tear away and nudged her hand into mine.

***

The morning was dull.
I got changed into a black suit and tie before waking the kids up and making them breakfast.
"What was Mrs Holt like?" Ollie asked, chewing his cereal.
"She was a good boss- well she was more of a friend than a boss. She-"
"What's a boss?" Cooper intruded, drinking a bottle of milk, trying to extend his vocabulary.
"A boss in someone who is in charge." I explained to him, "and you have to do what they tell you to or you lose your job." Cooper seemed satisfied with this explanation.
After we finished breakfast, I took to the task of getting the kids changed, Ollie looked remarkably cute in his mini suit and tie. Meanwhile Katie wore a black dress with a navy cardigan. Cooper.. Well, he wore a tuxedo of course.
While Nicole made up her face I was doing my hair. Ollie walked into the bathroom as I worked some hair gel through my greying hair.
"Hey, you wanna have some?" I asked him, Ollie smiled, he was becoming a 'big boy' now.
I stood behind him, putting some gel in his hair and brushing it backwards into a neat quiff.
"Oh Ollie you look very smart." Nicole complimented, applying her lipstick. Ollie couldn't stop looking at himself in the mirror. "And you look beautiful Katie." She added as Katie danced into the room in her dress. Cooper waddled promptly into where we all were.
"It's hot!" He exclaimed, making all four of us laugh.
"It is!" I responded, all of us were so amused at how intelligent our baby boy was.