Rugadh Seabhac

Chapter 22

The electrical fitting of the ship was a complex affair that lasted well into December, with constant coming and going between the fitter's team, the scientist's demands and the engineer's requirements, I had a basic gym installed on board and some recreational areas where there was space enough. I equipped and decorated my cabins to my whims, I had the coffee machine replaced with a samovar, so I could have tea at the ready all the time and literally pillaged the bookstores of the capital to fill the shelves in the lounge, Meabh sent me a miniature reproduction of the figurehead designed with the help of Steven that I installed in the flat with no little amount of pride, it too was becoming more me, that large sterile flat with open spaces and clear minimalist surfaces and furnitures had started to look more and more like a home inhabited by someone who had a personality and not just a magazine page from some austere design decoration publication. I also refined my knowledge of my very own tastes, like I did with wines: I liked fruity whites and sweet wines, Italian sparkling reds like Barberas and Portuguese full bodied reds. I have a sweet tooth, licorice and like smoked meats and fish a lot, although I can't digest herring and have a strong intolerance for fennel, don't care much for spicy food or hot sauce, but I am fond of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla, star anise and cardamom. Oh, and I like soup and cheese. Aliocha was fascinated by all these discoveries particularly the violent fennel aversion. He insisted I wasn't allergic but damn it felt like I was dying. Oh, and I don't like chocolate, that thing is foul, but toffee and fudge are my kryptonite.

I returned to Temple View House several time, always riding the bike, I had grown fond of the sensation and the freedom it instilled, there was no little amount of danger in riding motorbikes in Ireland in winter so I had to send group texts to Rory, Aliocha and Sinead and very often Nisse when I reached my destination safe. I went fishing a couple of time with the Shamrock again, Chris had shown them the pictures of the Marujirushi and its spanking new figurehead, Peter and Alexander were already making plans to get one done for the Shamrock to celebrate when it'll be theirs. Daniel approached me to ask if he could get a couple of guys to work on board with the full season coming and it being a lucky ship now and thing being what they were and all that. I checked with Sinead but legal came back saying that as long as they were temping and not cut in the deal it changed nothing. I told him to do what he felt was needed. It seem that the Shamrock wasn't the only ship of the Irish Atlantic seaboard to have had a bad owner and quite a few sailors, fishermen had been left stranded on land with little prospects and even less money. Chris came to me several evenings to chat, he was worried about Rory's feelings, the distance between the two wasn't helping he was wondering why they still hadn't done it, he knew Rory was gagging for it (he used a more elegant expression) as he was but they just spent their time kissing, I tried to make him understand that Rory coming from social care like he was and homes and what else was not used to having his own intimacy. There was a clear delayed development in the emotional or affect part of his personality, he hadn't been raised by a loving mother like Chris had been, he had only known rejection, abandon and institutionalization. The damages done to his psyche would run deep and needed on his part an investment that bare thinking about with a calm rational mind which I wasn't sure Chris could do in his current besotted state. And there was the part about picking his life up from the ruts he had driven it into and trying to make something of it.

I met the guys, Brian and Raymond they were bright eyed and jovial lads happy to be given something to do with their days and a pay to top it, I played the part of the fishing boss while Daniel directed the mock interviews, he had insisted on, it was good for them to meet me and feel like it was a real job, which it was, he did not want slackers on board, I told him that if these two did not work out he could select any other he felt he needed I had opened a budget line for temping positions on board.