Travel Reference
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rags a cute, little, ginger-colored kitten, all ears and paws, meowing fit to be tied now that
it was awake.
“Where on earth did you get that, Liz?”
“Found her at the restaurant, someone had left her in a box, and she was crying so pitifully;
I just couldn't leave her. I knew you would want a companion; do you mind?” She looked
at me with eyes so blue in the yard's yellow security lights, her blonde hair spilling over
the bandana she had about her neck.
“Oh Liz,” I said, taking her hand, “of course I will take the kitty, but I am so cut up about
you. I just can't think straight. My heart is breaking; don't you feel anything for me any-
more?” I asked her, feeling so pathetic and weak.
“Jon, I do. I am also confused, and you must know I have a boyfriend on the mainland.”
“Yes, I know, it's Al, isn't it?” I answered blandly.
“Yes, he is coming back next week. I just heard today. I'm sorry.”
“If you knew he was coming back why did you play with me like this?” I said, getting
angry.
“Oh come on Jon, I was not sure where Al and I were headed. Haven't you ever had a fling
before?” she said, her voice hardening slightly.
“You mean all along I was just 'a fling'?” I asked, taken aback.
“Oh Jon, stop being so melodramatic; you had to have known it was just an experience.
You must have had similar experiences, you, a worldly sailor?”
“So I was just a bloody experience to you,” I stared miserably across the harbor, seeing
clearly the stark, ugly, industrial boatyard with all the foul-smelling paint and fiberglass
and ignorant yard hands and power-tripping management. It all seemed to close in on me
and go sour in an instant.
“I'm tired. I need to go,” she had a pinched look about her, and her irritation was thinly
veiled.
“Yeah right, bye,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh for Christ's sake!” she spat out at me, “Stop being such a damn weirdo! I'm sorry I
hurt your feelings Jon, goodnight!” She grabbed her backpack and hastily climbed down
the ladder, disappearing into the gloom of the quiet yard. I heard the clatter of her oars
across the stillness of the water and visualized rather than saw her rowing back to her boat.
I pulled a sleeve across my wet eyes, sniffed, and went below, taking the bundle of kitten
