Cat, the deckhand

I woke up soaked with anxiety. Somehow I always get myself into these situations: Other people are counting on me to do a good job and I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing, nor any sense of what’s good and what’s not, and I don’t even know if I’m physically capable of the tasks at hand.

Not to mention that the first and only time I met my new boss, it was after he had had SEVERAL too many drinks and kept loosing his keys in Maria’s lap. (He actually proclaimed upon arrival at Hotel Giscle that night that he “felt like a shag…”)

Thankfully Tony gave me a quick lesson last night about boats to supplement the knowledge I’ve gained through 1) Pirate movies; 2) Taking one day trip with Halsey Herreshof; 3) Dating a man whose family was obsessed with sailing; 4) Irish drinking songs; and 5) knowing Tony and his boating friends for three years (I can even put the cover on the new boat now!). The moment I arrived on board, my boss said: “Oh, just run to the foredeck and grab the fenders for me.” A couple years ago that would have been a foreign language; today, I followed his directions promptly.

I’m too exhausted to recount the details. But I survived the labor and the awkward weighted silences where both my boss and I were thinking of his ludicrous behavior Wednesday night and refusing to acknowledge any of it.

Our biggest job – on which we spent almost the entire day – was to scrub the decks in all parts of the ship. While tackling the first deck, the one on top, he came over to my half of the boat with a puzzled look.

“What is it?” I asked, my fingers numb with fear… and blisters.

“I don’t know why your side is coming out all streaky.”

Me neither, but I could guess: I have no idea what I’m doing.

Just then, Tony came on board. “Tony,” I whispered, “I’m clueless.”

He looked around with his careful boating eye and said, “Don’t worry. So is your boss.”


The rest of the day passed a lot quicker. We scrubbed and scrubbed. We rinsed, we wiped, we dried. It was exhausting and painful. We also put pillowcases on pillows, which felt like much safer and familiar territory.

At 5:00pm, he stared at the boat and offered me a beer. “Thanks for a great day; you were a lot of help.”

I guess I can clean after all.