Factor one: Jack
Jack Willis was quarantined. He was stuck on a cruise ship with more people than had lived in his hometown growing up. He and the rest of his fellow passengers and crew members were all coronavirus free, so far as could be determined, save the captain and a pretty bartender he was rumored to be sharing his bunk with. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlni6Lc9sXX
All those people and he saw none, with the exception of the crazy old coot in the stateroom next to his who would occasionally stick his head around the partition separating the balconies and stare. After a minute or so he’d say, “Hey,” and then disappear if his wife didn’t wack him first and jerk him back on their side before he was ready. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVMcOJqfbN
He occasionally saw the backs of the staff members who left trays of cold food or clean linens and towels as well. None of the towels were folded into cute little animals anymore and the trays were more likely to hold peanut butter than lobster. No one had cleaned his suite in the two weeks since they’d docked, including him.
They were at anchor almost within jumping distance of an abandoned industrial dock in the Kingston Commercial Terminal on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica. His view from his balcony, extensive at twenty plus feet as cruise ship balconies go, was of stacked dumpsters. They had not been abandoned long enough to lose their odor.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0gv2bkGds
Jack was in the honeymoon suite, heart shaped bed and all. The ridiculously gaudy stateroom had cost him almost two months pay, no less. The best part of it, the topper on the cake, was that he was alone in the room.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZMSchF8lP
Exactly three weeks ago was his wedding day. The church was decorated just as his fiancée had so meticulously specified. His tuxedo was uncomfortably spectacular, as were those of the groomsmen.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhi1WRTFcp
The bridesmaids dresses were actually pretty, and pretty revealing; a detail he wisely omitted when discussing them with his fiancée. His only comment on them, so far as he could recall, was that he liked the type of lace that lined the bust line. He couldn’t remember what it was called, or even what it looked like, for that matter. The fact that the bust line was daringly low wasn’t part of the discussion, to his undeniable relief, with either his fiancée or mother-in-law to be.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihbahNq7cy
The endless hours of planning, almost all over details he couldn’t have cared less about, were finally over. The incredibly repetitive and unbelievably tedious trips to sample cakes, interview photographers and videographers, discuss floral themes, all of which she’d insisted he be a part of were behind him. All that had been left was the wedding. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4l0x0ergyO
When the time finally arrived he just wanted to get it over with, to move on to the happily ever after. Sadly never after proved to be a better description of the situation, however. His bride-to-be of a two and a half year engagement, it had taken that long to plan the pompous event, didn’t show. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodNdNDJ5G9
At least she hadn’t literally left him at the alter. She texted him the night before. Apologizing, she simply said she’d changed her mind. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNygWPVdO0I
By the time he’d seen the text she’d blocked his number. He was blocked by her family members too. Phones, social media, everything; the ties had literally been cut the night before they were to be knotted. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ707cq7TLzQ
He finally managed to get in touch with a friend of her’s who hadn’t cut him off. She told him she’d gone with her parents on a trip to Australia they’d planned for right after the wedding but had moved up a couple of days when his — What was she exactly, his ex? — changed her mind about the wedding and decided to go with them instead. The friend was as dumbfounded by her actions as he was, however, and could offer no clues to explain what she had done except to say, “Well, she had always been a little nuts.”541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPSVkgqfsO
He was completely blindsided. How did he not see this coming? He’d been asking himself that question since reading the text, and was no closer to a sensible answer.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblzvBuBh08
At least her family bathed in hundred dollar bills and had paid for everything but the cruise. Where all those bathtub bills came from he was still a little unsure about even now, though. Something about a startup on the west coast gobbled up for gobs of money by a bigger cash cow, but the subject always seemed to get turned to other matters before more than that was revealed. He had supposed he would learn the family secrets after the wedding. In hindsight he had to admit the glare from those shiny new bills and the lifestyle they presented may have blinded him a bit and had a dilatorius effect on his judgment.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDAhKhTe5A
At any rate, despite her family’s objections he’d insisted on paying for the honeymoon. When he realized that it was going to be a first class three week cruise in the honeymoon sweet of Premier Cruises’ newest and most exclusive super-liner he nearly fell over dead after seeing the price tag, notwithstanding his unequivocal commitment.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuh3xFP4Kq
He didn’t buy refundable tickets of course, or any kind of vacation insurance. He couldn’t if he’d wanted to. The passage itself maxed both of his credit cards and all he could borrow from his 401K.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvyrczVY1V
He had to go, and wanted to, if he were truly honest with himself. He’d taken the time off work and really didn’t want to walk in Monday morning having to explain why he wasn’t enjoying his new wife’s company aboard the world’s newest, largest and gaudiest ocean liner. It gave him three weeks before he had to face everyone after what happened. He figured he’d mope his way through the Caribbean for the better part of a month and come back a better man for it, or at least one who’d come up with some answers to the myriad of questions he’d certainly face when he got back home.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUcP5m6Ce6
And that is how Jack Willis found himself quarantined in a suite he couldn’t afford aboard a ship that didn’t suit his casual ‘you be you and I’ll be me’ personality.’ He’d watched every movie and rerun the ships TV had to offer. He’d read every pamphlet about the places they wouldn’t be going, every instruction on what to do if they needed to abandon ship and board the lifeboats, even if they were ten feet from a dock. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qL6EfIhDh
At least the proximity to land ensured phone reception and decent ship-wide wifi. He was thankful he’d decided against smuggling in a bottle of Gentleman Jack. Clients tended to gift Jack ‘Gentlemen Jack’ rather often, each apparently thinking the pun their unique idea. He had more bottles than he would drink in his lifetime and so tended to regift them to other clients, turning the pun on its end.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0stgtMmB8X
The absence of the bottle left room in the single bag he’d brought onboard for his laptop, on which he clicked an icon labeled ‘random video chat.’ He looked out the glass door at the dirty green dumpsters and mumbled, “Please don’t be another crotch,” as he pushed the button on his travel sized bluetooth mouse.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSpmgUZJG4
Factor 2: Jill
Jill Johansson sat in her tiny sixteenth floor Washington Heights efficiency apartment. It was more like a hotel room with a microwave, hotplate and a toaster oven, but it was in Manhattan. It was advertised as having a Hudson River view, though you’d need X-ray vision to see through the pipe, at least six feet around, that she could touch it she reached a little through the only window. The pipe made odd sounds at times. She decided she didn’t want to know why.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJho4aL9F0
Moving to the Big Apple hadn’t been an easy decision. She’d heard the mantra, ‘If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere,’ of course, but never really expected to be there. Now that she really was, that mantra scared her to death.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOmpNBDKI8
She’d gone to a small third rate college in Texas, not far from her hometown. She majored, against the wishes and advice of practically everyone she knew, in fashion design. Blow back was to be expected, of course, and it came like a strong Texas wind.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfAPWNJjvZJ
“Be a teacher,” her mama pleaded. “You’re so good with children. They all love you.”541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jWS5jBiY4
“No no,” her papa would interject. “You should be a nurse,” he would say. “You’ll always be able to find a good job if your a nurse. Besides, there’s good money in nursin’. You play your cards right, open you one of them home health rackets like what takes care of Granny and you could be the family’s first millionaire.” He would work himself up every time he gave her that spiel, nodding vigorously and ending with, “Yep, you should be a nurse.”541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFuN0eOmyG
Answers like, “I don’t really think I have the patience for teaching,” or, “The sight of blood makes me pass out,” had little effect on Jill’s parents, so she stopped giving them. She wasn’t made to be a confrontational person and felt no shame in avoiding it.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRWaWM9Nwy
She did, however, make sure each college she considered offered a degree in, or at least relating to, fashion design. Jill had known that was what she wanted to do ever since she was given an art project in eleventh grade dealing with the subject. She hadn’t even gotten an A on her work, but then again she’d known Ms.Jacobs, her art teacher, wasn’t much good even then.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LekYLF3RB
She enrolled in the college of her parents’ choice, registering for classes with their assistance that included both education 101 and biology. The day she moved into the dorm she went to her advisor and changed her major to art with an emphasis in fashion design. She dropped the education and biology classes and never looked back.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVw8rYgSdVY
Their wasn’t much her parents could do about it except tell her she was crazy, which they regularly did. She paid for school, books, her dorm room and meal ticket with a combination of a partial academic scholarship, Pell grants and student loans. She bought her car, clothes and other necessities working as a convenience store clerk, then waiting tables.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3hSRGpHCn
She even worked tables at Hooters for a while until a kid in a little league uniform pinched her behind at the urging of his dad. She slapped the dad then poured his latest beer over his head, the result of which was her immediate firing. Half the place clapped, including most of the waitresses, as she left, head held high. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDOTFchA2X
She ended up serving drinks on the floor of an Indian casino just across the border in Oklahoma. Her behind got plenty of attention there as well, pinched patted and slapped more times than she could count. But at least the groping was done by grown men acting like children and not kids in little league uniforms. Besides, the tips were much better too.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Rlnv7eeQb
She worked hard and graduated with honors, then asked herself, “What in the hell do I do now?” It wasn’t a facetious question. There wasn’t exactly a big market for fashion designers on the wind swept plains of Texas. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCoqxkpLe1
She sent portfolios and resumes along with transcripts and letters of recommendation to fashion houses in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. She also sent them to the great fashion houses of New York and even London, though she didn’t tell anyone about those. She waited anxiously, but didn’t give up her job getting pinched for tips just yet.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVAAMgk7VR
Jill waited for nearly three months, months in which she’d received exactly zero contacts from any of her applications. Hope was fading fast as she continued to serve drinks to profligate gamblers and their wandering hands.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTbUM8MfUv
Then, just as her well of hope had nearly been exhausted, Jill got a letter not from any of the houses with whom she’d applied, but from a small boutique house in Midtown Manhattan at the edge of the garment district she’d never heard of. The letter stated that her portfolio and resume had been passed down from one of the better known larger houses to the one addressing her now, with the notation that her style would be a perfect fit for their operation.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZXxDr7IPe
The first thing Jill Johansson did after reading the letter was google the place to see if it even existed. The second thing she did was strip off her waitress uniform, throw on some shorts and a t-shirt and cut up the ruffled red pantaloons and black gartered stockings that served as the bottom half of her uniform. After that she’d called in sick. She’d been offered a job.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaemV1OZjzT
Scared out of her wits, not knowing if she’d actually go through with it until her car was packed with everything she owned worth taking and she was on the road headed northeast, she took the job site unseen. “What did she have to lose, really?” She’d asked herself. “A job serving drinks in her underwear with the possibility of dealing blackjack someday if she did favors for the right manager she wasn’t willing to do?”541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRlnlQM1zR
Jill was going to NYC. She was going to make her mark on the world, dressing it exceptionally well.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLl9gmipec
She’d found her crappy and incredibly expensive little apartment and started her job that really couldn’t pay for the rent, food and the necessities of life. She’d been working two weeks and was totally lost, but hadn’t been fired.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFlS9sVjuu
Then she’d been told to go home and stay there. She’d be given work to do from home if any could be found. No work came, of course. She didn’t yet know what she was doing at the shop, much less how to do it in her apartment. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweDsrvCwV7
Her paycheck continued to be directly deposited into her bank account thanks to Uncle Sam’s efforts to keep people on payrolls even while he strongly urged them to stay home. The paychecks meant she could eat. She ordered takeout, watched a lot of Netflix in her pajamas and made infrequent trips to the bodega on the bottom floor of her building. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZP4Oreou0
On her last trip down Jill noticed a stray kitten almost get squashed not just once, but twice, as it gnawed at something in the road. She impulsively ran out and scooped up the protesting little cat and carried it back into the bodega. With it hissing, clawing and biting her hand from the coat pocket into which she’d stuffed it, she bought a small litter box and the necessary associated supplies along with a stack of ninety-nine cent cans of tuna.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIem5YyGFZ
And that’s how Jill Johansson found herself quarantined in an apartment she couldn’t afford, alone except for a wild cat sleeping off a can of tuna after exhausting itself attacking its savior. She was loathe to admit it, but she missed her Texas winds and its comforting moan.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7acVLsnppc
Sitting in the only chair she owned in front of a folding table, she opened up her laptop and said, “Please don’t be naked. Please don’t be naked. Please don’t be naked,” before clicking on the icon labeled ‘Random Video Chat.’541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBv9zovIzZ
More than the Sum of Their Parts541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozTBmuakPz
“Hi,” Jack Willis said. “It’s really nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but it’s a pleasure to see a pretty face.”541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWzhtT0BSr
“Not at all,” Jill Johansson replied, intrigued. “And thank you for the kind words. That’s a very nice shirt you’re wearing,” she added, returning the compliment.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEtLkb8iwG
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