dangerous, isn’t it?”
“You don’t know the half of it. She has dinner at the Captain’s table. He showed up and wanted to know why she wasn’t on the guest list for tonight. I hid my arse in the loo until she got rid of him.”
“Shit!”
“Exactly! Oh, and he’s got an eye for Pet, too. Wants a private dinner with her before the end of the voyage.”
“Think she’ll do it?”
“Don’t know. Anyway, I gotta go. If she shows up here tonight, tell her what you told me about the party. I’ll leave it to the two of you to figure out the food situation. After all, it’s her shout.”
“Am I taking her to your cabin again?”
“You got the key. Let her in if she wants to go.”
“Will do, mate. See you tomorrow.” As Charlie turned to leave, Morgy groused, “You didn’t ask if I can come.”
Without missing a beat, Charlie retorted, “I’ll let Derrick ask you that tomorrow night.”
Charlie left Morgy stewing in his own juices. He patted his pocket, making sure he had Pet’s key. He would make a copy tonight, and decide how to use it later.
It didn’t take long to finish up the remaining maintenance on the soot blowers. He tried not to get so dirty tonight, hoping that Pet would be waiting for him when he got back to his cabin. Of course, maybe seeing him sweaty and dirty appealed to her.
Remembering the key, he set about making the copy. He found a suitable piece of metal and clamped it with the original in a vise. Then he proceeded to hand-file the copy from the original pattern. Charlie had copied keys many times, and could manage it fairly quickly. This key didn’t present any problems. It had a simple set of ridges that he duplicated easily.
Once he tucked the two keys safely in his pocket, he finished his watch by puttering around for a bit, taking care of a few other minor maintenance jobs. When he left the engine room, he didn’t bother going back to the Monkey Bar. He headed straight for his cabin. He figured either Pet was there, or she wasn’t. If not, he could get some much needed sleep.
Charlie opened the door to his cabin. The light wasn’t on. He muttered to himself, “Guess this root rat won’t get any more tonight.” He closed the door and snapped on the light.
“Hello, Charles.”
Charlie nearly dirtied his knickers. “Bloody hell! Jen?” Jennifer was in his bunk, covered with the sheet. She appeared to be naked. “Where the fuck is Pet?”
“She’s knackered. Said she had to get some sleep, and then asked me to go see Morgy for her.”
“Pet told you to do this?”
“Not exactly. I went to see Morgy about the party. Pet told me to leave a message for you with him, that she would see you tomorrow. He told me you expected Pet to be in your cabin after your watch. I certainly didn’t want you to be disappointed. Neither did Morgy.”
“Won’t Pet be pissed off if she finds out you’re here?”
“Maybe, but I doubt it. If she minded, she wouldn’t have asked me to her cabin this arvo. Anyway, she knows you fancy her.”
“I fancy you, too.”
Jen pointed to his poster. “Is that why?”
“Partly. But you’re more beautiful than she is.”
“Do you really think so?” Jennifer threw back the sheet. Charlie’s palms started to sweat. Just as he suspected, she was in his bunk, naked.
He took his time looking her over. “Oh, yeah, Jen, I really do. You’re one hot sheila.”
“Do you fancy Aborigine women?”
Charlie cleared his throat. He didn’t know how to answer that. “I’m keen on all women, especially if they are as gorgeous as you and Pet.”
Jennifer glanced at his poster. “Fess up, Charlie. You like the color of our skin, don’t you?”
Seeing the exotic beauty of this naked woman in his bed, he couldn’t deny it. “Jen, I always have. Yooralla sealed it. Christ, all I had to do was look at her, and I could come in my knickers.”
Jennifer slowly slid her hands over her body, seductively caressing herself. “What about me, do I make you cream in your pants?”
“I’m ready to. I’d rather do it inside you.”
“Take off your clothes. I want to see your skin, too.”
“I need to shower. I just came from the engine room.”
“No, you don’t. You were sweaty today, in the bedroom. The smell made me crazy.”
“It did?”
“I’m Aborigine, remember? My mother’s family still lives among our people, even though my mother left the clan.”
Charlie slowly unsnapped his boiler suit. “Have you done a Walkabout?”
“You know about that?”
“Yooralla told me about the Dreamtime, and the Walkabout to the Belonging Place. Told me the ceremonies they do are secret.”
“Some are secret, some aren’t. I went on a Walkabout with my grandmother when I was sixteen, to learn how to connect with our ancestral spirits. My father objected, but my mother wanted me to know the ways of our clan. It’s something you never forget.”
“I reckon not. Don’t suppose you would tell me about it?”
“I can’t. It’s sacred and meant to be experienced, not explained.” Without meaning to, Charlie caught himself staring into Jennifer’s eyes, as if trying to see a vision of the Dreamtime. Jennifer saw him do it. “But I don’t think I have to tell you. You feel it in me, don’t you?”
Charlie stepped out of his boiler suit, then took off his underpants. Jennifer licked her lips and continued to touch herself as she stared at his erection.
“You have the same wildness about you that Yooralla had, like you grew up in the bush.”
“I grew up in London, but spent enough time with my mother’s family to make me more wild than tame.”
“Is that why you get on with Pet so well? She’s a wild one, too.”
“I’ve known Pet for years. We were roommates in school. That’s when we discovered we could keep each other happy. We still do, when we can’t find a man that can handle it.”
Charlie went to the edge of the bunk, but didn’t get in. He stood over Jennifer, his erect cock dangling from his groin. He wanted to look at her, the way he looked at his poster night after night. Without thinking about it, he took his cock in his fist and wanked. “You are so frigging beautiful.”
“And
